Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
ChristyGrl your testimony speaks so much volume that it leaves one really reviewing his/her life, "have I loved enough to make a worthy impact on this earth...my home, and everything that is in it"?
May God Bless Us All!
I only wish more people would do the same. After I take my last breath, the legacy I hope I leave behind...what I hope people will say about me...is that Christy was a loving, caring, kind, generous, and compassionate person and she taught others by her actions how to be the same. If I can leave this earth knowing that I changed someone for the better...that by my actions they became a better person and in turn shared that with someone else making them a better person....there is no limit to the changes that can be wrought in this world. It's all about the baby steps...
I only wish more people would do the same. After I take my last breath, the legacy I hope I leave behind...what I hope people will say about me...is that Christy was a loving, caring, kind, generous, and compassionate person and she taught others by her actions how to be the same. If I can leave this earth knowing that I changed someone for the better...that by my actions they became a better person and in turn shared that with someone else making them a better person....there is no limit to the changes that can be wrought in this world. It's all about the baby steps...
I live in a gated community...and just yesterday while jogging with a new found friend...one of the security guards yelled at my companion as we jogged by saying, "you're so blessed to have her as a friend"......the feeling of self gratification was so intense that I murmured, "please God don't let that comment create pride in me"!
I live in a gated community...and just yesterday while jogging with a new found friend...one of the security guards yelled at my companion as we jogged by saying, "you're so blessed to have her as a friend"......the feeling of self gratification was so intense that I murmured, "please God don't let that comment create pride in me"!
Blessings...
Why do you feel it is a bad thing for someone to notice that you are a good person and comment on it? You should feel proud that someone notices the kind of person you are because it will only make that person strive to be better...it's called setting a good example...isn't that what the bible says we are supposed to be doing? There is no need to feel shameful about good things we accomplish in this life.
Why do you feel that being happy about having a new and apparently good friend according to the security guard is a prideful thing?
Having human nature...we are always on the verge of being puffed up..."with I did it attitude"...it takes away the focus on my Christ whose love I could never emulate to the fullest.
Being happy in Christ is a good thing, but being happy because I did it...is not.
In my opinion . . . it isn't necessary . . . you both already "believe on" Jesus (as that term SHOULD be interpreted) as represented by your responsiveness to the inner promptings (Holy Spirit within ALL human consciousnesses . . . since His rebirth as Spirit). It is this inner prompting that you accept or reject as the "believe on" requirement and is revealed in the "fruit" of "love of god and each other." The belief in and love of God (which you deny) inheres in the acceptance of a morality beyond self . . . since true believers in the cosmic accident genesis would have no conceivable need to make such distinctions. Accidents are purposeless and all their actions or inactions are irrelevant. All pious external proclamations of belief are irrelevant if this inner acceptance does not really exist. However, the harmonic resonance with Jesus' consciousness is enhanced and much stronger when this external acknowledgment exists.
I don't know if I understood all that, but am I correct that you say we do not believe in God? Christy said, iirc, that she believes in "something higher than herself" and I agree with that (though I wouldn't say I know it with absolute certainty). A panentheistic view of that Something makes most sense to me at this point, so acknowledging that all that is Love proceeds from that Something makes sense as well. So, there you have my "external acknowledgement" enhancing my "harmonic resonance" without ever mentioning the word "Jesus".
Quote:
If you have any familiarity (as Christy does) with the myriad oral traditions, legends, myths, scriptures, anthropological and archeological research, etc. . . . the template is quite striking and the evolution quite clear.
I'm fairly certain that I followed a different path of knowledge to losing faith in the Christian bible as the "Word of God" than Christy did. So, no, the "evolution" isn't clear to me, but it's certainly an intriguing idea and something I'll keep in mind.
Having human nature...we are always on the verge of being puffed up..."with I did it attitude"...it takes away the focus on my Christ whose love I could never emulate to the fullest.
Being happy in Christ is a good thing, but being happy because I did it...is not.
I hope this statement makes sense...
