What God probably isn't doing

Here comes some theology.

If you have fixed ideas about theology and / or are prone to argument, maybe don't read further.

Anyway.

I don't pray for people. There, I've said it. If God helps only those whom others pray for, that implies God is withholding help from those who do not happen to have religious friends praying for them. That's not a God I am interested in. If you saw a mother who failed to feed her child unless some friend, relative, or stranger said the right prayer, that would be an unimaginable mother.

I don't believe God will protect me from illness, death, accident, misfortune, misadventure, or vicissitude of any other sort if I pray hard enough or pray right. If God is averting such outcomes for some people, God could but is failing to avert such outcomes for others. Again, not a God I am interested in. A parent who saves a child from a danger only if it utters the right formula would again be an unimaginable parent.

I don't believe 'bad things happen to me' to teach me a lesson or punish me. If a toddler falls over, would a good parent beat the toddler to teach it not to fall over? Do kind and effective algebra teachers whip or slap their students when they make a mistake? If something would be bad parenting or bad teaching, it would be bad God-ding.

I do believe God's direction and power are available for me to meet any situation that arises with usefulness, cheerfulness, and kindness. I believe this direction and power is available to all of us, all of the time, at least by the time we reach adulthood. I believe that the only thing stopping us is the belief in a different god: the god of self. Although, even once that god is relinquished, the power of self-determination, access to resources, a good dose of fortune, initiative, propitious circumstances, and tenacity are required to activate the New Channel.

I don't believe I need protection, which means I don't need God's protection. I am spirit, and spirit can't be harmed, so there is nothing to protect. To survive long and thrive on this plane, housed in a material form, requires prudence, forethought, diligent action, a certain amount of playing by the rules, and a large dose of sheer luck.

If a child said to a parent, 'I'm scared of the monster under the bed', and the parent said, 'yeah, I'm not surprised, it wants to rip you to shreds, but I will protect you', that would be the height of cruelty. There is no monster.

When I go to God and say I'm frightened, God says: 'You're delusional. There is nothing to be frightened of. You cannot be harmed, because you are spirit. But there's a job for you to do on the material plane. To do the job, you need to stick around, so here are some handy tips for doing that. And here's the job for you to do.'