Gateway to Heaven

Greetings!

In my other posts, I mentioned I did not have a religion, but I had faith.  Interestingly, this was reflected in my readings.

For example, in the March 2006 reading, the wonderful psychic, seeing the pictures in her mind eye, excitedly exclaimed, "Oh, on the other side, you go to the universal church!  You are not fixated on any religion!"

Recently, I had a reading over the phone by a world known channel who lived in another state.  I had heard of her years ago, but had never met her.  She instructed her clients not to tell her anything about themselves before she finished giving them the information that came to her.  She began the session by telling me the visions she saw in her meditation before the reading.  Her visions were quite relevant.  In one vision, she saw Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mother Mary, Quan Yin, Master Kuthumi, Yogananda, and other Ascended Ones standing under a beautiful tree, and they were all smiling.  She said it was one of the most beautiful visions she had ever seen.

The Awakened Ones knew the Truth that 'We Are One'.  It was us (or most of us on earth) who in our ignorance continued to discriminate against each another based on religious belief, race, or ethnicity.

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One Sunday after service, a brother asked if I was a Christian.  I said, "I don't have a religion, but I believe in God."  His face stiffened.  He asked, "Do you love Jesus?"  I said, "I love Jesus Christ just as I love Buddha."  His face softened.  He said, "As long as you love Jesus, you are alright."  I had known him since I joined the small church. He had been on his spiritual journey for a long time.  I looked at him for a while.  I did not say anything that day.  The Truth lies within each one of us.  On the stage of life, we were where we were at.  He was alright too.

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In 2009, I went to a spiritual circle near where I lived.  As we talked, I learned the facilitator had been a known psychic for many decades.  Coincidentally, she was scheduled to speak five months later at the small church which I called my spiritual home.  Our church was based on Christianity; however, it was non denominational and open to people of all faith.  The facilitator automatically assumed I was a Christian.  Later, the group went into meditation.  When it was over, the facilitator asked, "You are a Christian, aren't you?"  She proceeded to say, "But, you are a Buddhist!  I saw Quan Yin descends and stands next to you!"  I said I loved Quan Yin and Buddha the same as I loved Jesus Christ.

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One Sunday, after volunteering at the soup kitchen for some months, I decided to attend their church service.

The soup kitchen was inside the church.  I usually arrived before 10:30 am and left around 3 pm on the days I volunteered.  All those days, I had never seen a single bird in their parking lot, but I saw a phenomenal scene that Sunday.  When I got out of my car, I saw many white birds flying right above my car!  My heart was filled with awe as they stayed for quite a while at a short distance above my head.  (If you like, please click to view How easy it is to judge and react...Story 2 about my soup kitchen experience)

The day after the Sunday service, a woman from the church came to talk to me while I was volunteering in the soup kitchen.  It was clear they wanted me to be part of their church family.  When she learned that I was not into any religion, the atmosphere froze.  She said those who were not Christians would go to hell.

I said, "What if there is a man who lives in a far away land and has never heard of Jesus Christ?  He loves his family and his neighbors.  He helps whenever help is needed.  He works hard day in and day out.  Do you think he will go to hell because he is not a Christian?"  She said the man would not go to heaven.

Suddenly, she seemed to be very sad.  She said, "My father was a high school teacher.  He was a good man and a good father.  I had asked him to come to church, but he did not want to.  He passed away a few years ago.  He could not enter heaven because he was not a Christian."

I looked at her with lots of compassion.  I said, "Don't be sad.  I am sure your father is in heaven.  He may be by your side at this very moment.  What religion is God?  God is God, and God is love . . ."  She could not listen anymore, and stormed out of the soup kitchen.

How painful it must be for her to keep it in her mind that her father had gone to hell. She was not the only one.  There were many like her who lived in pain, fear, shame, and guilt because they held onto rigid, wrong religious beliefs.  They suffered because they were more readily to form a judgment of others and themselves.  In pride and self-righteousness, they might even feel hateful towards those that did not conform to their beliefs.

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I knew a Rosie (not the real name) who turned to religion some years ago in order to find solace in life.  It was the case with many people who turned to religion because life on earth was indeed quite challenging.  She too believed what her church had told her that only those who were committed to the religion could go to heaven.  She said she had found the best religion and the true god.  She incessantly urged her loved ones (who were grown-ups) and all her relatives to go to church.  In time, her own children, siblings, and relatives avoided seeing her and did not return her calls.  She said she wanted to save them, but nobody listened to her.  She lived in pain and fear that her loved ones might not go to heaven.

Writing about Rosie reminded me of something that happened long time ago.  There was a time in my early teens that our class got into a debate if there was God.  For some days, we continued to debate during breaks or after school.  Some said, "If there is God, how come there is so much suffering in the world?"  I observed two of my classmates never said a word.  They carried a small bible in their hands wherever they went.  They were always humble and respectful of others.  While the rest of us debated about God, they sat there peacefully.  In their silence, they had shown how sure they were of their faith and of God.  Out of respect for them, I stopped taking part in the debate.  They never forced what they deemed as truth unto others as Rosie did, but their presence showed the good they believed in.  

As a grown-up, I knew to walk away from foolish, ignorant debates or arguments which were in truth a waste of time on most occasions.

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Throughout history, wars had been fought over which religion was the best religion and whose god was the true god.  Tens of thousands if not millions had been killed in wars declared in the name of god.  At times, religions flourished; at other times, religions were suppressed.  Temples had been built, burnt, rebuilt, destroyed over and over again.  While we prayed to the "Almighty God", some of us raised wars to defend the almighty god !  Some said one must be of this religion or that religion to enter the kingdom of God.  I did not know if they ever wondered what happened to those souls who existed long before today's religion came into being.

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Originally, I chose the Motto of the Theosophical Society founded by H.P. Blavatsky as the title of this post - There is no religion higher than the Truth - because it resonated with the truth within me.  However, my younger son had warned me to be careful with the copyright stuff when he guided me to set up the blog over the phone. (At that time, we lived in different states.)  So I changed the title.

Before I sign off, I would like to talk about Buddha and Jesus Christ.

Many people said they worshiped Buddha or Jesus Christ.  They saw Christ or Buddha as their gateway to heaven.

They worshiped Christ (or Buddha), yet they did not follow his teaching.  They looked down on people who were different, e.g. different religious belief, social status, skin color, and ethnicity.  They forgot Christ had said "Judge not lest ye be judged", and Buddha had taught us not to look at others with separation.  They forgot the Awakened Ones had said we should treat one another with compassion and love.

Buddha and Christ said we were equal by nature.  They knew that in Truth "We Are One".  When I thought of Buddha, Jesus Christ, and other Awakened Ones, I thought of their teaching, wisdom, and tireless travels to share what they knew.  Most of all, I thought of their love and compassion for humanity.  They came to show us the way to live our life, and they continued to shine their light on our path.  They wanted us to understand that 'we are responsible for our lives, and what matters the most is how we live, love, and treat other people'.  In other words, it would be erroneous for us to think that everything would be fine as long as we called Buddha or Jesus Christ our "Lord" without living responsibly.

It has been cold.  Please take care of yourself.  May the light of love keep you warm and safe wherever you are.

Many blessings,
Q of D

P.S.  This post was originally published on Feb. 1, 2014.  I publish it again because it is relevant to the post I am writing (i.e. my next post).