Reward and Punishment?

We all know the Truth deep down because we are all from and of the Truth.  We are all, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “children of the light.” We all know the notions of “eternal punishment” and “rewarding righteousness” are fictions serving nothing more than our egos and selfish desires to be “made right,” and to instill fear in others through coercion.  That is, I suspect, why I know of almost no practicing Christians in my generation, and why so many move away from faith.  Who wants to be part of a God who condemns and is egotistical?  We get enough of that from flawed human beings.  These lies about God sicken and madden me because they do more to push people away from God than move people towards God.  And for what? For a belief?  An ideology? A notion which is a lie? The church is dying because it is promoting lies about God, and no lie can ever stand, as only the Truth endures.  The reason no institution can embrace the Truth of God is because they are too busy defending their beliefs and doctrines about God…”justifying” their “truth,” and in so doing not witnessing to Love, to Truth, to the True God.  Defense of doctrine and ideology is not the same as speaking and serving Truth.  Defense and justification of anything, including our limiting beliefs about God is again, ultimately nothing more than a defense of self.  This makes the institution’s actions not about God and Truth, but about ego and self.

The mechanism which holds the entire justification game in place is the concept of “reward and punishment.” I have always had a problem with this concept in terms of God, and learned my lessons well growing up Catholic.  I have always preferred the fact of action and consequence over reward and punishment.  While some think they are the same thing, and the terms are often used interchangeably, they are vastly different.  The difference between the two is simply this – one is centered on ego, while the other is centered on God, on Truth.  Reward and punishment is a concept built on an ego dolling out punishments or rewards based on whether or not the actions of another please or displease them.  It is completely ego-centric, is nothing more than a concept, and therefore not of God.  Action and consequence, often referred to as “karma” by many Eastern religions, is a natural law of Love, God. Action and consequence is not a concept based on the false ego like reward and punishment is.  Action and consequence is a fact.  Even if we cannot see how this natural law plays out within our limited vision on Earth, the law of karma is perfect and absolute, and the measure with which we give is the measure we get back, positive or negative.  We all reap what we sow, and this law does not require punishments and rewards measured against a standard of behavior.  Sin does indeed pay its wage, that is to say there are consequences in both embracing and not embracing God, Love.  This is vastly different from the traditional notions of “judgement” and “reward and punishment,” concepts about God created by the devil, the ego, to keep people in fear of God instead of embracing God’s essence… Love.

Instead of Love and Truth dictating our actions, we create so-called “moral standards of behavior” we call “absolute.”  Absolute Truth, being Love, which is Reality, is not the same as “absolute standards of behavior,” or “absolute morality” which is not of Truth.  “Right” and “wrong” is simply that which is either pleasing or displeasing to our egos.  Right and wrong require an absolute standard of behavior, which can only exist from the point of ego, not of Love.  Loving or non-loving action is not the same as “right” and “wrong” because right and wrong, like reward and punishment, are products of the standard-creating ego, not Love.  Standards must by definition be measured against something, and that something is always the same thing –  the self, ego, and its opinions of that which it finds pleasing or displeasing.  Some say it is God’s standard against which “right” and “wrong” are judged.  No.  For that to be, God, Truth would have to be divided, not whole, as only that which is divided creates standards, distinctions of “right” and “wrong.” God, Truth, is always whole and only our egos judge and create separation.

Loving or non-loving actions bring their perfect fruits within the law of action and consequence, not the false notion of “reward and punishment” of the ego.  The fact there are no absolute standards of morality is not “relativism” as some would say.  Relativism is simply another person’s opinion of what they call “right” and “wrong,” and is no better or worse than so-called ”religious” standards of behavior.  Both are incorrect since all standards are incorrect.  Truth, Love, God has no standards because standards are only ideas, and ideas only exist within time.  Truth, God, Love, is not of time.  Loving or non-loving actions are absolute, bringing perfect consequences, but they cannot be measured by superficial means, as some would like to be able to do so they can judge whether an action is “right” or “wrong.”  Absolutely nothing of the Truth can be manipulated, corrupted, or judged by humanity. That is the beauty of it.  Morality is just one of many crutches we have created as a poor substitute for Love, as when one is acting from a point of Love and not self, ego, one need not follow any standards of behavior since actions borne of Love bring their own loving consequences in perfect measure.

God is love, and all is love.  Love is like a fire.  And if you burn with love in your heart, you will not be consumed by the fire of love.  You will bask in God’s love, because you too are filled with that love, hence…you are in “heaven.” The consequence of burning with love in your heart is to be embraced by that same burning love, God.  Fire does not burn fire.  It burns as one flame.  This is natural law – a fact.  But if you are ice cold because you refuse love through free will, then you will experience the natural consequence of being hurt and burned in the fact of love’s eternal fire, as a vampire hates the light. We all know what happens to ice when confronted with fire.  So too will it be for those who resist love.  So, since love is the truth of all, going against that will cause pain, “hell” if you will by natural law – as the only law of life is Love – the only reality is Love, God.  Therefore the only way to heaven is to go with, not against, the only reality – Love. This is how I read the passage from John, 14:6 – “I am the way and the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  I do not read this to mean we must believe Jesus is our savior to get to heaven, but rather the only way to God is through God.  The only way to Truth is through Truth.  If read egotistically, it appears Jesus is telling us we must believe in him, the person Jesus instead of what he really meant – to follow God, as God, Jesus’ true self-proclaimed identity, is the only way to God.  Jesus himself even clarifies his identity with God several times within this same section of John, as in 14:7, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” And further from John 14:24, “These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”  God is the way, the truth, and the life.  God is ALL – the path as well as the “destination.”…… 

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