[+] The Great Gift of God -- writings of Neale Donald Walsch

The following article is from CwG Weekly Bulletin #96 from Neale Donald Walsch. CwG stands for "Conversations with God," the name of Walsch's first three books (I, II, and III), which he claims were revealed to him as he asked questions of God. In the case of the first book, he has claimed that he wrote (in a Q&A format) as the words were given to him, and no changes were made prior to the publishing of the book.

Here, Walsch talks about the process and "how he knew he was having a conversation with God and not just making it all up." It makes for very interesting reading. Do I believe that God was talking to Walsch? Let me answer that question by saying that I experienced the feeling that, through Walsch's words, God was speaking directly to ME as I read portions of the book -- especially during a time of stress and regret after a conflict with a dear friend. I was grateful for those words during that time, as I was filled with remorse and the others present were hurt by what I had said and done. Ironically, I had never, to my recollection, had such an experience reading from the Bible or any other book.

To me (and I think Walsch would agree) many people have an experience of "talking" with God in many different ways. Long an appreciative listener to "Messiah," the music of George F. Handel, I firmly believe he was "inspired" during the writing of that wonderful and biblically-based music. Once a seminary professor stated that the prophetic words of Isaiah "wonderful, counselor, almighty God," referred to Cyrus (who was regarded by many Jews of his time to be the promised messiah) and not Jesus. I raised my hand and asked, "Does that mean that Handel was more inspired than the writer of Isaiah?"

Quite possibly.

In any case, here is Walsch's fascinating point of view. I've read elsewhere that he has said, "Everyone has conversations with God -- I just write them down." May the Great Spirit of the universe speak to you and to each of us in whatever way and through whatever means there are. We need it.
-- Revrickm

The Great Gift of God, by Neale Donald Walsch

One of the questions I am asked the most is, “How do you know you are having a Conversation with God? How do you know that you are not just making this all up?”

I can tell you exactly when I knew that I was not making it all up. It was very early in the ongoing dialogue, in Book 1, when I found myself writing the words, “There is no such thing as The Ten Commandments.”

How could that be? I asked myself as the words came into my head and flew off the pen. I stared at the yellow legal pad before me. This is blasphemy, I told myself sternly.

I had never had a thought such as that before, I can tell you that. Nor had I ever read anything quite like that in the writings of others. I dove into the deepest reaches of my soul and earnestly asked God, What can this mean?

It was then that I was told to go back to the First Wisdom that I was given in the dialogue: “We are all One.”

If we are all one, then that means that God and we are one. And if that is true, who would God command? And who would God punish if His commandments were not kept?

While all this made logical sense, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Then what ARE the Ten Commandments? Did Moses make all this up?”

“Nope,” said God. “He just got it wrong in the interpretation.”

When Moses came to the mountain top, he, too, earnestly asked God some questions. “I have led my people from the wilderness. How can I now lead them to the promised land?” he wanted to know. “How can they know that they are on the right path?”

God answered, “I will give you signs. You shall know that you are on the path to God by these indicators. When you are on the path to God, you shall find yourselves acting in certain ways and doing things automatically, for these are things that a person on the path to God naturally does. When you are on the path to God…

1. You shall love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul. And you shall have no other gods before the One God there is.

2. You shall find that you can say nothing in my name that does not come to pass. Everything you call forth, using my name, will be made manifest in your reality. That is, you shall not use the name of God in vain.

And there will be other signs as well. Ten of them, in particular, you will remember, for they shall form the bedrock of your experience.

(To read of these signs, see page 96 of Conversations with God – Book 1.)

When you are on the path to God, you shall do these things of your own free will. You will not have to be forced to do them, nor will you have to be commanded to do them. That is God’s promise to you. Therefore, these are The Ten Commitments. They are God’s promise to us, God’s answer to the question of Moses, and of the whole humanity (for we all have the same question. Moses asked humanity’s question):

“How can we know we are on the path?”

Want to know if you are on the way back home? Just look at your own behaviour. THAT is the lesson here, and that is the teaching.

God commands nothing. God simply tells us how to know when we have stepped on the path out of the wilderness and back to Love, which is God Itself.

This rearranges everything in our theology. Yet the statement We Are All One was intended to do that. God cannot separate Itself from Itself, and so God has no one to command, and no one to punish, except Godself.

This understanding changes everything. Suddenly, we realize what it means to have Free Will. A will that is truly free pays no price to anyone for its choices and decisions. That is the great gift of God.

It is the most difficult gift to accept, and the most difficult to understand. Does this mean that we can do anything we want, no matter how much it might hurt or damage others, just because we choose to do it, and we will never be punished?
That is correct.

Yet there are consequences to our actions. Consequences and punishments should not be confused. Consequences are natural outcomes. Punishments are artificially imposed responses. “Outcomes” and “responses” are not the same thing.

All actions produce outcomes. If the natural outcome of an action that you take is something that you do not prefer, you may think of it as a punishment—particularly if you think of God as a punishing God. Yet a natural outcome is simply that -— a consequence, not a response.

Life does not respond, but Life does flow in a sequence. That is, one thing leads to another. Life is a process of Cause and Effect, not to be confused with a process of Reward and Punishment. And what you cause, you feel the effect of.

CwG says that no one can avoid this cause-and-effect process. Indeed, the With God books make exactly the opposite point, over and over again.

Further, CwG indicates clearly that all souls, after death, undergo a process in which they are allowed to experience every moment of the life they have just lived, but from the point of view of every person who was impacted by their decisions. In other words, they experience what they have caused others to experience.

The purpose of this, however, is not to bring a soul to "justice," but to bring it to awareness; not to provide punishment, but to provide insight. Thus, the experience does not last forever. It is not about eternal damnation, it is about the soul's evolution.

This is the Cause and the Effect, the Effect and the Cause, of everything. For the process is circular—as is all of Life. Life is a line, circling in on itself. That is why every effect you cause, you cause yourself to experience the effects of. It is never about “punishment.” It is just how Life works.