Nicola Staff asked 2 years ago
We have discussed with you many times some of the small variances from church doctrine, from the various religious denominations and heritages, that would seem to define them as differing in fundamental ways, but this is more an exaggeration than a reality. What we would say is exaggerated, most unfortunately, is the extent to which those who practice a particular religion not only believe it is the ultimate and truest word of God but worth fighting and dying to defend, to the exclusion of all others, in a kind of self-righteous declaration of superiority. That is flirting very dangerously with some of the Seven Deadly Sins we will be discussing. So, at the risk of stepping on toes, you are entering shark-infested waters here of long-standing assumptions of validity, being literally carved in stone, and accepted as pillars of the true church. So we will venture forth on your behalf to help clarify the truth of things because there is one ultimate truth always and that lies with us, the Creator of All That Is, and not with how humans present divine wisdom through various filters, many quite ancient, in bringing forth working principles that made their way into religious doctrine.
So, first of all, we would say we do not like the term "sin" at all because it taints whatever follows with being tied to all of the prior doctrine, some of which is faulty or an exaggeration of divine truth in some respect. Those who have felt uncomfortable with the constraints of formalized religion, and drifted away for that very reason, will be highly sensitive to the imposition of the word "sin" to describe human conduct because it is very much wrapped up in rigid theocracy that is much about blaming and shaming rather than uplifting and healing. We prefer the latter approach. So we would rather the word "sin" be replaced with "transgression," meaning "a departure from divine alignment that can harm the self or others, or both." That is a more neutral term in departing from the quite emotionally loaded discussions about sin that are also so tied to an ultimate sanction, even so horrific as going to hell and suffering for an eternity of endless torture. This we must also correct at the outset, that the idea of "hell" was simply a metaphor to present the reality that conduct out of alignment will bring consequences, and those can be quite severe, they can be lifelong and be life-limiting as well.
The true divine reckoning people are taught to fear about their presumed "sinful conduct" is not supplied by us at all but by the Law of Karma which looks at the energy of what wrongdoing happened and applies a comeuppance, a day of reckoning, through some means that is in proportion to the transgression, to provide a life lesson by way of feedback commensurate with the magnitude of the wrongdoing engaged in. That is a very precise way to have a workable system, with feedback to help keep things on track and keep them honest. There is no physical hell one is banished to or will find themselves within if they have transgressed too severely and not atoned in some way. It is a concept only, that is well-intentioned to scare people into walking a straight and narrow path so as to not offend God and be condemned. We would rather see you walk a straight and narrow path of your choosing because you come to understand you will pay a price but it will be determined by you, and then lived by you, but can also be healed by you in choosing a partnership with the divine to provide a way out of your dilemma, and this we will be discussing in detail as we proceed.
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