snuka12000
04-25-2010, 10:54 PM
Independent spiritual leader and author of the highly acclaimed “Gospel of Inclusion” continues to raise controversial and provocative issues about God and faith
GOD IS NOT A CHRISTIAN, NOR A JEW, MUSLIM, HINDU…
God Dwells with Us, in Us, Around Us, as Us
By Bishop Carlton Pearson
“Through the pain of my own shift out of the old ‘wine skins,’ into my new wardrobe of spiritual clothing, I leaned heavily on my own Pentecostal mysticism to transcend a reality that was treating me harshly. I remembered both who I was and who I wasn’t. The contrast was transformational to me. My life will never be the same.”
--Bishop Carlton Pearson, author of
God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim Hindu…
2004 proved to be a turbulent yet pivotal year for Bishop Carlton Pearson. After questioning the doctrines of his faith and making a public argument for the inclusion and validity of all religions, leaders of the Pentecostal faith reached the conclusion that Pearson’s new-found teachings were sinful. Declared a heretic by his peers, Pearson suddenly became a pariah and membership at his Higher Dimensions Church in Tulsa , Oklahoma dwindled from 5,000 members to less than 1000, causing the church building and property to be sold at a tremendous loss in order to avoid foreclosure in 2006. With a fraction of his original congregation in tow, Pearson and his remaining followers began meeting at the Trinity Episcopal Church, and renamed their church New Dimensions Worship Center . Later that same year, Pearson was accepted as a United Church of Christ minister and eventually, in 2008, New Dimensions Church was absorbed into the All Souls Unitarian Church . Because of his unusual spiritual journal and the success of his book, Gospel of Inclusion, Pearson became a highly sought-after media guest, with appearances on NBC’s Dateline, ABC’s Nightline and 20/20, and National Public Radio’s The American Life, among many others.
Now, the former mega-church bishop, televangelist, and award-winning gospel recording artist picks up where his previous book ends and continues to raise provocative and controversial questions about God, religion, dogma, doctrine, and faith in his second book, GOD IS NOT A CHRISTIAN, NOR A JEW, MUSLIM, HINDU…: God Dwells with Us, in Us, Around Us, as Us (Atria Books; On-sale March 2010; ISBN: 978-1-4165-8443-8; $25.00). As he explores new interpretations of scripture and presents a perspective that looks beyond mainstream religious fundamentalism, Pearson notes that God belongs to no particular religion but is rather, a constant presence that everyone can access. Giving a public face to a philosophy and ideology that many others in the clergy agree with but are afraid to acknowledge and embrace, Pearson, ever the pioneer, spreads his message of universalism and love in an intriguing and thought-provoking manner.
With his extensive knowledge of religious history and writings, Pearson probes the concept of hell and proposes that it is not the fiery underworld pit of conventional teaching but “a human creation used to terrify masses into behaving as their religious institutional guardian desires.” Pearson notes the buzz in some religious circles is that he doesn’t believe in hell anymore, which he says is both true and false. “I do not believe in hell in the way that most Christians have been taught for the last several hundred years,” he says. “I do believe in hell as a state of being and consciousness and believe that people can dwell in hell and that many do, right now, today, on this earth. I will argue that hell is the most erroneous, outdated, misunderstood, and misguided dogma in all of Christianity and one that must be discarded if this spiritual tradition is to survive as anything more than a contemptible curiosity. Hell was never God’s intention but a human-manufactured religious icon.”
One of the most compelling presentations in Pearson’s book explores the various definitions of God and the attributes humans assign to God which are a personal deity, an omnipresent divine energy, and a superhero. “The old version of God is obsolete and irrelevant and we need to accept the new one,” Pearson says. “It is a kinder, gentler God, one without wrath…This is a God who forces us to grow up just like a parent lets his or her children make their own mistakes in order to mature and come into their own. We must let go of the idea that God will be there to pick us up and intervene when we make poor choices; that is not Its role…This God is not a genie ready to emerge from a lamp to grant our wishes or to punish those who disagree with us—or It.” In this section of the book, Pearson also takes the case that religious conservatives make against homosexuality to task, citing it has no real basis in scripture. “What you make the issue becomes your idol,” he says. “Scripture says it is better to marry than to burn with lust. I have always assumed that to be a reference to heterosexual covenant but, in principle, it can as easily apply to same-sex lust or love, which is a love that can be and often is as committed and as covenantal as that of heterosexuals.”
As he makes a case for a view of God that is not limited to or defined by any single religion or denomination, Bishop Carlton Pearson challenges everyone to discover their own vision and version of God and to understand that the process will be ever-changing and evolving. In slaying the dragons of illusion, legalism, and power-based dogmas that underlie most of today’s religious culture, he says, we will release our loved ones and ourselves from a self-created and imposed hell, both personally and theoretically. “The world of injustice, religious bias, and hatred is wicked and unwarranted,” Pearson notes. “I believe in a relationship with a Creator God in consciousness who (or which) created us all, equally loved, cherished, and divinely purposed.”
Bishop Carlton Pearson is an independent spiritual leader and successful gospel recording artist. He was once an heir-apparent to Oral Roberts and a bishop in the Pentecostal Church where he presided over 600 churches. He lives in Chicago where he serves as Interim Sr. Minister of the 6,000 member Christ Universal Temple For Better Living.
