Refreshing and Inspiring

It's not often that I'm inspired by the words of a preacher. But this man's words literally gave me chills. John Shelby Spong gave me hope that even an Episcopalian minister, whose job it is to preach a Christian doctrine, can see past the smoke and mirrors to a possible enlightened truth.

I have often been told that I should be afraid. That through my failure to accept Christ, I will suffer forever. That God, though He loves me, is bound to his promises and will have no choice but to cast me to Satan, who will torture me for an eternity for the horrible crime of skepticism.

Try as I might, though, I just can't reach a level of fright large enough to make me believe in something in which I do not. I can't even muster up mild trepidation.

I see hell much as this minister does; that even if a god does exist, hell, heaven, and all the fancy trappings of religion, are man made, used to manipulate our natural tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

To quote John Shelby Spong:

"God is not a Christian...All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God."

"The function of the Christ is not to rescue the sinners, but to empower you and to call you to be more deeply and fully human than you've ever realized there was the potential within you to be."

Beautiful.