Musings of a Maverick Minister: Spiritual Enlightenment in Small Doses

By Marge deGraw

This book offers questions and answers about religion and spirituality, as well as metaphysics. It's OK to question your faith. It's OK to find answers that don't fit with others' beliefs. Move away from being told what to believe to thinking and believing for yourself.
Find yourself reading about religious musings, life-experience musings and metaphysical musings. You may be shocked or relieved to know that you are not alone in questioning and finding answers that resonate with you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503543133

Marge deGraw

Marge deGraw was ordained in 1992 at the age of 52. She has studied metaphysics and spirituality for most of her adult life. She loves to read and study, do crossword puzzles. She and her husband Bill work out in an "old people's" gym. Marge and Bill live in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Copyright © 2015 by Marge deGraw.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version), first published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by the Zondervan Corporation.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 02/16/2015

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

Religious Musings

Essay 1: The Presence Of God

Essay 2: Original Sin? Really?

Essay 3: The Death Of God?

Essay 4: The Garden Story

Life-Experience Musings

Essay 5: Attitude

Essay 6: The Dandelion Moment

Essay 7: Compassion

Essay 8: Forgiveness

Metaphysical Musings*

Essay 9: Reincarnation

Essay 10: God As Tetragrammaton

Essay 11: Meditation

Essay 12: Mantras And The Subconscious

Essay 13: Life Is Sacred. Be Joyful., Give Thanks

The Last Words

Bibliography

Commercials

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my spiritual mentor, Steve, who wishes to remain anonymous. Steve, you have encouraged and supported me in my spiritual growth as well as in my writing. You are much appreciated.

INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader,

Have you ever questioned or doubted your beliefs or the doctrines of your church? Are you staying away from organized religion because it doesn’t work for you? Yeah, me too. That’s why I call myself a maverick minister. I am also a metaphysical minister.

My life has been a long spiritual journey searching for what I have called the Truth. I now realize that I have been searching for what resonates as true to me. I am looking for what is real for me in my spirituality.

I have studied metaphysics, religions (including Christianity and Buddhism), and spirituality for many years and I have always questioned things. My hope for Christianity is for it to have an openhearted set of beliefs and knowledge. I most likely am a Christian radical. It depends on how you see it. Below is a list of beliefs that I have. Please read them, think them through, and decide for yourself. Don’t believe because it is in written form in a book. Do believe if what I say resonates in your mind, heart, and gut.

After many years of studying and searching with my heart I’ve come to believe…

• . . . in the everlasting love of God. He loves and supports us through our very human existence. He also forgives us for our goof-ups (traditionally called sins). We do well to forgive ourselves and let it be. It is what it is, and we can, and will, do better.

• . . . all of life is sacred. Sitting with family and eating dinner is sacred. Play is sacred. Working is sacred. Our bodies are sacred.

• . . . in reincarnation. We have been given many lives on Earth to fulfill our purpose.

• . . . God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, which, before we are born, we have discussed with our teachers on the inner plane. At these meetings, we talk about what is needed for our life on Earth and we plan it together according to God’s Will. We are assigned experiences that will give us lessons that will cause us to learn and to grow. As we learn and grow (evolve), we make the next lifetime better. If we slough off, we create more lessons of learning for ourselves so we can begin to grow again in this life and the next. We are asked to take the high road. In this way, we grow and evolve.

• . . . the inner plane is also called the world of spirit; Christians call it heaven.

• . . . life on Earth is a serious matter, rich with hard work, joy, and laughter.

• . . . God exists as a loving, benevolent energy and not as a man with a long white beard sitting on a throne, dispensing goodness and punishment. God is not a wrathful God.

• . . . Jesus was a great wisdom teacher who stunned the authorities of the day with his radical messages. He set an example to the people of how to live a good life. Jesus was Jewish, not Christian. He grew up in a Jewish community, went to synagogue, and understood the Jewish laws and Scriptures. Christianity was formed in 400 AD by a committee appointed by Constantine.

• . . . Christ is not just for Christians. Christians do not have the market cornered on Christ. He is for everybody. He is an equal opportunity Christ. Anyone can benefit from knowing Christ, not just Christians.

• . . . early Christians were called People of the Way, not Christians. Many years later, in Antioch, they were called Christians. Jesus did not found Christianity. His teachings gave the foundation for Christian teachings. Thus Christianity was born.

• . . . the concern for being saved is a Christian thing. Non-Christians need not worry about it. They are fine just the way they are. There are many pathways to God, and He accepts all religions (unless religions do harm to people. For example: Some Christian pastors’ preaching and teaching that we are unworthy, miserable sinners and we’d better be careful or we’ll end up in Hell. This can cause emotional distress, scare children, and turn people away from God and religion).

• . . . the endeavor to lead a clean, wholesome, ethical, kind, and loving life is more important