hell, no!

and god created the heavens

and the hells…

did he?

really?

maybe there is no hell prepared by god at all?

… that sounds good!

maybe too good to be true?

perhaps?

perhaps that may well be

but maybe we prepare one for ourselves

 

we are made like the creator

so we create

for ourselves…

 

all god prepares is a table

and the enemy present is choice

the choice between

the one, or the other

the other, or the one

and in our frantic wrath we store up more wrath

for ourselves

in ourselves

of ourselves

and when the plumb bob is dropped

on whom will it fall?

or as it swings to its place of rest

who will it strike?

 

could it be that because of our stubbornness

our unwillingness to yield and turn

away from us

away to the greater

that which surrounds all

which holds all

balances all

and which will not remain unbalanced

the great audit

to reconcile

to balance the books,

to see how these deeds weigh up against each other….

we are weighed in the balances,

according to what we have done

with the gift we have received

on our one hand?

our hand on the one?

 

so,

maybe god isn’t even really actively involved at all?

perhaps he sits

watching

waiting

resting

cappuccino, deckchair,

the vast seas lapping softly at his feet

watching as the sun sets

and the sun rises

at the same time

 

he has set in motion all things,

even motion itself.

 

and we?

… and we have seized the responsibility for ourselves

wrested from the hand of the great gardener

whilst the saplings were still fresh and the first fruits had barely ripened

it was done

we did it

the first fruits were offered

… to ourselves

…… by ourselves

…. for ourselves

for us

and all hell breaks loose

 

flick the switch

light will reveal all

but light is not our friend

light always says too much

we can’t hide our motives

in the light

even dark is lit up

light the exposer

who is this enemy of ours?

we still choose

to snatch the responsibility

of distinguishing between the good and the bad

 

we eat freely from the tree of bitterness

it is good and tasty,

sweet to the eyes

fresh to the tongue

but bitter in the gut

 

we give ourselves the choice

the heart of democracy

democracy of the heart

and like every seed reproduces

and multiplies after its own kind

each choice divides itself again and again, and again, and again ….

and multiplies until we are divided

and each choice

each thought

each attitude of heart

each intent

each action

hidden or not

will finally be divided.

on the one side – what could have been –

and on the other, what was, what is …

and as a result, what is to come.

and the distinguishing between

will finally be extinguished

as all merges as our internal globe warms

and our ice caps melt

slipping formlessly into the seas

 

and like the gods we desire to be

we have decided the end from the beginning

for ourselves

god is innocent

we ourselves have drawn a line in the sands of time …

for all eternity

when time itself will be only a faint memory

and we have decided for ourselves

 

we have drawn the line

it is no other who draws it for us

with our great pen

the sword of our own symbolism

the symbolism of our own sword

in great calligraphic flair we have built our tower

we have signed our name

it is all in the book

and we are in the books

we each have our own chapter

and of the credits, who can speak?

“Homo sapiens” or “Hominids being sapped?”

There are articles out now that point to the alleged marketing strategies of Facebook and other social networking entities.  See http://www.businessinsider.com/how-facebook-decides-what-to-put-in-your-news-feed–these-10-secrets-reveal-all-2010-10#ixzz1CAeNRwK3

I think if we want to be blatantly honest about all of this and really scientifically empirical in our deliberations and conclusions we need to change our official species designation from “Humans” to “Aphids”. i.e. from genus “Homo sapiens” to genus “Hominids being sapped.”
Let’s face it, there really seems to be malicious ‘harvester ant’ types out there who milk us for all we’re worth, for everything we have, … our very substance and all our vital life juices in every form…. but, it’s no use getting really upset with these diabolically greedy, fat parasites because we seem to love it… in fact we seem to simply crave for this … even demand more… – see this interesting article on herding aphids and how ‘farmer’ ants keep control of their food.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071009212548.htm

We seem so utterly happy just as long as they keep feeding us with our retail mall plants to suck off… and for desert, our online delivery services, seasonal fashion reminders, new personal little conveniences, telemarketing-sales cable channels, and so on … ad nausea. … then it’s faithfully off to the vomitorium to once again purge ourselves briefly in preparation for the next binge.

Yes, we seem to simply just love it… and whilst we are feasting on the worthless morsels we are force-fed in our dark, neon lit dungeons we seem to echo a hopeless whimper similar to that classic line in “Oliver”, “Please sir, can I have some more!”

