Believe or not

This whole discussion (unless I missed something, very possible) is a bit meaningless without bringing in willingness to act upon one’s beliefs. In this regard I admire the snake handling Christians. My favorite example of this is those bumper stickers that say Jesus is my Copilot. You really believe that? Let go of the wheel and prove it. Otherwise shut up and take that stupid bumper sticker off.

Typical selfish christian you are. What about the people who were devout christians all their lives, ingested poison, and died? Or were paralyzed and never walked again? Geesh the selfishness of so-called believers is unbelievable. Jesus would be ashamed.
Good point. I'd be interested what Bible verses he thinks supports his experience. My knowledge of healing stories in the Bible almost always include some lesson for the healed. It's always "go and do likewise" or "why are you bothering me with this". In the Book of Mark, Jesus is particularly grumpy with the lepers. I don't know of one where a paralyzed person forgave anyone and then was healed.

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Typical selfish christian you are. What about the people who were devout christians all their lives, ingested poison, and died? Or were paralyzed and never walked again? Geesh the selfishness of so-called believers is unbelievable. Jesus would be ashamed.

You say “devout”? then why did they commit suicide as that is not allowed by the bible since it say to TRUST in the Lord? When it comes to the consequences of their acts, they are KARMIC. Jesus TAUGHT Reincarnation/Karma, the Catholic Cult took it off the Catholic curriculum, and after the Reformation, the others followed. When one prays and their answers do not come, that probably has to do with previous Karma in previous lifetime that they need to reconcile through different means. Either that or they pray for something like “win lottery” knowing that there are people who live on the streets, or who are in Jail for crimes they did not commit, or, or, but they think they should come first because they are EXTRA Special, So instead of praying for the NEEDS of humanity, they go for their stupid irrelevant wants. think I am selfish for simply expressing myself? you need to go back to elementary school as there is Lot that you don’t know about Basic Christianity.
As to the paralyzed and the dead before their time, I do what I can to pray for them and for aaaaaall categories that come to mind that need prayers. I help when I can. Practicing forgiveness does not come from “being selfish”. Try it for one day and find out how SELFISH that feels.
Jesus does not get ashamed as He is God. He will be ashamed if he was you or me, but He is above that. I know Jesus loves me very much because He showed me his heart once. Yep, the Little Tiny Tiny Meee. Jesus the Christ did that for me. He let me see His heart. Mary Margaret Alcoque is the only saint in the Catholic Annals who was documented to have such experience. I was born in abusive muslim home. I grew up therefore with very low self esteem. Which explains my first attempt to self X at age 14 I think (He intervened in my last in 99) . Jesus seems to BELIEVE I am very important being, and By Occam’s razor, so is EVERYONE else just so we be clear on this. To every Christian out there, Jesus’ Opinion should be the only one that really matter.
Though your post was neither needed nor required, it’s digging Jesus out from inside of me, and I really thank you for your attacks. May He come into your life, so you’d see what I mean…In the Name of the Great I AM. Amen.

InBetween said, Though your post was neither needed nor required, it’s digging Jesus out from inside of me, and I really thank you for your attacks. May He come into your life, so you’d see what I mean….In the Name of the Great I AM. Amen.
Actually in the name of Evolution you are. Amen. I do not object to your best practices according to your beliefs. But we should always try to stay with facts, don't you agree?

Jesus taught karma? Guess I missed that in Sunday school.

