Bill McNary

I submit the following from a humble believer in a loving God: The Christian dichotomy (it is centuries old) created from Old Testament stories is perpetuated by "old Christianity." God/Jesus has been obscured by old Christianity. Old Christianity is tangled in knots. Is it any wonder there is so much confusion and so many wandering souls? To achieve image and likeness, humankind has to rethink our religions. God wants us to continue searching and learning. Science has evolved over the centuries, has theology? Christianity is alive, just like nature. Science adapts as it learns more about nature. Shouldn’t theology do the same? Science is corrected with new understanding. Can theology ever be corrected? What if early understanding is wrong and perpetuated? Is old Christianity open to new whispers from God? It seems that God is attempting to reveal itself to humankind, but religions have created a limited understanding of God. Religions have put God in a box, a box that suits their needs. These limitations have created deep seated biases which separate us. God’s children will not unite until they set aside their complicated religious dogma and replace it with the Golden Rule. A rule which has no biases. Evolution requires casting aside our complicated, patriarchal, authoritarian attempts at theocracy in favor of a simple, all are welcome because all are children theology. Are we willing to set aside our religion so we can all create a better spirituality? Spreading God’s love is more important than preserving a religion’s dogma. Religions, like many people and institutions, are bending under the strain of evolution. The next generation of religions will focus on God’s children, not protecting the faith. Will religions find the courage to step back and reimagine their role or will evolution make them irrelevant? If a modern Christian church existed, I would consider joining.

If hell existed, it would break God’s heart. Hell is the antithesis of a loving God. A loving God is there for every one of us, not just people that were able to pass the test. We are the ones who force others to pass a test, not God. If you spend any amount of time trying to comprehend infinity and then think about how infinitesimal a human lifespan is in comparison, why is it reasonable to think that what happens in that blink of an eye determines our fate for eternity? How can God possibly hold people accountable for what they do in a lifetime that is cosmically insignificant? Would God really set us up like that? Would a loving God place her children into a morass like our lives and hold us accountable? It is not logical. It’s not loving, and therefore, contradictory to God’s nature.

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his semi-automatic weapon for a stranger so they don't have to lay down their life for your right to bear arms.