The Limited Value of Theology
There’s a woman who is a customer of mine in my house cleaning business who I have known for over a decade. I see her almost every week. We remain only acquaintances because she is devoutly LDS (Mormon) and I am a lesbian. She is friendly to me, but only asks general questions about my personal life, and never asks about my life-partner. I know she is uncomfortable with my homosexuality, and while I am always honest and never hold back, I do not bring up my life-partner unless she or someone with us has touched on a topic that makes it natural for me to mention Courtney. While our spiritual beliefs vary greatly and are in some areas diametrically opposed, I respect her consistency. She lives what she believes. She is not a hypocrite.
This woman is respected, even revered, in the LDS Church here. She is a teacher in her Church and is often called upon to speak at LDS gatherings. Her specialty seems to be morality and she has a deep belief in right and wrong. Her Church teaches that one’s conduct in the world is important to their afterlife. It is obvious that she believes in a very different God than I do! But the thing is I have seen the Holy Spirit working in her and through her. I sense a quiet stillness within her and I have no doubt she has a real relationship with God. I identify with her as a teacher of God. She and I are the same.
One of the reasons I learned to emphasize experiencing God over clinging to an intellectual understanding of any theology (belief system about God) is because of my relationship with this woman. Clearly I see how God works in her despite a belief system that is so opposed to what I have learned and teach. What use is theology, I wondered, if we both arrived at the same experience through contradicting theologies? It can only be that the real use for theology is to open our minds to the experience of God, or perhaps to give us a context in which to think about God.
As the course emphasizes, you are not free to choose the curriculum, or even the form in which you will learn it. You are free, however, to decide when you want to learn it. (M-2.3)
What ideas open one mind may close another mind. But if you are following the Holy Spirit the ultimate lesson will be the same no matter what form it takes. There is no use in judging another’s path to God. The Goal is the same, after all, so what does it matter how we get there when how we get there is an illusion anyway? You don’t have to cling too hard to A Course in Miracles’ theology, because it is just the Holy Spirit’s tool to open you to God and to help you overcome your fear of approaching God directly. Always, always, the experience of God is what transforms you, not some intellectual idea you may have about God.
We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not the means we use. We wait for the experience, and recognize that it is only here conviction lies. (W-rV.in.12)
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Receive this bi-weekly blog directly in your email by contacting Liz@acimmentor.com.
Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students.
This woman is respected, even revered, in the LDS Church here. She is a teacher in her Church and is often called upon to speak at LDS gatherings. Her specialty seems to be morality and she has a deep belief in right and wrong. Her Church teaches that one’s conduct in the world is important to their afterlife. It is obvious that she believes in a very different God than I do! But the thing is I have seen the Holy Spirit working in her and through her. I sense a quiet stillness within her and I have no doubt she has a real relationship with God. I identify with her as a teacher of God. She and I are the same.
One of the reasons I learned to emphasize experiencing God over clinging to an intellectual understanding of any theology (belief system about God) is because of my relationship with this woman. Clearly I see how God works in her despite a belief system that is so opposed to what I have learned and teach. What use is theology, I wondered, if we both arrived at the same experience through contradicting theologies? It can only be that the real use for theology is to open our minds to the experience of God, or perhaps to give us a context in which to think about God.
As the course emphasizes, you are not free to choose the curriculum, or even the form in which you will learn it. You are free, however, to decide when you want to learn it. (M-2.3)
What ideas open one mind may close another mind. But if you are following the Holy Spirit the ultimate lesson will be the same no matter what form it takes. There is no use in judging another’s path to God. The Goal is the same, after all, so what does it matter how we get there when how we get there is an illusion anyway? You don’t have to cling too hard to A Course in Miracles’ theology, because it is just the Holy Spirit’s tool to open you to God and to help you overcome your fear of approaching God directly. Always, always, the experience of God is what transforms you, not some intellectual idea you may have about God.
We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not the means we use. We wait for the experience, and recognize that it is only here conviction lies. (W-rV.in.12)
>>>>
Receive this bi-weekly blog directly in your email by contacting Liz@acimmentor.com.
Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students.
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