Personally, I’m still undecided as to who really is responsible for all of this … ‘us’ or ‘them’? … or if maybe the ‘us’ includes the ‘them’? … and the ‘them’ includes the ‘us’?

Now I must admit that when I read these articles on how we seem to be milked and herded for some mysterious ‘others’ personal benefit I get some shivery, cold and clammy sensations running up and down my spine.  A sense of violation settles in my gut and I feel misused and abused.

But does that cause me to delete my Facebook profile?

No, …

… not yet …

… .  .    .    maybe not ever…

sure, there’s ‘us’ and ‘them’ …. but what does this say about ‘me’?

__________________________________

the closest are still far away

There was this man named John who walked with Jesus for a few years.  He was one of the inner circle in the life of the Christ and seemed to somehow successfully develop a very close relationship with him, apparently significantly more intimate than the other eleven had managed to do.  There are no great details as to what this relationship really was like other than the few suggestions centred around the fact that he and Jesus are recorded to have shared some peculiar intimacies.

On one occasion as they were all reclining during a meal (as was the custom of the day) he was recorded as lying back on the breast of Jesus.  To me this is clearly indicative of a level of personal shared space that is not common amongst most men (at least not in our modern, western culture).  On another occasion he was requested by the others to approach Jesus about an issue that was obviously very sensitive amongst the disciples in that theyapparently felt they were  unable to ask Jesus directly for themselves.  To me this is sort of like the other brothers and sisters asking the favourite sibling to speak to their father as to whether they could all have ice cream as the favourite, being the favourite, had far better chance of success.  John was also the only recorded apostle at the scene of the death of Jesus.  Whilst breathing his last Jesus entrusted the care of his own mother to him, indeed a privilege and a deeply intimate request of anyone.  There are other occasions but  think these suffice for now in painting an interesting picture for us.

According to tradition John had a fairly long life in comparison to his fellow disciples and near the end of his days he penned a letter to the churches that we have come to know as “Revelation.”  This letter was written as a result of a vision, or a series of visions John received whilst exiled on an island called Patmos.  Interestingly, in this letter he writes how he saw Jesus and heard him speak of things that were, and also of things that were still to come.

The thing that really grabs me is that John, the closest one to Jesus, the “Beloved”, who walked alongside him for years and was openly known as the “one whom Jesus loved” at first never recognized Jesus at all in the visions.  The appearance of Jesus took him by surprise and if not by surprise it was like nothing he had seen or imagined before.  It was either revealed to him that it was Jesus in his vision or he understood it slowly, bit by bit, as the visions progressed.  In these visions Jesus was somehow represented by something very un-worldly and even at times frightening, definitely amazing, often confusing.  … and this to the man who knew him arguably better than any disciple at the time.

This is amazing to me.  John penned this letter possibly only a few short decades after the actual events and did not even recognize Jesus.  He was caught off guard and never recognized his great and dear friend and long time companion.  … and this after only a relatively short period of absence.

… and here we are, over 2000 years later, with a whole cluster of wonderful letters and stories and even the transliterated copies of the original legal contracts the Jewish leaders had at the time of Christ (even rendered in our day into English, even into multiple different English versions of the same texts).  And somehow, as I think of these things I cannot help but wonder just how much we might be exactly like those poor, devoted, yet blind men whose hands, hearts and minds successfully plotted the murder of Jesus?  … what with all our very systematic, ordered, detailed doctrines of Christ and things heaven and God related… .  .   .

It also makes me wonder about the legal qualifications we pursue and obtain to legitimize our ministry of the grace of Christ.  Alongside this I cannot help but think of how fully qualified or socially endorsed church leaders build perfectly trimmed and water-tight theologies and doctrines, even attacking those of very similar faith who may differ, if only ever so slightly on certain specific aspects of the nature of grace and godly servitude  ( … and just how one can legislate grace is logically beyond me – but that’s perhaps for another time).

What really alarms me though is that the Jewish religious leaders and teachers of the law themselves never recognized Jesus even though he was clearly spoken of in their sacred texts in the law of Moses as well as in the prophets and even though they were diligently searching and eagerly waiting for the revelation of their beloved prophet, the promised Messiah.  In fact, they were so unable to recognize him that when he appeared they, as has been said, actually plotted his death as an act of worship and honour to the God they loved to the fullest of their natural ability.

