God is NOT a person

It seems entirely reasonable to believe that humankind is created “in the image” of God. But that doesn’t mean we look like God. God has no individual physical form, and, most important, God is not a person. To the great detriment of society, most of its religious traditions have created a god in the image of man. Depending on whom you ask, which book you consult, God can be loving or vengeful, forgiving or retributive, predictable or mercurial. The God of scripture has moods. “He” gets testy, angry, and impatient, demanding allegiance and obedience. God likes some people and not others. God (presumably perfect in every sense) created the imperfect: an inherently flawed species who will commit every sin in the book and would be eternally damned if not for the sacrificial death of a wise and kind young rabbi. None of that works for me. It is a philosophy that flies in the face of the principles of Divine Love.

So what does “in the image of” mean? I submit that who we truly are (which is not, by the way, our physical bodies), is pure Essence, and that our existence in the illusion we like to call reality is the physical expression of God Energy. To use an entirely un-scientific shorthand, when you drill down to the core, we are an assemblage of as-yet-to-be-understood “God particles.” Put another way, the Divine can, and does, look like absolutely anything that exists, because it is everything that did…does…and ever will exist.

There is so much we don’t know (and are not yet capable of knowing) but that is hardly a reason to settle for less, is it? Why limit our spiritual wisdom to a deity that is but an updated, monotheistic blending of all the gods that humankind has created before? The god of most religious paths sounds suspiciously like Zeus, lightning bolts and all. And Zeus and his Olympian crew had all sorts of human qualities—including some distinctly unattractive ones like petty jealousy and competitiveness. They used humans as pawns in a chess match. Well, now we’ve generally reduced divinity to one being, and while that may be progress, it hasn’t necessarily helped in terms of human unity, has it? And until we recognize that the Source of our existence is not a person by any definition of the word, we may not get much further.

Before we begin in earnest, let us consider the meaning of the word heretic (note: it is not the same thing as an agnostic or an atheist). A standard definition is a person who holds controversial opinions, especially one who publicly dissents from the officially accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. Generally speaking, heresy was a very serious religious crime and the penalties ranged from excommunication from the church to excommunication from life itself. What most people may not know is the etymology of the word. It's from the Greek heraitikos. In simplest terms, this means able to choose. Thus we may extrapolate that heretics choose to think for themselves and trust their own connection to God. A heretic basically refuses to be told what to believe. It is not that heretics don't listen to others; indeed they do. But their minds remain open. As a matter of fact, it is open-mindedness--a willingness to consider new discoveries and insights and never settle for the status quo--that makes heretics essential to the spiritual evolution of our species. We must continue to evolve and we must embrace our magnificence.

Some of the most significant heretics in our past were those known as the Gnostics, or sometimes gnostic Christians. In 1945, 52 texts were found in a cave and Nag Hamadi in Egypt. Among these texts was one entitled Gospel of Thomas. Some of you may have read Elaine Pagels’ book, Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas. If so, then you already know that the contents of this text were controversial, even threatening to the established church, especially the Catholic empire. The teachings were denounced as subversive. Now we've heard that word before, whenever those in power wish to silence those who speak up. So what was so controversial?

Unfortunately, at least for the future of harmony, the controversial issues included not so minor ‘details’ like Virgin birth, bodily resurrection, and Jesus being the one and only Christ (and the one and only “son” of God). The authors of these texts wrote from the Gnostic point of view. Gnosis means the “intuitive understanding of spiritual truth." The Gnostics taught that the knowledge of God is not necessarily found in a church, in the words of priests and ministers, or in the church-approved scripture, that is to say, the approved canon. Of course they were labeled heretics. So, those of you who are still adventurers, still seekers, still intent on keeping your minds open, welcome to the ranks of heretics; we are in very good company. We refuse to allow our inner knowing to be overruled by the opinions of others.

