One does have to wonder, although most of us don't, where God came from and Who made God. It's also somewhat puzzling why God won't regrow bones. Consider if you will, all the prayers sent heavenward through all the millennia on that subject! (I know I'm preaching to the choir here as I agree with you, Michael.) Scientists, the ones that is who for the most part have PhD, PhD, PhD.... following their last name and in the hard sciences, so physics, chemistry, et al, do not believe in an actual creator so why should we? And besides, when Jesus walked the earth as God in the flesh, why didn't He have the decency to add to the Ten Commandments "Thou Shalt Not Enslave Other Human Beings"? He certainly could have, had He been so inclined because, remember, He had all the power, all the knowledge and all the Love! I could go on and on but will stop here. Thanks for all you do for the food animals on your other substack. You are awesome!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and heartfelt note. From a New Thought perspective, your reflections open an important conversation about how we frame the Divine and our place in creation.
Rather than seeing God as a separate being with human-like intentions, New Thought views God as the infinite, eternal Presence, the creative Intelligence that is life itself. God is not “made” but is the Source, the ground of being, the Mind behind all manifestation. In this view, we are not separate from God but expressions of God. As Ernest Holmes said, “There is nothing to heal, only Truth to be revealed.”
Your question about bones not regrowing speaks to the limits we place on faith, science, and possibility. In New Thought, healing happens through alignment with divine law, mind, body, and spirit in harmony. What we call miracles are simply spiritual laws not yet fully understood by material science. So the question isn’t “Why won’t God regrow bones?” but “What limiting beliefs do we hold that block that potential?”
As for the teachings of Jesus, New Thought often regards the Christ not as one man but as a consciousness available to all. The Christ message was always about liberation—of mind, of heart, and ultimately of all beings. The systems of the time, and the centuries of church control after, filtered that message through power structures, which is why human slavery continued under religious sanction.
But the Spirit of Truth keeps rising. And today, as we work to end the exploitation of animals, we carry that Christ Consciousness forward—through compassion, awareness, and love in action.
Thank you again for your note and for your support of the animals. We are waking up, together.
Yes, absolutely. As someone dragged into the Catholic church by a converting parent as an impressionable and sensitive 11-year-old, the idea of sin and its attendant guilt was an impossibly heavy burden.
I loved ex-monk Matthew Fox's book 'Original Blessing'.
There is not one truly monotheistic religion in the entire world, because the world is full of suffering. Why so many innocent children die? Why so many women die in childbirth? Why did God allow the Holocaust? If the Creator is all powerful and loves his creatures, why does he allow this? Before the invention of Satan and lesser "evil"deities blaming the victim was the norm. The Garden of Eden story can be read from different perspectives. It can be read as a coming of age story, emphasizing the importance of obedience to taboos, such as incest. It is also a story stressing the importance of gratitude: those who take things for granted and are ungrateful for everything God has given them are damned--unless they repent. An ungrateful, arrogant person might dare defy God's curse, and thereby endanger his entire community, hence the stress on the importance of loving God with all one's will and strength. In the Gospel according to Marc Jesus makes it clear that the gates of Heaven are open to children, because they are free of sin, but they do change as they grow up. A mature, civilized adult must be weary of his/her inherent weaknesses, hence the Garden of Eden story is still worth teaching to every adolescent.The curse is still in effect.
From a New Thought perspective, the question of suffering—including why children die, why women perish in childbirth, or why atrocities like the Holocaust occur—is not answered by externalizing power or placing blame on a punitive deity. New Thought teaches that God is not a person, not a being who intervenes capriciously, but the principle of Life, Love, Intelligence, and creative Mind operating through all things. The Divine is not out there choosing who lives or dies. It is the infinite Presence within us, the "I Am" behind all being.
Suffering, then, is not caused by a vindictive God nor by "original sin." It is a result of the misuse of thought, ignorance of our oneness, and inherited patterns of fear, separation, and limitation. New Thought does not teach blame—it teaches responsibility. Not guilt, but empowerment.
In this view, the Garden of Eden story is not about punishment, but symbolic awakening. It marks the birth of self-awareness and the dawning of free will. The “fall” was not a sin—it was a step into autonomy. We became conscious creators. The “curse” is the illusion of separation from God, from Source. But this illusion is not permanent. It can be healed through inner transformation—by aligning our thoughts with Truth, with Love, with Unity.
Children enter the world as pure expressions of Divine Mind. Their suffering is not a sign of their failure, nor God’s cruelty. In New Thought, the soul is eternal, and life is not limited to one body. What we perceive as tragedy may, from the higher soul’s vantage, be a passage toward greater growth, learning, or karmic resolution.
Rather than interpreting hardship as divine punishment, New Thought invites us to shift consciousness, to recognize that what we call "God" lives within and through all. We are co-creators, and the evolution of humanity—individually and collectively—rests in awakening to that truth.
So yes, teach the story. But teach it as a metaphor for spiritual adolescence—the moment we step out of unconscious bliss and begin the journey of remembering who we really are: not fallen beings, but divine beings waking up. The “curse” ends the moment we accept that Truth.
