Universal Family

This conversation celebrates our human capacity for spiritual experience in dialogue with three questions. What about the fact that people of different religions tend to experience what their religions tells them they can or should or will experience? Isn't it problematic to judge particular experiences in terms of their spirit or truth content? And what about persons who report no spiritual experiences? Are they lost forever?

Liberation. Some people hear this word and think of social, economic, and political difficulties that need to be worked out in order for the planet to be reorganized. But within those difficulties there are spiritual difficulties; and if these are handled well, then we will be transformed in our ability to confront the social, economic, and political difficulties. Spiritual difficulties may be inner resistance to the new life in God--anxieties, addictions, getting caught up in the self-centered and materialistic craziness about money, power, and sex. They may also involve our being overwhelmed by external obstacles over which we may have very little control, for example, a physical condition, for example.  In order to break through into the new life with God, we need spiritual force. Where shall we get that? Two ways. One way is to realize that as children of God our gift of faith comes with power to overcome all kinds of obstacles--so we simply need to use what we have. The other way is to do like the girl n

Spiritual teacher Evan and philosopher Sophia discuss dimensions of fact and value in spiritual truth--and in daily life.

In this dialogue, Sophia the philosopher and Evan the evangelist begin to clarify the overlap and difference between philosophical and religious responses to the question about knowing for sure about God. The overlap has to do with strengthening our intuitive spiritual experience. Evan's response emphasizes that if you receive God as your Father, you are a son or daughter of God, born of the spirit, with the power to overcome doubt—a victory that is your faith.

Seven friends, some leaning in a conservative direction, some in a liberal direction, discuss (in 12 minutes) whether Jesus taught that people had to believe in him to be saved, and how to reconcile apparent discrepancies that we find in Scripture on this topic. 

Meet Sophia the philosopher and Evan the evangelist, as they discuss the possibility and implications of an idea about the meaning of the Biblical idea of "the heaven of heavens" or Jesus word that "In the Father's house are many mansions" or Paul in 2nd Corinthians referring to a man [probably himself] who was "caught up to the third heaven." Will those places be our homes as we accomplish stages of growth on the way to Paradise perfection? 

Of the various reasons to reject the father concept of God, I consider two: some fathers are terrible parents; and generations of sensitive, well-informed, ethically committed persons have been taught that the father concept of God (at least in isolation from the truth of the motherhood of God) is sexist. I respond to the second concern by reading excerpts from chapters on scientific, philosophical, and spiritual living from my book Living in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. 

Ali and Miguel are in a world religions class and begin discussing the teaching, "Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

A story about a peacemaker family: the father was a diplomat, the mother a facilitator of public dialogue regarding contested issues, and the daughter a psychology researcher on the relationship of personal peace with social and political peace. One evening they had a conversation about the teaching, "Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God."

A story of two women, best friends from childhood, who learned to forgive each other and creatively go through similar programs of personal growth. As a result, they came to a better understanding of mercy.

In order to add meaning and plausibility to the eternal truth: Happy are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted, . . . I offer a story.

Purity of heart means to will one thing--if that thing is to have as one's sole purpose in life to do the will of the God of love. But what does that mean? Here are several aspects of the outworking of that purpose.

This is a story of a meek boy and an antagonistic boy who grow up to cooperate. It symbolizes hope for our world and satisfaction for those who take to heart the promise: "Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Have you faced this question? Choose this day whom you will serve. Are you in or out? Is your life saying YES to God?     Salvation and spiritual rebirth are two ways to name the same event, an event that is widely misunderstood for two quite different reasons. . . . 

When the Creator chose to launch imperfect, free-will beings on the stage of action on an evolutionary world, it was predictable that mercy was going to be needed. Mercy is the divine attitude that applies love to the understanding of a creature's motivation, circumstances, and personal history.     The New Testament book of Matthew 18:12-35 reveals the mercy process of forgiveness in its fullness. 

What I have read about the opioid crisis says nothing about the lack of a sense of purpose in the lives of our brothers and sisters who consciously use dangerous drugs--and, for that matter, our brothers and sisters who deliberately profit from excessive opioid use. Yes, lack of the healthy momentum of a noble purpose is something we all experience at times. Moreover, a sense of hopeless often owes much to factors beyond the control of the individual.      That said, to experience the love of God is a game-changer. We get a new sense of who we are: a infinitely loved son or daughter of God and a brother or sister to those we meet--and the other aspects of better or worse this or that fall into perspective when we are anchored as members in the family of God. The eternal God, our Father and our friend, is present in each person, leading quietly, patiently, gently, powerfully, with abundant forgiveness, being a loyal companion as we go through whatever consequences are ours to live through on the way to a magni

We enter the family of God with the faith of a little child, but that faith lacks the discernment and power of the faith of the adult child. When the thicket of problems becomes too difficult for our tools, when our resistance to the divine way or the earthly obstacles to our living the will of God mount up, then our faith moves from receptive mode to active mode--wholehearted adult faith. There's the power to overcome self-doubt. God does so much for us, but we alone must make the decisions that launch action. Let's go for it! In doing so, we gain the assurance that we need of the truth of faith. The soul knows.

Righteousness gets a bad name because of two distortions: legalistic religion that tries to control matters that should be left to individual freedom, and self-righteous swagger with its hostility toward for broad classes of humanity. When Jesus assured us, "Happy are those who hunger and thirst for happiness," he had something different in mind. He was pointing the way to the beautiful wholeness of righteousness. The hunger and thirst is stage one. The divine gift of righteousness is stage two. Isaiah: "My soul shall rejoice in the love of my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe of his righteousness." Stage three requires us to learn an expanded concept of morality that wisely coordinates an understanding of the truth of universe process as it takes place on this evolutionary world with an understanding of the meaning of the relevant truths of spiritual experience: love and mercy, worship and service, joy and liberty, faith and assurance, and so on. When we l

Social service defined: readiness to do good to anyone with any kind of need. It is common for love to be preferential in a way that is not based on our quality in the brotherhood of man/siblinghood of humankind. But everything changes when we recognize the spiritual core of our creation as personalities--unique, mysterious, and constant through change--each one a masterpiece of the Creator's art, whom our Father indwells by his spirit.  On this basis we begin to serve with the following motivation: We serve our Father in the persons of those whom he indwells by his spirit. And thus we become ready to serve in a way that reveals God's love and mercy for the whole person.  

When we say "God" we refer to the awesome Creator. But a full concept of God includes his intimate and personal relationship with us. He is also our Father and our friend.     Increasingly realizing this in our spiritual experience, we can more readily embrace the evidences of a friendly universe.