Thoughts from someone I recently met

whatever happens to us, good or bad, to our like or dislike, happens for a reason

it is the way god communicates with us, to teach us

we are here to learn lessons of life, we are students of life, and he is the ultimate educator

unlike what most organized religion's dogma, which make god to be a punitive force, someone to be feared, as opposed to source of education, and love

to me, god is ultimate love, source of grace, kindness, and mercy, who is there to teach us, to ultimately become god-like, meaning better human beings, working on ourselves to perfect our souls, and rejoin our true source, god

i agree, he does discipline, but it is out of love, with the purpose of education

the ultimate punishment is not being burnt in hell's fire, it is being away from divine love and grace

to some extent, sin does exist, but it is not as crippling of a misdeed as the religions depict it

we do many misdeeds, but god helps us through them

the most valuable lessons of life are learnt when we are faced with defeat and hardship in life

the problem is, that when we succeed, we think it was us who did it, forgetting god and others who helped

and when we fail, we blame god and everyone else, except us

we need to do the exact opposite

blame ourselves for failures, looking within, delving within, and finding the reasons for the hardship and failure, and learning the lesson, so that we can have a better chance of success next time around

and when we succeed, we should thank god first, and others he used as his instruments second

and different people at different times, come into our lives for us to learn things

big deal is learning - accepting that we all have flaws and make many mistakes -
but appreciate things and don't let the many errors and misdeeds slow us down, make us sad and sorrowful, or induce too much fear us, hampering our growth and continuation