InBetween said, Though your post was neither needed nor required, it’s digging Jesus out from inside of me, and I really thank you for your attacks. May He come into your life, so you’d see what I mean….In the Name of the Great I AM. Amen.
Actually in the name of Evolution you are. Amen. I do not object to your best practices according to your beliefs. But we should always try to stay with facts, don't you agree?
Good morning my love!!! I am unto you now whoever you are, for that Beautiful post of yours that gave me the goose bumps at the ID thread. I have no problem with Evolution. In my book, it's the main mean or one of the means by which God creates and is still creating. So no conflict of interest there. My guess is that the bible is a caricature of how it was when it first was emitted. A really really good book of textual criticism for the lay man is "Misquoting Jesus" By Bart Ehrman. He started out as an on fire bible student and scholar and by the end of the book, He ended up Atheist as he said something along the lines of "the bible is very human book". I ABSOLUTELY adored that book. He went into a great thorough analysis of how the bible was passed down to us via the flawed copying of copyists. Copyists according to him were not literate as are today scholars. They are just people who knew how to draw letters. And that did not necessarily mean they ALSO knew what they were drawing meant. So when a word, a sentence or even a line was missed, they could not tell as there was no set punctuation back then. From my little humble hut, it was a great outstanding read. A book like that should help one not condemn the bible for what it was made out to be today. the gist of what he said is Most relevant. But I still do not want to discard the bible. Every time I read it, something new pops up at me which hasn't last time as far as perspective. How must one explain that? As far as facts, Jesus is very factual as he was not bser but A Big Time Do-er. He walked his talk as no one ever has. Criminals out there are the ones who made him into a joke & charade that he isn't. The obvious proof that he is lot closer to you guys and girls is they beat, tortured, starved then killed him. That's how conform he was in the back then times. He is quit possibly the First Skeptic. Speaking of which, another book by Kirsten Holger, "Jesus lived in India". According to him, Jesus survived the crucifixion. He said Nasa analyzed the patches of blood found on the shroud of Turin and found there were 2 types of bleedings. The first is the one sustained from the injuries, and the second is the one from him regaining consciousness, which caused the blood to start oozing out of his injuries again. That book alone is another Pearl of the West. A loaded missile so to speak. There is more to Christ than Humanity can ever phathom. The bible relates how Jesus used to hang out with the bad people. The bible also uses euphemisms to hid this and that. My guess is the words they used to describe people he hang out with were to hide words such as "free thinkers and atheists" as they probably anticipated the reader would go "what?!?!?!free thinkers?!?!?! Tell me more!!!" so they replaced them with this and that, that they Knew people usually get repelled by. They did that with other people. One that comes to mind is Simon something who founded the Gnostic movement. They made him out to be this evil person who wanted to buy the gifts of the holy spirits with money. Etc. The bible is not people's enemy, crooked manipulative scumbags who claim to be "holy" are. I am sorry I talk too much.
I am sorry I talk too much.
That's okay. I'm incredibly bored and don't feel like being around real people right now. I am currently reading Misquoting Jesus. I don't see anything that you just said that seems at all related to that book. You keep saying things like they were hiding words like "freethinkers". What led you to believe that? What word did they use? Chapter and verse please. And what "criminals out there" are you talking about? It's really not much of a discussion if you just keep saying you think this or guess that.

In the interest of analyzing how the brain functions and how it makes sense of external and internal stimuli, this little clip continous to be one of my favorites (for those who missed it the first time I posted it);

and if this was of interest the clip following that presentation, may give you a still deeper insight of how the brain tries to make sense of the world.
And after this we may begin to undestand the concept of Tulpas.

Tulpa
Tulpa also translated as “magical emanation”, “conjured thing” and “phantom” is a concept in mysticism of a being or object which is created through sheer spiritual or mental discipline alone. It is defined in Indian Buddhist texts as any unreal, illusory or mind created apparition.
Tulpa - Wikipedia

Your ted dude MANAGED to already be wrong within the first 3 min of his little speech about his own stuff: AI is already starting to independently act on what it knows. For example you give it 2 or more pieces of data about this and that, and upon analyzing them, it manages to deduct independent facts about the subject in question that the people in charge know it has no way of knowing!!! So he is already WRONG!!! The prospect of conscious AI IS NOT pretty remote. It is HERE.
And for him to accuse people of having “hallucinations”, the same as a crack cocaine smoker would have just makes him into the pathetic sad joke he truly is. Thank God The soul’s Energy is inaccessible to such charlatans. I mean look at what the Nazis did to the Jews in the name of “Science”. I didn’t even tell you guys about the death that YOUR science claims is given by mixture of poison I ingested, yet here I am still talking to you and probably healthier than the average member of this forum. And the list goes on. My experiences are beyond your comprehension. Or I should say Jesus experiences, not mine. He could have given them to anybody in the world.

In regard to the death that should have taken me and it has not. The bible just so happens to say much about that in confirmation and agreement, that I learned about after the Fact and not before it. So no one would come with that “I was brainwashed into believing” nonsense. Muslims do not believe in the bible although they stole and perverted its content.
I get it that you don’t believe in evil forces (I didn’t believe b4 Christ either), you don’t believe in Christ, etc. I have no problem with that. As I don’t believe in Crooked science. As Jesus said, His kingdom is not of this world, You people should quit pretending to dissect his body in a lab. He is not a god damn frog!!! Get that through your thick skull. YOu wanna find Jesus, you find him in his Own Arena. It’s called The New Testament. This is the One and only way you find him. If you are not willing to do that, quit making jokes out of yourselves.

