Ayman al Jawahri who is Osama bin Laden's deputy said in a video
broadcast that the US and other Western nations would not live in
peace until they withdraw their troops from Iraq and other Muslim
countries, God willing! Who is this God who is on the side of the
Muslims but is also claimed by the US to be on their side. Who
is `right'? Which side is God on? Is God on one side or the other;
is God on neither side or maybe on both sides? As long as each side
holds the basic belief that God is on their side, each will feel
they have the moral authority to perpetrate their particular brand
of violence in God's name.
Have we got God all wrong?
We are taught that God is somewhere up there, separate from us. We
are taught that God will judge us, that God condones violence – at
least that is what is stated in religious scriptures, that God is
someone we should fear. We are taught that we must `go' to God in
the right way, through our religious leaders, of and of course it
must be the `right' religion. We are also taught that we should
behave the way God wants us to behave and if we don't do all these
things the way God wants us to, God will get angry and will punish
us by sending us to hell. I recently heard a broadcast on one of the
God channels, a preacher at the Keswick Convention in London making
the following statements.
"God is separate from his creation and worshiping his creation is
idolatry".
"We are made in his image and likeness, therefore God looks like
us".
"Murder is destroying God's image. One day we will have to pay for
removing the death penalty".
Is this the God of unconditional love? If we believe that God does
these things or condones the actions of those who do so in his name,
where does that stop? Our parents, teachers and religious leaders
have told us exactly what God wants. For thousands of years
humanity has been trying to do what God wants and where has it got
us. How can this all- powerful and all knowing God tell us what he
wants, give us free will to do it but when we don't do what God
wants- will punish us? Which religious creed do we follow, which is
the `right' one to do God's will? As long as we believe that God is
separate from us, we will continue to treat each other in the same
old way.

What if there is another way? What if we consider the possibility
that God is not separate from us but is within us, an actual part of
us and never apart from us. That changes the whole ball game, for if
God is within us and as God created each one of us, then we are in
God and God is in us and we are one with each other. If we consider
the possibility that the image that much of humanity has projected
onto God as a super powerful version of a human being is not the
case - the implications are enormous. Could we consider that God is
divine spirit and we were created in God's image and likeness and
are also spirit, that we are not our bodies but the triune that God
is- mind, body and spirit or soul. Could we consider the possibility
that we are one with God and all of God's creation, that we are one
with God, one with each other and one with our environment. What a
difference that would make! Are you willing to at least consider the
possibility that we do not know all there is to know about God and
about life, the knowing of which could change everything?

A group called Humanity's Team was set up spontaneously as a result
of the inspirational and life- changing messages in a series of
books called `Conversations with God' by Neale Donald Walsch. Ours
is not a better way but another way that I believe will be the basis
of the New Spirituality Revival in Wales and across the world. How
do you feel about this, what is your heart telling you. If you feel
the connection, please contact:
Angela Evans –Humanity's Team, South Wales - amevans@... or
www.humanitysteam.org.uk