It is a theological framework that believes God is Love, and because love requires freedom, God interacts with the world rather than strictly controlling it.

Traditional theology often views God as "static" (unchanging) and "controlling" (micromanaging outcomes). Open and Relational Theology views God as "dynamic" (responsive) and "persuasive" (luring us toward the good). It means our prayers matter, our actions change the future, and we are true partners (co-creators) with God.

"Open" means the future isn't fixed or predetermined, but rather a realm of possibilities that God and creation co-create, implying genuine freedom, choice, and a God who responds and changes in relationship, rather than knowing everything exhaustively in advance. It signifies a universe where God experiences, suffers with, and is genuinely affected by creatures, giving and receiving love in a dynamic, reciprocal give-and-take, moving into an uncertain future together. Foreknowledge of what we are likely to do doesn't mean predetermined or fate.

I believe God is immutable (unchanging) in character, but mutable (changing) in experience. God "meets us where we are" in spiritual growth.

God's essence—Love—never changes. However, for God to truly love us, God must respond to our joys and pains. If you are sad, and God loves you, God feels that sadness. God's experience changes because His relationship with us is alive. I believe in a Living God, not a static statue.

We also have to understand that as we mature spiritually, we require different ways of being treated.

Historically God changed how God treated people. God chose a group of people, Abraham and his children, to create an example through legalistic obedience. Then God sent Jesus to create a group of people who follow love, who are also examples to others. Even in ancient Judaism, there were changes in the relationship (dispensations). God changes how God treats people depending on needs. And Christianity has had three distinct changes. These include meetings in homes with only letters from the Apostles, to a more centralized church with official beliefs and buildings, to Protestantism when actions of the church went out of control, to evangelicalism (focus on spreading the word), to today's micro-churches movement when the church became too inflexible and critical of others, blocking essential change. But love is a constant.

I view deconstruction not as a loss of faith, but as a graduation of faith.

Spiritual growth often follows a trajectory from Law (following rules out of fear), to Mercy (understanding forgiveness), to Love (acting out of compassion). Many people leave the church because they have outgrown the "Law" stage and are seeking the "Love" stage. This is a sign of maturity, not rebellion.

I view the Bible as an inspired library that records humanity's growing understanding of God. It tracks a trajectory from a tribal understanding of God (focused on war and law), to the understanding of God's mercy toward us and then to others, to the revelation of God in Jesus (focused on self-giving love).

As I often say: "We take the Bible seriously, but we don't take it literally where it conflicts with the nature of Love revealed in Jesus." Nor do we subject ourselves to the 613 laws the ancient Jews found in the Hebrew Bible. Love is the paramount law given by Jesus and is above all law. If you follow love it isn't possible to break an important law.

The Apostle Paul viewed Biblical writings as divinely inspired ("God-breathed") just as God breathed life into each of us. It is useful for teaching, correction, and training in right living. To me, "God-breathed" doesn't mean dictated by God; it means people were inspired through their "living" experience with God to write it down. This doesn't imply inerrancy, but it implies a certain authority that we must consider and wrestle with in our relationship with God, especially through the lens of love. We prove to ourselves that God's ways are best by living them out.

Our understanding of God and our state of spiritual growth and maturity are all in flux. God and love are the final authority.

Spirituality is not just what happens on Sunday morning or how thinking about God makes us "feel;" it is how we treat the cashier at the grocery store, how we manage our employees, how we forgive our families, and how we treat others.

My background in social psychology informs my faith: I am interested in how spiritual beliefs actually change human behavior. If a theology doesn't result in us becoming more loving and functional people, it isn't practical. So I try to find tools to help people travel the difficult path of love and improving.

Spirituality isn't a dead book or piece of knowledge. It is a lived experience. It guides how we lives, interacting with and teaching us.

Yes, No, and Maybe so.

Both Heaven and Hell are states of mind and being that transcend our earthly time.

Hell: If we hold onto doing bad deeds long enough, so that we become entirely resistant to love, that state of mind persists, and we suffer anguish for it. Jesus talked about Hell using metaphors like being thrown into the trash, cast into outer darkness, or thrown into a lake of fire. These describe the isolation and anguish that results from a life of treating others horribly. It is up to us to turn to God and ask for forgiveness, which God grants. Hell may not last forever if we turn back to Love.

Heaven: Heaven is a state of mind that begins here and now. We enter the "Kingdom of Heaven" when we align with God's love. This state extends beyond our earthly time, where a place is prepared for us.

God has no "needs" in the human sense, but God loves us and wants to interact with us—and that's God's need. In that interaction, God is pleased.