YOu wanna find Jesus, you find him in his Own Arena. It's called The New Testament. This is the One and only way you find him. If you are not willing to do that, quit making jokes out of yourselves.
I was a Christian for 17 years. I taught Sunday School. I took lay leader classes. I still study. I'm taking an Intro to Biblical Scholarship right now. The NT says that you believe in Jesus and you will be saved and not much else. On rare occasion it tells you to feed the hungry and other obvious stuff. I realize there are some other parables and nice little pericopes with lessons, but show me anywhere that there is something special that isn't a promise of a miracle that has never happened. If you say anything other than that I need to pray more and study more and I'll find whatever you think you have, then I will be shocked. If you don't believe I read the the Bible, go to www.milepost100.com. I'd be glad to discuss any of my interpretations. Pick your favorite verse.

I am so sorry I missed this.

...The NT says that you believe in Jesus and you will be saved and not much else....
No it does not. Over 260 chapters do not just say : "believe in Jesus and you will be saved". if it did, that would look like something like this: "... believe in Jesus and you will be saved believe in Jesus and you will be saved believe in Jesus and you will be saved believe in Jesus and you will be saved believe in Jesus and you will be saved etc." throughout 260 chapters!!! I think you have a Catholic background, am I wrong? If you really want to know a little something about this Guy, you need to drop that crap cult, dead on!!!the only thing they can teach you is how to rape children, cover your tracks and steal money from the poor while pretending to do the reverse. Their little head-bitch is promoting Muslimism as we speak when he should be working for Christ His Lord. Back in the inquisition days, they would have burnt his ass to the ground. I will be very much interested in going through the NT you and I to just explore what's REALLY in there. There are secret entrances to critical areas I won't bring up at this time, that these crooks don't want their sheep to find out. So no wonder the only crap you will ever catch their thugs preaching about is: 1/-give money, 2/-women should shut the fak up & submit to men, 3/-if you disobey your preacher, you will go to hell. THAT'S IT!!!! And this, as A BODY has nothing to do with Christianity. NOTHING. I've GONE TO enough churches and read the bible enough to KNOW... Here's an obvious bible verse that is not hidden and that is out there for anyone to Ponder and Act on: "I have given you the authority to trample scorpions and cobras, to overcome aaaaaaaall your enemy's power and nothing shall hurt you." ~~Luke 10:19~~ The catholic cult (or the protestant for that matter) DOES NOT WANT their cattle to take charge. To be independent, to have Authority in Christ. They don't. So you will never catch one of their foremen giving a homily/sermon on such verse or comparable passages. NEVER. They want them to be stupid, and dependent on them. So the money and power remain where they are At. Here's a verse I would like you to mediate on should you agree to go over the NT with me: "Forgetting what is behind, Straining toward what's ahead, I press on, toward the goal, to win the price, for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 3:13,14~~ IN Jesus Name. Amen. If you really want to find Christ, you need to leave them behind. Because they are ANYTHING but one and the same. IF you decide to read, really READ the NT, if you read 12 chapters a day, you will finish it in 3 weeks flat. I think you should do that.
If you don't believe I read the the Bible, go to www.milepost100.com. I'd be glad to discuss any of my interpretations. Pick your favorite verse.
I will go there.

I wanna add that the one thing true about being “saved” is for one to cut through the cycle of reincarnation or at least shorten it. This is what it actualy means.