One does have to wonder, although most of us don't, where God came from and Who made God. It's also somewhat puzzling why God won't regrow bones. Consider if you will, all the prayers sent heavenward through all the millennia on that subject! (I know I'm preaching to the choir here as I agree with you, Michael.) Scientists, the ones that is who for the most part have PhD, PhD, PhD.... following their last name and in the hard sciences, so physics, chemistry, et al, do not believe in an actual creator so why should we? And besides, when Jesus walked the earth as God in the flesh, why didn't He have the decency to add to the Ten Commandments "Thou Shalt Not Enslave Other Human Beings"? He certainly could have, had He been so inclined because, remember, He had all the power, all the knowledge and all the Love! I could go on and on but will stop here. Thanks for all you do for the food animals on your other substack. You are awesome!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and heartfelt note. From a New Thought perspective, your reflections open an important conversation about how we frame the Divine and our place in creation.
Rather than seeing God as a separate being with human-like intentions, New Thought views God as the infinite, eternal Presence, the creative Intelligence that is life itself. God is not “made” but is the Source, the ground of being, the Mind behind all manifestation. In this view, we are not separate from God but expressions of God. As Ernest Holmes said, “There is nothing to heal, only Truth to be revealed.”
Your question about bones not regrowing speaks to the limits we place on faith, science, and possibility. In New Thought, healing happens through alignment with divine law, mind, body, and spirit in harmony. What we call miracles are simply spiritual laws not yet fully understood by material science. So the question isn’t “Why won’t God regrow bones?” but “What limiting beliefs do we hold that block that potential?”
As for the teachings of Jesus, New Thought often regards the Christ not as one man but as a consciousness available to all. The Christ message was always about liberation—of mind, of heart, and ultimately of all beings. The systems of the time, and the centuries of church control after, filtered that message through power structures, which is why human slavery continued under religious sanction.
But the Spirit of Truth keeps rising. And today, as we work to end the exploitation of animals, we carry that Christ Consciousness forward—through compassion, awareness, and love in action.
Thank you again for your note and for your support of the animals. We are waking up, together.
Yes, absolutely. As someone dragged into the Catholic church by a converting parent as an impressionable and sensitive 11-year-old, the idea of sin and its attendant guilt was an impossibly heavy burden.
I loved ex-monk Matthew Fox's book 'Original Blessing'.
There is not one truly monotheistic religion in the entire world, because the world is full of suffering. Why so many innocent children die? Why so many women die in childbirth? Why did God allow the Holocaust? If the Creator is all powerful and loves his creatures, why does he allow this? Before the invention of Satan and lesser "evil"deities blaming the victim was the norm. The Garden of Eden story can be read from different perspectives. It can be read as a coming of age story, emphasizing the importance of obedience to taboos, such as incest. It is also a story stressing the importance of gratitude: those who take things for granted and are ungrateful for everything God has given them are damned--unless they repent. An ungrateful, arrogant person might dare defy God's curse, and thereby endanger his entire community, hence the stress on the importance of loving God with all one's will and strength. In the Gospel according to Marc Jesus makes it clear that the gates of Heaven are open to children, because they are free of sin, but they do change as they grow up. A mature, civilized adult must be weary of his/her inherent weaknesses, hence the Garden of Eden story is still worth teaching to every adolescent.The curse is still in effect.
From a New Thought perspective, the question of suffering—including why children die, why women perish in childbirth, or why atrocities like the Holocaust occur—is not answered by externalizing power or placing blame on a punitive deity. New Thought teaches that God is not a person, not a being who intervenes capriciously, but the principle of Life, Love, Intelligence, and creative Mind operating through all things. The Divine is not out there choosing who lives or dies. It is the infinite Presence within us, the "I Am" behind all being.
Suffering, then, is not caused by a vindictive God nor by "original sin." It is a result of the misuse of thought, ignorance of our oneness, and inherited patterns of fear, separation, and limitation. New Thought does not teach blame—it teaches responsibility. Not guilt, but empowerment.
In this view, the Garden of Eden story is not about punishment, but symbolic awakening. It marks the birth of self-awareness and the dawning of free will. The “fall” was not a sin—it was a step into autonomy. We became conscious creators. The “curse” is the illusion of separation from God, from Source. But this illusion is not permanent. It can be healed through inner transformation—by aligning our thoughts with Truth, with Love, with Unity.
Children enter the world as pure expressions of Divine Mind. Their suffering is not a sign of their failure, nor God’s cruelty. In New Thought, the soul is eternal, and life is not limited to one body. What we perceive as tragedy may, from the higher soul’s vantage, be a passage toward greater growth, learning, or karmic resolution.
Rather than interpreting hardship as divine punishment, New Thought invites us to shift consciousness, to recognize that what we call "God" lives within and through all. We are co-creators, and the evolution of humanity—individually and collectively—rests in awakening to that truth.
So yes, teach the story. But teach it as a metaphor for spiritual adolescence—the moment we step out of unconscious bliss and begin the journey of remembering who we really are: not fallen beings, but divine beings waking up. The “curse” ends the moment we accept that Truth.
I completely agree with you, Michael. Nicely articulated.