Free Teleseminar

I am pleased to announce that I will be a guest on Nancy Battye's upcoming teleseminar on Forgiveness.  The seminar takes place from October 3-14.  If you are unfamiliar with teleseminars, they are absolutely free of charge.  You can listen either by calling a telephone number or going to a website link.  All speakers will have a free 24 hour replay that you can access at any time during the replay period.  To get emails informing you of the schedule and the link to listen in, as well as to learn more about the series, please visit http://www.nancybattyementorseries-forgiveness.com/

Please forward this email to anyone you feel would be interested in learning more about the important, foundational spiritual practice of Forgiveness!

Thank You!

+Craig

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The Most Rev. Dr. Craig Bergland, EFR
www.UACMilwaukee.org - The friendliest, trendiest, most radically inclusive and welcoming spiritual experience in SE Wisconsin!

www.ChristEnlight.org - Followers of Christ in Consciousness and Principle

Check out the Christ Enlight Podcast on ITunes!

Presiding Bishop, The Universal Anglican Church - www.TheUAC.net
Bishop Craig Ministries - www.BishopCraig.com

 

October 2nd at 1pm - The Milwaukee Christ Enlight Gathering!

http://www.christenlight.org/TheMilwaukeeChristEnlightGathering/Home.dsp

A Letter from Jesus

I need to say that I have had about enough of much of the nonsense that passes for Christianity today. Clearly, I need to clear some things up.

When I said that I have many sheep who are not of this flock, that meant that I had and have sheep who were not Jewish. I was not, however, referring to Christians because there weren't any yet. What's more, I was never a Christian.

When I said many would come to sit at God's table from the east and west, north and south, once again I was not referring Christians because there weren't any yet. I meant people from all over the world, not from any particular religious perspective.

The only people I was ever critical of were religious leaders who sought to entrap people in the bonds of legalism. It had nothing to do with the fact that the Pharisees were Jewish and everything to do with their role as oppressors of the common person - people like a good number of your clergy.

I never taught salvation in the sense that contemporary Christianity teaches it, nor did I teach hell in the way that contemporary Christianity teaches it. If I told you today that everyone goes to heaven, most of your churches would have nothing to talk about.

I did teach social justice and a preferential option for the poor. Get over it and start living it.

I never directed anybody to judge anybody else. Stop it.

When I said you must be born again, I was not referring to a sinner's prayer or any of the nonsense that you people are doing. I was talking about conversion and renewal of life, not ratification of your pre-existing prejudices.

To be quite honest, I don't think you'll pay attention to this letter. You'll find a way to twist yourself out of its requirements just as you do the scriptures.

I still love you.

Jesus

Keeping the Baby but Changing the Bath Water

Most of you have probably heard the old expression, "throwing the baby out with the bath water." It's often an apt phrase, and many a reform movement in many a field of human endeavor has done precisely that - managed to eliminate the good while attempting to get rid of the obsolete. In fact, every now and then, it seems like a reform movement only manages to get rid of the good while keeping the obsolete. More often, the latest and greatest revision that is sure to revolutionize a field of endeavor turns out to be something of a fizzle that never catches on completely. Baseball fans will remember the advent of the designated hitter that was to be tried in the American League and eventually implemented in the National League, too. We're still waiting for that day, and many of us hope that day never comes. Fashion trends are an even better example. Who among us over fifty years old didn't believe that the leisure suit was going to revolutionize men's fashion forever in the 1970s? What about the Yugo GV automobile, imported from then Yugoslavia in the 1980s? I was the proud owner of a Yugo GV for the non-negotiable sticker price of $3995. The GV stood for "Good Value," which the Yugo clearly wasn't and the car was only imported for a few years.

