Musings on How Mystical Matters of Faith Relate to Morality and Peace

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., August 31, 2024 

Institutional religion and personal faith have both mystical and moral dimensions.  The mystical dimension is about how we relate to God, while the moral dimension defines how we relate to each other.  Both are interwoven.  In the greatest commandment Jesus taught that we love God by loving others, even those we don’t like, as we love ourselves.  

We cannot be at peace with God and ourselves if we don’t respect and love others as our spiritual brothers and sisters.  Jesus once said, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister.” (Mark 3:34)  What is God’s will?  It’s to love others, even those we don’t like, as we love ourselves.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us simply to ”Love one another.” (John 13:33-34)

These commands are God’s universal truth for all people.  Loving others is how we love God, and it requires that we must first be transformed by God’s love to be at peace with ourselves.  Only then can we share God’s peace with others; and if we are committed to share God’s peace with others, we can endure and overcome all of the world’s problems.

I have written over 500 commentaries on religion, legitimacy and politics.  As a retired UMC pastor I have emphasized morality and avoided mysticism due to many differences of believers over mystical issues of faith; but as in matters of morality, we can share common mystical beliefs, and relate them to our politics as well as to our personal spiritual issues.

I have problems with the many church doctrines not taught by Jesus, including the  doctrine of atonement.  I believe that Jesus was a prophet who taught God’s word and truth.  In John’s Gospel Jesus was introduced as the Logos. (John 1:1-2)  That was a uniqueness in John’s Gospel that supports Jesus as the word of God, but not the alter ego of God.

Jesus was a Jew who knew that it was blasphemous to claim to be divine.  He taught his disciples to follow him, but not to worship him.  The Trinity is exclusivist church doctrine that limits salvation to Christians who believe in Jesus Christ as God, but it was never taught by Jesus; even so, it has enabled the church to become the world’s largest religion.

As a retired UMC pastor it has been a challenge to promote a universalist Jesus in an exclusivist religion, and I’m not alone.  Many have come to believe that God does not favor one religion over others, but seeks to reconcile those in different religions with the reconciling love taught by Jesus as God’s universal word.  I’m hopeful that progressive trend will continue.

In the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, God’s will is to reconcile and redeem, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer.  Unfortunately Satan does a convincing imitation of God in politics and religion, and often wins worldly political contests.  Only God’s universal and reconciling love and peace can save us from ourselves.