We Need to Forgive God
Yes, you read that title correctly. I didn’t say that God forgives us, which is certainly the case as God is unconditional love and forgiveness, but that we should forgive God.
For we have laid our “sins” upon God. From our ignorance, error, and fear, we have created Him in our image, not the truth that we were created in His image. We have misrepresented Him, put Him in a box when He is unlimited and undefinable, and created all kinds of dogma, creeds, and rules around Him. We have used Him to justify our biases and judgments, believing that He could favor one group of His children over another, even killing in His name. He is not controversial, nor does He take sides, but we have made Him appear that way.
Organized western religion has introduced many to the concept of God, which has been of great benefit, but it has also done us a disservice by saying that God is only certain things, this or that, even that God is male because religion is patriarchally based. I use “Him” as I have to use some pronoun, but God is not male or female. He is Spirit, and we are as well. We are made in His image, and when we are in balance, we are reflecting a perfect mix of feminine and masculine attributes.
Are you aware that science has now shown that the universe is only one unified field of intelligent consciousness consisting of vibrating energy? What we “see” is an appearance. Nothing is separate. When we say that God is One, science and spiritual truth have now merged. And this means that we are not separate from this field or from God. God is expressing through and as each of us. He is not a deity in some faraway place called heaven. Jesus told us the Kingdom of God is right here, right now, and we only need to look within ourselves. Socrates said, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
Jesus also told us that God is Love. This is not a human love that is based on conditions — say or do a certain thing and God will love you. Unconditional means without conditions. Regardless of what we say, think, or do, God will love us as we are His most holy children that He created to reflect His love.
And we each long for that love, even if we don’t have a relationship with or even believe in God. God is like the elephant in the room that many people are trying to ignore. Because we are trying to cut off or suppress part of our very essence, we become strongly ego-based, which has many negative consequences. Among them are blame and hatred, fear, anger and depression; as well as addictions — to money, power, control, substances/food/technology, and even acting like a victim.
A large majority of us fear God. We especially fear what will happen at death as we unconsciously believe we will be punished for our “sins.” Again, this is the case even if someone professes no belief in God. We are part of a collective in western society that believes in sin and punishment. But what if our time here on Earth was meant to be like a school, where we are to learn and to remember who we are as divine beings? We are actors in a play, but we have to awaken to the fact that it is a play and it is not our fundamental reality. We are not the roles we play.
When we do this, we no longer fear God and His “wrath.” We welcome His love, for this gives us the greatest joy and peace. It allows us to find our gifts so that we can be of service to the world. And we all know that the world badly needs people to step up and be beacons of love and compassion.
We need to forgive God, and in so doing, we forgive ourselves. The two actions are one and the same. Most of us are so hard on ourselves, but many don’t recognize this. We condemn ourselves for what we see as our “sins” when God doesn’t see it that way.
We have each been conditioned in our childhood and by society with a set of false beliefs that no longer serve us, and our task is to recognize these false beliefs and release them. We do this by watching our reactions, such as anger and blaming others, and then asking ourselves what the belief is behind the reaction. And when we release what is false, only the true remains, which is God.
Throughout this process we need to have great compassion for ourselves. When we do this, we will also have great compassion for others — because we have been projecting our self-judgment as the judgment of others. Compassion is a high form of Love, and when we operate from this space, we are truly being G.I.A. — God In Action.
God is the only reality, regardless of how much we attempt to ignore or deny it. Gandhi stated this precisely when he said, “God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.” Isn’t it worth giving God a try? Are you in fear? Is your life all roses? What about the state of the world? Can you recognize how you may have been conditioned in a way that turned you off from God? Maybe religion turned you away. Maybe you blamed Him for a loved one dying. Can we understand that maybe we don’t have a large enough perspective and we need to give God another try? St. Augustine said: “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance, to see Him the greatest adventure, to find Him the greatest human achievement.”
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Lawrence Doochin is an author, entrepreneur, and devoted husband and father. A survivor of harrowing childhood sexual abuse, he traveled a long journey of emotional and spiritual healing and developed an in-depth understanding of how our beliefs create our reality. In the business world, he has worked for or been associated with enterprises from small startups to multinational corporations. He is the cofounder of HUSO sound therapy, which delivers powerful healing benefits to individuals and professionals worldwide. In everything Lawrence does, he strives to serve a higher good. His new book is A Book on Fear: Feeling Safe in a Challenging World. Learn more at lawrencedoochin.com.
