One Entity

“Consider the lowly caterpillar. It is self-evident that the caterpillar and the butterfly live in entirely different worlds, and no one would say that a caterpillar is a butterfly or that a butterfly is a caterpillar. And yet we know that the caterpillar and the butterfly are simply different levels of expression of one entity. The caterpillar can fly, but not as a caterpillar—only as a butterfly. He has the potential, but something has to happen to him. You can do the things Jesus did, but not as the man you now are. Only when you are ‘born anew’ into a higher state of consciousness.”

Who's in hell? Pastor's book sparks eternal debate

Who's in hell? Pastor's book sparks eternal debate


By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Tom Breen, Associated Press – Thu Mar 24, 6:10 am ET



Associated Press DURHAM, N.C. – When Chad Holtz lost his old belief in hell, he also lost his job.



The pastor of a rural United Methodist church in North Carolina wrote a note on his Facebook page supporting a new book by Rob Bell, a prominent young evangelical pastor and critic of the traditional view of hell as a place of eternal torment for billions of damned souls.



Two days later, Holtz was told complaints from church members prompted his dismissal from Marrow's Chapel in Henderson.



"I think justice comes and judgment will happen, but I don't think that means an eternity of torment," Holtz said. "But I can understand why people in my church aren't ready to leave that behind. It's something I'm still grappling with myself."



The debate over Bell's new book "Love Wins" has quickly spread across the evangelical precincts of the Internet, in part because of an eye-catching promotional video posted on YouTube.



Bell, the pastor of the 10,000-member Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., lays out the premise of his book while the video cuts away to an artist's hand mixing oil paints and pastels and applying them to a blank canvas.



He describes going to a Christian art show where one of the pieces featured a quote by Mohandas Gandhi. Someone attached a note saying: "Reality check: He's in hell."



"Gandhi's in hell? He is? And someone knows this for sure?" Bell asks in the video.



In the book, Bell criticizes the belief that a select number of Christians will spend eternity in the bliss of heaven while everyone else is tormented forever in hell.



"This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear," he writes in the book.



For many traditional Christians, though, Bell's new book sounds a lot like the old theological position of universalism — a heresy for many churches, teaching that everyone, regardless of religious belief, will ultimately be saved by God. And that, they argue, dangerously misleads people about the reality of the Christian faith.



"I just felt like on every page he's trying to say 'It's OK,'" said Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler at a forum last week on Bell's book held at the Louisville institution. "And there's a sense in which we desperately want to say that. But the question becomes, on what basis can we say that?"



Bell argues that hell has assumed an outsize importance in Christian teaching, considering the word itself only appears in the New Testament about 12 times, by his count.



"For a 1st-century Jewish rabbi, where you go when you die wasn't the most pressing question," Bell told The Associated Press. "The question was how can you enter into the shalom and peace of God right now, this day."



Bell denies he's a universalist, and his exact beliefs on what happens to people after death are hard to pin down, but he argues that such speculation distracts people from an urgent point. In his telling, hell is something freely chosen that already exists on earth, in everything from war to abusive relationships.



The near-relish with which some Christians stress the torments of hell, Bell argues, keep many believers needlessly afraid of a loving God, and repel potential Christians who might otherwise be curious about the faith's teachings.



"The heart of the Christian story is that God is love," he said. "But when you hear the word 'Christian,' you don't necessarily think 'Oh, sure, those are the people who don't stop talking about God's love.' Some other things would come to mind."



About the only thing everyone agrees on is that this is not a new debate in Christianity. It stretches to antiquity, when Christianity was a persecuted sect in the Roman Empire, and the third century theologian Origen developed a theory that contemporary critics charged would mean that everyone, even the devil himself, would ultimately be saved. Church leaders eventually condemned ideas they attributed to Origen, but he has had a lasting influence across the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions.



Those traditions often disagree, even internally, on what awaits souls after death. The Catholic Church, which has a formal process for identifying souls in heaven through canonization, pointedly refrains from saying that anyone is without a doubt in hell. Protestants reject the concept of purgatory, in which sins can be atoned for after death, but disagree on other questions. The lack of consensus is enabled partly by ambiguities in the Bible.



Evangelical opposition to Bell is exemplified in a succinct tweet from prominent evangelical pastor John Piper: "Farewell, Rob Bell."



Page Brooks, a professor at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, thinks Bell errs in a conception of a loving God that leaves out the divine attributes of justice and holiness.



"It's love, but it's a just love," Brooks said. "God is love, but you have to understand you're a sinner and the only way to get around that is through Christ's sacrifice on the cross."



