People seem to think that God just isn't too smart. That He doesn't realize you are praying / worshipping Him/Her unless you use the right title, the specific form and/or language of prayer, or be in the correct place at a particular time. And He/She obviously needs to find out from US what needs to happen, because we sure seem to want to be advisers rather than followers - and we WILL keep advising until things turn out the way we want it to be. Much easier than "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I've been meeting with some nice folk who believe the Bible - excuse me, their version of the Bible - is word-perfect. As much as I believe in the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I am certain there are some flaws - some from the original authors, some in translation. Since I can't write a full paragraph without a typo or misspelling, I figure I should grant the same chance-of-error even in scriptures (hey, Moses has a speaking disability - prophets are exempt from things, and whomever was taking notes for them).

I'll keep sharing with people what I know/feel/believe about God, but I also want to grant them the right to worship how, where or what they may (Hey! Sounds like the 11th Article of Faith, don't it?!). To some people, that works just fine if it's still Jesus Christ - but not Allah, Buddha or one of the Hindu gods. Listen, I really believe God knows when people are taking him into account, even if they call him something else. And He takes into account how they have been raised and taught.

My spiritual beliefs work great for me, and I would like to share them with other people. But I also have to allow other people that share their beliefs with me, and grant them the same privilege.

Can you believe this all began from a letter to the editor in our local newspaper, saying "A very prominent person in our government said, 'We all believe in the same God, just under different names.' I think this is a grievous and a very serious mistake to believe that. We know that Allah and Buddha was not the father of Jesus Christ," (grammar not corrected), "... I think you can call him any name you want as long as it is respectful and accept him as the father of Jesus Christ."

In other words, as long as it's a Christian belief.

Sigh.