Dear brothers and sisters,

Someone asked me how do i reconcile my relationship with my spiritual teacher (Sri Pranananda) with the Bible which warns against idol worship and false gods.

The following was my answer (revealed in prayerful meditation) which i feel to share with you.

Love,
James

* GOD EXISTED BILLIONS OF YEARS BEFORE ANY RELIGION *

Consider...

A rare visitor from the outside world gave a radio to the witch doctor of a very isolated and primitive village that had never experienced modern technology. The witch doctor was awed and used the radio to bewitch his tribe. He shared and embellished the miracle to cement his power and authority over his tribe who would huddle around and listen in awe to the music and incomprehensible words that emitted from the radio. With his careful nurturing, everyone worshipped the radio idol and believed his interpretations and doctrine. Eventually, when the batteries failed, the witch doctor spun a yarn to the tribe that their disobedience was to blame, and that they must strive even more to obey him or the blessings of good crops and regular rains would cease. The innocuous radio had become a tool of a self-seeking religious leader.

Now let us turn the clock back two thousand years...

In another primitive society, God spoke through Jesus and those present were awed. The most inspired received special training and took it upon themselves to share the wisdom of this sage and the miraculous that happened around him. The stories were passed by word of mouth for a few hundred years, and were gradually transferred to written scripture. An organisation called the Christian Church was founded and assumed the task of collecting and collating the teachings into a compact and consistent record which became known as the Bible. In this process, much scripture about Jesus was rejected. Ever since, the Bible has been used as a tool for preaching the popular interpretations of the church leaders of the times. Gradually, the wisdom that Jesus taught has been transferred to second place behind Biblical doctrine, and Jesus has become even more revered by Christians than the One Universal God he represented. Jesus, an instrument of God, was idolized more than the omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite power, love, and wisdom of the One God. And, most sadly, in the interests of church growth, elitism was fostered resulting in the unwarranted denigration of many other great sages of God (the very opposite to Jesus' teaching of the brotherhood and equality of man.)

CURRENT TIMES..

A redirection of all religions is thus needed so God might think, "How can I teach humankind to worship Me and not my instruments?" He might think of an analogous solution: Create many telephones of all kinds, some small, some white, some black, some with wires, some wireless, some with pretty flashy features, some very plain, then let God's voice speak through each. Perhaps then people would worship the Being behind the instrument, and not the largely irrelevant piece of plastic, metal and silicon chips.

In practice, God's question to Himself might have been, "How do we teach humankind to worship Me and not the bags of bones and muscle of My messengers?" One answer may be to presence Himself to create many spiritual Masters of all kinds, some small, some white, some black, some male, some female, some like beggars, some like film stars, some next door, some from distant countries, and some very ordinary, then let God's voice speak through each. Perhaps then we primitives would worship the One Being behind the instruments, and not the largely irrelevant pieces of flesh and bone.

Thus I believe the Second Coming includes a purpose of ridding people of religious illusions, and to worship the One God, not the flesh or religious figureheads.

Thus I believe the Second Coming utilises men and women much like you or me, or the married man in the street with a strange name and who wears glasses. This could be a mechanism to end all religious intolerance and re-establish the focus on the principles of unselfish love, tolerance, kindness, and worthy service.

Love,

James Fricker, 14 Jun 2006