Making his new belief public is both liberating and a little frightening for Holtz, even though his doubts about traditional doctrines on damnation began long before he heard about Rob Bell's book.



A married Navy veteran with five children, Holtz spent years trying to reconcile his belief that Jesus Christ's death on the cross redeemed the entire world with the idea that millions of people — including millions who had never even heard of Jesus — were suffering forever in hell.



"We do these somersaults to justify the monster god we believe in," he said. "But confronting my own sinfulness, that's when things started to topple for me. Am I really going to be saved just because I believe something, when all these good people in the world aren't?"



Gray Southern, United Methodist district superintendent for the part of North Carolina that includes Henderson, declined to discuss Holtz's departure in detail, but said there was more to it than the online post about Rob Bell's book.



"That's between the church and him," Southern said.



Church members had also been unhappy with Internet posts about subjects like gay marriage and the mix of religion and patriotism, Holtz said, and the hell post was probably the last straw. Holtz and his family plan to move back to Tennessee, where he'll start a job and maybe plant a church.



"So long as we believe there's a dividing point in eternity, we're going to think in terms of us and them," he said. "But when you believe God has saved everyone, the point is, you're saved. Live like it."

WHAT WOULD LOVE DO NOW

NealeDWalsch:
What would Love do now? This is a marvelous question. It washes away all doubt. It bathes the mind with the wisdom of the soul.

Making a decision from the standpoint of Love means I am looking at everything through the eyes of God.
For God is Love and Love Is All There Is.

I Have Received

If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for Mat 21:22

I use to beileve that these words were false...I came to understand not only were my desires manifested but, they were abundantly given. The key to understanding this scriptural passage is to focus in faith on the outcome of prayer being realized.
It is in this state that all of our dreams can become our reality.

There comes a time when all that's left is God...

Welcome Message From Neale






There comes a time when all that's left is God...







It happens in most people's lives more than once. It is that moment when you feel totally and completely isolated. It's that time when you feel, not that no one is hearing you, but that there is no one to hear you. You are really all alone. There is no one else, even when there is someone else in the room. There is nothing more, even when there is plenty more all around. There is only you, even when the world surrounds you. Perhaps especially when the world surrounds you, there is only you.







Yes, there comes a time when all that's left is God. Nothing else matters. Nothing else has any meaning. Nothing else calls to you, magnetizes you, demands your attention---or is even worthy of it.







This time comes, it seems to me, either when you have nothing or when you have everything. This moment arrives when everything else has been taken from you and there is nothing left, or when everything has been given to you and there is nothing more you could possibly want.







When this moment arrives, it is a great relief. It is a release, a letting go. And yet, for many of us, there is still a tiny part of our being that yearns for the single thing that so many of us have never had: complete acceptance and unconditional love.







Somebody love me just the way I am.







We have not been able to find that in another. We thought we could find it in another, we hoped that we could find it in another, but we cannot. We cannot even find it in ourselves. And because we cannot find it in ourselves, we cannot give it to another-and that is why we cannot find it there. For we cannot find anywhere what we have not placed anywhere, and we have not placed complete acceptance and unconditional love anywhere. We cannot even be okay with the weather, for goodness sake. We can find something to complain about around everything.







And so, we seek what is not there, for everything we seek to find in life must have been placed there by us. If we have not placed it, we cannot find it. What we do not place into life, we do not find, because we are the Only Source There Is.







If we cannot find forgiveness in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find compassion in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find tolerance in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find mercy in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find peace in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find acceptance in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. And if we cannot find love in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there.







All these things we must place into Life. First, into our own life, then into the life of another. Or, for some, it is the other way around. I want to say for most of us it is the other way around. For most of us, it is nearly impossible to give ourselves what we most want to receive: forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love.







Most of us cannot give these things to ourselves because we know too much about ourselves. We think ourselves to be unworthy of these things. We imagine ourselves to be something other than what we really are. We cannot see the Divinity that Divinity Itself has placed in us. We cannot see the Innocence. We cannot see the Perfection in our imperfection.







Because we cannot see these things in ourselves, we cannot give ourselves what we most want to receive. Yet, because we are not totally blind to what is good and worthy in the world, we are often able to see these things in others. We can often see Divinity in others. We can often see Innocence in others. We can often even see Perfection in the imperfection of others. And so we can give others forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. We can, but the question is, will we?







Too often, we do not. Because of our own wounds, we cannot heal the wounds of others. And so we deny our world the things our world needs the most. We deny our world forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. And when we deny these to our world, we deny these to ourselves---for what we have not placed into the world, we cannot receive from the world. Again, let the New Golden Rule be repeated:







What we have not placed into the world,







we cannot receive from the world.