God desires mercy, not sacrifice. Growth through experience is the expectation. God forgives us for hurting others if we ask and change; otherwise, our harm to others stands as a barrier between us and a good relationship with God. But God always wants us back, and there is literally nothing we can do that can't be forgiven.

God is love. Our relationships with God and others are created and maintained by love.

I have a university education in religion and psychology, am a retired ordained minister (pastor) in a major denomination, and have spent decades as a researcher and writer with an online informational ministry. I am also an engineer and inventor, which keeps me grounded in this reality.

I don't interpret Biblical literature. That's a different occupation and there are plenty of interpretive versions of the Bible. I studied ancient Greek, ancient cultures, linguistitics, semiotics, and neurolingistics (how the brain forms and processes words and assigns meaning to them), so I know the difficulties in interpreting ancient text and today's emails.

I identify as a "theological writer" who tries to bring theology down to a practical level. My goal is to explain deep concepts in terms that are understandable and influence how we live, while clearing away the dead debris of history (deconstruction then reconstruction). I've been deconstructing then reconstructing religion literally all of my long life.

Not on purpose, I've written an entire "systematic theology" (soteriology, theology, eschatology, ecclesiology) over several decades. My work evolves but consistently has the same grounding: "God is love." From deep study and the orientation that God is love, I've written about prophecy since 1979, explaining its meaning and purposes. I've also studied and written about the development of many major religions leading up to the time of Jesus, and about the very nature of God as reflected in what God asks of us: love.

Yes and no.

Nearly all religions believe in a Most High God who is the Creator God and Most powerful. They have different names for God. There is only one God, but many names.

Some religions today, such as the Hindu traditions, express God through avatars. This is similar to the Catholic use of "saints" to whom they pray for special purposes.

Most people believe that God is within us, giving us some guidance.

Yes, if we listen to the still, small voice within.

Most people believe that we are all part of God, and that God is within us.

When we hear or see something that represents love, that resonates within us. This is our guidance.

Emphatically NO.

God is our father. Like any father, God tolerates the things we do wrong.

But unlike our earthly fathers, God's patience is way beyond our comprehension as God waits for us to grow and mature. God recommends that we be tolerant and forgive others 70 times 7. In other words, without end.

Short answer:

Our primary mission is to experience life and learn to love others.

It's different for everyone. Each of us have different talents or skills, and we develop new ones over time so that our purpose in life changes. Some believe we choose our purpose before coming here which gives us a unique purpose. Others believe that only God can decide our purpose(s). Meaning and purpose change over time as our talents and skill develop and we see things we can do to help others. Finding meaning and purpose is something I write about because the short answer doesn't cover it well enough.

Cheap grace is the idea of receiving God's forgiveness and happiness without the true cost of turning away from wrongdoing, and following Jesus as a student, and becoming transformed through God's love.

God forgives us for the things we do wrong if we ask and intend to do better.

The goal is to become better people, meaning to be transformed into those who act out of love toward others. This means not only "commission," which is doing harm intentionally, and "ommission," which is ignoring other's needs and not helping them if we could.

Spiritual growth is morality driven by love of others.

God meets us where we are in spiritual maturity. God may work differently with each one of us.

In studying the development of major religions up through the time of Jesus, it was apparent that it followed the pattern: Law → mercy and forgiveness → love. Love is the paramount "law." For example, if you love your neighbor you not only aren't likely to steal from them, breaking a law, you are more likely to look after their wellbeing. The Apostle Paul tells in Galations that the Law was a "guardian" or "tutor" until Christ came.

Lawrence Kohlberg, Piaget, and Wayne Fowler all developed theories of moral development. Fowler developed theories of "stages of faith." Spiritual growth is similar. But spiritual growth is also about your personal growth and the way you adjust to and create meaning and purpose in your life and use your talents.

[Image of Kohlberg's stages of moral development]

Stages of Moral Development

1. Stage 1: The Rules (Law): "I obey because I fear punishment." (Transactional).
   Note: This is where many traditional churches stay. It feels safe, but it's limiting.
2. Stage 2: Receiving Mercy: "I realize I can't keep the rules, but God loves me anyway."
   Note: The beginning of grace.
3. Stage 3: Becoming Merciful: "I stop judging others and start acting like God."
   Note: The shift from believing things to doing things.
4. Stage 4: The Capstone (Love): "I don't need a rulebook to tell me not to harm someone, because I love them."
   This is the "Aha!" Moment: "Love eliminates Law." If you love your neighbor, you will automatically not steal from them. You don't need the commandment anymore.