We love to speak, even to preach about the folly of the Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Priests and the legalists.  But just how similar are we to these infamous rejecters of our Lord and Saviour?  I make no personal judgments, …. I merely ask the question, of myself, …. of you…  and quite frankly,  speaking of myself,  I am truly found wanting.

Maybe, just maybe, it might be an idea for us to re-visit our emphatic theology and the air-tight doctrines we hold?

Now I have no clear idea of what we might find, but maybe it might be that God really is far bigger and so vastly beyond our human ability to comprehend with these natural sensory limitations we all so frailly share?

And maybe, just maybe, God is far more gracious, powerful, wise, and faithful than we could ever imagine – even to the extent of not being at all concerned with the almost exclusively cognitive, intellectual manner in which we have allowed our minds to develop into, and with which we have so robustly legislated and documented our theology and doctrine? … .  .   .  or maybe not?

Perhaps the creator of all things is sitting down somewhere, relaxed and happily content to trust the power of the invincible seed he has sown into the human pods who walk about like ants under the blazing sun to germinate and proliferate according to his divine instruction and ability?  (regardless of our efforts to help or not).

If John was surprised, confused, even terrified after a short gap of only one or two decades what do we think we might be when it comes to a good old face-to-face in possibly the not too distant future?

Can you imagine if we were wrong?  WOW!!   … on the one hand it could be devastating … but on the other, it could be literally out of this world!!

… that will teach them!

There was a time when we all spoke the same and we gathered together to speak the same things.  We began to forge a shared understanding and because of this we believed that we were very powerful.  We all migrated towards a unified plane of understanding where there was to be neither high nor low ground – where all were on the same level.  It was a comfortable place for us where the mountains that were before us were not too high and the valleys not too low.  Where the playing fields were level and life was comfortable and beneficial for us all.

It all seemed very good to us and we got more and more confident until eventually we decided to make a mark for ourselves.  We believed we were powerful and secure yet we felt the need to make this even more sure for ourselves by constructing a functional monument in honour of our own efforts, our unity and our strength.  We also wanted to begin to stretch out our hands and if possible, touch the very face of God.  After all, we had come a long way, and we had things to say.

Up till then our worship of the gods was with what the land had blessed us with.  Our temples were assembled with natural stones as were our homes and fields.  Uncut stones which we had easily gathered up and assembled for protection and covering.  But now we were well advanced in wisdom through our shared understanding and we had a few excellent ideas of our own.  So we built a structure with the dust and water and other natural elements instead and baked it carefully and thoroughly.  We rejected what we found in our hands as a natural blessing from the gods and decided to do it for ourselves instead.  It had all sufficed well enough up till then, but now we had some serious contributions to make.  We even decided to make a structure for ourselves that would reach up to the heavens.  After all, why should we have to call out to the gods for them to come down to visit us when we could go up and stand before them ourselves, talking face to face as equals?

But the gods were apparently not very happy as they gazed down on our activities and heard our plans and intentions.  So before they got very quiet and hid themselves in the clouds they did something that seemed very strange and which seemed to begin to confuse us all a great deal and we all tended to drift off in different directions and like the continents divided, so did we.  And then, after some time and when the dust of our migrating feet had eventually settled we noticed that the structures we had been building and the ideas we had were now forgotten and lying silent, still half-built and partly in ruin.

It has taken some time, but have no fear, for we are well on the way to completing what we first had begun.  And sooner than you know it, we will rise up in our new found unity and power and speak once again with those once lofty beings who dared to challenge our greatness long, long ago.  And if they won’t listen this time, why, we might even scorch the sun and the stars and even the very ground they first gave us as an offering, … to teach them a final lesson.

positively astounded by contradiction

I am a sincere believer and also a skeptic, …. initially I suppose by circumstance and observation (mixed with a cocktail of disillusionment and …. well, life in all it’s deforms) , … but then by choice and interestingly enough, a choice not based in despair and pain alone, but in hope and peace in almost equal measure.
I suppose my take on it all is that we cannot prove something by what it’s not, but perhaps we can disprove the rest by what (it) is?
So, for me the pursuit of what IS is a most noble journey with honesty being the chief weapon for the ensuing, inevitable conflict.
My humbled perspective is that if we are surprised by an existential belief we ought to enjoy it to the fullest, and in order to really enjoy it to the fullest we also need to explore as passionately as possible not the existential cognitive assessment of the details of our beliefs alone, but the very substance thereof.
If it stands, we stand, and we journey into deeper joy.
If it falters, we have the opportune privilege to deal with the disillusionment and even though the joy we once may have experienced may be substituted with some pain for a while we are still better off than when under an illusion, … and that too is a path towards, and not away from joy.
I have no faith in myself. Personal experience just being me puts this to rest very quickly and I don’t think I need any further evidence to support this decision.

