Posted on 12/26/2011 6:08:22 PM PST by rzman21
Post 28 and post 260, two of the best posts on this whole thread!
Ah, I just love the simplicity given to us by a most Gracious and Loving God!
Now I can rest...heh
Yes it does.It pricks up my ears everytime I hear it.The conversation is over before it begins.The flesh can be subtle to the point of boggling the mind.So many wonderous theological arguments as to why we can't rely on that "which is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart"....a heart,incidently,that we do not fully know and which is desperately wicked.
Thankyou for your post.
Grace and peace to you.
And I saw any man can be inhabited by the Holy Spirit not just the leader of the ‘church’.
Outstanding resource in Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults.
All the more reason to test the spirits by the Word of God, instead of discounting His Word. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son.
One note: Who would teach about Jesus except for the church...
Answer: God the Holy Spirit.
But, as we pray, ponder and learn together as a community, not as individuals, the fallibility, thanks to God's grace, decreases.
Hence, as a community, the church rejected the ideas of gnosticism, arianism etc., as a community the Church in council prayed over and pondered over the canon and we have the canon with us now -- as a sub-section of the Word (The Word of God being Christ of course the written Word being not "The Word" solely).
Due to our fallible nature we of course have different interpretations of different inerrant verses, yet the Holy Spirit guides the community as a hold that is to endure to the end, to stick true to orthodoxy - The Church is the community of all men, the Faith is that what has been taught as handed down by Christ through the Apostles holds true.
I think most of us are like the blind man the Lord had healed:
“Then again called they the man that was blind, and said untro him, Give God the praise: we know this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:24-25)
1Cor 12:12-14
(12) For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
(13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
(14) For the body is not one member, but many.
Acts 1:5
(5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
John 14:20
(20) At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
I wasn’t referring to the pre-Canon rituals recorded in Acts 2:38 and 22:16. Even these, though, emphasize the power of God the Holy Spirit in His salvation ministry in every believer in the Church Age.
Act 2:38
(38) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 22:16
(16) And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Baptism is an act of identification so when we are Baptized in the name of Christ, we are being identified in the name of Christ.
One of the many things that I like about being Catholic is that the Church openly encourages the combined use of religion and scientific understanding much more easily than some branches of the Protestant faith. For example, the Church has come to terms with the scientific fact that the planet and everything we can see throughout was NOT created in 168 hours.
The thing I also recall is that many Protestants are quick to attack the Pope on many issues, while quickly overlooking the well-documented fact that Martin Luther was extremely intolerant toward Jewish people. Luther’s cold statements about Jews were eerily connected to the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany prior to WWII.
I also converted from being a "sola" believer. All the points in the article are familiar. I can't say that any one sealed the deal for me; but one that stands out in memory is the fact that he early Christians did not have New Testaments to read.
The reason I started questioning at all was the huge variety of churches that result from the same starting point - sola scriptura. That, my friend, is confusion - of which God is not the Author.
There are dozens of sources which refer to the white elephant. Do a simple google and pick a couple.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+was+buddha+conceived
Here is one source - http://www.kbi.com.au/cgi-bin/engine.pl?Page=page.html&Rec=38
The Buddha was conceived into the womb of his mother, Mayadevi (by taking the form of a White Elephant descending from Tushita and entering the womb immaculately).
Yes what do you know, apparently not much about Buddhism. See my previous post or do a google, the truth is out there and will set you free.
Ya see, not all religions are equal. There is but one narrow path to salvation. It doesn’t have a man made label nor is it controlled by man.
The path to salvation is through Jesus the Son of God.
Where do you find any solid ground, when sola believers cannot agree among themselves - except when it comes to attacking the "one holy and catholic apostolic church"?
Denominations are the works of man. Read their history - every one goes back to a man.
Show me where Jesus used the word Catholic.
“BTW, every Buddhist I know recognizes that he was born a man, taught as a man and died as a man, never a God and never a product of some bestial pagan myth. But what do I know?”
I’ve visited Buddhist temples which were 2000 years old. These people know their faith and its not what is found in some knew age coffee shop.
Buddhism is far different than you or your friends expect.
“We must understand beyond the superficial literal interpretation when we are dealing with parables.”
Jesus is not a parable.
And Catholics are a denomination. I don’t need to ask another man if the ground I’m standing on is solid or not. I find plenty of solid ground in the Bible.
For me, my own personal definition, being Christian is to have my soul cleansed and to have grown to the point that I am aware that, to use His words,”Jesus and I are One.” This happens when I follow the teachings of Jesus and become Christ like in my behavior. Being aware of being One with Jesus means that I am also aware that I am One with His Father.
Although the words are Buddhist in form, they are as much Christian, Hindu and Islamic as they are Buddhist. Being “One with God” means that you recognize that you exist within God. As such, you are “One” with all that is. It is a matter of “Being Awake” or “Aware.” This is why Jesus told the parable of the hand and the body.
I am a scientist. For me, the Bible is very scientific in what it teaches. When Einstein made the statement, “No problem is solved at the level of consciousness that created it”; he understood this expansion of consciousness concept. When your consciousness expands, altruism is a natural function of understanding that we are all “One” and what you do to your brother you are actually doing to yourself.
The soul field spins and thus acts as a centrifuge, causing memories of events in an individual’s life at conception and in the mother’s womb to be stored on the outer perimeter. They are approximately 15 feet from a person. If a mother did not want the child, that memory is stored in the child’s soul field from that perspective. When I touch that memory 15 feet from the person, it often knocks them off their feet due to its density. Ordinarily, the soul field of a child is very pure of sin. That is why the eyes sparkle and are so deep as they truly are the windows to the soul. When Jesus said, “You must be like a child” he was referring to being pure like a child. Sin in the soul field has the effect upon a soul similar to a wet blanket in the spin cycle of a washing machine. It knocks it off balance and slows it down. Sin acts as an anchor to limit the soul’s increase in frequency and size.
I’ve had people open their eyes and yell that they were experiencing the feeling of a hot knife in their physical body when all I am doing is touching their soul with a prayerful thought many feet away from them. Anytime a high frequency of consciousness meets a low frequency, it transmutes it. This is how Jesus did his healing. It is also the reason that giving a prayerful blessing to an evil person is like putting hot coals upon their head.
Many years ago I was healing a Jewish man. I found myself making the sign of the cross. Except that was not my intention. I was merely raising the frequency of his operational consciousness on the vertical axis of the soul and spreading it on the horizontal axis to cleanse some unhealthy stored memories. People forgot the real reason the symbol of the cross was so important.
My definition of “sin” is anything that creates a space in the soul that blocks “Love.” Love is the glue that holds the two aspects of the soul together and allows it to grow.
Please do not think that my understanding means that “I am there” or any better than anyone else on this journey. We are all in this together. It is not me doing these things, but my Father working through me.
Currently I am involved in a research study at a major medical school to prove that the soul exists outside the physical body. The study has been approved by the IRB and should be done in the next few months. It’s finally time. The preliminary study, done in a double blind setting showed excellent results.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.