Christianity is in the midst of a great reform, and Christ Enlight is a part of that reform. That having been said, we aren't prepared to throw Jesus out with the bath water. We are merely saying that we haven't understood Jesus, or the Christ, correctly and any claim of religious supremacy - regardless of who is making the claim - is simply wrong. I still consider myself very much a Christian, even as I also appreciate the teachings of the Buddha, and Krishna, and Lao Tzu, and a host of others. When, as Presiding Bishop of The Universal Anglican Church, I have the privilege of consecrating two new bishops and ordaining several new priests - and, who knows, maybe a deacon - this Fall at our General Assembly I will be ordaining Christian clergy, even as our understanding of what it means to be a Christian clergy person may be very different from the mainline, institutional definition.

Theologian Jaroslav Pelikan said that there was a difference between tradition and traditionalism. Tradition, he said, is the living faith of dead people. Traditionalism, he said, is the dead faith of living people. I am a big believer in tradition, but for it to be alive it has to grow and evolve. For tradition to be alive we have to be open to new understandings of who Jesus was and who the Christ is and was. I would hasten to add that the latter is much more important than the former, and that all of the effort of some scholars to define the historical Jesus has entirely missed the point that it is the Christ that impacted people since long before Jesus was born and will continue to impact people long after you and I have transitioned. When we start insisting that the understandings of yesterday are the only permissible understandings for today and all of eternity we move firmly into the camp of traditionalism - the dead faith of the living!

So I am a Christian not in the sense of a sinner's prayer praying traditionalist, but in the sense of one who has been - and continues to be - impacted by the Christ. I see that Christ having been incarnate repeatedly throughout history, some times more visibly than others. It doesn't make me disloyal to the Christ (the Anointed One) to say that I believe that Krishna was a Christ, Moses was a Christ, Buddha was a Christ, Elijah was a Christ, St. Theresa was a Christ, St. Catherine of Siena was a Christ, Muhammad was a Christ, Dorothy Day was a Christ, Mother Theresa was a Christ, Dr. King was a Christ, and many more. Mind you, I am not saying they were Jesus the man, but I am saying that the same Spirit which lived in Jesus lived in these great men and women as well. Authentic Christianity has nothing to do with what the late George Carlin called arguing about whose God has a bigger penis, and everything to do with seeking the divinity that dwells within each of us waiting to be discovered and uncovered!

It is only by being open to new discoveries and new understandings that we can hope to have a faith and a spirituality that is honest and able to speak to our day. The July 2011 issue of National Geographic has a fascinating article about a religious Temple that archaeologists have uncovered that may pre-date humanity living in cities or towns. The implications of this discovery are staggering in that this Temple pre-dates the pyramids, the development of the wheel, and the ability to forge metal, but has smooth stone pillars with carvings of animals on then. How does one accomplish that without metal? I mention that article because it is evidence of how motivated human beings are by their spirituality, and how much potential people that are so motivated have to achieve what would seem otherwise impossible. I find my spirituality equally motivating and equally important.

There will always be those who will call people on the leading edge of reform movements heretics. If you want to call me a heretic, that's fine with me - I am far too busy communicating the truths that I have discovered through Spirit to be worried about people calling me names. I understand the fear that accompanies letting go of our usual way of looking at things and so entertaining change, but having looked around the corner into the future I simply cannot turn back. What I've seen around that corner is the Christ waving me on. I'm taking Jesus with me, too.

God "Out There"?

The notion that God isn't "out there" somewhere, but rather dwells in and among what I call the created order isn't a new idea, despite the fact that it may seem very new to many within the confines of institutional Christianity. In fact, the idea that God is not removed from humanity is at least as old as the New Testament. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God was among humanity. He also said that he was in God and God was in him - and that he was in his disciples and his disciples in him, which meant that God was in Jesus' disciples and his disciples were in God. Institutional Christianity has never been comfortable with those ideas, most likely because it has recognized that if people really came to understand that they could access God without the need for the Church then the Church would lose it's ability to control and manipulate the masses.

The notion of God dwelling within rather than far away is known as panentheism, or the notion that God is in everything, which is different from pantheism which says everything is God. In the middle of the last century theologians like Paul Tillich were writing that God is the Ground of All Being. The Church continued to teach that God was "out there," floating beyond the clouds - even after both the Soviet and American space programs had been "out there" and found no trace of God. Can there be any question why people began to find the Church less and less relevant to their experience?

