There is simply no way that one can embrace the God-Father that Jesus spoke of and then BELIEVE that if one doesn't do "such-n-such" they're going to spend eternity in hell. I mean, what's the point of that even if God gave a person the option? He wouldn't Why would he even offer (the non-He that Consciousness IS)? He wouldn't, didn't, won't, can't, etc.
Now, that doesn't mean that a person can't create a HELL on earth for their life because in that situation we have so much evidence that one must be devoid of any semblance of rationality to deny it. And many there are! :-(
I've spoken so many times against the "reward-punishment" paradigm that's promoted by the traditional church that I need not go there again, but to say this. At least Pope John Paul II cracked the door of fear and retributive punishment far enough for some to see inside an see that there's nothing there. Before a Papal crowd on July 28, 1999 he made the following statement that sent many a priests into their prayer closets.
"Damnation cannot be attributed to an initiative of God because in His merciful LOVE He cannot want anything but the salvation of the beings He created. Hell does not exist as a PLACE, but as a SITUATION in which one finds oneself after freely and definitively withdrawing from God, the source and life and joy".
Now, I know what BAD NEWS this is to those who feel a NEED for this man-made theological HELL. It's difficult to go 10-20-30+ years of your life believing, because that's what your spiritual leaders said, in the duality of an after life called heaven and hell. Just because a person has been taught that there is only ONE HOLY SCRIPTURE doesn't deny the fact that there are many such SACRED Scriptures. Go ahead and GOOGLE for a list but then when you found them, you'd deny their validity, so maybe just skip that process.
As Neale Donald Walsch wrote, "Millions of people have structured their entire lives around the struggle to avoid going to hell and they have done extraordinary and sometimes shocking things to produce a good outcome. This concept of heaven and hell has shaped not only their behavior, but their entire understanding of life itself. It has also shaped human history."
It's time to recreate and re-shape the NOW!
God does not want us to suffer. In fact, God doesn't WANT ANYTHING! Chew on that one and if you need 232 pages of explanation, buy the book "What God Wants", but be prepared to have your boat rocked if you do. The author? Neale Donald Walsh. The price: only $8 or two triple grande extra hot lattes.
Ernie Fitzpatrick
Author Bio
As a spiritual-futurist, I interpret current events in light of possible macro-universal forces at play leading up to 2012, but not limited to it.