There comes a time when we realize that we are the Only Source There Is. No one is going to give to us or to the world what we are unable to get to the world, and thus to ourselves. Not for very long.







The first place we find this out is in relationship with another. What we are unable or unwilling to give to another, we will not receive from the other. Not for very long. If we cannot give the person across the room forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love... we cannot look to the person across the room to give these things to us. For they only have to give what we have given them.







We imagine in relationship that the other person has what we do not have, and therefore, that they can supply it to us. This is the great illusion. This is a great mistake. This is the great misunderstanding. And this is the reason why so many relationships fail. We imagine that the other is going to supply us with forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. We imagine that the other is going to supply us what we cannot supply to them, and what we cannot even give to ourselves. And then we become angry with the other. And then we become angry with ourselves. And then...







... we realize that there's nothing left but God. We turn, then, to God. Please God, give me forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. Please give it to me, so that I may give it to others.







The world is rapidly approaching this turning point. We are coming to understand that God is the Only and Original Source. Now all that we need to do is understand, as well, that there is no separation between God and us. When we grasp at last this foundational understanding, when we embrace, finally, this basic truth, we will change ourselves, change our relationships, and change the world.







Until then, we will not. And we will wait for that moment when we realize....that there's nothing left but God. Hopefully, we will arrive at that moment before we create it...in the most crude of ways possible: by destroying everything else until there is nothing left. By destroying our relationship until there is nothing left. By destroying our world until there is nothing left. By destroying ourselves until there is nothing left.







Conversations with God contains a startling statement. It is something I've never forgotten. God said, "It is not necessary to go through hell in order to get to heaven." I invite us all to remember that on this day. I invite us all to embrace a new notion about ourselves and about life: not that there's nothing left but God, but that there's nothing but God.







When we see God in every other person and in every other thing, then we will have dropped our illusions, we will have stepped aside from our childish imaginings, and we will treat everything and everyone as if it, she, or he is Divine. And if you don't think that will change your life and your world, think again.



Neale Donald Walsch








It happens in most people's lives more than once. It is that moment when you feel totally and completely isolated. It's that time when you feel, not that no one is hearing you, but that there is no one to hear you. You are really all alone. There is no one else, even when there is someone else in the room. There is nothing more, even when there is plenty more all around. There is only you, even when the world surrounds you. Perhaps especially when the world surrounds you, there is only you.







Yes, there comes a time when all that's left is God. Nothing else matters. Nothing else has any meaning. Nothing else calls to you, magnetizes you, demands your attention---or is even worthy of it.







This time comes, it seems to me, either when you have nothing or when you have everything. This moment arrives when everything else has been taken from you and there is nothing left, or when everything has been given to you and there is nothing more you could possibly want.







When this moment arrives, it is a great relief. It is a release, a letting go. And yet, for many of us, there is still a tiny part of our being that yearns for the single thing that so many of us have never had: complete acceptance and unconditional love.







Somebody love me just the way I am.







We have not been able to find that in another. We thought we could find it in another, we hoped that we could find it in another, but we cannot. We cannot even find it in ourselves. And because we cannot find it in ourselves, we cannot give it to another-and that is why we cannot find it there. For we cannot find anywhere what we have not placed anywhere, and we have not placed complete acceptance and unconditional love anywhere. We cannot even be okay with the weather, for goodness sake. We can find something to complain about around everything.







And so, we seek what is not there, for everything we seek to find in life must have been placed there by us. If we have not placed it, we cannot find it. What we do not place into life, we do not find, because we are the Only Source There Is.







If we cannot find forgiveness in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find compassion in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find tolerance in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find mercy in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find peace in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. If we cannot find acceptance in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there. And if we cannot find love in our lives, it is because we have not placed it there.







All these things we must place into Life. First, into our own life, then into the life of another. Or, for some, it is the other way around. I want to say for most of us it is the other way around. For most of us, it is nearly impossible to give ourselves what we most want to receive: forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love.







Most of us cannot give these things to ourselves because we know too much about ourselves. We think ourselves to be unworthy of these things. We imagine ourselves to be something other than what we really are. We cannot see the Divinity that Divinity Itself has placed in us. We cannot see the Innocence. We cannot see the Perfection in our imperfection.







Because we cannot see these things in ourselves, we cannot give ourselves what we most want to receive. Yet, because we are not totally blind to what is good and worthy in the world, we are often able to see these things in others. We can often see Divinity in others. We can often see Innocence in others. We can often even see Perfection in the imperfection of others. And so we can give others forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. We can, but the question is, will we?