Even more damaging, institutional religion in all its forms continues to insist that their particular brand of religion is the only true religion, that members of other religions must be converted at any cost, and that those who refuse to be converted must either be ostracized or eliminated because they belong to a mythological character called the devil. Of course, different religions have different names for the devil, but the fiction of the devil is perhaps even more common and celebrated in religious traditions that the truth of a God is! The vast majority of the wars of history have had as at least a contributing cause, if not the primary cause, religion - this despite the fact that no honest reading of any major religion can justify such actions.

The truth is that the major problem confronting humanity in the west today - perhaps the only authentic "original sin" - is selfishness. Selfishness causes us to be willing to get ahead by stepping on the backs of others - killing them, if necessary - so that we might climb one rung up on the ladder of success. Statements and teachings encouraging mutual understanding and compassion are mocked, and people are more than ready to come up with the most absurd justifications for ignoring the moral imperative present in every religious tradition to care for those less fortunate than ourselves. We have retreated to a tribalism that is even more potentially destructive than the tribalism that led the Hebrew people to rape and pillage their was into the land of Canaan - more destructive because our journey through the wilderness into the promised land is one we make carrying nuclear weapons. There's no little irony that the religious voices that support such tribalism are the very voices which claim to be loyal to God by being loyal to a book, which is not unlike being loyal to your auto mechanic by declaring the yellow pages to be infallible and inerrant.

I believe the time has come when we simply need to step away from the debates in which conservative, institutional, religious voices would seek to engage us. If you see the Bible in a way that massively distorts its meaning and intention then we have nothing to discuss. The world is moving forward, and responsible spiritual leaders must be lifted up to teach the important lessons of compassion, service, love, and the interconnectedness of everything, because such spiritual lessons are essential to our survival as a planet. There will always be those who seek to side track this important work by wanting to debate "biblical truths" such as Psalm 75:3, which says the Earth is flat and supported by four pillars. I leave them to their arguments and certainly honor their right to waste their time with a pre-scientific world view if that is what blows their skirts back. What I am no longer willing to do is waste my time debating such nonsense, because there is much to be accomplished that is a far better use of my time, energy, and talents.

The truth is that God does love all people. How can I be so sure? I am so sure of that truth because God dwells in all people, and a self-loathing God would be no God at all. God also loves all things for the same reason, which means that we have a responsibility toward our environment that is a spiritual responsibility and a spiritual imperative. Because God dwells in everything and everybody we have an obligation to ensure that human beings everywhere have enough to eat, a proper education, adequate clothing and shelter, and adequate medical care. If that means that those of us privileged to live in the wealthy west need to make due with less, then so be it. One simply cannot watch another living creature suffer and not take action while at the same time claiming with any truth or validity to be a spiritual or religious person. If anybody wonders how to fund this, the answer is clear - cut defense spending.

We live in a world in which most of humanity has allowed politicians and the defense industry to create a climate of fear so that they can manipulate and control humanity. How ironic is it that those are the same tactics used by institutional religion toward the same end? We have the ability to feed the world. What sane person is going to attack the system that feeds them? We can also provide medical care and adequate shelter to the world. All that is required is the decision to do so and the courage to carry it out. Those who resist such efforts must be honest and admit that they are simply to selfish to try. There would be some integrity in that honesty, if not in the decision to fail to act.

It isn't hard. It doesn't require complicated theologies. It merely requires an honest assessment of who God is and where God is, followed by the courage to act on the knowledge gained. Will we have the courage?

A Letter from a Biblical Literalist, and My Reply

I received this correspondence today from someone who objects to my position that there is no hell. I have corrected most of the spelling errors, which were plentiful not because the person isn't intelligent but rather because of the passion with which they wrote. The letter I received is in italics, my response is in regular font.

Bishop Craig I am not a theologian all I know is that I have a relationship with Jesus Christ through the cross. All I believe that God’s word is the truth the bible is God’s word if I didnt believe in it or the creation then what good or use is the word of God. Jesus says I am the way the truth and life no man can come to the father except by me.

