Nueva had begun running up against some difficult questions that her long-held ideas were unable to answer adequately. This set her on a journey that challenged conventional beliefs.

 

She struggled with the discovery process because she was seeing things that contradicted much of what she had always believed. She read books, sought advice, and prayed. The answers she was finding caused her feel like her head was spinning. Her old world was crashing down, but she slowly began to see a new one emerge.

 

In time, Nueva reconstructed a way of understanding the story of her faith. She didn’t scrap the writings that she had always found sacred. Instead, she read them in a different light, and this new way of seeing things changed Nueva. She had become less dogmatic, yet more confident in her relationship with God, herself, and her place in the world.

 

Gastada knew that Nueva was going through a change, and she didn’t like it one bit. She didn’t know precisely what Nueva thought or why she thought it. She could tell, though, that Nueva was seeing things differently than she had in the past.

 

Gastada grew afraid for her dear friend. She couldn’t understand how Nueva could leave the old paths and question everything that had been settled so long ago. Gastada wondered, “Does Nueva think that she is smarter than all of the people who have gone before?”

 

Little did Gastada know of Nueva’s wrestling. Nueva had read the most renowned authors, considered the most profound thinkers, and approached the most reliable authorities. But none of them satisfied her. None of them addressed the questions she was asking.

 

Along the way, Nueva tried to share her questions and her studies with Gastada, but Gastada didn’t want to hear it. Whenever the subject came up, so did Gastada’s defenses. She warned Nueva to stop, gave her reading material, and suggested websites. At one point, she even threatened to take Nueva’s unconventional beliefs to their spiritual leader so that he could handle the matter.

 

Undeterred by her friend’s pressure, Nueva continued questioning, searching, and studying.

 

She valued her friendship with Gastada and hoped that her friend would try to understand her even if she didn’t agree with her ideas. Nueva had long since decided not to try to force her views onto Gastada. That would only ratchet up tensions between them. So, Nueva found a way of putting her thoughts together in a story form. She hoped that Gastada would see her point of view more clearly and accept her even with her new beliefs. 

 

Nueva invited Gastada to meet her at their favorite coffee shop where they ordered their usual vanilla and hazelnut lattes. They say at their typical table, and Nueva began.

 

“Gastada, I know you are bothered by my new path. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe you fear for my soul or think I’m in some sort of spiritual danger for questioning so many things. After all, our traditions say that questioning what we’ve always believed as truth is a dangerous proposition.

 

“However, I certainly don’t see myself as a rebel, and I have a great deal of respect for all of the people who came before me. Their answers satisfied them, and that’s good. But I’m not them, and their situation isn’t my situation. Maybe the truth isn’t what we’ve always assumed it to be.

 

“I've been devouring books that confront, challenge, and shatter long-held mythologies that have masqueraded as laws of God in my mind, in my world, in my universe. I'm shifting and moving deeper and higher than I thought was possible.  I'm no longer settling for what I've thought was true. At the end of the day, seeking the truth is what we’ve been taught to do all along, isn’t it?

 

“For a long time, I felt like I was inside the proverbial theological box. I’m not in that box anymore. To help you understand me and where I am I want to tell you a story. It’s the story of how I see the big picture now. I’ll try to keep it short and to the point. It goes like this:

 

“In ancient times, the whole world believed there was a supreme being who dwelt far off in a celestial realm. For some uncertain reason, this spirit created the world and everything in it.

 

“People all over the world called this God by several different names, but everybody’s ideas about this God shared some things in common. They all believed that when good things happened, it was because God was happy and made them happen. Also, they figured that when bad things happened that God was displeased and took out his wrath on people. So people decided to try to do things to win God’s approval to ensure that good things would happen to them and bad things would not happen. Who could blame them with that kind of story?

