I stated in a previous post that I believe The Greatest Love judges not on the contents of our beliefs but by the loving actions from our heart. And yet the fourth message asked me to share my beliefs. This may sound contradictory but I do not believe it is. Beliefs are important in so far as they can inspire actions. They can help illuminate why a certain action was taken. But it is our actions which provide an actual glimpse into our soul and it these which are assessed on our day of judgement.1
But are our actions alone sufficient to judge one’s love? No. Actions are only the starting point from which a judgement can be rendered. They must be viewed within the context of everything about a person’s life from conception (i.e. genetic identity), to circumstances of upbringing, thru to current socioeconomic status. All of that and more, I believe, must be considered when judging one’s love. Yes we may abhor a person’s actions. We may prosecute them for taking such actions. And we may take away their liberty for committing such actions. But we cannot judge their soul without considering the totality of that person’s existence. It is a judgement reserved for only The Greatest Love.
For example how do you judge a person with racist beliefs if all they have ever known was racism? If they were raised in a home where parents, friends, and relatives held those same beliefs? What if the community in which that person lived largely held those same beliefs? What if it was not uncommon in that community for racist acts of violence to be committed and that person was accused of such an action? Now how can we judge that person? We can judge the act for that is merely interpreting the laws of the land. But to judge a person is to judge their soul.
And only The Greatest Love is capable of judging a soul. It not only requires knowing the countless actions taken by a person over their lifetime but it is to completely understand why those actions were made. The cascading causes and effects of all of the thoughts, beliefs, history, relationships, biology/genetics, socioeconomic conditions, etc., that impacted each individual action. Assimilating the totality of that information, that life, into a single judgement. It is a calculation only The Greatest Love can make.
Beliefs, thoughts, and opinions I believe are only examined on our day of judgement as a stepping stone to understanding why an action was taken. The Greatest Love will always dig deeper, beyond the beliefs, to understand an action’s founding origins. To be clearer, The Greatest Love never judges our soul according to our beliefs. However that is not to say They do not judge our beliefs. In determining that a hateful action was taken They may also determine that it was the result of a hateful belief. However They will not allow Their judgement of the belief to influence Their judgement of the soul. Instead They look deeper into our soul. They look to the essence of our soul that allowed such hateful beliefs to take root, and which resulted in a specific action.
This may sound like splitting hairs but the distinction is important. It is the freedom to think, and believe, without impacting the judgement of one’s soul that is sacrosanct. Even when those thoughts are vile or perverse. The Greatest Love is not some sort of supernatural thought police. They recognize that in order for our love to progress we must be free to explore the dark corners within our own mind just as much as the sunlit halls. But it is when those thoughts are expressed to others with conviction, when they leave the confines of our own mind in order to influence the people around us, that The Greatest Love takes notice. Expressing a viewpoint to others with conviction is an action The Greatest Love takes keen interest in as it is an action which reflects upon our soul.
Returning to the example of racism again: what if your beliefs are judged by The Greatest Love to be racist? And it is also determined that those same beliefs caused you to, for example, commit or incite racist violence? Then the cause of those beliefs must be understood completely in order for a judgement of the soul to be made. Beliefs do not spontaneously generate without reason. They have an origin story and The Greatest Love searches deeper into the soul to understand that story, and one’s journey along the hateful path which culminated in the racist action. Why did the person have such beliefs? Were they raised in a family that fiercely promoted such racist views? Was it due to faulty reasoning that went unchallenged, or a character flaw that went uncorrected, either by mentors or the person themselves? Was there some sort of mental deficiency that precluded that person from questioning their racist views? Or was it again a character flaw such as vanity or arrogance that made them unwilling to do so?
There are no answers to the above questions that can ever excuse racist violence. Any act of racist violence will be judged unfavorably by The Greatest Love. But I also believe a loving and merciful god would consider all of the above questions and much, much more when determining the degree of that unfavorable judgement. Such a god would place that single action in perspective across all of our other actions spread across our entire lifetime which includes understanding the formation of our beliefs from conception through to death. All extenuating circumstances of that person’s existence would be considered. Then given this complete knowledge of the reasons behind every action The Greatest Love would come to a conclusion. This I believe is the day of judgement. And how is a final decision made? Only The Greatest Love knows. But I believe they are a loving god of mercy and it is Their mercy that compels The Greatest Love to seek this deepest possible understanding.
Such an understanding will never lead to a binary judgement; a yes or no answer; a Heaven or Hell verdict. A life cannot be so simply categorized. Instead a much more intricate and infinitely nuanced judgement will be made which I will discuss in a later post.
Take another example. Consider atheism. Would an atheist’s actions be affected by their lack of belief in any god? Or is it instead their love for their family, their friends, and their community that would be the arbiter on how they act? If they performed loving acts throughout their life because they chose love over hate, not due to any belief in a Higher Power, but just because they are compassionate human beings. What would happen upon their death assuming The Greatest Love sat in judgement? I believe that the starting point for judging a soul by a loving and merciful god is a person’s actions, regardless of their beliefs or lack thereof. Given this, I believe, such a god would deem that soul as having progressed their love higher.
For it is our actions, how we show our love, that is of importance to The Greatest Love. Not our beliefs. It is our actions that change the World around us. An unspoken belief that does not change how we interact with the World around us, I believe, does no harm to the World, does no good to the World, and has no impact to how our soul will be judged. Other beliefs that help define how we live our life are important, not because of what they are, but because of what they inspire us to do. Actions over beliefs.
The importance of beliefs stems from their ability to inspire our actions. Taken to its logical conclusion I believe the following are all true statements:
- It does not matter if you believe Moses is the greatest prophet of Yahweh, but if his life and his teachings inspired you to live your life in a loving way then I believe you are on a path towards a higher love
- It does not matter if you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God but if his life and his teachings inspired you to live your life in a loving way then I believe you are on a path towards a higher love
- It does not matter if you believe Muhammad is the Last Prophet of Allah but if his life and his teachings inspired you to live your life in a loving way then I believe you are on a path towards a higher love
- It does not matter what you believe so long as it inspires you to live your life in a loving way. If you can do this I believe you are on a path towards a higher love
And so why did The Greatest Love ask me to share my beliefs? I do not believe it is because my beliefs are comparable to any prophet or god. That would be delusional on a grand scale. No, I believe it was first and foremost to help me. A flawed individual that had been struggling with my own spiritual identity and beliefs. In the process of distilling my thoughts, and presenting my beliefs, choosing my words and revising them endlessly over time, I hope to stay grounded and better understand who I am today and what I aspire to be tomorrow.
Of course there are risks with any endeavor such as this. In choosing to follow Their direction to share my beliefs I recognize that I have performed an intentional act which may impact others. This makes the action open to judgement by The Greatest Love but this does not concern me. I believe They are a loving god of mercy who knows what is in my heart when I write the words contained in this blog. Instead what does concern me is that I do not cause distress to others with my words. That I do not cause pain. So while I can promise to always choose my words honestly I also pray that I can choose them wisely.
1 There is a third candidate for consideration when judging a soul: feelings or emotions, which are separate from actions and thoughts/beliefs. Feelings are a topic for a future post.
