I am still afraid. You would think that my Yahweh is just Zeus, tossing lightning bolts at anybody who disagrees with him. I need more faith. Yahweh is not Zeus. We are not the ancient Greeks. Are we? Why am I afraid? God has told me repeatedly over the years just how much He loves me. Somehow I have always had enough food, even when there was no money. Somehow I had just enough money--a miraculous insurance check would arrive unexpectedly, when I had no money to pay the light bill. Why am I afraid of a God who would treat me with such tenderness? Yahweh is not Zeus. He loves us all, and we are not His toys. We are His people.
I came out of the closet today, if you will pardon the phrasing, to my Sunday School class. I told them of Meyers' book and of the profound and troubling effect it has had on my relationship with Jesus. (Notice I do not say Christ.)To say the least, their response surprised me greatly. They were supportive and kind, and reminded me how I have always told them that we are all God's children and He will have us all in heaven, whether Jew or Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, or whatever our personal leanings may be. They reminded me that what I have always said to be important about Jesus is what he did for this world while he was here, not how he died, except perhaps as an example of ultimate dedication to one's cause. He believed that helping people and loving people was the most important service that one could render to God. At the end of the day, we all fail if anyone is going hungry.
Talk about proud. I felt like a mother that had raised her kids to be exactly the people she knew they were capable of becoming. It was an amazing feeling. One woman even suggested that perhaps my faith had become too comfortable, too complacent, and that God had decided it was time to shake things up in order to make me think. Maybe I am exercising my faith by examining it. After all, I still believe in Jesus as a leader, I still have tremendous respect for him, and he still guides me into all truth, just as he always did.