Did you ever hear the story of the man who suddenly falls very ill and complaining of chest pains, lies stricken and silent in his bed. His wife immediately calls the doctor who, upon arriving, examines her husband who appears to have died. After few moments examining the motionless man, the doctor turns and says “I'm sorry to say your husband is no more my dear." And at that moment, from the bed, they hear a whispered feeble protest. "No, I'm still alive, I'm alive!" "Don't be absurd," says the wife. “The doctor knows better than you do.”

Now while it's true that a doctor might know better than the rest of us when it comes to a particular field of medicine, if he or she says you have no pain when you have pain or says you're dead when you're very much alive, then it’s time to start listening to what you know. All I'm asking you to do is to decide who is the best authority on how you feel, on what feels right to you. Now while this might be a debatable topic when it comes to things like medical conditions, I don't believe there's any wiggle room when it comes to the spiritual aspect of our existence. There is only one source for spiritual certainty and knowing, and that source comes from deep inside you. And really, when you come right down to it, that's all the Gnostics were saying nearly 2000 years ago. They were saying "my truth is my authority," and rejecting the converse: "your authority is my truth."

In a profound sense, all those who wonder, who question, who cannot accept platitudes and pat answers, are Gnostics. We are open to the deeper insights of life and we find our most profound connection to God inside of us. God is not an abstract idea, but an inner Reality with a capital R. the divine does not become more Real for us by reciting creeds or formulas, or by believing unquestioningly in the Bible as it stands today, or by considering various and sundry human sources of information as infallible. The Divine becomes real to us only as we open ourselves to the mystery in which we live and move and have our being. We do not choose to let others define our reality. We are nonconformists because we know that the mysteries of Life cannot be reduced to words, to anyone's words. We know that the possibilities of life cannot be grasped by the rational mind alone, but only in concert with our essence our spiritual selves. We know that the quest for meaning requires taking risks, abandoning the well-worn rut, and taking ultimate responsibility for our lives, our choices, our treatment of other human beings.

Sometimes we must eschew what has been a lifelong goal for so many human beings—conformity…fitting in. But so much of what is best and brightest in us can be lost in the struggle to be like someone else or something else; often it is the most precious aspects of our existence that are sacrificed to the holy grail of orthodoxy. Robert Ingersoll said, “Heresy is a cradle; orthodoxy is a coffin.”

Think back to one of the greatest ironies in our religious history. Christianity began as what was essentially a Jewish heresy. By the standards of Orthodox Judaism in the first century, Jesus of Nazareth was a heretic of the first order. Let me give you an example. The Jewish religious authorities came to him and said, "your disciples are picking grain, and you are healing people on the Sabbath, our holy day of rest. Do you not know this is against our religious laws?" His answer was simple and to the point. "People were not made to serve the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made to serve people."

I know you've all seen and heard the phrase, the acronym, WWJ D. We all know that that is generally interpreted what would Jesus do. I have noted that those who love to ask it are often more interested in getting people to conform to an orthodox point of view then in aligning themselves with the teachings of love that were the heart and soul of the teachings of the master.

As a matter of fact I have noted that many conformists to a Bible-based, orthodox, and dogmatic religious path seem to behave in ways that are really not in keeping with the Jesus of Nazareth I envision. Were he able to walk among us in physical form today, I think he would be considered just as much a heretic by today's shall we say conventional Christians as he was by conventional Jews so long ago. He did not insist on the “purity” of belief (in other words dogma), but on purity of heart, which is, by the way, infinitely more demanding. He did not classify people as insiders or outsiders, as true or false believers. He did not teach judgment; he did not teach anger, resentment, superiority, pride, or conformity. He taught that life is a banquet placed before us by a loving Creator, and, more importantly, that there is room at the table for everyone. It is up to us to set that table, and invite all to be seated there. Of course, as was once uttered by the character Mame, "life's a banquet, and most poor SOB's are starving to death."

We don't have to starve, and we don't have to let anyone else ration our sustenance. To know God is our birthright. The journey is not dependent upon anyone else's intercession or "superior" knowledge. The responsibility and the rewards are already ours. We must have faith that we are indeed created in the image and likeness of the divine, and, as such, we are in charge of what kind of world we will continue to create.

Rev. Lauren