A faith of love

In this time of financial turmoil, uncertainty about the future and with many filled with a feeling of hopelessness it is more important than ever for each of us to reflect on our faith. The world is indeed a frightening place. Every day brings more news of a war, of needless death, of financial ruin. These are indeed hard times.

Adding to all of this angst are many faithful people espousing their faith as the way to true relationship with God. They force their beliefs that there is only way to be in relationship with God, their way. My feeling is, “Wow, how arrogant is that?!”

Many of the problems we face as a society today can be traced to these arrogance of beliefs. There are those who are so wrapped up on their own way of thinking they are unable to even hear, let alone process, new or different ideas. When these type of people are in roles of authority or decision making their impact can be devastating to a free thinking society.

At the very core of this problem are individuals or groups espousing their beliefs as being the only way we can receive God and his love for us. What I believe we need to understand is we have a direct connection to God. He is with us and knows each of us individually.

While corporate worship and relationships with other people of faith are essential to our spiritual growth it does not replace our one-on-one relationship with God. There are many who would have us believe that we can only be in relationship with God if we follow their man-made rules of piety and believe only as they say we should believe.

Don’t get me wrong, theology certainly has its place in helping us interpret the Bible and other books of faith and to raise our understanding of God. However, all of this is subject to interpretation and it is up to each of us to seek God and his plan for our individual lives.

I grew up in a very traditional protestant understanding of Christianity. Recently I have found that many denominations and creeds have so narrowed their focus that they have excluded the possibility that others can worship and believe in God in any way but their own. I find this very troubling.

If we are to survive as a society and grow as faithful people we must become more accepting of others and their beliefs. We cannot be so pious to believe our way is the only way. God is not Protestant, Catholic, Reformed, Jewish, Muslim or any other creed. He is God and the bottom line is he has accepted all of us as his children.

He has given each of us the freedom to worship him in the way we see fit. We are only to accept his love. That is it, nothing more nothing less.

So as you sit in your church, temple, or synagogue or wherever you worship your God this week ask him to open your heart to be accepting of the differences in beliefs of others. He is the God of love the unconditional love which encompasses all of us. God is love.