But I also have no faith in my own reason (I conclude this on the same grounds as as stated above as well as on a cursory observation of history as we know it and ALL my fellow humans living today – God bless them ALL!!)
I am a faithful skeptic, surprised and shocked by what appears to be, …  and positively astounded by what contradicts it all….

_______________________________

I expect I’ll have faith … . . . .

it’s those pesky expectations that cause all the problems.

maybe if our expectations were exclusively of ourselves we could then at least challenge our own motives?   … .   .   or could we?

cynicism? hmm.. .  .  I know it’s a sadly misunderstood word these days but perhaps being a cynic is a logical mechanism that should be explored a whole lot more?

the 2 meanings of cynical I am drawing reference from are 1. believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns; skeptical of the motives of others, and  2. pessimistic, as from world-weariness

something inside of us seems to press us towards believing, … in something, someone..  .   this naturally builds expectation and it fuels us a whole lot.    we can live on the glow of expectation for a long, long time until . .  .    .      .

but when the expectations are dashed or just simply not met … . .   .  what once was a very hopeful, positive feeling suddenly can shift poles in a most alarming way

we have faith,  and faith has an outcome as its focus or it isn’t faith at all really, is it?  our expectations are hooked on this outcome and let’s face it,  they could be realistic or not – and whether our expectations are realistic or not,  they still face the possibility of failure .. .  . especially if placed in the hands of others  … .  .    .    but do we really place it in the hands of others?  … or do we keep it firmly in our own hands

sometimes we hope in outcomes, and this is not necessarily a bad thing, but then we don’t stop there – we continue to invest our expectations in the outcomes and even begin to fill in details of the outcome and it becomes more and more measured and detailed as we go along  .  .   .     .     and as it has been said, “the devil is in the detail”

it’s easier to be positive when things are going well and when they are we like to believe that it’s because we are positive that things are going well … .  .   but when things don’t go well,   … .   .    well, what usually happens to our positiveness?  . .  .    .    and it’s not all that pleasant to admit or even think that it’s because we are not positive that things didn’t go well . .  .    .     or not?

I’m a mostly buoyant guy but if you’ll allow me to be honest here I’ll have to admit to living an emotional roller-coaster a lot of the time  – I have faith, I’m positive, I enjoy life, I’m mostly successful in what I do, I am loved, even celebrated, I joke a lot (maybe far too much),  … .  .    .    but I can sure swing in and out of joy  .. .  .    .   I find the smallest things can so easily upset my equilibrium ..  .   .     after the fact the real cause of the swing can be easily rooted to my own failed expectations which mostly I don’t recall building in detail, but in detail they are built   … .   .  and I am found,     .. .  .   disillusioned,  – the illusion I had built up has been truly ‘dissed’  … .   .    my fabricated projection is ripped from me and there I stand, personally and often publicly exposed  ..  .    .     .       and then,  mostly what I am left with is the painful humiliation of my own misplaced and failed expectations

. .  .  and to make it worse,  it’s more about me than it is about them or it .  .  .  and to make it worse still, I seem to tend to choose to make it about them or it .. .  . after all, surely it can’t be me who brought this all about? . .  .     .  could it?

so what do I have faith in?

what are my expectations?

maybe to manage them before I go out and scatter them as seeds along the paths of my life might be a way of being really faithful   …  .   .    to God, myself, others… .   .    .  ?

and if I fail?  . .  .  well, maybe it is true that underneath are the everlasting arms.. .  .   .     and maybe the best seed we can scatter and the best path we can scatter it on is inside ourselves? … .   .    .      in the early hours, before the day really begins perhaps we can seize our own day and then walk  on the realistic substance of things hoped for and march resolutely towards the evidence of things not quite yet seen?

making the point

Pointillism is an amazing and fascinating artform. A style of the late 19th century which was essentially based upon impressionist techniques and the application of scientific theories of the process of vision.  Pointillism was begun by an artist by the name of  Seurat.

Originally he gave it the name Divisionism.

