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Enjoy another wonderful text by Rev. Phil Smedsted, minister Emeritus of Oasis Rising Center

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Phil Smedstad's texts are one of the ways Oasis Rising Center supports members.

A Positive Path for Spiritual Living

Oasis Rising Center Spiritual Center
Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89125
(702) 804-8189
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“Accept Your Innocence”

By Rev. Phillip Smedstad

Throughout my childhood, every Sunday at my Lutheran Church, we would recite something called “The Apostles’ Creed” (which the apostles of Jesus would never have heard of, as it was created about 300 years after they had lived).

Each Sunday, we all would affirm, “I admit that I am by nature sinful and unclean, and that I have sinned against You (God) in thought, word and deed.”

On Sunday, I asked everyone to join me in affirming something more in line with our true identity:  “I celebrate that I am by nature innocent and pure.”

Each Sunday, millions of people tell themselves that they are guilty because of something called “original sin,” which is closely tied to another concept called “the fall of man.”

My favorite Bible scholar, Bishop John Shelby Spong, says in a number of his books, “We haven’t fallen.  We are still in the process of rising, still learning how to be fully human (and, we would add, fully divine.)”

Bishop Spong also says that Christianity must either change or die.  We must, he says, release the concept of “Jesus died for our (my) sins.” 

This concept generates so much guilt that, as Christians, we have to project it onto someone.
Through the years, the Christian church has always had an enemy – Jews, Muslims, women, blacks (as in “It’s God’s will that you are slaves”), and now gays.  In our own lives it is the same. 

If we believe we are guilty, we will project that guilt onto others through our critical thoughts of them.  We will also unconsciously do things to bring our guilt to the surface, things like being out of integrity in some way.

One of our texts here at Unity is A Course In Miracles.  I love The Course because it is the only spiritual text I’ve ever seen which addresses the subject of guilt.  It says such things as:

• It is simply not possible to be guilty.
• Believing we are guilty (so we can be saved or forgiven) is not the solution.  It is the problem.
• If you believe you are guilty, gladly appeal the verdict to God.  The case may be fool proof, but it isn’t God proof.  God will simply dismiss the case.

We can’t actually be forgiven by God.  Why?  Because in order for God to forgive us, God would first have had to condemn us, and God or Spirit never has condemned us.  It’s up to us to forgive ourselves and each other.

Our innocence is a free gift from God.  We can’t earn it, and we can’t lose it.  All we can do is to lose awareness of it, and then to reclaim it.

According to A Course In Miracles, the source and root of all of our guilt is our belief that we separated from God.  This continues today with what it calls “the Authority problem.”  This means that we believe that we are still separate, and that the author of our life and all we create is us, not Spirit.

So, on Sunday, I shared several ways for people to reclaim their innocence, and asked them to focus on one or two that would be most potent for them right now.

1.  The first way to accept your innocence is to practice forgiving yourself and everyone in your life every day.  I didn’t cover this one because I did a whole lesson on it three weeks ago, and you can go to our website (unityofthekeys.org) and listen to it if you want.

2.  The next way to accept your innocence is to practice surrendering to God.  This is in response to “the Authority problem.”  I shared that one of my favorite mantras is the lesson from A Course In Miracles, “I will make no decision by myself today.”

3.  Number three in ways to accept your innocence is to clean up any unfinished business from the past.  Are there things from your past which are incomplete?  Promises broken but not acknowledged?  Communications not delivered?  Taxes owed but not paid?  Whatever things from the past are not completed feed your guilt, so make a plan to complete those things and take care of them one at a time.

4.  The next way to accept your innocence is to release a belief in punishment.  No one deserves to be punished, and besides, punishment doesn’t work anyway to change someone’s behavior.  Again, as it says in A Course In Miracles, “Mistakes never call for punishment, only for correction.

5.  Practice being in integrity and practice keeping agreements.  One powerful way to accept your innocence is to do what you say you will do.  Always do what you have agreed to do, and, if you aren’t able to do that, communicate in advance and change the agreement.

6.  Practice knowing that you don’t need your guilt.  Does it sound strange to suggest that you might think you need your guilt?  This one comes from my own experience.  I decided at a young age that my presence hurts people, so I believed I needed my guilt as a way to control myself.  What I had to do was to go deeper in knowing my innate innocence and goodness.

7.  Finally, practice seeing everyone in your life as innocent.  You can’t see others as guilty, bad, or wrong, and not see yourself the same way.
So let this week be all about accepting your innocence.  Think of someone you once saw as guilty, and affirm for him or her, “You are innocent.  You’ve never done anything which deserves punishment”.

Then, think of something you have either done or not done and about which you have felt guilty.  Then, affirm, “I am innocent.  I’ve never done anything which deserves punishment.”
Have a wonderful week accepting your innocence.