Chapter 15 - Karma and Sin

© 1996 by Oliver H. Jobson, CHy From His Book

Expanding The Boundaries Of Self Beyond The Limit Of Traditional Thought

Discovering The Magic Within.

Never call yourself a sinner, born in sin or bred in sin. That kind of self-condemnation ill becomes a child of God. In every one of you God is the moving spirit, the very soul; how then can you be evil? You are here fulfilling God’s purpose according to his will. His plan, His law! ...You are, therefore, not a helpless neglected individual undergoing death sentence. You are an ever-blissful soul, born to a rich heritage which is yours for the asking. Only, many of you do not ask. Have faith in your destiny and work gladly to attain it!  —SSSB

When I was a child I was always baffled by the concept of sin, and I was even more so as a practicing Roman Catholic. I remember being amazed at the guilt trip the church placed on us regarding sin. We were taught—and believed, like a bunch of stooges—that sin had varying degrees of severity. There were venial sins and mortal sins.  More horrifically satisfying was the idea that we had choices. We could either be sent to hell, land in purgatory or go directly to heaven. Obviously the priests and nuns had the answers on how to get to heaven, for they would all be heading there some day, I am sure!

We were made to believe that to be good we had to follow the tenets of the church. These included attending service regularly, particularly every Sunday; dropping a sizeable collection in the collection plate at Mass, preferably 10% of one’s income; and supporting the clergy in whatever way they requested. Adherence to these principles, it seemed, allowed us to score brownie points in heaven.

To miss attending church was indeed a sin because the church was deprived of its full income for that Sunday. Commission of this sin had to be atoned for with regular sessions of penance or a novena. Mind you, we were told we were born in sin, although this concept was never properly explained. The belief was that because we were conceived in sin by the act of sexual intercourse, we were thus born out of a sinful act. This explanation defeated the whole purpose of doing any good as far as I was concerned, because logically, then, we were, damned to go to hell or purgatory.

Nonetheless, as a teenager, I was ardently dedicated to the church to the point of attending mass, as an Acolyte, at 6:00 a.m. every day when I was not at boarding school. Doing this gave me a sense of security, piety and well being at the time. Naturally, this made me want to join the priesthood. So enthusiastic was I at doing so that I had dozens of questions for the priests. However, the more questions I asked, the more confused and disillusioned I became about wanting to join an organization in which the priests studied for so many years yet could not give satisfactory answers to many of my questions.

My most pressing questions were the following:

·       Why is every one in the world who is not a Catholic or Christian destined for hell?

·       If God is good and perfect, and if he knows the beginning and the end, how can He be so evil as to make such a

        terrible mistake in creating a devil and hell? How could God, as perfection, have created imperfection?

·       Why is God, who made the universe, only a Christian and not a Muslim or any other religion?

·       If Jesus is God, where was God before Jesus?

·       If Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi, why we are called Christians?

·       Why do we need to go through a priest or member of the clergy to communicate with God?

·       Why do we think we should find God more quickly in a church than anywhere else?

·       If God is everywhere, why do we need churches?

·       Why is it necessary for priests and nuns to remain single and observe celibacy?

I further inquired why there were so many other Christian religions identified by other names, ostensibly teaching the same message. I was told at the time that all churches and religions other than the Catholic Church were imposters and certainly not the true body ordained by Christ. I was further told that Christ ordained the Pope to represent him and head the body of the Roman Catholic Church to which we were all supposed to have allegiance.

Inquiring further about other faiths such as Moslems, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsees, Jains and Yoruba, I was told they were all sinners and only true loyal Christian Roman Catholics would go to heaven. I was amazed that missionaries and pilgrims went out to different countries and different cultures and, in the name of Jesus Christ, disrupted the peoples “barbaric” way of life; they did this without trying to understand the others’ culture or philosophy, way of life, religion or sense of values.

These orthodox Christians, in their zeal to convert non-Christians, committed the gravest atrocities mankind has known with their limited understanding of a religion in which they believed. At the same time they practiced very little of the message Jesus imparted, which was one of love, truth and wisdom. I think it justifiably can be said that pilgrims and current religious zealots—whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any other—know very little about those three tenets. Their knowledge of God is as warped as their behavior in enforcing their intolerant religious doctrines.

Nevertheless, I yearned to enter the priesthood so that I, too, could join the ranks of those faithful servants who dedicated their lives to the service of humanity in the name of God. But my questions were stumbling blocks to my answering this call. Something appeared to be wrong. There was a flaw somewhere, and nobody seemed to notice; if they did, they did not care.

This desire to serve was felt from deep within the center of my being, from within my soul. But I was much too young and innocent, at the time, to realize the reason I had this deep yearning was a direct result of my being in communion with my soul. This soul is light and is the receptacle and reflection of the all-pervading, all-knowing, creative energy we call God. The Soul resides in Awareness as the Eternal Witness while the Spirit, an expression of soul, resides in consciousness as the experiencer, the doer.

On reflection, I realize that people take as gospel the words of the priests, nuns, parsons, rabbis, imams and all the members of the different religions. We are taught that the religious leaders have a direct relationship with God and are the intermediaries in our contact with this realm. The question is, if the religion is so perfect, why is there no harmony and coordination between all the various religions?

Once I arrived at this point in my query, I ...

 

Click here to Buy NOW from Amazon

          Click here to Buy a signed Book NOW From CCNow

◄ Return to www.gpaonline.com ◄

► Return to www.expandingtheboundariesofself.com ►

 

 

                

 

© 1996 by Oliver H. Jobson, CHy

From His Book

Expanding The Boundaries Of Self Beyond The Limit Of Traditional Thought Discovering The Magic Within This thought provoking book is appealing to the religious, agnostic and atheist. Published June 2005.

        "love all serve all"