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Diaryland
YHWH's Challenge (2) November 26, 2005 @ 7:43 p.m.
A post I wrote today on the Direct Magic Library of Knowledge Forum, in response to a guy who was sharing what a horrible time he was having dealing with depression and cynicism and losing his faith in God. Some of my best work I think.
***
Mungus, you are going through a very powerful transformation, even if it is very painful. This is what mystics have called the Dark Night of the Soul. All the obstacles between you and Truth are being burned away. I have been there, and actually, a lot of what you are saying is the exact same stuff I said. You are on the cusp of something really amazing. You think you have lost faith, and in a way you have - you're losing faith in what is not worthy of your faith. But you are laying the foundation for something much more strong and permanent and authentic for you that will serve you the rest of your life and possibly beyond. I swear to you that you will not live in cynicism - you WILL find what you are seeking. The only failure on this Way is to never take the first step or to stop walking down the path. And even if you stop or get sidetracked, you can always find your way back. Everything is conspiring to help you with that. You ARE walking the Way. What you are leaving behind is only illusions that disguised themselves as the path of Truth.
From all these posts, and your own research and experiences, you know that an eternal Hell can't exist in the domain of a loving God. But like we have shown before, that was never originally a part of Judaism or Christianity. Yes, some people do hate themselves enough and have such a twisted conception of God that they send themselves to a kind of personal hell after their deaths. But they free themselves from such a place as soon as they begin to believe they might have some good in them and possibly be worthy of being forgiven for their errors. They won't be there forever.
Drop the hell scare! Drop all the politics of Jewish and Christian history with it. You can't let other people's pettiness paint God into a monster.
If you want to really understand Judaism, Christianity and their conceptions of God, you have to realize that there are thousands and thousands of different factors that shaped the history of these religions and revelations and scriptures. You have to approach the scriptures and the institutions and the history and the practices and beliefs from many different angles. You have to see these traditions through the lenses of science, art, mysticism and magic. And you have to understand that they are composite traditions that have been absorbing and stacking the diverse experiences of diverse people for thousands of years. It is very, very difficult to make sense of it all in one fell swoop.
The god we see in scriptures and organized religion is an idolatrous and demonic imposter that keeps us from seeking the God of Truth. At the same time, He is the echo of the Jews and the Christians' authentic experience of Divinity filtered almost beyond recognition through millenia of historical experience and reexperience. The Bible we have today is an edited, poltically-correct version of a small selection of approved texts from a vast genre. And these texts themselves are fragmentary pieces of an oral tradition passed down for decades seamlessly woven in with layer upon layer of interpretations, assumptions, explanations and clarifications granted by successive generations. Is it any wonder people have so much trouble understanding such a god? It can be the most ugly thing in the world to us if we look at is as a landfill that people must rummage through to find the remains of Christos, Yisrael, and Yahuwah. And yet, when you come to find both gems and debris in that pile, you realize that the Bible can also be like the floor of a beautiful, ancient forest, where every kind of tree roots itself in the remains of fallen trees that came before it, and struggling to root themselves through layers of decomposed wood, leaves, rocks and earth, they grow up twisting and contorting in every direction to reach towards the light.
And some trees that grow from that forest of tradition grow outside of the canopy, and peer outside and beyond that forest, to behold the splendor of a pure sunlight shining down upon a vaster world than imagined - a light that was beautiful enough filtered through the forest, but which is appreciated by the tallest trees in a way that those beneath them cannot conceive.
You are outgrowing the place you came from, as you should. But I want to ask you not to forget your roots.
Many people who come to magic throw out the baby with the bathwater. Having been abused by their religious upbringing, they can see only a cruel and vindictive god and a history of repression. Understandably, they turn to different gods and different faiths and leave these traditions behind completely. If they do not continue to hold them in the utmost contempt, then the most they can evoke for them is pity for their adherents and speculation that once upon a time, long before the church and the synagogue, there might have been a good man from Nazareth, and a God of Justice in Yisrael.
If you have to go that route, then no one can blame you. You have received such a twisted, perverted and ossified version of what once were among the most profound faiths in the world that you are not obligated to remain loyal to these traditions. You were never under an authentic covenant, old or new, in which with all your options available, and with full knowledge and consent, without coersion on any level, and in full faith and trust, you pledged yourself to a God, a Savior, an Ideal, or a Dream.
It is hard work to be a mystic or a mage in these traditions - harder I would say than in other faiths that are polytheist or atheist. But for all the problems, there is great wisdom and power in the Judeo/Christian tradition that cannot be found elsewhere. Just studying it objectively, seeing both the good and the bad and how one verse could mean hundreds of different things to different people and yet be authentic in each of those ways, you find a lot to appreaciate. And if you seek experience and communion with Christ and God, they grant you what "eyes have not seen, what ears have not heard, what has not come upon the hearts of men". Judaism and Christianity and the mystical and magical traditions within them have things to offer to you and the world that no other tradition has. And, I believe, they offer the most powerful means to reverse all the horror that was done in their name.
The God of Yisrael is a challenge. Once, Yahuwah fought for Yisrael. Once, Yahuwah fought for justice.
God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the gods: "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah! Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
And when the justice of the God of Yisrael was taken to a fanatical extreme, then Christos came to Earth and restored the balance with grace, compassion, and love. With these two pillars in harmony, there is nothing people cannot accomplish.
There is a great treasure waiting to be discovered within these lost faiths. Its something I believe that was powerful enough to return the world to paradise. If you leave the God of Yisrael and his Meshiach behind, no one will fault you. But you must answer their calls for Justice, for Holiness, for Wisdom, and for Truth. That is the legacy of these traditions. That is their challenge to the world - something wonderful to live up to.
***
14 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
16 Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."
19 Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."
21 But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD."
22 Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD."
"Yes, we are witnesses," they replied.
"Details in the Fabric" - May 31, 2009
Not So Quick Questions - April 6, 2009
The Morning Stars - Lords of the 15 - April 9, 2009
Sincerity and Faith in Magic - April 10, 2009
Not So Quick Questions (2) - April 14, 2009
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