GOD IS NOT A CHRISTIAN, NOR A JEW, MUSLIM, HINDU…
God Dwells with Us, in Us, Around Us, as Us
By Bishop Carlton Pearson
“Through the pain of my own shift out of the old ‘wine skins,’ into my new wardrobe of spiritual clothing, I leaned heavily on my own Pentecostal mysticism to transcend a reality that was treating me harshly. I remembered both who I was and who I wasn’t. The contrast was transformational to me. My life will never be the same.”
--Bishop Carlton Pearson, author of
God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim Hindu…
2004 proved to be a turbulent yet pivotal year for Bishop Carlton Pearson. After questioning the doctrines of his faith and making a public argument for the inclusion and validity of all religions, leaders of the Pentecostal faith reached the conclusion that Pearson’s new-found teachings were sinful. Declared a heretic by his peers, Pearson suddenly became a pariah and membership at his Higher Dimensions Church in Tulsa , Oklahoma dwindled from 5,000 members to less than 1000, causing the church building and property to be sold at a tremendous loss in order to avoid foreclosure in 2006. With a fraction of his original congregation in tow, Pearson and his remaining followers began meeting at the Trinity Episcopal Church, and renamed their church New Dimensions Worship Center . Later that same year, Pearson was accepted as a United Church of Christ minister and eventually, in 2008, New Dimensions Church was absorbed into the All Souls Unitarian Church . Because of his unusual spiritual journal and the success of his book, Gospel of Inclusion, Pearson became a highly sought-after media guest, with appearances on NBC’s Dateline, ABC’s Nightline and 20/20, and National Public Radio’s The American Life, among many others.
Now, the former mega-church bishop, televangelist, and award-winning gospel recording artist picks up where his previous book ends and continues to raise provocative and controversial questions about God, religion, dogma, doctrine, and faith in his second book, GOD IS NOT A CHRISTIAN, NOR A JEW, MUSLIM, HINDU…: God Dwells with Us, in Us, Around Us, as Us (Atria Books; On-sale March 2010; ISBN: 978-1-4165-8443-8; $25.00). As he explores new interpretations of scripture and presents a perspective that looks beyond mainstream religious fundamentalism, Pearson notes that God belongs to no particular religion but is rather, a constant presence that everyone can access. Giving a public face to a philosophy and ideology that many others in the clergy agree with but are afraid to acknowledge and embrace, Pearson, ever the pioneer, spreads his message of universalism and love in an intriguing and thought-provoking manner.
With his extensive knowledge of religious history and writings, Pearson probes the concept of hell and proposes that it is not the fiery underworld pit of conventional teaching but “a human creation used to terrify masses into behaving as their religious institutional guardian desires.” Pearson notes the buzz in some religious circles is that he doesn’t believe in hell anymore, which he says is both true and false. “I do not believe in hell in the way that most Christians have been taught for the last several hundred years,” he says. “I do believe in hell as a state of being and consciousness and believe that people can dwell in hell and that many do, right now, today, on this earth. I will argue that hell is the most erroneous, outdated, misunderstood, and misguided dogma in all of Christianity and one that must be discarded if this spiritual tradition is to survive as anything more than a contemptible curiosity. Hell was never God’s intention but a human-manufactured religious icon.”
One of the most compelling presentations in Pearson’s book explores the various definitions of God and the attributes humans assign to God which are a personal deity, an omnipresent divine energy, and a superhero. “The old version of God is obsolete and irrelevant and we need to accept the new one,” Pearson says. “It is a kinder, gentler God, one without wrath…This is a God who forces us to grow up just like a parent lets his or her children make their own mistakes in order to mature and come into their own. We must let go of the idea that God will be there to pick us up and intervene when we make poor choices; that is not Its role…This God is not a genie ready to emerge from a lamp to grant our wishes or to punish those who disagree with us—or It.” In this section of the book, Pearson also takes the case that religious conservatives make against homosexuality to task, citing it has no real basis in scripture. “What you make the issue becomes your idol,” he says. “Scripture says it is better to marry than to burn with lust. I have always assumed that to be a reference to heterosexual covenant but, in principle, it can as easily apply to same-sex lust or love, which is a love that can be and often is as committed and as covenantal as that of heterosexuals.”
As he makes a case for a view of God that is not limited to or defined by any single religion or denomination, Bishop Carlton Pearson challenges everyone to discover their own vision and version of God and to understand that the process will be ever-changing and evolving. In slaying the dragons of illusion, legalism, and power-based dogmas that underlie most of today’s religious culture, he says, we will release our loved ones and ourselves from a self-created and imposed hell, both personally and theoretically. “The world of injustice, religious bias, and hatred is wicked and unwarranted,” Pearson notes. “I believe in a relationship with a Creator God in consciousness who (or which) created us all, equally loved, cherished, and divinely purposed.”
Bishop Carlton Pearson is an independent spiritual leader and successful gospel recording artist. He was once an heir-apparent to Oral Roberts and a bishop in the Pentecostal Church where he presided over 600 churches. He lives in Chicago where he serves as Interim Sr. Minister of the 6,000 member Christ Universal Temple For Better Living.