Why Deconstruction is Necessary

• The Conflict: The reason you feel uncomfortable in your old church is that they are often guarding Stage 1 (Law) while you are trying to move to Stage 4 (Love).
• The Permission: It is okay to leave the "Law" behind. You aren't abandoning God; you are abandoning the "Guardian" because you are now an adult heir.
• The Application: This is why "Micro-Churches" or "Fresh Expressions" appeal to you. They are communities built for Stage 4 practice, not Stage 1 policing.

Spiritual Development is much deeper personal development

• Moral development is just the foundation; Personal Development is the house we build upon it.
  If spiritual growth were only about morals, the goal would simply be to "stop sinning." But a rock doesn't sin, and a rock isn't spiritual. True growth is a process of Discovery. As we age, our talents and skills evolve, and as they do, our capacity to find meaning changes. We discover new needs in our fellow citizens that only we can fill.
  This journey moves us toward deeper connections—not just "being nice," but developing a profound love that seeks to understand others. It involves taking abstract noble ideals like Justice and Mentoring and doing the hard work of bringing them into reality. We aren't just trying to be "good"; we are trying to become fully alive co-creators of a better world.

Sin is the name given by ancient Israelites to doing wrong to others or to God. We are all "sinners" because none of us is perfect and we all have room to grow.

The word used for sin in both ancient Hebrew and Greek actually means "missing the mark." In this sense it's an obsolete term. Why say we're a sinner when we all miss the mark. The word makes it seem more profound than it actually is.

It's easier to say that we hurt others. As Jesus' Apostle Paul explains, if we love others, we fulfill the law. End of story. But we have to understand that hurting others and ignoring their plight when we could fix it is not loving them.

The ancient Jews believed that if they hurt another person, they should make it right immmediately. But if they did something to offend God, then they could wait until the annual Day of Atonement to make a sacrifice. Christians can't hurt God except by rejecting God, and they don't make sacrifices. They simply ask God for forgiveness and try to do better. Most of us fail over and over.

If we hurt another person, we should make it right (or the legal concept of make them whole again) immediately. We should apologize and fix it. It's up to them to forgive us, and we shoudn't ask.

Prophecy is God's assurance.

I've studied and written about prophecy since 1979. Our society has been saturated with ideas that everyone in the world is evil and God is going to destroy us. Every date predicted has been wrong and misses the points of prophecy.

The ancient Israelites were constantly under attack by other tribes or nations. Prophecy assured them that God was in control and had power and vengeance over their enemies. Historical evidence shows that most but not all of it came true. Prophets also told people to clean up their act or God would destroy them. The prophet's word was their credibility with the people so they didn't go haplessly into areas and tell them God would destroy them just because the prophet didn't like their conduct. The prophet Jonah helps us understand that the goal wasn't destruction, but change. We need to keep this in mind. Prophecy is God's love at work, not hate.

Jesus' prophecies came true within a couple of hundred years. He told how the Temple and the Jewish civilization in the area would be destroyed, and in 68 and 128 AD it was. He said he would come back within the apostles' lifetime, and 2000 years later we can understand that their lifetime was how long it took for the following to take hold and become a viable movement. The people who follow Jesus now represent Jesus, so he is among us at all times.

Jesus rarely spoke of the end of things. He said no one, not even him, knew when that might be. But we can think of it as a time when people have mostly turned away from God and are consumed with evil, like those in Sodom and Gomorrah who mistreated and killed strangers among them and were hooked on endless sexual practices of all kinds. Lack of hospitality was a serious wrongdoing in the ancient Middle East just as it is there today. The Bible tells us lack of hospitality was their undoing. We shold take note.

No.

Very deep research by myself and many others has shown that mistranslation because of cultural assumptions has caused this misconception. For example, the homosexual interpretation of the Sodom and Gomorrah story is a modern twist. The Apostle Paul invented several new words that had no historical context and the translation isn't certain. Jesus's apostles felt that most activity people did was permitted (all was permitted), but if it was harmful to yourself or others, you shouldn't do it. They felt like sexual indulgence leading to risky promiscuous behavior outside of marriage was harmful to the individual who did it. Social science today confirms this is correct. And in those times, sexual conduct could easily lead to pregnancy during which a woman might become unsupported and shunned, and fall into an even riskier lifestyle.

If you want to dive deeper into the assumption and mistranslation problems, see my series on Sexual Morality on OneSpiritResources.com

We are not to judge others' behavior. What we do is between us and God unless we are hurting ourselves or others. We should examine our own inner voice and conscience. If LGBTQ behavior is not because we are attracted to the same sex and not the opposite sex, then we need to ponder why. However, sex should not be a privilege just for the married because many don't marry and many probably shouldn't.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

However, Jesus was often impressed with the faith of those outside of Judaism. He told the religious leaders that many "outsiders" would be selected over them to sit at the table in Heaven.

