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.
I've only read the OP but offer these observations since I have likewise followed a long and winding spiritual path. My basic observation, which is one I've had to make to myself several times, is: This simply isn’t Christianity. It is basically a New Age theology with some sort of Cosmic Christ engrafted onto it to give it a veneer of Christianity. It is a Christianity that really doesn’t need Jesus at all.
The only Jesus we have is the one in the Bible. He is a complex and not entirely kindly character. He certainly regarded the OT as the authoritative word of God. He certainly taught the doctrine of hell. In order to turn him into the Cosmic Christ and make Christianity more palatable, one must ignore pretty much the entire OT, large swaths of the NT, the apostolic and ante-Nicene church fathers, and 2,000 years of history, tradition and mystical experience. One can do this, of course – I’ve done it myself – but I always come back to the reality that the result cannot reasonably be called Christianity.
I'm currently reading Jesus and the Near-Death Experience: Testimonies of the Ascended Christ by psychologist Roy Hill, which was just published. I've corresponded a bit with Mr. Hill and have no doubt he is intelligent, sincere and well-intentioned. His Christianity is very similar to yours. He relies (predictably) on personal visions that have told him the conventional understanding of Christianity is wrong; the non-canonical gospels of Thomas and Phillip; hundreds of self-reported NDE accounts from the NDERF site; and the 14th century visionary NDE of Julian of Norwich.
It’s a wonderful theology – I hope it’s true – but it cannot reasonably be called Christianity without eviscerating the term of any meaning. Judaism and Christianity are both rooted in history. One cannot just ignore that history, appropriate some idealized Christ who bears little resemblance to the Jesus of the Bible, and call it Christianity.
I happen to believe that what passes for Christianity in America is about 153 degrees off-base. My own Christianity is highly individualistic, although I think even a wild-eyed fundamentalist would say, “Yeah,you can call yourself a Christian. I disagree with a lot of it, but you’re a Christian.” But I remain very sensitive to whether I have moved so far from the historical and biblical Christianity that what I really have is a completely new, self-invented religion that cannot reasonably be called Christianity.
Anytime a theology hinges on all prior understandings have been primitive misunderstandings unworthy of 21st century humanity, the Jesus of the Bible being merely a caricature of the real Jesus, and the speaker being among the few who have the true enlightened insight into what Christ actually means, red flags go up for me. You can certainly believe whatever you want, and no one can stop you from calling it Christian if you want, but I am pretty well steeped in all varieties of Christian theology and I seriously question whether the label fits.
I don't know if you caught any flack for calling it a "non-magical alternative," but my guess is an atheist would call it magical to the nth degree!
It’s a wonderful theology – I hope it’s true – but it cannot reasonably be called Christianity without eviscerating the term of any meaning.
I'm pretty certain that something similar was said every single time a new denomination of Christianity was formed. All of the established denominations said, "But that's not *true* Christianity!"
Until it was.
I don't buy into everything Mystic says, of course, but at *least* he is getting rid of all the cultural baggage that the religion of Christianity has hanging around its neck like the fabled albatross.
Christianity is fast becoming one big hate group -- a hate group that just so happens to have some good people within the mix who manage to keep the rest of the religion from descending into ISIS territory.
Far too many Christians yap their lips off about love and Jesus and flowers and rainbows and puppies and sunsets and butterflies and children's laughter -- then turn around and do some pretty dispicable things. For me, I value what people do far more than what they say.
I can at least testify to the fact that Mystic's view of Christianity put love back in the center of things, something many people -- especially in this country -- don't even bother with anymore. It's all about going to church, condemning everyone who doesn't conform to their lifestyle, voting in awful politicians who want to yank the carpet out from beneath the poor, sick, disabled, and elderly so the top 1% can have massive tax breaks, constantly bemoaning gay marriage, abortion, and the fact that our government isn't a theocracy, going to church some more, sitting glued to reality television, shopping, reality television, shopping, church, shopping, reality television, getting angry when they see a gay person on reality television, shopping ... oh yeah, almost forgot ... church ... and so on.
