Dick Dinges

Pastor's Corner

“Seeds of New Spirituality in the Bible” by Pastor Dick Dinges

June 21, 2009
Our God Relationship
John 10:22-39; Psalm 82:6

Today my goal with this message is simply to change the world. I'm throwing a stone into the pond, and you are the first ripple. Furthermore, I know that this will happen because we are all connected and the energy we generate radiates into the universe and continues forever.

I was a pastor in a traditional denomination for 26 years. I prepared sermons nearly every week, and I did as I was taught—I developed my sermons using the Bible as my authority. Protestants use the Bible as their authority because they follow the Reformed tradition.

The Reformed tradition was developed by the reformers of the Great Protestant Reformation. They sought to remove excesses from the Church. They sought to return the church to the simplicity and purity of the earliest Christian community. In order to accomplish that, one of the reformers, Martin Luther, created the rule, sola biblia, which means "the Bible alone."

In the Protestant Reformed Tradition the only authority for religious truth is the Bible. Virtually all of Protestant Christianity follows this rule.

Sola biblia worked well in its day to accomplish the purpose of the Reformers, but it no longer serves us. It turned a living spiritual relationship into a closed system. God doesn't speak any more. God has already spoken. It's in the Book. If God did not comment on it in the Book, then it's not important.

On the other hand, the spirituality of the earliest Christian community was dynamic. The earliest Christians anticipated what Spirit would do next. They expected that Spirit would be working in their midst and could and would speak to any one of them at any given time. For example, when they met for worship, they often did not appoint a leader, but let the Spirit guide.

The records of the history of the early Christian church have been preserved and can serve as good models from the past, but those models have often been interpreted to be normative—the way things should always be—and thus any movement of the Spirit is stifled. Bible-based religion has become static, but spirituality is dynamic and progressive.

You can go through life believing that you have every important word from God, but then you might learn that God has been speaking to others beyond the Bible. That's what excited me when I first learned about near-death experience.

As I began reading about the experiences of different persons, I felt that every near-death experience was a window into the spiritual realm. So I learned all I could about near-death experience. Then I continued my study of other sources beyond the Bible. My major studies were the Conversations with God series by Neale Donald Walsch, the books of Robert Monroe, and the books of Dr. Michael Newton. I also did a bit of A Course in Miracles, some of the readings of Edgar Cayce, and some of Kim Michaels, among others.

Altogether these sources provided a consistent theological perspective that includes the nature of God, the nature of humankind, the relationship of God and humankind, a description of the Christ and the work of the Christ, a description of life beyond the physical, the transcendence of love, and the purpose of life. Neale Donald Walsch called this new view based on sources beyond the Bible New Spirituality, and I accept and use that name for it.

I am in a unique position having been at home in Traditional Christianity, and now feeling quite at home in New Spirituality. I feel that I have something to share. I might be able to put some ideas together that would help others accept that New Spirituality is a natural development of our understanding of God.

I feel that we are at a place in Christendom that compares favorably to the time when the disciples of Jesus re-interpreted what they had received from Moses and the Prophets. They had followed the Law of Moses, but they came to believe that following the Law of Love given by Jesus would fulfill the Law of Moses. So the apostles placed less importance on the ritual observances of the Law of Moses, and emphasized the importance of following the inner authority of Spirit. They wrote new scriptures to document the teachings of Jesus, and influenced the development of Christianity to become an inward experience of the heart.

However, in our day many continue to regard an external authority as the only authority. The regard the Bible in much the same way as the Jewish people regarded the Hebrew Scriptures. We need to make a clean break from relying on external authorities, including preachers. The final authority is within where God resides.

The first disciples of Jesus were renewed and energized through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then they were led by the Spirit. Today near-death experiencers describe such an energizing. They enter the Light and bring back with them some of its energy with the result that their lives are transformed. They also tell about being guided.

So we are inclined to ask if God is bringing about another Pentecost with near-death experiencers at the forefront. We do know that NDErs are changed, and so are those who learn from them. NDErs would serve as the leaven in societies around the world to bring about world transformation. Hence it is important to create public forums in which near-death experiencers tell their stories.

We might speculate as to the core experience of New Spirituality. I recall reading that the age of Judaism was characterized by knowing about God; the age of Christianity was characterized by knowing God, and the age coming upon us is to be characterized by knowing ourselves as God. That's what we are talking about.

In this new age, the Conversations with God series, along with PMH Atwater's The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences, may become the scriptures of the future in the way that the Bible has served people in the past. But let them not be regarded as the highest authority and not the only authority.

We have made advances in every area of our culture and civilization except religion. I see the impediment being the doctrine of sola biblia. One can feel safe accepting the Bible alone, but there are simply too many voices speaking for New Spirituality to ignore. They are telling similar stories and clarifying biblical concepts. For example, thousands of people are reporting near-death experiences, and are being changed by those experiences. They change their thoughts about God and our God relationship. God is understood intuitively as Unconditional Love, and we are understood to be parts of God.

Scott Hobbs, for example, came to understand in his near-death experience that our God relationship can be described as salt water being taken from the ocean with an eyedropper. Each one of us has our own eyedropper, the physical body. Upon physical death we return to the ocean.

Another near-death experiencer asked God to explain the God relationship. God said that the man was like a digit on the little finger of God's body.

Another description I have heard which rings true is that each one of us is a wave, and God is the ocean.

Today Traditional Christians might look at some of the beliefs in New Spirituality and consider them foreign, but I see them as developments of seed thoughts found in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, and especially in the words of Jesus. If I can present a clear picture of this, then New Spirituality can be seen not as something entirely new, but a development of what was already present but undeveloped in the Bible.

