Re: Answers.... Well, i may disagree with you on other points, but i do admire you for believing in a God that can evolve and grow. Many Christians aren't open-minded enough to even think that it's possible -- it's like they sorta see that God's beingness is written in stone, just like the Ten Commandments were. Here's a couple quotes from the Bible that i do agree with: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them." - I John 4:16 "There is no fear in love; but unconditional love casteth out fear." - I John 4:18 Much of the Bible though i disagree with. Probably most of it. I've always felt a certain kinship with Brother Francis of Assisi. And with Thomas Merton, who was a Trappist monk. Out of curiosity, do you agree with none of the Old Testament or only parts of it? Were you born and raised Christian?
When i was in a local all-denominations Christian youth group when i was 13, we went on this week-long trip. And during it when all of us young guys as well as the male group leaders were sitting in our large motel room talking, i asked one of our leaders, "Could Jesus actually hit a curve ball?" All of the kids started laughing (remembering the movie Major League), and the leader assured me that Jesus could. The other leader just sorta looked at me with a slight grin trying to figure out why everyone found it funny. Then i asked him "Well, who would win in a wrestling match between Jesus and Satan?" and most everyone laughed again. He assured me that Jesus would. I said, "But what if Satan had a really good DDT?" (which is a wrestling move) And as everyone laughed again, the leader just looked at me like, "Oh my God, i can't believe that you're saying this..." Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! And in an exasperated way he said, "Jesus would!" It left all of my friends chuckling afterwards. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The worst demons are those we create for ourselves. Lies, limitations, ignorance... There are no physical demons. I would like to call the atention of Lykan and FoxMulder to something that I realized today: Where is the Devil in the Old Testament? Why there's absolutly no mention of the Devil in the Old Testament? It seems for me that the idea of a Devil was created by the human mind. If God is the Truth, the Devil must come from the Truth because everything is created by God. In this sense, God must have "created" the Devil, or made it possible for us to create It (I guess the second one...). Or perhaps, Devil is nothing but the absence of perception of God, as God is everywhere. I guess that's the best definition. If the Devil was really real he would be mentioned at least in Genesis too. I searched in this page: http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/...nglish&searchpage=0&version=NIV&search=Devil. According to this page, the first time the word "Devil" is mentioned in the Bible was in Matthew 4:1. An apostle mentioned it. Is that the word of God or "merely" an opinion from an apostle? My conclusion is that Devil was an idea created by the apostles to explain the absence of God. Love, Nelson
Truthseeker - When i was a child, Satan was very real to me. I wasn't hugely fearful at the thought, but sometimes it did bother me, and i occasionally thought i saw the Devil in my dark bedroom at night. But now, i don't see that Satan exists, except in the minds of those who believe in him. I see that the Devil symbolically represents a person's fear-oriented ego, whereas Saint Michael symbolically represents a person's love-oriented higher self. And when Saint Michael supposedly defeated Lucifer as the story goes, this is symbolic for a person successfully transcending / moving beyond their fear-oriented ego through being centred within the love and deep inner peace of their higher self. Here's a quote some of you might find interesting, regardless of its source: "Few people will dispute that in the world of nature everything reacts to an exact law; and physical as these laws seem in their outworking, they all originate from the spiritual universe. There can be no haphazard methods, for nature is very drastic with delinquents. This also happens in the spiritual spheres where the smallest action calls forth an exact reaction. This means that man's thoughts become his creations, that they become like angels of good and evil to him; so that when he views his life from some higher plane of existence, he well realizes the disastrous nature of those mental creations of his - of gloom, depression and selfishness - which were and are his mental children. "This has affected me deeply since my arrival here, for I was wont to create such characters, scenes and word-pictures. Mine was a vivid imagination; and, while I gave forth many a picture of joy, homeliness and beauty, my pen also depicted scenes of crudity, ugliness, crime and horror. While recognizing that such pictures may by their very contrast teach their lesson, on the other hand creations of ugliness and terror are apt to live on in men's minds, and fill them with violent and unhealthy vibrations. Now I gaze down into the lives of men and women who have been considerably influenced by me for either good or ill. This I tell you only to illustrate the lesson. "Some day every man will attain either the joy or the terror of seeing the effect of his creations, beautiful or the reverse; no matter whether they are merely fictitious characters or actual conditions of life resulting from actions of his which have considerably influenced the lives of others. He will then see his own personal contribution, be it positive or negative, to the collective whole." -- Arthur Conan Doyle, from the "after-death" state, as channeled by a medium
Lykan, Brilliant... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Yep... it's pretty much it...
umm... Fox, if God's laws changed, then does that mean that God was wrong? Or was it like this: God: "Hmm. my 'eye for an eye' policy has set the world afire with chaos and strife. I'd change it, but that would mean I was wrong... But wait! I'm God! I can't be wrong! Ok, time to think up a new slogan..."Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
FoxMulder, Why should you believe me? Do you not think that humanity is advancing in a scientific direction, with new discoveries on the verge of being made everyday. Scientists are looking further into the field of physics, and moving beyond the dimensions of understanding that people were previously bound by. It's not going to take to long to be able to manipulate chronological occurances with parallels, or manipulate halogens within the atmosphere to give a ghostly glowing aura through the use of electromagnetic's and a parallel processing computer network. You might think it's all Sci-fi, but that's what is on the way and if your not receptive of it now, then you surely won't believe it when it makes an appearance. One such appearance would be the Poltergeist Laboratory in the US. Named so not because of ghosts, but because of the study of high electromagnetic fields. (They can float objects across their test room)
Lesion 42, This complements my last post... God laws never changed. In the Old Testament, as there was no Devil, God and Devil were one. God hadn't "created" the Devil yet (He never did, actually...). The idea of Devil comes from God. Devil is usually associated with "bad" but it's not. God is Truth, Devil is Lie. Not good and bad, but supraconscient and conscient. His laws never changed, He just separated His other part. You see... if God is everything, He has to bear both opposites... and the neutral, that is the Truth. Taoism talks pretty much about that too... Love, Nelson
Fox called Xev as Vex on page 2... ...Isn't it remaind you of "something"? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Re: My God does not need your athiestic skating! your god does not need anay games. hes in rehab what he needs are liquid potato chips. and what are demons really like, i mean, have they ever pleasured you? did you get to know one personally, in a intimate sort of way.......?
Not everyone is like you oeddie. Sorry. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Xev --> Vex If i'm not mistaken (forgot), Tony1 makes same mispell on Xev's name while he was using other nickname. Xev find it out. Do you think FoxM is also Tony1, or that mistake just a coincidence?
Coincidence does not exist...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! By the way FoxM, ever seen the movie "The Omega Code"? Just curious...
Tony1 a christian...? Indeed he is. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! A true christian. Look in the Religion forum, he is in there. Maybe you have to look for some older threads, at the bottom of the Forum are pages listed. Have fun, he's very devoted...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
