ACIM I. The statement “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord” is a misperception by which one assigns his own “evil” past to God.
ACIM I. Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 3, 4
I. Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 3
3 The statement “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord” is a misperception by which one assigns his own “evil” past to God. The “evil” past has nothing to do with God. He did not create it and He does not maintain it. God does not believe in retribution. His Mind does not create that way. He does not hold your “evil” deeds against you. Is it likely that He would hold them against me? Be very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this assumption is, and how entirely it arises from projection. This kind of error is responsible for a host of related errors, including the belief that God rejected Adam and forced him out of the Garden of Eden. It is also why you may believe from time to time that I am misdirecting you. I have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to distort, but it is always possible to twist symbols around if you wish.
Firstly, it is important to address the clarity of Jesus’ words in this paragraph, which unequivocally state that God is not vengeful and that there is no vengeance in Love. However, despite this clear message, I remember initially misunderstanding it and struggling to let go of my guilt. I was, of course, relieved to know that God does not hold my evil deeds against me, but for a long time, I continued to believe He did. It is difficult to relinquish old ways of thinking, and guilt can be a persistent belief.
Is God Like Me, or Am I Like God?
Many people have thoughts of guilt, whether about themselves or others. Even the most clear-minded individuals may react to atrocity or personal attacks with a sense of guilt. Yet, all fear of God is a projection of our own minds and not real, as God is only Love. However, it is easy to project our own feelings of guilt onto God and assume that He is like our own illusion of self. To combat this mistaken idea, we must remember that we are like God, and any thoughts, words, or actions that contradict this must be illusions. My most persistent form of guilt has been for my own past actions.
Every fear I have of God is a projection from my own mind. It is not real because God is Love and nothing else. God cannot also be vengeful because Love is not vengeful. I hold the past against myself and others, and then I project that feeling onto God in the assumption that God is like this illusion I think of as “me.” Let me remember that it is insane to think that God becomes like me. Surely, it is more likely that I am like my Creator. Any thought, word, or action that seems to refute this must be an illusion.
As I am like God, it is impossible that I will be vengeful except in my dream of separation, and even here, it cannot really happen; I can only pretend it could happen. This is all that is going on in the world. I pretend to be something I could never be. Is God angry about this? Is He disappointed in me? He cannot be either of these things. He can only Love me because there is nothing in God except love.
Unlearning What I Think Is True
To unlearn these mistaken beliefs, we must first acknowledge the judgments in our minds without trying to change them. Then, we can open our hearts and minds to Love and ask to be healed of these beliefs. As our minds heal from guilt and any associated feelings, only love will remain, and we will no longer have anything to fear from God.
Here is how I am unlearning these crazy things I have taught myself. When I read about some people being shot in a drive-by, I watched the judgments in my mind. I didn’t try to undo the judgments or change my mind in any way. I just acknowledged them. Then I realized that they could not be true, and I opened my mind and heart to Love. I asked that I be healed of these beliefs. I asked how to love these people who are clearly calling for love. As I notice the opportunity to forgive these beliefs, I do so.
As my mind heals of the belief in guilt, retribution, vengeance, and any other feelings arising from the belief in guilt will naturally fall away, and love will be all that is left. There will be nothing to project onto God, and so there will be nothing to fear from God. This is the path Home. It is an easy path with many simple steps. It is well-marked, and our Guide never leaves our side. We have many mighty companions who help us each step of the way. We can wander away for a bit or stand in place, but we cannot go backward, and we cannot lose our way, nor can we fail to reach the end.
I. Atonement Without Sacrifice, P 4
4 Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear, and frightened people can be vicious. Sacrificing in any way is a violation of my injunction that you should be merciful even as your Father in Heaven is merciful. It has been hard for many Christians to realize that this applies to themselves. Good teachers never terrorize their students. To terrorize is to attack, and this results in rejection of what the teacher offers. The result is learning failure.
Examples of beliefs in sacrifice include the idea that sickness or pain is a way of sacrificing now to avoid punishment from God later. However, Jesus reminds us that God does not want or understand sacrifice. All suffering is a way of pushing away from God due to fear, whether it be fear of God or fear of not being loved or accepted. The Course teaches us that we choose everything in our lives, and by acknowledging this, we can begin to let go of these mistaken beliefs and align ourselves with the love of God.
God does not want our sacrifice. He doesn’t even know what sacrifice is. Here are some examples of ways that I used to believe in sacrifice.
I wanted to pray that my friend recovers from her sickness, but then I questioned that. Maybe she has a lesson to learn and is supposed to be sick. When I asked Jesus about it, I received a thought questioning why I would think that God wants her pain and suffering. Sanity returned to my mind, and I prayed that her mind (along with mine) be healed, knowing that a healed mind projects a healed life.
Sacrifice Through Pain
It is not always so direct. My life is an expression of my wishes. When my body is in pain or is sick, this is an expression of the need to suffer. I sacrifice through pain now so that later God will not hold my evil deeds against me. Suffering is a way of pushing away from God because I am afraid of Him. I say I am not afraid of God, but my life shows me otherwise, though this is slowly changing.
I suffer when I feel unloved or unaccepted. And I suffer when I perceive someone I love as endangered. I suffer when I worry about money. All of these forms of suffering represent an effort to appease an angry God. As I write this, I want to argue against it, but I cannot come up with another reason that I would have these things in my life if this were not true. In several places in the Course, Jesus says that we choose everything in our life.
We Choose All We Experience
Here are a few of my favorites.
³Remember always that you see what you seek, for what you seek you will find. (ACIM, T-12.VII.6:3)
²As you look in, you choose the guide for seeing. ³And then you look out and behold his witnesses. (ACIM, T-12.VII.7:2-3)
No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes he wants. And no one dies without his own consent. Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all its details. Here is its whole reality for you. Lesson 152
³You made this up. ⁴It is a picture of what you think you are; of how you see yourself. (ACIM, T-20.III.4:3-4)
“This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own.” Lesson 325
²All forms of sickness, even unto death, are physical expressions of the fear of awakening. (ACIM, T-8.IX.3:2).
My Life Is a Projection
In essence, my life is a projection of the beliefs entrenched in my mind. Consequently, if my body, relationships, or finances are in disarray, it can only be so because I have secretly harbored a desire for such outcomes. It’s a secret because I am not insane enough to admit that I seek pain, so I feign that it occurs due to external factors.
The reason behind seeking things that hurt and populating my world with them is that I feel deserving of punishment. My self-imposed guilt has convinced me that I must penalize myself to appease an angry God. Essentially, I have been telling God throughout my life, “Look how much I suffer for you. Please don’t subject me to more. I’ve suffered enough, haven’t I?”
However, the simple truth is that God loves us. He doesn’t view us as sinners, nor does He buy into our illusions. He doesn’t hold anything against us and doesn’t seek our sacrifices to make up for anything. All God wants is our happiness, and He seeks to shower us with love. We have nothing to fear from Him. Once we internalize these facts, fear will vanish from our minds, and all that will remain is love. “My mind is healed, and whole right now” is my new favorite prayer! Everything else is an illusion.
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