Everyone who follows the "Way" of love shown to us by Jesus—whether intuitively (as Paul mentioned in Romans regarding those who have the law written on their hearts) or through following Jesus directly—lives eternally in this state. Love is the currency of the Kingdom.

Science and faith (or spirituality) are two different ways of addressing our world. They operate in different realms, so it generally isn't possible for them to prove or disprove each other.

Science examines the physical world to understand it, use it, and control it. It uses physical tools to examine physical properties and relies on the scientific method to prove hypotheses through repeatable results. The realm of science is the physical.

Faith addresses a world that isn't physical and typically cannot be investigated by physical tools. Spirituality addresses core human experiences like finding meaning and purpose, fostering connection (to self, others, nature, or a higher power), creativity, seeking transcendence, and cultivating inner peace, justice, values, beauty, and love—the most powerful force in the universe affecting behavior.

Where they overlap: An exception occurs in human experiences that have a physical component, such as mysticism or psychic phenomena. For example, in Near Death Experiences (NDEs), people are often clinically dead (absolutely no brain activity) for minutes or hours, yet they report interacting with a spiritual reality to gain knowledge, meaning, and purpose.

And NDE research, like some research in psychology, in literally thousands of reports, finds consistent patterns. Verification goes even further; patients often describe seeing physical objects or events, or hearing conversations in the hospital that they could not physically have seen while "dead." While current science cannot explain the mechanism, medical science confirms the patient was physically incapable of having that mental activity.

Neuroscience: Science is also beginning to observe spiritual states. When someone intentionally has a mystical experience under an MRI, specific parts of the brain "light up," showing activity that isn't commonly present. Researchers are also learning to map unique brain patterns. For example, recent studies can pinpoint the exact synapses individuals use to represent specific words, allowing MRI machines to "read" communication. Science is developing the ability to study what was once considered un-testable (unique, subjective experiences) by recognizing these complex patterns.

I'm not sure that it makes much practical difference.

The ancient jews thought of "the Accuser" who pointed out people's faults. Jesus thought of the Accuser as the temptor who put temptation in the way of people. The Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament), which is the structure of Judaism's beliefs and laws, makes no reference to demons, and the snake is the tempter. So there is no official belief in Judaism. But like the ideas of Heaven and Hell for mortals, these beliefs grew over time, probably influenced by other cultures.

So I don't think of these as real entities but constructs in the human mind, which is sufficient for their impact. Although many people feel they have seen Satan and demons, but this may just be projections.

Similarly, there were angels in the first five books of the Torah. Jesus' arrival was heralded by angels. Many people believe angels have intervened for them in accident circumstances. So that possibility seems more likely. But I've never seen one.

According to the Apostle John, there are many antiChrists. These are simply influential people who are opposed to Jesus' message in one way or another. Their lifestyles are strong indicators. Focusing on power and wealth, especially with no thought for those who are more needy, is a strong indicator.

It's a matter of emptying ourselves of what.

The mystics present this idea that all of human ego has to be removed to let God work through us.

God created us with talents and skills that are both natural and developed over time. God gave us interests to pursue. God gave us challenges to overcome and learn from. God is part of us. If we removed those things we would no longer be the person God created. This honors the idea from Scripture that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Instead of erasing who we are, "emptying ourselves" can also be understood as letting go of attachments. It means releasing our dependence on things like power, money, status, or a false sense of pride—the very things we accidentally set up as small gods in our lives. When we depend on those things for our worth, we crowd God out.

We need to be at peace to be in tune with God. Quiet contemplation is an example of being at peace. It's emptying ourselves for a time of the emotions that stir us, the worries of the day, our strivings, and our attachments to the world. Then we can experience directly the love of God and better understand meaning and purpose.

The power of love to transform the individual and the world is high on the list.

Jesus emphasized forgiveness of our wrongdoing without sacrifice and without going to a priest, but asking God directly.

Jesus emphasized turning away from doing things that hurt others and instead loving them. Even wanting good for our enemies.

Jesus emphasized that the "Kingdom" (domain) of God is now and forever, and those who follow Jesus ways are in it forever.

Jesus said that the greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Had he been a lawgiver he would have emphasized the Ten Commandments, but the only law he gave was to love.

Jesus brought peace and said happy are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.

Jesus said that he brings life to us in abundance. By that he wasn't talking about monetary prosperity, but a richness in our relationships with others.

Jesus said that where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. In other words, if you spend most of your time thinking about earning money, that's where your heart will be.