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Gome
Wow, what a wonderful treatise. Let it never cross your mind again that you lack any proficiency in English! There is much here that I agree with, especially as relates to the pitfalls of doctrinal influence.
As you know, I have never tried to sell Christianity or any denomination to you or Kooka. Clearly, you have perceived from my writings that I adhere to Christian mysticism, but I have never attempted to convert you to any specific doctrine. Even so, discussions with you invariably revert to your destruction of Christianity and this aspect makes me feel there exists some undisclosed issue or experience that you’ve had concerning this. Perhaps this event is your forced attendance to church as a youngster or perhaps it is something else, best left undisclosed, but I’m very convinced of its impact upon you by your statement that you’ve embarked upon a “wholesale mind purge of all things Christian”. It is in this very thing that I have the most disagreement with you.
You see, from my perspective it seems that you seem to expect more of the world than what you constantly contend it to be. For example, you may speak of “evolution”, but then blatantly refuse to recognize the evolution of “religious” thought. You may speak of the pitfalls of Christianity, but propose only nihilism in its place. You may speak of self-empowerment, but give no pragmatic program for its achievement.
I want you to come to see the movement of the broad spirit in the workings of things. Historical man has been highly illiterate in the past and so the use of stories to facilitate the conveyance of important spiritual truths has been highly useful. It is narrow minded to expect that these stories may be literally applied to all aspects of your life in modern times. I have posted about this before and have always encouraged you to look inside yourself instead of reaching for established doctrines or religious contentions that do not make sense to you.
You mistake my intentions toward you. I am not seeking to convert you in the traditional sense, only to get you to see something that I see. I’m asking you to recognize that all things evolve and move forward. The impetus for this evolution is not random. There stands an entire scientific treatise of “evolution” that you yourself have supported and that speaks of the adaptability and forward movement of things in concerted fashion. This theory has been fashioned to fit many disciplines, including, science, history, and religion. This gradual progression of science and religion will eventually climax into more widespread, factual, and undisputable recognition of God.
You can possess this factual knowledge right now if you will but genuinely seek God from within the context that makes sense to you. Yes, you have issues with traditional Christianity, but your reaction is too dramatic. In responding to your disagreements with Christianity you’re pushing the pendulum way too far in the opposite direction. So far, in fact, that you’re losing sight of the detailed evidence for God that lies directly in front of you. I have posted in the past about the variety of ways that God is discerned: (1) cosmological, (2) ontological, (3) creational symbolism (4) divine encounters, and (5) the communicable conscience, to name just a few. I would be delighted to e-mail you these posts so that you can embark tonight on a new journey of spiritual nourishment.
Understand that you exist in a dynamic flux of constant change, from which your view of God is one of an unraveling, systematic, unstoppable, progress that manifests itself in all people and in all things. Rejecting it is hectic, unhealthy, and stressful. Rejecting it is to be in the dark, unable to see its persistent movement. Conversely, embracing it is relaxing, self-fulfilling, insightful, and pleasant. Embracing it is to be encouraged and comforted by the vigorous, unrelentless ways in which it weaves itself into the fabric of our being. So yes, I think you would be better off to embrace it. My action of imparting this to you is movement in conjunction with the flow and progression of this force so yes, I consider imparting it to you to be important.
posted by
telemachus
on March 15, 2005 at 7:37 PM
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let's do this -- defnition of god
diety? - no.
that which we hold sacred? yes.
each moment is all we really have -- the present moment. it is the most sacred thing in the Universe.
thus it is god in the sense that it must be paid attention to and all one's existence must be focused on the present moment.
no matter people's descriptions or concepts -- everyone shares the sacredness of the present moment.
posted by
Xeno-x
on March 15, 2005 at 1:37 PM
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empty_handed_painter -- I'm catching your drift
many things we experince in life could be described as God if one was pre-disposed to believe in such a thing. Quite often in debate with believers the points of contention can be boiled down to simple differences of definition. For example: I refer to the voice inside my head as my inner self while some insist it is my soul.
posted by
gomedome
on March 15, 2005 at 10:41 AM
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Whamenator is obviously boring - sorry, bored - if YLF is so on the brain!
posted by
Ufatbastard
on March 15, 2005 at 9:24 AM
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I should add that the Christian women I knew were in fact a good example in behavior, with the exception of the newcomers. But the Christian men were, umm ... under the influence of a polygamist tradition that is illegal in our country.
posted by
TARZANA
on March 15, 2005 at 9:22 AM
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"during the many years that I kept my mouth shut," by YLF.......
Obviously, this is a lesson that has long since been lost! 
posted by
WHAMENATOR
on March 15, 2005 at 9:09 AM
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I must say, that during the many years that I kept my mouth shut, I learned my survival skills not from the members of Christianity, but from the teachings. Those along with the wisdom added by my own gained knowledge, but I did learn to share knowledge from Christianity.
posted by
TARZANA
on March 15, 2005 at 9:04 AM
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looks like they're stil trihng to convert you
save your soul and all that
I believe -- that what you experience is god
not that you experience a male anthropomorphic supreme being -- but that at this moment -- what you are experiencing -- it's not an outside force -- the coffee you just drank is god -- a new definition of god? hardly.
just that no matter who -- their present moment is god. it is all there is. so it has to be god. it is the highest.
is this hard to understand?
back to Messiah stuff -- son of god and all that. People want to find a hero. this is as good a hero as any.
It would be interesting to research Messiah and how many appeared at the time of Yeshua -- all sorts of rabbis were considered such.
reminds me of a joke -- "silly rabbi, kicks are for trids."
oh well.
There very well could be one of those rabbis whose life parallels that of our Yeshua (Jesus) -- and maybe that would help us to understand.
posted by
Xeno-x
on March 15, 2005 at 9:03 AM
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