Last night’s discussion on Erie Paranormal featured the Paranormal Pastor, Robin Swope. He was a delightful person who has written a few books, the most recent being An Exorcist’s Field Guide (meant for paranormal investigators who need advice on blessing places and helping people deal with unfriendlies). He is one of the few religious leaders who embraces the possibility of the paranormal.
It is worth checking out his blog, which I will post on my links page for future reference.
http://theparanormalpastor.blogspot.com/
One thing he said, amongst many, that stuck with me is that “if you put God in a box, you put yourself in a box.”
I wholeheartedly agree with that. If you don’t maintain an open mind about things, you will never discover the truth of what is. So many people in the name of religion close themselves off to the rest of the universe. They defend this using semantics and language without really seeing the whole.
They become like the dwarfs in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles – they get into heaven, but they are in the dark and just don’t see. It remains to be seen just how long they wait before they decide to open up to what is.
What gets me fired on this topic is when someone comes out and declares everyone who isn’t on the Christian docket, this includes Hindu’s to New Agers, are in league with “Lucifer”… or the devil for you laymen out there who aren’t versed in the different nasties which range from Eckart Tolle to Wayne Dyer. You can see where I’m going with this sarcastically.
God is suddenly in a box.
When you take literally the concept of sin and that if we sin we don’t go to heaven, we go to hell, you set a belief system up that is based on guilt. Guilt is an overwhelming emotion. It is one of the major emotions that ties someone to this earth when they die. They become too afraid to cross over convinced of meeting up with this supposed punishment of fire and brimstone. It lays out the concept that we are not good enough.
That is simply not true. All of us have value. Mistakes (sin) are only misdirection even the worst of them. Anyone having remorse is a being of light and deserves to move on appropriately. It is not our job to judge others, and it is certainly not our job to judge ourselves. Many spirits stay behind out of fear of judgement. They judge themselves so harshly that they cannot move on. They remain in a state of heartache and negative emotion for hundreds of years. THAT is hell.
Before my mother-in-law passed, I spent a lot of time talking with her about this. She was convinced that she was not good enough to go to heaven… the things she did in this lifetime would send her to hell. Fortunately, I got through to her making her realize the good she did and that the bit of straying she did had nothing to do with anything. She had learned her lessons here and that she was ready to go to God. I am happy to say she died in peace and did not become the ghost she could have, lingering over past infractions that had nothing to do with the light being she truly is.
I would like to suggest that we actually listen to the words of Jesus saying that we are ALL forgiven and stop putting God in a box with ourselves…
Now I would like to say that I attempt to approach this topic with an open mind without judgement. However, I get fired up every time someone declares everyone else but themselves in league with the devil. As yet, I have not learned the lesson of judgement however close I’ve come. Sigh!
No, I was not funny last night! LOL!
Eat Cookies, Don’t Make Ghosts!
Tj
