A Near Death Experience changed my understanding of my own religion. I have read the Jewish and Christian texts and can only conclude that there are two beings called 'God' in it. One is a brutal murderous being who wants an eye for an eye. He could also be called 'karma." There is not much give and take with this being. There are universal laws that state that if you give then you will get back... but I met the other being called 'God' in the Bible but she/he did not even carry that name very well because of the baggage of that name. The other 'God' is the God who is love. Everyone knows how a loving parent is to their child... is there for them... slips them a twenty even when they did nothing to deserve it.. forgets karma... and rewards us much more than we could ever imagine.... finds the least little wonderful thing about us and smiles... forgets everything we did wrong.... If we were going to the chair, she would swear we didn't do it.... To be put in the hands of the angry God of this world, who is just waiting to poke one's eye out, is not any God I want on my journey unless I am taking a beating in life and just need to clear the space in front of me to make my escape into the arms of the God who is love.

I divorced that angry God of my religion when I met my true mother/father in my NDE. When I read those ancient words of two 'Gods' of my religion today... I use them like a map of a minefield... Those words that portray God as love are safe to me... They pop out and fill my heart with remembrances of my meeting with the light. The words of unlove in my religious texts are just 'dead letters' to me that are there but not worth entering into but for knowing what to stay away from.

I know many religious people get stuck in the minefield of an angry God and it is a fierce trap that only love can draw them out of... It takes some longer than others. Some religious folks have to die to find the loving God who I met in my near death experience... Religious texts with both an angry and loving God should have a warning label... Approach with Extreme Caution! Not meant for children without loving parents or unstable adults. Loving adults should look inside first to remove dangerous content before reading it to children. 'Dead' letters should be read for their historical significance only. Reading without having love as one's guiding light could result in a miserable life of religious intolerance.

rudi