Words like judgement and righteousness echo across the pages of Scripture—heavy with consequence, divine authority, and often, fear. In traditional readings, these terms are usually framed as courtroom decrees: God as judge, man as defendant, and salvation as a verdict granted only through moral perfection or religious loyalty.
But Neville Goddard flips this on its head.
To Neville, the Bible is not a legal document, but a psychological allegory. Judgement is not punishment—it is selection. Righteousness is not moral piety—it is alignment with the imaginative act. Literalism misses this entirely, chaining the reader to an external authority and burying the symbols that were meant to awaken the divine within.
Lost in Translation
1. The Misuse of ‘Judgement’: From Selection to Condemnation
Literalism treats judgement as a divine sentencing—an event in time where God rewards the faithful and damns the wicked. But Neville reveals it as something far more intimate and immediate.
Judgement, he says, is the act of choosing. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15) is not about religion—it is about consciousness. What state will you dwell in? What reality will you claim as true?
To judge is to imagine. It is to fix an assumption. “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24) is an instruction not against judgement, but for discerning beneath the surface—to select with inner vision, not outer facts.
By the Law of Assumption, that judgement will externalise itself in your world. But literalism, blind to the symbolic nature of scripture, turns this into a fearful waiting game. It robs the individual of their role as the operant power.
Like the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30), where the servant who buried his talent out of fear is condemned—not for lack of morality, but for failure to act on trust. This is judgement as self-selection: what you believe, you become.
2. Righteousness Redefined: Not Morality, But Right Seeing
To the literalist, righteousness is synonymous with moral correctness, usually defined by the culture or denomination in power. It becomes a measuring stick: Are you behaving? Are you clean enough? Are you worthy?
Neville reinterprets righteousness as “right consciousness.” To be righteous is to see rightly—to dwell in the assumption that aligns with your desired state.
“And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Abraham wasn’t declared righteous because of any outward act—but because he believed. Belief itself was the state of alignment.
“The only Christ you will ever know is your own wonderful human imagination,” Neville said. To be righteous, then, is to accept this truth and live in accordance with it—not to obey a rulebook, but to honour the truth of I Am.
As David writes, “Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face” (Psalm 5:8). Here, righteousness is not moral effort—it is inner guidance and clarity of vision.
3. The Damage of Literalism: Fear Instead of Freedom
Literal readings of these terms cast a long shadow. They produce fear-based religion—one where the believer waits for divine judgement while suppressing desire in the name of moral purity. It creates separation between man and God, distorting the original purpose of scripture: to reveal the oneness of being.
Instead of realising that judgement is the selection of states, and righteousness is right perception, the literalist is taught to appease an external deity. The imagination—man’s true power—is dismissed as fantasy or worse, as sin.
Isaiah cries, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil... that put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). The danger isn’t moral error—it is misperception. The real sin is missing the mark of inner truth.
This is the essence of religious psychosis: using scripture to imprison the soul rather than awaken it.
4. Neville’s Invitation: Read with Inner Eyes
Neville’s teachings open a new door. When he says the Bible is a “great psychological drama,” he’s not being metaphorical—he’s being precise. The stories, laws, and prophecies all reflect inner operations. Judgement is self-directed: what state are you choosing now? Righteousness is not about being good—it’s about being aligned with the truth that your assumption creates your reality.
“With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). This is not a creed—it is a creative law. You believe inwardly and speak it forth. That is the formula.
“Man moves in a world that is nothing more or less than his consciousness objectified,” Neville said. The judgement you fear is simply the outcome of what you’ve assumed to be true. The righteousness you seek is your willingness to believe that you are what you desire to be.
Conclusion: From Misunderstanding to Mastery
The Bible was never meant to terrify. It was meant to transform. Its language—when stripped of literalism—becomes a symbolic code for inner mastery. Judgement becomes a creative act. Righteousness becomes a state of alignment. God is no longer watching from above—He is imagining from within.
As Isaiah proclaims, “Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17). Not earned, not proven—of Me. Of the divine imagination in man.
Literalism reads the words. Neville reads the meaning.
And once you begin to read as he did, fear gives way to freedom, and the Bible becomes what it was always intended to be: the manual for awakened imagination.
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