I think Christianity must evolve into something new. As I said in Beliefs that Work, religion has got to “work” and I think it’s pretty obvious that the “Old Time Religion” is not working for more and more people. And the timing is nigh perfect: 4000 years for the Old Testament and 2000 years for the New Testament means it’s time to start anew. Plus there’s a certain mathematical multiplicity to it.
I don’t have all the details worked out but extrapolating on the trend from OT to NT I think the next step will be that we are God and just don’t know it yet. Here’s my train of thought:
| Old Testament | New Testament | New New Testament |
|---|---|---|
| Israel was God’s “chosen people” | Christian’s were the “children of God” and Jesus was the “son of God” | Since a “son” is the same as a “child” then we are the same as Jesus and, hence, we are God |
| God was “out there” and “up there” and very distinct from his people | God was “in the hearts” of the Christians | God is us |
| People had to go through the priests to have contact with God | People could have direct contact with God | People are God |
The only problem with this new religion is that Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the homeless guy on the corner are all God … just like me.
I think a lot of people feel this way. They are still trying to find the new new testament in the book store.
“The only problem with this new religion is that Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the homeless guy on the corner are all God … just like me.”
What’s the problem? What part of All That Is should be excluded?
The problem is that people like me need to recognize that God is in Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the homeless guy on the corner. If I truly recoginzed this, my attitude toward them all would be vastly different than it is right now. And if WE ALL recognized this, OUR attitude towards them all would be vastly different than it is right now.
I heard one of my trainers in a seminar say (paraphrasing) that “you want to put your godliness over here and your shit over there. You’ve got no problem giving lots of space to your godliness and but allow none for the shit. You’ve got to give more space to the shit in your in your life because God is All of It.” (caps are mine). It made perfect sense to me.
Valerie,
“You’ve got to give more space to the shit in your in your life”
Absolutely! It’s called your shadow and most of us can’t accept that we even have a shadow let alone accept the shit in our shadow. We project our shadow onto others — onto the homosexuals and onto the Iraqis and the Iranians and the French and onto the Kevorkian’s and the Moore’s. We demonize others to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.