Adam and Eve were made with free will they disobeyed God and that way man was born into sin. Man has always tried to get right with God who is Holy and can’t stand sin by scarificing animals Abraham would have sacrificed Issac but God said no at the last minute but instead as a total atonement for sin God scarficed Jesus who is the Son of God and sinleess. HE took our place on the cross so we didn’t don’t have to face eternal damanation the wrath of God. if we accept this and ask for forgines and acknowlege Jesus took all our sin and pain and shame on the cross and ask to go his way and turn 180 round from our ways and ackowledge Jesus conquered hell and that he rose again on the thrid day we have hope the promise of eternal life and are raised into new creations.

We are either for God or we arent for God if not we face hell
A horrible terrible place. To enter God’s house he asks us to give our lived to him and change from our sinful ways and ask for forgivnees. Would you want a murdere in your house or a theif or someone you didnt like that spoat at you and called you names NO so why should God allow everyone in his house?

God is ligth hell is dark, Jesus brings living water the enemy bring death and no water but thurst and fear and everything oposite to God. If Jesus died on the cross it was for something if not to save u from Gods wrath what else did he have to die for?
zacheriah 9 v 11
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Lev 17 v11International Version (©1984)
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. in hell there is no blood so you are in pain constantly
Job 13 v 6
Judges 16 v 7
Isaiah 14 v 10
Job 7 v 14

there is a place called hell and heaven and we must remembte that if you died tonoght where would you be going do you know Jesus do youn have a rtealtionship with him. Can you call him saviour have you repented and gone Jesus way If you think theres no hell then you are wrong its through Jesus going to the cross we are sanctfied saved and unless people beieve they will go to Hell

Dear _______,

I didn't realize you were Jewish. Every one of your citations is from the Hebrew Scriptures, which you apparently find carry more weight than Jesus does, despite your claim of love for Jesus. Curious. Since you quote Leviticus, I wonder if you are wearing clothes made of blended fabrics right now or if you have a garden in which you plant two different plants (LV 19:19), for if you do, you are sinning. When you have a sore on your skin, do you present yourself to the priest so that he can sacrifice two live birds on your behalf (LV 13)? Has it been your constant practice to, during your monthly period, not allow anyone to have any contact with you - even shaking hands - and to have anyone who touches anything you have touched during this time immediately bathe (LV 15:20-27)? Eight days after your monthly period, have you always taken two young pidgeons to the priest so he can sacrifice them on your behalf (LV 15:28-30)? When you have found mildew in your home, have you gone to the priest and informed him as required in LV 14:33-53, and did he purify the house with the blood of a dead bird?

My point is this. You claim to be completely compliant with the "word of God." There are two problems with that assertion. The first is that the Bible is not the word of God (cf: John 1:1), Christ (not Jesus) is the Word of God. The Word was with God in the beginning, which means that Word is Christ, since neither Jesus nor the Bible came onto the scene for many years. The second problem is that we can use the Bible to prove anything. If, as you suggest, the Bible must be followed completely and in its entirety, then you are in violation of several Levitical prohibitions that I listed above, and I didn't even get to eating pork or shell fish. The punishment for these things is, by contemporary standards, barbaric - but if we are compelled to follow everything the Bible says then we are most likely going to have to isolate you from the community and, quite possibly, stone you to death. Do you believe the Earth is flat and supported on four pillars? If not, you are rejecting Psalm 75:3. Those pictures from space simply must be wrong. Your argument fails because its method is faulty. If you have children, when they disobeyed you did you stone them to death? I hope so, because the Law requires it and you are a biblical literalist.

I would encourage you to read the Gospels again, leaving behind as best you can the doctrine and dogma you find there. Jesus said the entire Law and Prophets, which means the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures, hangs on two Laws: Love God with all your heart, and Love your neighbor as yourself. I believe it's reasonable to assume God finds these two Laws good. Please tell me how it's loving to place someone in a customized torture chamber for all of eternity. Adolph Hitler burned six million Jews until they were dead, but couldn't hurt them once they were dead - yet some would have us believe God is torturing people from death throughout eternity, making God a bigger despot than Hitler! Can you reconcile that with the God of your experience?