We at Fellowship of the Inner Light are well within the stream of New Spirituality inasmuch as we accept as authoritative the readings of Paul Solomon, as well as many other sources. Today I would like to explore the New Spirituality concept of our God relationship and explain its significance, referencing the supporting scriptures from the Bible. This will also address the question of the nature of humankind.

A good place to begin is our Statement of Purpose: "The purpose of the Fellowship of the Inner Light is to create a mutually supportive community & sacred space in which each person may experience an intimate, uplifting relationship within Mother-Father God." The word to which I wish to call your attention is within. This is foundational.

Traditional Christianity holds that we are separate from God. This is based on an interpretation of the Genesis story in which God fashions out of clay a model of the human being whom God wishes to give life. Then God breathes into the nostrils of the clay figure and it becomes alive (Genesis 2:7).

The story conveys the truth that we have a separate physical aspect. We do at least experience the illusion that we are separate. Traditional Christian theology has failed, however, to develop that there is a sharing of the breath of God. The word, breath, in Hebrew is ruach. It can also be translated spirit and wind, depending on the context. The story implies that the model of clay became animated by the Spirit of God. We can refocus our attention away from the physical and allow the interpretation that the true identity of humankind is Spirit. The physical body is only a temporary house for the Spirit.

Spirit can take on form, but at its essence has no form, no divisions, and no separation. Spirit is One. My conclusion from information received through sources beyond the Bible and with supporting scriptures from the Bible is that we are parts of the Oneness that is God.

The Jewish creedal statement known as the Shema, "God is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4) may go together with the statement of Jesus, "God is Spirit" (John 4:24) to support this interpretation. My conclusion with regard to human nature is that each one of us is God in human form.

You can probably tell that this would be an easy place to jump to the concept of Jesus as the only Son of God. That's what Traditional Christianity has been proclaiming. We will talk about that on another day. For now I would like to continue documenting scriptures that support the concept of our oneness in God.

My interpretation of the Genesis story of creation is supported by this description of physical death found in Ecclesiastes: "Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come . . . before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the ruach (breath or spirit) returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 6, 7).

The essence of humankind is the Spirit of God. Bits or fractals of the Spirit take on physical form and assume human bodies for an earthly physical experience, and then return to the Oneness in God. But while in human form those fractals do not cease to be spirit, nor do they lose their connection and communication with God. They may choose to close it down, but they can also choose to open it up again.

Now for the scriptural story I read at the beginning. Jesus seems to have spoken directly to this developing concept that we are not separate but in God. He said, "I and the Father are one." He was accused of blasphemy for saying it. He was describing his own relationship, but today I am asking you to consider that it applies to us all.

Blasphemy is the sin of speaking against God. It called for the death penalty. The religious folk who heard him picked up stones to kill him. Jesus caused his listeners to restrain themselves by confronting them with one of their own scriptures, which they had to accept as authoritative. He called to their attention the words of God found in Psalm 82. The Psalmist penned the words of God, "I say, 'You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you . . .' " (Psalm 82:6).

In the confusion of the moment, Jesus's accusers hesitated. In the end, they didn't stone him. They did try to seize him, but he got away.

Did Jesus intend for people to begin thinking of themselves as Gods, sons and daughters of the Most High? There is no development of this in the New Testament, nor in Reformed Theology, but a consideration is due.

Jesus made at least one other statement that relates to this. He spoke to Mary when she first saw him after the resurrection. He said, "Do not hold on to me because I have not yet gone back up to the Father, but go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God" (John 20:17). It would seem that Jesus was putting his disciples on an equal plane with himself in their God relationship.

Traditional Christian theology teaches that people become children of God when they put their faith and Jesus and are born again by the Holy Spirit. The view I am suggesting is that we are all children of God simply because we are fashioned in God's image. It may be, as it is with other theological points in the Bible, that both perspectives are true. What fits is that we are all children of God, but we aren't aware of it and don't live like it until we awaken or have an awakening experience.

The scripture that states most clearly our God relationship is found in Acts 17:28. Luke reports words spoken by the Apostle Paul, who said, "For `in Him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, `for we too are his offspring.' " We are in God. We are not separate. We are made of Spirit, the same stuff as God. We are God's children. I cannot imagine it being said more succinctly.

Paul's words remind me of the words of Jesus through Kim Michaels that each of us is in the continuous stream of energy from God. None of us lives separately, but we are constantly energized by God's life that flows through us.

So how do you think of yourself? Consider which of these statements is true of yourself: I am part of God, or, I am separate from God. Another way is to ask this as a question. Do you have a relationship with God, or do you have a relationship in God?

How you define your God relationship will determine how you follow your spiritual path, and how you relate to other human beings on earth. If you feel that you are separate from God, then you may feel the need to search for God. You may feel that you can't find God. What a terrible feeling that will be.

If, on the other hand, you feel that you exist in God as part of God, then you will know that you can never be separate from God. You can live with the assurance that God is always present. You know that you will never be alone. If you need help, you can ask and receive the answer, for you are always connected to the Source.

If you feel that you are part of God—and that everyone else is too—it will inform your ethic. If you love God, then you will love others who are also part of God, regardless of their beliefs. Being part of God doesn't have to do with beliefs. Loving others in this way is a world-changing concept.

If, on the other hand, you feel that some people are separate from God, then you won't feel that you need to treat them well or care about them, and the world will go on as it always has.

The last supportive scripture is from Jesus. He said, "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me, and that I am in you" (John 14:20). In other words, Jesus foresaw that in some coming day his disciples would realize that they share a Oneness that is God.

What day will that be? It could be today. Today you could begin thinking of yourself as being part of God, as being in God. If you do, then your thoughts will overflow into your feelings, and your actions will reflect who you really are—children of God. God is Love, and as children of God, so are you. And you will love others as God loves, as Jesus loved on earth, and the world will be different because of you. Amen.