Too often, we do not. Because of our own wounds, we cannot heal the wounds of others. And so we deny our world the things our world needs the most. We deny our world forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. And when we deny these to our world, we deny these to ourselves---for what we have not placed into the world, we cannot receive from the world. Again, let the New Golden Rule be repeated:







What we have not placed into the world,







we cannot receive from the world.







There comes a time when we realize that we are the Only Source There Is. No one is going to give to us or to the world what we are unable to get to the world, and thus to ourselves. Not for very long.







The first place we find this out is in relationship with another. What we are unable or unwilling to give to another, we will not receive from the other. Not for very long. If we cannot give the person across the room forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love... we cannot look to the person across the room to give these things to us. For they only have to give what we have given them.







We imagine in relationship that the other person has what we do not have, and therefore, that they can supply it to us. This is the great illusion. This is a great mistake. This is the great misunderstanding. And this is the reason why so many relationships fail. We imagine that the other is going to supply us with forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. We imagine that the other is going to supply us what we cannot supply to them, and what we cannot even give to ourselves. And then we become angry with the other. And then we become angry with ourselves. And then...







... we realize that there's nothing left but God. We turn, then, to God. Please God, give me forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, mercy, peace, acceptance, and love. Please give it to me, so that I may give it to others.







The world is rapidly approaching this turning point. We are coming to understand that God is the Only and Original Source. Now all that we need to do is understand, as well, that there is no separation between God and us. When we grasp at last this foundational understanding, when we embrace, finally, this basic truth, we will change ourselves, change our relationships, and change the world.







Until then, we will not. And we will wait for that moment when we realize....that there's nothing left but God. Hopefully, we will arrive at that moment before we create it...in the most crude of ways possible: by destroying everything else until there is nothing left. By destroying our relationship until there is nothing left. By destroying our world until there is nothing left. By destroying ourselves until there is nothing left.







Conversations with God contains a startling statement. It is something I've never forgotten. God said, "It is not necessary to go through hell in order to get to heaven." I invite us all to remember that on this day. I invite us all to embrace a new notion about ourselves and about life: not that there's nothing left but God, but that there's nothing but God.







When we see God in every other person and in every other thing, then we will have dropped our illusions, we will have stepped aside from our childish imaginings, and we will treat everything and everyone as if it, she, or he is Divine. And if you don't think that will change your life and your world, think again.



Neale Donald Walsch

Alway's

@DeepakChopra: #CosmicConsciousness No matter what the situation there is a choice Shared via TweetCaster
There Is Never Time I don't have a choice...

I Am All

@_NealeDWalsch: You are without needs. There is nothing that you need in order to be perfectly happy. You only think that there is. Shared via TweetCaster



God has given me everything I just have to acknowledge Truth....

Just What Is It That GOD Is Saying?

@FamousWomen: Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. -Diana Robinson
God has not been hiding...God Is All. We don't hear because we choose not to. It really is that simple, for all we ask God Always say's Yes. That bears repeating...For all our requests God say's Yes. Only when we walk as One do we see it.

For when we assume to be seperate from each other we are actually trying to seperate from God...and that my dear children is impossible. Guidance on Our Journey brings us to one another and then the answer is the same...What Would Love Do Next?

Love Truly Is All There Is

On 7-17-77 A journey began that will never end for Love is Eternal.


When we are in the daily remembrance of life's journey we sometimes don't notice the perfection of each moment. In reflection of those times I receive comfort.



Throughout our life together we experienced many emotions, joys and sadness...yet love never waned. That is the experience we take on Our Eternal Journey.



I have many,many loving wonderful memories and experiences of Our life together...I also have this very moment of Patricia's presence to know that she has found the wonderment of life after life.



On any given moment she is with all of us...And that there is the beauty of Love. Our journey together never ever ends...I Love You My Lady With The Moon & Stars In Your Eyes...I always called you that and it will never end...Just Like OUR LOVE.

Please Let's Live This Way

The Color Of Friendship
Author Unknown

Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. All claimed that they were the best. The most important. The most useful. The favorite.

Green said:
"Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."

Blue interrupted:
"You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing."

Yellow chuckled:
"You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me there would be no fun."

Orange started next to blow her trumpet:
"I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and papayas. I don't hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you."

Red could stand it no longer he shouted out:
"I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood - life's blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy."

Purple rose up to his full height:
He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: "I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me! They listen and obey."

Indigo spoke, more quietly than others, but with determination:
"Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace."

And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority. Their quarreling became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the clamor, God began to speak:
"You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands.

God continued:
"From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The Rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow." And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a Rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.

Near Death Experience

Near Death Experience Research | Astral Projection