On my Facebook group page, The Alternative Christian, I conducted a three-day experiment asking participants to respond to the topics you see below. The statements represent a compilation of their answers.
My purpose for doing this is to demonstrate that this core set of values represents the basis of our understanding of all topics of a spiritual nature. For example, someone can say, “I believe in prayer.” What does that mean? How you view prayer is influenced by your understanding of these three core values. If you think of God as the old man in the sky, your understanding of prayer will be different from one who sees God as an indwelling, accessible presence. Likewise, your view of Jesus, of the Bible, of healing, of prosperity and so forth begins with this trinity of values. Understand their core values and you’ll understand why some are aggressively trying to save souls while others accept that the awakening to the inner presence of God is their salvation. You’ll understand why some are waiting for the Second Coming while others see it as an inner awakening to their own Christ potential. You’ll get why some see the Bible as God’s primary way of communicating with people, while others see the Word of God as that inner living flame of the soul.
I would recommend this exercise for anyone, to take a meditative approach to answering these three questions: What is my understanding of the nature of God? What is my understanding of the nature of the individual? What is my understanding of the relationship between God and the individual?
If you’re interested in becoming a part of The Alternative Christian, make sure you have a Facebook account then click the link and request membership in the group.
The Nature of God
God, the one power of the universe (omnipotent), is greater than all but accessible to all, organic and uniquely personal. Centered in the silent core, that holy void within every person, God is expressed through each living thing as the all-encompassing, healing energy, the pure, infinite, eternal source of unconditional life, love, power and intelligence. God is the object of all that we seek, the awe-inspiring joy, the creative life-force in whom all things live and move and have their being.
The Nature of the Individual
The individual is a unique expression of the creative life force that is God, a spiritual being expressing consciousness through a physical body, a thought in the mind of God, unlimited, free willed, endowed with the capacity to respond to God, to think, to feel, to demonstrate Christ-like love, to observe and live in God’s beauty in accordance with the divine laws of the universe.The Nature of the Relationship Between God and the Individual
The omnipresence of God, in whom we live and move and have our being, is centered in every individual as the soul. God and the individual are in an unconditional, absolute relationship of oneness. We develop our relationship to God through the practice of meditation.
J Douglas Bottorff 