Genesis tells us that God created everything that is. It does not say that on the first day, God created a part supply house. Therefore God created everything out of God's own self. Would God cast a part of Himself into hell? How could that be?

There is no hell. Jewish thought didn't contain a heaven or a hell. Hell was a later addition by Greek philosophy. In Jewish thought, everyone went to Sheol when they died. Sheol was more or less a state of limbo. After Israel was conquered and taken into captivity, they started believing in an afterlife - what you and I might call heaven - but still there was no hell. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of heaven is among us, is on earth, is right now - and never taught an eternal hell. These things are perversions of the biblical record, yet many use the Bible to try to prove that hell exists.

Don't take the word of your priest, or your doctrine, or even me. Read the Gospels, really read them. Read Jesus through your own eyes, over and over. Don't use Paul to interpret Jesus, use Jesus to interpret Paul - after all, Jesus is Lord, not Paul. You will see the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Much love!

+Craig

Tragedy in Norway

Over this past weekend, a self proclaimed Christian Supremacist Fundamentalist carried out two acts of terrorism against the people of Norway, resulting in the deaths of dozens of people. Many of the victims were children, whom the terrorist shot in a cold blooded attack on a youth camp. The motivation for the attack? The confessed attacker is a Christian who hopes to start a civil war in Europe to stop multiculturalism. He says he is a member of The Knights of Malta, an organization that was active during the Crusades and the purpose of which was to rid the Holy Land of Muslims. Whether he is clinically psychologically disturbed we do not know. What we do know is that he clearly was influenced by the teachings of small minded bigots like John Hagee and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, whose anti-Muslim rhetoric - allegedly in the name of Christianity - continues unchallenged in many corners of America, particularly Christian Fundamentalist corners.

While many would say the problem is extremism on both the left and the right, the truth is that in contemporary America there is very little leftist extremism in the eyes of anyone who is not a disciple of Fox News [sic]. The current trend not just in America, but also in the Global South thanks to American Fundamentalist influence, is Christian Fundamentalist extremism. The fact is, you would be hard pressed to find an extremist socialist (a far left extremist) getting much attention in America. It is regrettable the same can't be said of Christian Fundamentalist Extremists.

Fundamentalism began as a statement of five fundamentals of Christian faith, considered as essential in order to achieve salvation. They are:

1. The Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8-9).
2. The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:27).
3. The Blood Atonement (Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25, 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:12-14).
4. The Bodily Resurrection (Luke 24:36-46; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 15:14-15).
5. The inerrancy of the scriptures themselves (Psalms 12:6-7; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20).

Now there isn't anything wrong per se with those five things - although, if I am going to be honest I must tell you that - at least in the way fundamentalists hold those five things - I don't believe in any of them. Sure, I believe Jesus was and is Divine, but I believe you and I are as well, which puts me outside the fundamentalist meaning of the first fundamental. Interestingly, and as an aside, the passages cited very often to not prove the "fundamental" they are cited to prove, most especially number five. If you don't believe me, check them out.

But I digress. There isn't anything wrong with the Fundamentals. The problem lies in the next two steps fundamentalists take. The first is: "And those who disagree with any of the above doctrines are not Christians at all. Rather, they are the true heretics." On the most simplistic level, we need to ask ourselves two questions about that statement. The first is, "who cares?" The second is, "When did God die and make you the arbiter of what is and is not acceptable faith?" After all, the evidence is clear that neither God nor Jesus were ever Christians. Are they heretics, too? In fact, Jesus denied his own Divinity in scripture - is he in hell, too? Even characterizing most of the world as heretics would be relatively harmless if it weren't for the fact that fundamentalists of every stripe take it upon themselves to ensure the orthodoxy of others and to work to either change or, failing change, eliminate those who do not believe as they do. Again, the question arises, "Who died and left you in charge?"