The style of pointillism consists of using dots of unmixed color side by side so that the viewer’s eye may mix them into the appropriate intermediate color.  From extremely close up all the dots or points are somewhat meaningless and possibly even confusing.  The closer one moves towards the canvas the more divided and disjointed the picture looks.

However, taking a step or two back brings another focus and the whole picture changes.

… and the biblical text is made up of multitudes of points, all exact, precise, and intentionally placed… . .

and the world, even the universe, is made up of multitudes of points, all exact, precise, and intentionally placed… . .  .    .     .      .        .           .                .                              .                                  .                                     .                                  .                              .                                      .                                                   .                                          .                                          .                                               .                                 .                             .                           .                 .                 .             .           .            .           .              .           .       .     .     .     .    .   .    .    .   .  .  . . …

natural weapons

Lions have huge claws, fangs, a fierce roar and immense strength. We do not.

Rhino’s have formidable size, horns and skin like steel armour. We have none of these.

Leopards have stealth and huge strength. We have neither.

Crocodiles have incomparable physical power and formidable teeth, jaws and tail. We do not.

Eagles have flight, fierce talons and penetrating vision. We have none of these.

Cheetah’s have incomparable speed. We do not.

We have no protective covering of skin or armour.  We have no natural hair to protect us from the extreme heat or cold.  In all ways we are mostly unprotected and completely vulnerable to the environment we call home.

Yet mankind has a Godlike quality.  Perhaps even a Godlike quantity.  We might not have physical stealth but we can hide behind shadows or walk in the light if we so choose.  We have an imagination that can transcend the natural world where the beasts are clearly at home.  We can not only create new realities but can actively live in them.

Chameleons and sea squid can blend into the background with relative ease but man can redesign themselves to fit almost any situation.  Snakes can inject deadly venom but humans need only speak a few words to cause nervous systems to collapse and for flesh, and mind to begin to decay from the inside out.  Many serpents, reptiles and even arachnids can shed their skin but humans virtually change their whole identities merely by desiring to do so.

On the other hand, humankind also have the amazing ability to choose to care and love where loveliness is not present.  We can speak healing with a word and cause flesh to heal and internal nervous systems to access restoration.  Humans can exercise righteousness and unwavering commitment to others, themselves and even the environment.  Humans also have the amazing ability to be the very presence of God in the natural world.

stretch out your hand – (whose side is God on? part 2)

There’s a full horizon out there.  It stretches from further than very far left to way beyond extreme far right and if you walk towards it (and you can go in any direction to do this), it simply rolls on over into an endless expanse that for lack of appropriate adjectival terminology seems to fall away from under your feet endlessly as you walk in any direction … . .  for ever.

There’s also a full horizon in there.  It’s almost exactly identical only it seems strangely to go the other way.   Instead of going outwards, it goes on inwards … forever … . .

From a linear perspective it is a vexing suggestion that eternity might go on and on as well as at the same time possibly going back and back, expanding and contracting at the same time … with no beginning or end in sight either way.

From a multi dimensional view it is even more disturbing.

However, the centre of it all seems to be directly in front of you and it’s quite understandable to see that space directly in front of you as the centre of everything.  You don’t have to be wise or stupid, evil or good or anything else to assume this.  You simply just need two eyes in your head and a brain like we seem to have to take it all in.

On top of this all we seem to have a built-in drive to organise our world and bring order and control to our environment.  We do this with both our external and internal environments.

This can also be a somewhat vexing thought.

The biblical narrative has the Creator mandating man to be fruitful, to fill the earth and even to rule over the creation, especially all the living creatures … and here we are, bustling about, doing exactly that … only, not very well it seems …

The first thing that strikes me in all of this is that even though the narrative clearly reveals that we were created in the image and likeness of the collective Creator, there is a clear contrast in all of this in that the Creator is also portrayed as having finished the work of creation and is, or perhaps was, in a state of satisfied rest.

Man on the other hand is mandated to be actively engaged with this stable environment that is later declared as being created for ‘us.’  It was also declared to be good even very good.

However something happened and speaking euphemistically it seems to be somewhat less stable presently.

In the so called New Testament narrative Jesus, referred to as the 2^nd Adam, has now been positioned as seated next to God on a great throne in the Heavens.  Being seated is a posture that suggests amongst other things, rest, completion, a job well done. It is a position taken up after a good days labour and after having finished the work (of creation?). It could well represent a state of satisfied rest.

