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.
Don't you also base your conclusion that Jesus was divine on information found only in the gospels? If you suspect that the accounts were subject to alterations and agendas, doesn't that taint the whole package, including any idea of divinity? How did you determine which parts were valid and which parts were not?
No, what I base it on is beyond the bible. This, for instance, a communication from Luke, who is a Celestial Spirit:
"I know that the writings that I had left were not preserved intact after my own death, and that many things that I had incorporated therein were, in the numerous copyings and recopyings of my manuscripts, left out and ignored. Many things that I did not write, and that were not in accord with the truth, were inserted by these various successive copyists in their work of reproduction. And many of these omitted things and additions were of vital importance to the truth of spiritual things, as they had been declared by the disciples as containing the truths that Jesus had taught."
As to which parts are valid and don't taint the "whole package"... it's those that speak of God as a God of Love and not wrathful; those that refer to the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit), which is God's highest "energy" that delivered God's Love into Jesus' soul; those that state Jesus was the son of God born without sin; that Jesus referred to God as His Father. Never did Jesus say, "I am God." Rather, Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." This is "divinity." Jesus is saying that he is Divine, like His Father is Divine, or in other words Jesus had an at-onement with God... not that he was God. Those that speak of Jesus being the Messiah and of his baptism by his cousin, John the Baptist.
Plus Jesus had spiritual powers and knew from a Divine knowledge of God's laws how to heal people, however, he never turned water into wine or walked on water. Those supposed "miracles" were embellishments and not based on fact.
No, what I base it on is beyond the bible. This, for instance, a communication from Luke, who is a Celestial Spirit:
.
I do not know what the above is supposed to mean or who Luke the celestial spirit is supposed to be...was this a personal appearance before you? I do not understand.
You listed passages that you like and passages which you do not like for this reason or another, but that is just your personal sense of the aesthetic at work. I don't think that your emotional reactions to these passages have anything at all to do with their legitimacy or lack of the same. You aren't presenting the religion of Jesus, you are presenting the Church of SoCalAngel, founded on your menu selections.
If you are going to invent your own religion, why bother with the Bible at all? Just present the tenants of SoCalAngel.
I do not know what the above is supposed to mean or who Luke the celestial spirit is supposed to be...was this a personal appearance before you? I do not understand.
You listed passages that you like and passages which you do not like for this reason or another, but that is just your personal sense of the aesthetic at work. I don't think that your emotional reactions to these passages have anything at all to do with their legitimacy or lack of the same. You aren't presenting the religion of Jesus, you are presenting the Church of SoCalAngel, founded on your menu selections.
If you are going to invent your own religion, why bother with the Bible at all? Just present the tenants of SoCalAngel.
Beyond the bible are communications from higher spirits, of which Luke or St. Luke, is a Celestial Spirit. A Celestial Spirit is one who has received the transformation of God's Divine Love and lives in the Celestial Heavens, or Celestial Spheres. The highest Celestial Spirit is Jesus being the closest to God and the first person on earth to receive Divine Love in his soul.
What I posted is knowledge of Jesus' true teachings while he lived on earth that aren't in the Bible but are contained in four volumes entitled True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. Who Jesus was, how he discovered he was the Messiah, and why he died... who and what is God... what is a soul and where does it come from... why we are born, what are we doing here and where are we going when we leave. And most importantly the message of salvation being God's Gift of Divine Love, which brings to us an at-onement with God and immortality.
This book is Jesus' second coming and he will come in no other way. And although there are "church" organizations which promote these teachings... there is no church building. Our religion and our faith is based on having a personal relationship with God, our Heavenly Father, and receiving Divine Love in our souls... just as Jesus (and his disciples and followers) did when he lived on earth and still does as a Celestial Spirit and will forevermore.
One of the most interesting questions about the New Testament regards the divinity of Jesus. If Jesus was divine, how does one account for his errors showing that he lacked divine knowledge?
Jesus is an amazing enigma. He and his philosophies of the spirit are phenomenal to me. It amazes me how he ties all religion's philosophies together in him. For instance, his baptism into the Holy spirit, and being visited by a totem animal(the Dove) is the same philosophy as the American Indians. They teach that the initiation to manhood is when an animal spirit comes to them and they become at one in the spirit, and the animal takes them into the spiritual realm. I experienced this in exactly the same way as a young man. Jesus's baptism into the spirit, and Indian Baptism into the spirit is EXACTLY the same thing. And Jesus's philosophy of being in communion with him, absorbing the deity, at one with the spirit of him, the philosophy of life eternal, and how to plant the seed of life eternal in others, the speaking in parables, and using mythology to explain the spirit, his philosophies are just plain, friken amazing. It's like all the philosophies of the world can find a piece of themselves in Christ. It's mind boggling. The problem is that, all that Jesus did, he did on BEHALF of YHWH. It's an enigma. It's like the NT was designed to hypnotize all people of all religions.