After Norway, we see that the problem isn't Islamic Fundamentalists. The problem is Fundamentalism, period, if it is the basis for a world view or a political stance. Conservative religious forces are very interested in theocracy, and we saw this past weekend exactly what could happen were they allowed to implement such a theocracy. Fundamentalism in all its forms is intolerant of free thought, intolerant of open discussion and questioning, based in the fear in the hearts and minds of its adherents, and failing conversion, seeks to influence and control the world through violent tactics designed to instill fear in others. When I am afraid, I will be tempted by the certainty that Fundamentalism pretends to offer.

I'm not proposing we outlaw Fundamentalism. We do, however, need to speak out loud and clear against any voice which preaches hatred in the name of religion. We need to speak out loud and clear against any voice which claims that there is only one true religion. We need to speak out loud and clear against anyone who claims to be speaking for God, unless they are speaking on behalf of their own divinity and allowing every other person to do the same. We can no longer remain silent, because the threat is real and coming not from somewhere overseas. The threat is right here at home.

Progressive voices tend to be overly concerned with being "polite" and "kind." While those things are certainly good qualities, very often they are synonyms for maintaining a superficial relationship to the things one knows is right. This is no time to be politically correct, no time to be more concerned for our own social safety than for the lives of the children who died in Norway. We must stand up on behalf of innocents everywhere.

Turn Off Your Porch Light for Caylee

I make no judgment about the guilt or innocence of Casey Anthony. The court has rendered its verdict, and in the American system of jurisprudence that means, legally at least, she is no guilty. I'd like instead to examine the reaction of the public. Are you upset about the verdict in the Casey Anthony case? Obviously, many people are upset and there have been a number of postings made and groups forming on all sort of social media and other websites. The one that got my attention, and about which I have resisted commenting but can no longer hold my tongue, is the well meaning "turn your front porch light on for Caylee Anthony so she can look down from heaven and tell you care." It's the kind of thing we do when we feel helpless - we come up with some meaningless act that accomplishes nothing so we can feel as if we aren't quite as helpless. May I suggest a better alternative?

Caylee Anthony is not floating on the clouds looking down at the earth checking for porch lights. She has been reunited with God and so sees our intentions and concerns without our increasing our electric bills. I believe that campaigns such as porch light campaigns create the illusion that we are doing something to help the situation - an illusion that is not borne out in fact.

If you want to "help" Caylee Anthony, turn off your porch light. Contribute the money you save to a local domestic violence shelter. They will do more to help prevent cases like this from happening again, whereas the electric company will just pocket the money and increase your rates due to an increased demand for electricity. But the ways to help go way beyond throwing a few dollars at a local shelter.

If you really want to help, then you need to fight for universal health care including full mental health benefits so that people who feel the need to kill children can get affordable help before they act on those needs.

If you really want to help, then you need to fight for full funding of all family planning and birth control services, including Planned Parenthood, so that people who have some sense that they may not be good parents can ensure that they don't become parents.

If you really want to help, you really need to fight for full funding of Child Protective Services in your town and around the world, so that when children are at risk there are enough appropriately trained individuals waiting to respond before the situation gets out of control and lives are lost.

If you really want to help, you need to fight for economic justice for all people so that nobody has to try to parent without the added stress of wondering how to feed and clothe their child.

If your really want to help, you need to fight for fully funded pre- and post-natal care for mother and child, so that mothers who suffer psychologically or psychiatrically can get the help they need.

Finally, if you really want to help, get yourself to a local shelter and volunteer so that you can understand first hand what the effects of violence, abandonment, and other tragedies are on the people who suffer from them. I promise that you will not be the same after doing so. I also promise you that you will see funding the safety net in a whole new way.

The ironic thing about this situation is that many will feel very good about turning their porch light on and then continue to work against funding the programs that would actually make a difference. That's the danger in well meaning campaigns such at the porch light idea - you can fool yourself into thinking you are making a difference without really changing anything at all. Caylee isn't watching from just beyond the clouds in some mythological heaven, but in her current state of union with everything she is well aware of your heart. If you want to show her something, show her some sincerity. If you're not sincere, all that's burning on your porch is a hypocrite light.