Now this centre that is directly in front of us – the thing we walk towards, can also be seen as a neutrality.  Well, it’s not radically left or right, it’s straight ahead … so this could lean towards a kind of neutrality… however, to our minds neutrality is also seen as in the centre, neither to the left or the right, but somewhere in-between.  In-between love and hate, good and bad, right and wrong, life and death, blessing and curse, etc.

Could we say this of God?  Is God neutral?

On a personal note, whose side is God on?

Is it even reasonable to think of God as being on one or the other side?

In our attempt to make sense of the environment in front of us we tend to make judgments.  We distinguish between things, between extremes, as well as not so extreme extremes.  But isn’t this what got the whole thing destabilised in the first place?  Isn’t this why we are confronted with such a vexing set of environmental propositions?  Couldn’t this be the reason why we seem to bustle so awkwardly along, stepping into the very holes we ourselves seem to dig?

We can decide one way or the other but there is also other angles we can take – maybe someone says, “let’s suggest another way, say a  3^rd angle.”  “Maybe we can choose to reconcile instead of divide?”

And if we perhaps do so, maybe it’s both ends at the same time? .. and maybe God is not on either side? Maybe God is neither for nor against anyone?

God may not even be for or against himself.

Perhaps he doesn’t even need to be.

In the biblical narrative he calls himself the “I AM” – or, if you grew up on the more radically creative side of the linguistic tracks, “I IS”.

The way I see it suggested is that God simply is.

I think it fairly reasonable to assume that the creator of an ordered, harmonious, balanced environment is also the origin of the state and condition of that created environment.  After all, one of the creative commands in the beginnings was that each ‘seed’ would reproduce after its own kind and the universe can be seen as a kind of ‘seed.’ …

…isn’t it written somewhere, “… the heavens declare the glory of the Lord…..”

Now if we fail to harmonise with the Creator and his creation it is logical that we might experience God as being ‘unkind or even ‘bad’ maybe even ‘against’ us

… and if we find ourselves in resonance with the Creator and his creation we might very easily be led to view God as being kind and even ‘good.’

So perhaps God is neutral but not as we tend to understand these concepts?

To go back to the idea of the endless horizons, perhaps God is not the neutral centre of it all, maybe God is the horizon itself?

whose side is God on?

ok, I confess!! – I love top rank professional boxing contests – also MMA cage combat  … can’t really say what it is, maybe it’s tribal, maybe I’m just a moronic brute?  Maybe it’s the warrior buried deep inside?  Maybe I’m simply deluding myself?  Or it could be that I need help?  However, I cannot but admire these guys nor cease to savour their exploits. … and to quote a Paul Simon lyric, “… just like a dog I was befriended…”

These modern day gladiators are often graduates of real hard-knock histories yet most of them even with the cold steel glares, snarling faces, rippling iron bodies, and layers of tattoos, are seemingly very religious people.  I am always amazed how they virtually all spend a quiet few seconds at the start of the fight and just before pounding their opponent into a bloodied, messy pulp they can be seen dropping to their knees in intense, contemplative prayer to God.  Perhaps this is done as a bid for their own protection but most probably for a resounding personal victory (as yet I simply cannot bring myself to consider for one second that they are praying for the well-being of their opponents).

Often I see both doing the same thing in their respective corners and at the same time.

In these moments I wonder whose side God is on.  Is he on the side of the gladiator with the quickest fists, or the hardest jaw, perhaps the bigger muscles, greater muscle tone, or the fighter with the greater skill or perhaps the best and most experienced trainer ….  You see, usually these are the ones who win anyway, so why pray in the first place?  Why pray at all?  Could God be on the side of the lesser athlete, the ‘underdog’?  Does God tend to care for the weak more than the strong?

We might not be those gladiators, but whose side is God on in our tournament of life?

I am also amazed at how many belief systems believe God is on their side exclusively.  Can this be?

Our history is littered with the broken hearts and even slain bodies of multitudes who paid the ultimate price standing up for their belief that God is on their side exclusively.  Most of us wager eternity on what we believe, and we seem to do it willingly.

So, whose side is God on?  Is God in the middle?  And if God is in the middle or ‘neutral’ is the middle exclusive or inclusive? What if God is on neither side?  What if God is on his own side … and what if we are on our own side?

What if there are no sides at all?

Maybe it’s all 360 degree, endless horizon?