Perhaps there used to be true spirituality in the Christian religion, but for most, that's long gone. Now it's used mostly as a set of rules that *everyone* better obey no matter what you believe because my God is real by God, so my God's rules apply even to you, Mr. Atheist and Ms. Hindu and Mrs. Budhist!
The Bible is mostly just a Prude's Guide to Bronze Age Sex rather than a true holy book. As 20+ million Americans face the real possibility of losing all access to health care, as income inequality continues to increase, as 7+ million low-income jobs are expected to be lost to automation by 2020, as an authoritarian dictator sets himself up in the oval office, as our Secretary of Education says any school can discriminate against anyone they want as long as the state agrees with it, as climate change rapidly approaches the irreversible tipping point -- what do Christians care about most? Oh yeah ... gay marriage, abortion, the usual crap.
It's as if they're so hung up on sexual sin and abortion (yeah, because we really *need* the 40 million extra people competing for all of those increasingly non-existent jobs -- let's just keep overpopulating ourselves until nature hits the reset button once its had enough of our presence) that they are completely and utterly blinded to the problems that just might wipe us *all* out.
It's frustrating since I'm reasonably certain that Christianity could be mobilized to do some REAL good in our country -- not just handing out some raunchy blanket you found in the attic or ladeling soup into a bowl for homeless people (maybe finding them homes would be time better spent?).
Instead, the only time Christianity truly mobilized was to spread vitriol and preach poison, the message of hatred and bigotry, against the campaign for gay rights. Is THAT the only thing that gets Christians up in arms?
It's truly sickening, to be honest, which is why Mystic's version actually has more truth to it than Bible-based Christianity. Even if the story of Christ is remotely true, I'm pretty confident that the Bible is just what I said it is: The Prude's Guide to Bronze Age Sex ... or ... it could be entitled, "An Authoritarian's Guidebook on Social Control."
But there's no real spiritualism in there. Just obey! Obey! Obey!
The Word that is in it, also came from above, so they're witnesses of each other. But first you have to be willing to rend the veil, not worship Nehushtan. Peace
And THIS is why you do not understand the New Covenant: you think that good and evil are about a bunch of arbitrary rules in the mind of God rather than the principle He gave us in the life and ministry of Jesus.
Adam and Eve at least grew up to adulthood and left the childish patterns behind.
And THIS is why you do not understand the New Covenant; because you think it floats on the waters of your carnal mind, not stands on it as a mature man on a FOUNDATION that was fused by fire = Him standing on a sea of glass, which is what SAND (the rebellious live in a dry land) is formed into when confronted with the fire of the judgment of the Word to the flesh, which your carnal mind keeps enlivening daily as the beast with a head wound that did live. Peace
I've only read the OP but offer these observations since I have likewise followed a long and winding spiritual path. My basic observation, which is one I've had to make to myself several times, is: This simply isn’t Christianity. It is basically a New Age theology with some sort of Cosmic Christ engrafted onto it to give it a veneer of Christianity. It is a Christianity that really doesn’t need Jesus at all.
And THIS is why you do not understand the New Covenant; because you think it floats on the waters of your carnal mind, not stands on it as a mature man on a FOUNDATION that was fused by fire = Him standing on a sea of glass, which is what SAND (the rebellious live in a dry land) is formed into when confronted with the fire of the judgment of the Word to the flesh, which your carnal mind keeps enlivening daily as the beast with a head wound that did live. Peace
Translation: "you only believe that because it makes sense out of a mishmash of recorded perceptions."
Translation: "you only believe that because it makes sense out of a mishmash of recorded perceptions."
