It’s been a while since I published a post about the spiritual realm. This one will primarily be an extended quote from one of my primary teachers on that subject: Philip Gulley. He is a Quaker pastor, writer, and speaker from Danville, Indiana. I have read perhaps a dozen of his books and hundreds of his blog posts.

Here is a quote from him relating to a miraculous intervention more commonly known as the “Second Coming”:

Here’s what I’ve learned since then. The people who scan the heavens and pore over the Bible looking for the return of Jesus aren’t any more faithful, any more Christian, any more privy to the will of God, than the rest of us. They are simply more frightened, overwhelmed by a world they cannot control, but desperately want to. I understand that. There isn’t one of us in this room who hasn’t felt overwhelmed by a world we can’t control. But our hope should not rest in a miraculous intervention, in Jesus returning to make things right. Our hope should rest in one another, in the warmth of mutual love and affection, in our conviction that those who come after us will build upon our efforts, just we have built upon the efforts of those who preceded us, which is why I believe our salvation will not be sudden and spectacular, but gradual and gentle, as each human heart learns to love that which is beautiful and gracious and pure.

Philip Gulley

As I have said several times before, “I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus, but I no longer call myself a Christian.” It just seems to me that a large part of Christianity is about getting a “Get-out-of-jail-free” card. Many of the 35,000+ different versions of Christianity proclaim that all you need to get into heaven is to proclaim total faith in words that were written 400+ years after Jesus’ death. Nothing but that proclamation matters to those who espouse that.

I love Mr. Gulley’s comment that those who call themselves fundamentalists are more frightened and overwhelmed by a world they cannot control. Instead of loving those who might be different from them, they do what they can to shun them into nonexistence. I think that, sadly, explains why so many MAGA folks are among them.

I hope that somehow, we can eventually take back the Christian label to more simply means loving each other.