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.
It seems like water is an important theme in Christianity.
When God first made the earth it was all under a turbulent ocean.
Jesus was baptized in water he was showing his humanity. Baptisms are kind of like a "rebirth."
Jesus was able to calm the waters during a storm while out at sea.
They say 60% of the human body is water and even higher percentages for things like your heart and brain...the things that make you more human so to say.
I did a long day trip to Mackinac Island with my bf and brother and it has Michigan's oldest church building still in existence. It was almost magical and then to see the old replica of a missionary from the late 1600s. You have to go over on a boat to the island believe it or not! ....and as you pass over the water you certainly feel connected to it and spiritually to others.
When you think about it....we drink in water and put it back out through evaporation in our breath, sweat while jogging, or in the restroom.
The water cycles through humans just as it cycles through the clouds and lakes with evaporation and precipitation.
My point is the water that I take in and put out has been a part of other humans in the past and will be a part of other humans in the future.
We are all connected as humanity by water. As chaotic as water might seem with uncontrollable waves and storms...it is all part of an ordered cycle created by God.
Atoms that make me as a human....physically speaking....were once a part of another human physically speaking....and that connects us all on a spiritual level.
It makes me feel connected to the past like that church and to everyone in the present as well as the future.
It also calls us to love and serve one another as we are all connected.
Sorry if this makes no sense.
Actually it does. The Book of Common Prayer, as one example, does a poetic job of linking the spiritual quality of water in its baptism rite.
We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage
in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus
received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy
Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death
and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.
We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are
buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his
resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his
fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Today water is just water. Baptism for the denominations and others automatically bring water to mind, but the baptism for believers in grace today has no water. Being "baptized" into Christ is spiritual. The gospel of grace has no requirement for water baptism and in fact a requirement would void salvation. If some wish to get baptized simply as an outward show of faith that would be fine. To add baptism to faith is to add works, as salvation is a free gift no works can be required.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1Cor1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Today water is just water. Baptism for the denominations and others automatically bring water to mind, but the baptism for believers in grace today has no water. Being "baptized" into Christ is spiritual. The gospel of grace has no requirement for water baptism and in fact a requirement would void salvation. If some wish to get baptized simply as an outward show of faith that would be fine. To add baptism to faith is to add works, as salvation is a free gift no works can be required.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1Cor1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water - not a dead experience of faith.
When someone is baptized in the Episcopal Church, this is part of what is said:
We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their
bondage in Egypt into the land of promise.
In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John
and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ . . . .
When I just did a search on a phrase of this prayer thinking the BCP would pop up, this site came up instead that has more references to water in Christianity:
Mystic...as above so below...the macrocosm and the microcosm...water and the brain...
the outer Universe and the inner world. Good treatise. More than what anyone else here has delved into...or even considered
There is more to it, even!! Have you looked up amrita by any chance?
I concur! It was a very interesting post, Mystic. Do you mean "Amrita" being "living water" Miss Hepburn?
Living water is the nectar that permeates the heart.
Nice.
However, (and why I am saying it HERE, I dunno) . lol..but, living water IS actually Nectar...
Nectar* that can be tasted.
If searched, researched ... much information can be found, now, online...where before
it was a secret held tightly by yogis and gurus with long waits for devotee initiations to have it,
the process revealed.
Lends an entirely different understanding to many things referring to it in the Bible.
This is SO the wrong audience to be saying this to! LOL.
*Why Nectar, because it is sweet...this is why you can place a drop honey on a baby's
palette and they will stop crying...we were drinking it in the womb.
Will people say, "Well, sure honey would distract a baby" ...of course they will.
I beg everyone don't believe me...find out yourselves--directly, not just reading about it!
"Blissful amrita, nectar of the gods." -some guru, don't make me look it up!
But, I'm thinking he was Sikh...look up Guru Granth Sahib if interested.
(Or maybe it was Kirpal Singh).
Reminds me of 'light'...interpreted as 'the light of understanding', instead
of what it really is ---an actual Light.
It's actually 'just the thing' for atheists they can experience Light and Nectar for themselves!
Just have to adjust the dial...we are the receivers just like a radio is to radio waves.
We 'can' receive the invisible or the unseen things.
Last edited by Miss Hepburn; 08-19-2019 at 09:28 AM..
Living water is the nectar that permeates the heart.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
Nice.
However, (and why I am saying it HERE, I dunno) . lol..but, living water IS actually Nectar...
Nectar* that can be tasted.
If searched, researched ... much information can be found, now, online...where before
it was a secret held tightly by yogis and gurus with long waits for devotee initiations to have it,
the process revealed. Lends an entirely different understanding to many things referring to it in the Bible.
This is SO the wrong audience to be saying this to! LOL.
*Why Nectar, because it is sweet...this is why you can place a drop honey on a baby's
palette and they will stop crying...we were drinking it in the womb.
Will people say, "Well, sure honey would distract a baby" ...of course they will.
I beg everyone don't believe me...find out yourselves--directly, not just reading about it!
"Blissful amrita, nectar of the gods." -some guru, don't make me look it up!
But, I'm thinking he was Sikh...look up Guru Granth Sahib if interested.
(Or maybe it was Kirpal Singh).
Reminds me of 'light'...interpreted as 'the light of understanding', instead
of what it really is ---an actual Light.
It's actually 'just the thing' for atheists they can experience Light and Nectar for themselves!
Just have to adjust the dial...we are the receivers just like a radio is to radio waves.
We 'can' receive the invisible or the unseen things.
I think that living water and the nectar spoken of in eastern texts might be a similar thing. I spent many years away from Christianity and reading the texts of other faiths, and doing yoga etc. and then when I came back so many things made sense---especially from the gospels---living water being one of them. Many Christians sometimes feel threatened when there is truth found in other places, but for me it just confirms that it is truth, whatever form it comes in.
Many Christians sometimes feel threatened when there is truth
found in other places, but for me it just confirms that it is truth, whatever form it comes in.
I never said it that way ...but you are so spot on! Why be threatened or even attack someone
as a heretic when
they just found even deeper meanings to Judeo-Christian references?
(Hi, QB, xxoo)Shhh.
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.