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.
In other words, YOUR WAY of believing is the ONLY right way???
They can't understand you. You might as well be saying, "just because you say the sky is blue doesn't mean it is." They simply don't get that there are other perspectives here or that they could be the ones with the dreaded wrong belief that will get a person destroyed/tortured by God.
When you meet God and fully experience His all-consuming love, you will see your life in the glare of that love. The experience will refine out all the dross as you reap whatever you have sowed leaving only the love.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CCCyou
YES - rep given!
I'm wondering if anyone has had this happen, before dying?
as in the verse "because the LORD disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son."
Yes, I have in deep meditation. But as life-changing as the experience is, I can only imagine that we can only see and experience it through a glass darkly until our death.
The only torture I know of is the desire to be around the loving creative spirit, while one's inner nature exiles one from that presence. In the realm of pure thought, like attracts like, so one whose inner truth is not in harmony with the Great Spirit would be unable to approach.
If your vision of God is a giant ham sandwich, you can never be kosher and happy.
I think I track with you... from moment to moment we are on a sliding scale of harmony with the God who is love which allows us to experience God’s presence to varying degrees. I don’t think one can be exiled from the presence, however. There’s no need to “approach” the Spirit when that Spirit has never left us in the first place.
He does understand our weaknesses. That’s why He sent Jesus to cover our sins.
God judges because He is righteous. You would rightly be offended if the courts failed to punish lawbreakers, but you’re asking God to do just that.
I would not be offended at our "judicial system" getting away from the idea of punishment. Keeping people in custody for the safety of others, until they are prepared to participate and contribute to society again, check. Doing what is necessary to help them get to that point, check. Punishment? What is the motive for that? Vengeance? Whom, and what purpose, does that serve?
Why do fundamentalists need a God of vengeance whose main goal is to exact punishment, rather than the God who is love and interested in the restoration of people to their true state?
I think I track with you... from moment to moment we are on a sliding scale of harmony with the God who is love which allows us to experience God’s presence to varying degrees. I don’t think one can be exiled from the presence, however. There’s no need to “approach” the Spirit when that Spirit has never left us in the first place.
I would not be offended at our "judicial system" getting away from the idea of punishment. Keeping people in custody for the safety of others, until they are prepared to participate and contribute to society again, check. Doing what is necessary to help them get to that point, check. Punishment? What is the motive for that? Vengeance? Whom, and what purpose, does that serve?
Why do fundamentalists need a God of vengeance rather than the God who is love and interested in the restoration of people to their true state?
Why does God need to do anything since we will reap exactly whatever we sow as the dross is refined out of us? How is that not just? Anything else would be excessive or insufficient.
Why does God need to do anything since we will reap exactly whatever we sow as the dross is refined out of us? How is that not just? Anything else would be excessive or insufficient.
It still sounds like a reward/punishment system when you* put it that way, even though I doubt you mean it that way. I wish I could say I never have wanted someone who has wronged me to "get what's coming to them". Sadly, that's not true ... but I do recognize that when I'm feeling that way it is not compatible with the "higher way" of a God who is love. It is not in harmony with the "Great Spirit" and it does inhibit me from feeling God's presence in that situation.
*I've said the same thing, but I'm feeling a tug away from that mentality.
It still sounds like a reward/punishment system when you* put it that way, even though I doubt you mean it that way. I wish I could say I never have wanted someone who has wronged me to "get what's coming to them". Sadly, that's not true ... but I do recognize that when I'm feeling that way it is not compatible with the "higher way" of a God who is love. It is not in harmony with the "Great Spirit" and it does inhibit me from feeling God's presence in that situation. *I've said the same thing, but I'm feeling a tug away from that mentality.
But wouldn't it be untruthful for God to not allow someone to ultimately know/feel/experience the hurt/damage that they caused to another - (not as 'punishment', but as a realization of the reality)?
But wouldn't it be untruthful for God to not allow someone to ultimately know/feel/experience the hurt/damage that they caused to another - (not as 'punishment', but as a realization of the reality)?
That realization comes from within at the point of death. You are confronted with your life's mirror and cannot look away.
But wouldn't it be untruthful for God to not allow someone to ultimately know/feel/experience the hurt/damage that they caused to another - (not as 'punishment', but as a realization of the reality)?
Hi CCC. I don't see this being about truthful vs. untruthful. I am only looking at what purpose does it serve. If, as you say, it is beneficial for a person's individual process and well-being that they experience whatever harm they've caused another, then I trust that it will happen. Wishing it on them, on the other hand, isn't a headspace/heartspace I want to be in.
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.
