A Letter to Neale

Reader Question:

Dear Mr. Walsch... I am very concerned about a friend of mine who is going through a stressful, questioning time in her life. She has doubts about God and salvation. I have not read your book yet, but I plan to after the conversation I had with her last night. I have already checked it out of the library.

My friend has come up with some pretty radical ideas about God from reading your book and I don't know if I can really adequately address them. The most important concern I have is of course the fact that she told me she does not trust the Bible, but she equates your book to scripture. She believes that this book Conversations with God was inspired by God in the same way that Paul describes all scripture as being "God-breathed (inspired)."

Frankly this idea scares me a little. Since I have not read your book I will not make any assumptions, but is there anything in your book that would turn her away from scripture as authoritative? I have thumbed through your book and have not found any scripture references in there (that doesn't mean they aren't there, it just means I may not have seen them).

Another thing we discussed is Hell. She says that she does not believe there is a hell. While this may not be a huge issue, I think that there certainly is a consequence for our actions. Hell is a place, just as Heaven is a place! (They just aren't places we can get to in our physical bodies.)

She claims (because of what she has read in your book) that because God has given us free will, we can do what we want. These are dangerous assumptions, I'm sure you would agree. I just don't know what I can say to debunk some of these false assumptions which she has come to by reading this. I know you are a busy person, but I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to handle this situation. Thank you for your time. God Bless!

In Christ Always,
Rob G., by e-mail.

Neale Responds

Dear Rob... Thank you, my friend, for your very wonderful letter. You are raising the very kinds of questions that I believe humanity must raise right now, and you are doing so with sincerity and what I believe to be an honest willingness to explore.

Before I respond to your questions, Rob, I am going to say that I hope that the previous statement is true. For if you have an honest willingness to explore the issues you have raised, our discussion here could be very fruitful. "If, on the other hand, you believe that you already know all there is to know on these subjects and that no new thought or idea could possibly be valid, then our discussion will lead to the same kind of dead-end (and deadly end!) that humanity as a whole faces today.

The Five Steps to Peace

In my book, The New Revelations, God says:

"There are five things you can choose now if changing your world, and the self-destructive direction in which it is moving, is what you wish to achieve.

1. You can choose to acknowledge that some of your old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working.

2. You can choose to acknowledge that there is something you do not understand about God and about Life, the understanding of which will change everything.

3. You can choose to be willing for a new understanding of God and Life to now be brought forth, an understanding that could produce a new way of life on your planet.

4. You can choose to be courageous enough to explore and examine this new understanding, and, if it aligns with your inner truth and knowing, to enlarge your belief system to include it.

5. You can choose to live your lives as demonstrations of your highest and grandest beliefs, rather than as denials of them.

These are the Five Steps to Peace, and if you take them, you can shift everything on your planet."

Are you ready to take these steps, Rob? Are you able to admit that maybe, just maybe, some of your old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working? This is clearly what your friend has done-and I understand why it has upset you, because stepping away from some of the beliefs that we have held most dear can be very scary and very disorienting.

Yet I am reminded of the medical doctors who, not that many years ago, refused to accept that washing their hands before surgery could make any difference, much less save lives. They would not accept this radical new idea because it was just that: a radical new idea that challenged conventional understandings.

Now Rob, you have said that the idea that Conversations with God was inspired by God scares you, and the first thing that I want to say is, why? Why does that scare you? Was not the Declaration of Independence inspired by God? Was not the breathtaking painting by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel inspired by God? Was not Mozart's music inspired by God? Cannot a book be inspired by God?

If so, must it be an old book? Could it not be a new book, written this very day? And if so, must it be only a book with which you agree? Can it not be a book that says things with which you do not agree?

These are questions I urge you to consider, Rob.

Is everything in the Bible literally true?

Now, continuing with your letter, Rob, you have asked if there is anything in my book that would turn your friend away from "scripture as authoritative." I will answer you honestly that yes, there is, if what you mean by "scripture as authoritative" is that every word and every syllable in the entire Bible is true, right, and correct and must not be questioned. If this is what you mean and this is what you believe, I invite you-indeed, I dare you-to read The New Revelations.

In that book you will see passage after passage of material from the Bible that I doubt that even the staunchest true believer in Christ would say is true and correct and should be accepted without question.

The problem in the world today, Rob, is not being created by people who are questioning the world's holy scriptures, but by those who are not.

Also, Rob, you expressed concern because your friend has now concluded that there is no such place as Hell. In your note to me you have said, ”Hell is a place, just as Heaven is a place!“

Well, Rob, I do not agree with you-and neither does the Pope. A few years ago the Pope held an audience in Rome in which he declared that there was no such place as Hell. He said that there was such a thing as an experience of hell, and that this experience could best be described as separation from God. The Pope also said that it was not God's job to punish, and that punishment (separation from God) is self-inflicted and self-imposed. I agree with the Pope.

Now you may not see the Pope as an authority in this matter, but I just wanted you to know that religious figures in some pretty high places seem to agree with Conversations with God in this regard. The point is that the statement that there is no such place as Hell is not such a radical idea, and you may wish to more openly explore it.

Finally, Rob, you say that your friend claims (because of what she has read in my book) that because God has given us free will, we can do what we want.

”These are dangerous assumptions, I'm sure you would agree,” you said.

I am sorry, Rob, but once again I do not agree. Even traditional religions teach the doctrine of Free Will, and say that this doctrine means exactly what it implies-that we can do exactly as we want. I believe that what you see as dangerous, Rob, is the idea that we can do exactly as we want without fear of punishment.

That, of course, is a radical idea, I will acknowledge. Yet that is what Conversations with God says. Communion with God makes it even plainer, listing the idea of "condemnation" and "punishment" as one of the Ten Illusions of Humans, and The New Revelations completes the message, announcing clearly that God has no reason to punish anyone, and does not do so.

I know that these ideas challenge the current notion of things held by a large number of people, and I have no need to try to convince anyone that this view of things is correct. All I wish to do is help humanity stop making everyone else wrong and stop killing each other when people do not accept the currently prevailing belief about things.

Rob, you say that you don't know how to "debunk" some of these false assumptions, and you've asked my advice. My answer is that I don't believe these assumptions to be false. Rather, I believe them to be ideas that could change the world, bringing an end to our insanity at last.

With Love,