Beyond the bible are communications from higher spirits, of which Luke or St. Luke, is a Celestial Spirit. A Celestial Spirit is one who has received the transformation of God's Divine Love and lives in the Celestial Heavens, or Celestial Spheres. The highest Celestial Spirit is Jesus being the closest to God and the first person on earth to receive Divine Love in his soul.
What I posted is knowledge of Jesus' true teachings while he lived on earth that aren't in the Bible but are contained in four volumes entitled True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus. Who Jesus was, how he discovered he was the Messiah, and why he died... who and what is God... what is a soul and where does it come from... why we are born, what are we doing here and where are we going when we leave. And most importantly the message of salvation being God's Gift of Divine Love, which brings to us an at-onement with God and immortality.
This book is Jesus' second coming and he will come in no other way. And although there are "church" organizations which promote these teachings... there is no church building. Our religion and our faith is based on having a personal relationship with God, our Heavenly Father, and receiving Divine Love in our souls... just as Jesus (and his disciples and followers) did when he lived on earth and still does as a Celestial Spirit and will forevermore.
You aren't being very helpful with your responses. I had to look up the True Gospel Revealed business and I discovered that it was the product of someone named James Padgett. It appears composed of a set of assertions for which neither Padgett nor yourself are in any sort of position to knows if there is any merit to such claims.
Anyway, this discovery only transfers the problem. It isn't you doing the picking and choosing, it is you choosing to embrace someone else's picking and choosing.
Ultimately nothing that you have provided sheds any light on my original question. How do you, or Padgett, know which passages are suspect and which are legitimate? How do you know that the Jesus you want to have existed was the Jesus that did exist?
You aren't being very helpful with your responses. I had to look up the True Gospel Revealed business and I discovered that it was the product of someone named James Padgett. It appears composed of a set of assertions for which neither Padgett nor yourself are in any sort of position to knows if there is any merit to such claims.
Anyway, this discovery only transfers the problem. It isn't you doing the picking and choosing, it is you choosing to embrace someone else's picking and choosing.
Ultimately nothing that you have provided sheds any light on my original question. How do you, or Padgett, know which passages are suspect and which are legitimate? How do you know that the Jesus you want to have existed was the Jesus that did exist?
Actually, they're not a "set of assertions," they are actual spirit writings. The way to know it is true is to take the truth test, which I have. Also, for the past 38 years, I've been praying for God's Divine Love and receiving it and following what Jesus and the other Celestial Spirits wrote to do... to pray and have faith and to follow God's Will.
Here's a bible verse for you, which is not only suspect, but totally false.
Jesus didn't and doesn't personally save us from our sins by the fact of being crucified; however, his teachings do when we follow them... praying and receiving Divine Love in our souls.
Actually, they're not a "set of assertions," they are actual spirit writings. The way to know it is true is to take the truth test, which I have. .
C'mon, that there is any such thing as spirit writings is an assertion. That your alleged "truth test" has any validity...that is another assertion. Proving an assertion with other assertions....you don't recognize how useless that is?
You appear to have no arrows in your quiver apart from these declarations.
I tend to think that the biggest revelation of Jesus is how the spirit can be used against you. The Bible is an example of how the compassion of the Buddha and the total enlightenment into the spirit can be used to hypnotize followers into enabling and empowering evil. jmo
C'mon, that there is any such thing as spirit writings is an assertion. That your alleged "truth test" has any validity...that is another assertion. Proving an assertion with other assertions....you don't recognize how useless that is?
You appear to have no arrows in your quiver apart from these declarations.
That is not what I was after, so, never mind.
Ah, think what you want. The fact remains that after we all pass on, we become spirits and this you and others will find out for yourselves. Plus the fact spirits can and do communicate with us and have for hundreds of centuries. I'm just extremely grateful and humble that I know the truth about Jesus and his simple message of salvation.
And since you read my post, now so do you.
As for any "alleged" errors made by Jesus in the NT... it just didn't happen. Being "Divine" is without error.
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.