 

“People all over the world decided to erect buildings to honor God, to offer sacrifices to appease him, and to utter prayers to beg for blessings and forgiveness.  Even though they did all this, bad things kept happening.  Their children died of disease, their livestock were killed by lions, their crops failed from lack of rain, enemies killed their neighbors, and storms destroyed their homes.

 

“Since each tribe of people had been faithfully sacrificing and praying to God in their own way, they began to suspect that other people and other tribes were not doing their part. This led them to assume that God was mad at all people because some of them were not doing the right things to please God. So people became judgmental of one another. The different groups claimed that their buildings, sacrifices, and prayers were the only right way to please God, and everybody else’s way was absolutely wrong.

 

“You can see how this would cause a lot of conflict between people.

 

“Then one day a man appeared in a small tribe in a faraway land that few people even knew existed. This man claimed that God was not mad and was not far off in some distant heaven. He said that this God was truly present with, in, and around all people.

 

“He taught anyone who would listen that God was like a divine Parent who created them and who loved each of them as children.

 

“He said that God just wanted people to show mercy to one another, and not to spend their time and money building religious structures and offering sacrifices. The teacher emphasized that being merciful was consistent with God’s very nature. Mercy and compassion extends love not only to one’s friends and neighbors, but also to one’s enemies.  If the people would do this, the teacher claimed, they would see and understand the presence of the kingdom of God right then and there. He said it would be as if they were born again, with a new spiritual life and spiritual eyes with which to see and understand the world in which they lived.

 

“Not many people believed this man. And who could blame them? They were so devoted to their long-held ideas about God and their religious beliefs that it was difficult for them to understand what he was saying. When he claimed that he spoke with the authority of God, the religious and political powers-that-be became upset with him and accused him of making himself out to be God. They feared this would make God even angrier at all of them than before, and they would suffer greatly because of it. So the authorities decided to kill this teacher. They did not realize, however, that this is what the teacher expected. He even talked about it beforehand and saw it as an opportunity to show mercy and compassion in the whole affair.

 

“He wept for his kinsmen because he knew that in rejecting his teachings of mercy and love they were choosing a future in which their zealous devotion would lead to great conflict and heartbreaking disaster. To try to live by the sword would cause them to sadly die by the sword.

 

“The teacher warned his followers of these things. He told them that when they saw their great city surrounded by an army, they should flee to hide in the mountains before this terrible disaster struck. This would be the beginning of the end of their ancient ways, their hierarchy, and their great building in which they offered their sacrifices. Their world would fall apart. It would feel like the sun had been darkened, the moon had turned to blood, and the stars had fallen from the sky.

 

“Those who believed him apparently ran to the hills and survived, but those who stayed behind suffered dreadfully in the great calamity the teacher anticipated.  They and their old religious world were brought to a horrible, fiery end, roughly forty years (one generation) after the teacher had been killed.

 

“This wasn’t a punishment by God. It was the sad consequences of using violence to enforce separation and division based on race, religion, and ritual. As the teacher said, to pick up the sword is to die by the sword. To honor God, you should love your neighbor, pray in secret, and give to the poor. Against such behavior there is no law.

 

“The followers hiding in the hills observed all this and were greatly saddened to see vast numbers of their fellow tribesmen suffer and die. They were awed by the fact that their teacher had seen all this coming. There was no question in their minds that the teacher had come from God and that the message he delivered was true even though it differed from the traditions. They believed that God didn’t need or want people’s religions. In him, we move and breathe and have our very being. They fully knew that God was the divine Parent of all, and when bad things happened it wasn’t because anybody sinned or because God was punishing them. They recalled their teacher’s wise advice that they should see all such disasters as opportunities to show compassion toward those that suffer. Mercy would help alleviate people’s suffering and simultaneously glorify God. This would give people the right idea about the divine nature.

 

“So these followers traveled and taught people that God was present—not far off in some cloudy city—and loved everyone. They said that God was not judging their behaviors as being in violation of divine law, no matter how unwise and destructive such behaviors might be.