Translation: it contradicts every principle in a book you only like to cherry pick from, like a king only picking out what to him are the "choicest delicacies" that look good to the lust of the eyes like Eve did, and leaving the "ugly" but filling parts for the "rabble". Peace
I've only read the OP but offer these observations since I have likewise followed a long and winding spiritual path. My basic observation, which is one I've had to make to myself several times, is: This simply isn’t Christianity. It is basically a New Age theology with some sort of Cosmic Christ engrafted onto it to give it a veneer of Christianity. It is a Christianity that really doesn’t need Jesus at all.
The only Jesus we have is the one in the Bible. He is a complex and not entirely kindly character. He certainly regarded the OT as the authoritative word of God. He certainly taught the doctrine of hell. In order to turn him into the Cosmic Christ and make Christianity more palatable, one must ignore pretty much the entire OT, large swaths of the NT, the apostolic and ante-Nicene church fathers, and 2,000 years of history, tradition and mystical experience. One can do this, of course – I’ve done it myself – but I always come back to the reality that the result cannot reasonably be called Christianity.
I'm currently reading Jesus and the Near-Death Experience: Testimonies of the Ascended Christ by psychologist Roy Hill, which was just published. I've corresponded a bit with Mr. Hill and have no doubt he is intelligent, sincere and well-intentioned. His Christianity is very similar to yours. He relies (predictably) on personal visions that have told him the conventional understanding of Christianity is wrong; the non-canonical gospels of Thomas and Phillip; hundreds of self-reported NDE accounts from the NDERF site; and the 14th century visionary NDE of Julian of Norwich.
It’s a wonderful theology – I hope it’s true – but it cannot reasonably be called Christianity without eviscerating the term of any meaning. Judaism and Christianity are both rooted in history. One cannot just ignore that history, appropriate some idealized Christ who bears little resemblance to the Jesus of the Bible, and call it Christianity.
I happen to believe that what passes for Christianity in America is about 153 degrees off-base. My own Christianity is highly individualistic, although I think even a wild-eyed fundamentalist would say, “Yeah,you can call yourself a Christian. I disagree with a lot of it, but you’re a Christian.” But I remain very sensitive to whether I have moved so far from the historical and biblical Christianity that what I really have is a completely new, self-invented religion that cannot reasonably be called Christianity.
Anytime a theology hinges on all prior understandings have been primitive misunderstandings unworthy of 21st century humanity, the Jesus of the Bible being merely a caricature of the real Jesus, and the speaker being among the few who have the true enlightened insight into what Christ actually means, red flags go up for me. You can certainly believe whatever you want, and no one can stop you from calling it Christian if you want, but I am pretty well steeped in all varieties of Christian theology and I seriously question whether the label fits.
I don't know if you caught any flack for calling it a "non-magical alternative," but my guess is an atheist would call it magical to the nth degree!
The only requirement for ANY Christian is to follow Christ's instructions to love God and each other every day and repent when we don't, period. All the other rhetoric is the result of human vanity and hubris. The retention of ancient ignorance and superstition as a sign of faith in God is particularly egregious since it instantiates an anti-knowledge mindset that is societally destructive. You may think that an eternal Hell is by any stretch of the imagination a reasonable or just or even remotely acceptable consequence for a finite existence, but it is just preposterous, IMO.
The OT was considered proof of His mission by Jesus, NOT a valid understanding of God. He pointed to the prophecies in the OT to establish who He was, what He would do, how He would be treated and what impact He would have on humanity long past His death. His whole ministry was designed to correct the mistaken view of God and His motives from reading the OT. He described God's Holy Spirit in detail and then demonstrated it unambiguously with His very body and life by enduring the scourging and crucifixion in love for us all including His torturers and murderers.
And it is new every morning, otherwise it will rot in the mouth. And can we ever see this happening.
Actually, it is that which never makes it to the mouth, and it bred worms. Just like Herod who also refused to give G-d the glory and he was eaten of worms. It pertains to refusing the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and staying in the outer darkness/outer court, where the worm dieth not (because it has so much flesh to eat since the Holy Ghost wasn't allowed to burn any of it up). And yes, we can ever see this happening. Peace
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.