I don't agree with it but I do understand the religious mindset and where you're coming from.
I'd say you're on to something there!
Jesus said that the flesh profiteth nothing. His fleshly ministry is finished. Now He is arising in sons and daughters around the world. It was His Spirit that we must hear in OURSELVES today. A Christ at a distance cannot save you. Only Christ within you can save you.
Blessings,
brian
Thanks Brian. Yes, as a Christian that is what I believed, especially once I came to embrace UR: that Christ is being raised in us. I don't necessarily reject that now, but I think I do reject the idea that Christianity has a corner market on "God in us" because of it's faith in the man Jesus as portrayed in the Christian bible. If faith is necessary, then I think it must be an active faith in what Jesus symbolized: the nature of "God".
Oh my! I had never heard of such a thing as a "Hell House" until I read about it in this thread. How sick!
Hell house
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by American, fundamentalist Christian churches or parachurch groups. These depict sin, the torments of the damned in Hell, and usually conclude with a depiction of heaven. They are most typically operated in the days preceding Halloween.
A hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside in which actors attempt to frighten patrons with gruesome exhibits and scenes. The format is that the various scenes are presented as a series of short vignettes with a narrated guide. Unlike haunted houses, hell houses focus on occasions and effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the afterlife. They are scheduled during the month of October to capitalize on the similarities between hell houses and haunted attractions.
The exhibits at a hell house often have a controversial tone and focus on sins that are also issues of concern to evangelicals in the United States. Hell houses frequently feature exhibits that depict sin and its consequences. Common examples include abortion, suicide,[1] use of alcoholic beverage and other recreational drugs, adultery and pre-marital sex, occultism, homosexuality, and Satanic ritual abuse. Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior is condemned to Hell.
Utterly ridiculous. I only heard about this because I was going through a very dark time, spiritually, last year, and the people I went to talk about it with mentioned this hell play they were proud of, seeing that it got more people into their church group. They mentioned a couple of other things that got my blood boiling, mainly because I had come to see them when I was going through a spiritual breakdown and my FEAR of death, frustration and anxiety had risen to dangerous levels. They didn't get it, and they really didn't help, to say the least. Church people say the darnedest things.
As the weeks went by, and the more I thought about the system, the angrier I got. Everything just started piling up in my mind; all the lies, fear, torture, and wars that Christianity perpetuates instead of love, joy, and peace and the people just sit around in their pews thinking everything is a-okay.
The only thing that holds my anger back is knowing that it is not a fruit of the spirit. Especially, blind anger. If I gave into that emotion, I would only become what I hate so much.
Learning to love.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zero 7
Heartsong, they have this every year around Halloween at Brookfield Assembly of God here in Wisconsin.
Guess what, this year I'm going. In fact, I'll have a picket sign(well maybe). Gotta memorize a bunch of UR verses and pray a lot before the event.
We must slay the dragon. Anyone that lives in Wisconsin wanna go with me?
If I were in Wisconsin, I would go with you. I'm not really an outspoken kind of person in "real" life, so it would be difficult for me, but if I could stop just one pair of eyes from seeing, or one mind from believing that garbage, I would go.
(I think Eusebius is the person you want to take, judging from the sermon he gave to the public speaker at his daughter's baccalaureate.)
Last edited by herefornow; 07-21-2010 at 03:52 PM..
I think we may be waiting a goooood looooong time for a plausible response to that one Pleroo.
Yeah. It's not the first time I've asked something along these lines. I'm pretty used to being laregely ignored... *shrug*.
Last edited by Pleroo; 07-21-2010 at 04:03 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
...the feeling of self gratification was so intense that I murmured, "please God don't let that comment create pride in me"!
That simple...
They mentioned a couple of other things that got my blood boiling, mainly because I had come to see them when I was going through a spiritual breakdown and my FEAR of death, frustration and anxiety had risen to dangerous levels. They didn't get it, and they really didn't help, to say the least. Church people say the darnedest things. 