 

“Others insisted that this could not be. They continued to believe that people still needed to offer sacrifices and prayers to beg God for forgiveness. The followers assured them that this was not the case. They pointed out that their teacher’s death indicated a universal death to the old consciousness. They spoke of the destruction of their tribe’s great religious building and city to show that God was not limited to dwelling in a particular building on a sacred piece of real estate. God was above, in, and through us all. This meant that no one should ever consider themselves to be divinely hated or separate from God again.

 

“The followers explained to these people that their acceptability to God was based solely on God’s divine love and grace, and not dependent whatsoever on anything they did or thought. The followers showed from books and letters they carried that all of this was anticipated and taught by other wise teachers throughout the ages.

 

“Their words gave great comfort to people who had been striving hard to please God at the same time that they were struggling just to survive in a difficult world.  The people who heard this rejoiced. They learned to stop worrying about whether their thoughts and actions would cause God to be angry at them, and they began devoting their attention to lovingly helping each other to overcome disease, poverty, drought, storms, and attacks.  Their lives and the lives of others began to improve as a result of this new freedom and generosity. It would truly be a new world

 

“The new way of thinking and living found broad appeal, but some were not happy about this situation. They complained to the Great Emperor, and the Great Emperor insisted that all the people agree to a new religion in which people could keep some of the new thoughts about God. However, they had to return to some of the old beliefs. The Emperor permitted belief in the teacher as a messenger from God, but he rejected God as being reconciled to all of God’s creatures. He called a meeting of religious authorities who wrote documents that defined the tenets of ‘proper belief.’ Anyone who dared to disagree with them, they asserted, were angering God. Everyone must convert to this new religion or suffer the consequences.

 

“The religious and political powers-that-be demanded that people must believe certain things about the teacher, God, and the organization approved by the Emperor. They suggested that that the teacher was the not the savior of the world but only of those who agreed with the official statements of the new religious authority. Anyone who didn’t accept this religion’s laws would be subject to punishments. Moreover, the institution sanctioned by the Emperor declared that God would bring bad things into the lives of people who disagreed with its dictates. Plus, they would also be subjected to endless tortures in a horrible afterlife filled with monstrous demons, darkness, and fire.

 

As a result, the people again became afraid of God. They devoted their money, time, and lives to the religious organization approved by the Empire so that God would be pleased with them. This diverted the money and energy they had been giving to each other to help in time of need, and so everybody’s suffering increased.

 

“Over the centuries, the organization changed its structure and several splinter groups formed. Today there are thousands upon thousands of groups all claiming to be the right one. And while their specifics differ, most of them hold to the original religious concept. God is mad and must be appeased. God brings bad things into your life if you disobey, and he give you good things if you are compliant. God tolerates no deviation from the duly appointed authorities. If you walk a different path, you are subject to divine wrath in this life and the next.”

 

Nueva continued. “A new wind is blowing, Gastada. When I read scripture, I don’t see God as a respecter of persons. God is love, connected with us all regardless of our tribe, tongue, or nation. That may put me at odds with the centuries of religious history, but it authentically represents the heart of what I understand to be the message of Jesus. Love God, and love your neighbor. I hope you can still accept me as a friend.”

 

Gastada had been listening closely with great interest, and she answered her friend. “This is an incredible story, and I’ve never heard it put that way before.  Are you saying all of this is true, that it all actually happened this way?”

 

Nueva replied, “As I read the scriptures and history, Gastada, this is the way I see things unfolding.”

 

Gastada paused and took a breath. “I’m not saying that I buy it, but I love you. And I will look into all of it further. Because if what you’re saying is true we should let everybody know so that they can stop spending their resources, energy, and time worrying about pleasing God through religious performance. We should focus instead on taking care of each other, which we need now more than ever.”

 

 

Kevin Beck is COO of Presence International and author of This Book Will Change Your World. He is married to Alisa, and they live in Colorado Springs with their three electrifying children.