“Every Day is Judgment Day” from Twelve Powers in You by David Williamson
Our wisdom or judgment ability is our power to choose. God is not our judge. There is no judgment day. Our sins (mistakes) punish us or limit us. We are not punished for them. Our goal is to learn to judge with right judgment.
- CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL. “Choose this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Our choices determine our lives. We are the umpires in the game of life. The way we “call them” is the way they are for us. What do we call ourselves, others, the day, our work, our surroundings? It is extremely important to use good judgment. Following are some important guidelines for “calling” the experiences we have:
One of the mistakes truth students make is calling everything that happens to us “good.” This goes against safety, justice, and plain common sense! Everything that happens is not “good,”
but WE are basically good. There is good in us as a divine potential no matter what happens to us or what we have done.
We base our thinking and judgment on the premise that “There is only One Presence and One Power active in my life and in the Universe: God, the good, Omnipotent.” This is Unity’s basic
teaching and model of the Universe. We use this Power-Energy according to our understanding. We interpret everything that happens according to our understanding. This basic, primal
Power we consider “Good,” but not all of the expressions or manifestations are desirable, just, healthy, or the best that can be.
2. YOU ARE THE JUDGE IN THE COURTROOM OF YOUR MIND. God is not our judge. God has endowed us with the spiritual faculty of judgment. Our judgment faculty is our ability to
choose our make choices. The choices are ours, and we always have a choice as to what we are going to think and do. God says, “Choose what you will and pay for it” (Spanish proverb).
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS A STATE OF MIND. There is no place called “hell” where some go after death. There is no heaven “up there” in the skies. There is no “last judgment.” We
are not going to be punished for our sins. God does not judge and punish us. There are no pearly gates. These states of heaven and hell do not exist, but they are here-and-now conditions,
and we can enter them according to the choices (judgments) we make.
According to reports on July 28, 1999, in newspapers and on TV, a week after telling Roman Catholics that heaven is not a place up in the clouds, Pope John Paul declared that hell was not a
physical place either. It exists, he said, but it is more a state of mind. “Hell is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions which
people adopt in life,” he said. The Pope explained that artists pictured heaven and hell as literal places, but he said it is not Catholic teaching.
3. TODAY IS ALWAYS THE “DAY OF JUDGMENT. “The doctrine of hell-fire is inconsistent with Jesus’ life and teachings” (S. Radhakrishnan). We are the judges in the courtroom of our
minds. According to the choices we as individuals and humanity make, we live a “heaven” or a “hell” of a life.
The “king” in Jesus’ story from Matthew 25:32 is not God, but each of us. The “king” (“queen,” “prince,” “princess”) who makes the choice is each of us. We are appointed as rulers in the
state of our minds, emotions, actions, and reactions. We are not punished for our sins or mistakes but by them. Note the strong imperative to feed, clothe, visit, be concerned, help, shelter,
and serve.
4. The “Day of Judgment” is every day because we must choose the quality and nature of our thoughts every single day and minute. The point is for us to use “kingship” or “queenship” or
divine authority given to us by God in wise, loving, and constructive ways. We choose what is worthwhile, helpful, healing, and wise, for the highest good of all concerned, and Mother
Earth.
As we dive into lessons this month on Wisdom, we must not look on God “as my judge,” but as the Intelligence from which we derive the Wisdom to discern, evaluate, make decisions, judge
rightly and compassionately what is best for each of us, all humanity, and Mother Earth.
Resources:
Twelve Powers in You by David & Gay Lynn Williamson & Robert Knapp, MD
How to Use Your Twelve Gifts from God by William Warch
Discover the Power Within You by Eric Butterworth
Dynamic Laws for Living by Charles Fillmore
The Hilltop Heart by James Dillet Freeman