Blog 158 – 11.10.15

From my days in what I now consider a very narrow Fundamentalist Christian church. I often heard sermons about God being a sort of smelter and putting us in his furnace to melt off the dross or imperfections in us till we were so pure he could see his face in us. The group I was with considered their roots to be the Weslyan Holinessness Movement. Like most religious groups they considered themselves right and everyone else wrong to one degree or another.

This group considered Mormons and Scientologist to be cults. I had to go down to the sixth definition of the word cult to even get “a religion considered false.” My friends all religions are cults to one of its definitions and yes considered false by someone or other group or groups. I saw on the cover of the current People Magazine in the grocery store check out line that a famous TV actress said she recently left the Scientologist religion because of her daughter. In this country we supposedly support “religious freedom.” And at the same time throughout the history of this country their have always been some favored religion and at least one or two not so favored religions. The Jewish and Roman Catholic religions have suffered great persecution even in this country at various times. Today the Muslim faith is looked on with suspicion by many because of a few radical fundamentalists in that faith. Oddly enough the nominal or liberal believers never cause as much problems and seem to be the most tolerant of other faiths. There seems to be, at least to me, a certain kinship with a radical fundamentalist Muslim who believes he or she is serving his God to blow up people who believe differently and a radical fundamentalist Christian who kills a doctor who performs abortions. Each believes they are right to take a life and both believe that they are serving God, but both are dead wrong.

There is a line in Scripture that says, “Our God is a consuming fire.” God revealed himself to Moses in a fire that did not consume the burning bush. Just what is it God would consume? Many religions have very strict rules about specific behaviors they deem acceptable and those they do not. Those religions I have come to think of as “guilt religions.” Their roots go deep and back to the times when virgins were offered to dragons or fiery volcanoes to appease an angry God, an angry God that required a bloody sacrifice of a innocent to get his favor.

What is it that the consuming fire of God would consume but our illusion of separation. We have done nothing nor could we do anything to separate us from God. Indeed, for He is in us to will and to do as He pleases. In Him we live, and move, and have our being.

So the image of God as a smelter melting us in the hot furnace of Purgatory to make us pure though off has a grain of truth. The truth is He made us perfect and as always sees us that way. It is our vision that needs to change. It is not God’s forgiveness we need but our own for foolishly believing we were ever or could ever be separated from Him. The Lord God is One and we are, have always been, and will always be a part of that Oneness. May His consuming fire continue to burn away any beliefs that do not serve the perfect knowledge of our true Identity.

Your friend, fellow traveler, and purveyor of the encouraging word,
David White