I will be very much interested in going through the NT you and I to just explore what's REALLY in there.
You keep saying that, and I keep saying I'll gladly take you up on it. But you keep "missing it" somehow. So far, you have only put up a few random verses and then claimed there is more to it. This is what I saw for 17 years in the United Methodist church. But, lucky me, I found you! Please begin my education.
I wanna add that the one thing true about being "saved" is for one to cut through the cycle of reincarnation or at least shorten it. This is what it actualy means.
"Being saved" is the common theme of the bible, no matter how you put it. But the question is; Being saved from what? What makes anyone think I need to be saved? Just because I am atheist? Isn't that a little presumptuous? What is a cycle of reincarnation and why is it shortened when I am "saved"? What makes anyone think I want to be reincarnated? I know that I will be reincarnated, but not the way anyone wishes. I have regularly given blood to the blood bank, I am already reincarnated in many people. The physical stuff will take care of itself. It's the mental stuff which gets in my way. To have someone come up to me at a street corner and tell me; "Brother, please read this, if you understand it, it will surely save you". I'll politely nod my head, but in my mind I tell him to go masturbate somewhere else. I don't need saving, I don't feel guilty from the life I have lived.? When I die, I won't give a hoot about what people will say of me. I do while I am alive and that's why I try to be kind to all life on earth. But a song and a prayer will not save me or the earth, let alone anything still lying in the future. It all stems from self interest, we made the whole thing up ourselves.
I wanna add that the one thing true about being "saved" is for one to cut through the cycle of reincarnation or at least shorten it. This is what it actualy means.
"Being saved" is the common theme of the bible, no matter how you put it. But the question is; Being saved from what? Well there's spared eternal torment, so you'd have to believe the threat. There's death itself, so you'd have to believe the promise. But reincarnation. That's blasphemy in any church I know of. InBetween has her own theology.
I wanna add that the one thing true about being "saved" is for one to cut through the cycle of reincarnation or at least shorten it. This is what it actualy means.
"Being saved" is the common theme of the bible, no matter how you put it. But the question is; Being saved from what? Well there's spared eternal torment, so you'd have to believe the threat. When I die, I cease to exist as a sentient being, so how could I possibly experience torment?
There's death itself, so you'd have to believe the promise.
I have the exact oposite view. When one is alive one can experience torment. Death ends all of this.
But reincarnation. That's blasphemy in any church I know of. InBetween has her own theology.
I am not sure exactly how InBtween sees incarnation. But I certainly believe in incarnation, or rather a use of my molecular constituents. Every organism that feed on my remains will have parts of what belonged to me and thus my reincarnation may be literally in "piecemeal" forms. A complete reincarnation, where all my parts are reassembled in another single living organism, IMO is impossible as per natural law. One might say that a supernova of a star has reincarnated into a living being, which of course is nonsense, but we do have bits and pieces, such as carbon, iron, gold, and probably a few other elements but that is on a universal scale. A human being is a unverse in and of itself to micro-organisms and when we die, bits and pieces of our bodies may be necessary for the evolution of life at micro scale, but it tends to get at a smaller scale, every time something disintegrates into smaller parts. As to our experiences and wisdom, they disappear along with the organism. The closest we can come to reincarnation is by procreation, but that usually requires a secondary partner and at best you can hope for a 50/50 split in your DNA. Never 100% reconstitution, except for a few species which only use their own DNA, such as the Silvery salamander, which are all female and literally (DNA) clones of the mother. Oh, and I believe there one organism which theoretically is immortal, the Moon jellyfish, which as the ability to age backwards! https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160302-jellyfish-immortal-science-animals-oceans-deadpool/
I will be very much interested in going through the NT you and I to just explore what's REALLY in there.
You keep saying that, and I keep saying I'll gladly take you up on it. But you keep "missing it" somehow. So far, you have only put up a few random verses and then claimed there is more to it. This is what I saw for 17 years in the United Methodist church. But, lucky me, I found you! Please begin my education. NO I never kept on saying anything. When I say something once, you claim it's repetitive. Unless you can't count til 10. Either that or you see double or multiple. This is where you problem is: You look to fault Christ while you claim you are looking for him. Let me burst your bubble: YOu are NOT looking to find Christ, you are looking to FIND fault with him. THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Those are diametrically opposed stands. Looking to DISCREDIT someone has nothing to do with looking to find Who they are or what they're about. And in doing so, you are dong the work of the devil. Good Morning! So don't ever expect to find Christ. Anybody who has a basic elementary knowledge of the English language KNOWS what's in the bible. And it is not "believe in Jesus and you will be saved." repeated over and over and over and over and over throughout the 260 chapters. Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." For the honest student, the bible answers its own questions. One does not need to go else where.
"Being saved" is the common theme of the bible, no matter how you put it. But the question is; Being saved from what?
From being spiritually marooned, from perdition. And perdition is relative as it manifests under multiple forms.
What makes anyone think I need to be saved? Just because I am atheist? Isn't that a little presumptuous?
I agree with you. You, as an Atheist do not need 'saving'. Here's what Romans 2:13-15 says:::: --((( For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them. )))-- I could be wrong but anybody in the bible who is neither Jew nor Christian is usually referred to as 'gentile'. Please correct me if I am wrong. That includes Atheists. Fundamentalists would like you and me to think they have the high moral grounds, but to Jesus, if you are A doer as He is, you are fine. And There are numerous verses that confirm and back this up in the NT.
What is a cycle of reincarnation and why is it shortened when I am "saved"? What makes anyone think I want to be reincarnated? I know that I will be reincarnated, but not the way anyone wishes. I have regularly given blood to the blood bank, I am already reincarnated in many people.
Buddhists refer to it as the law. So long that we have cravings of any sort, attachments or any carnal baggage we will continue to be reincarnated whether we like it or not. There is also Karma which will cause one to come back and deal with it in another lifetime if they don't address it in the here and Now, each and every time. Giving blood to those who might need it is an act of selflessness, which is good but it is not an act of reincarnation. Only the soul reincarnates. The blood as Leviticus 17:11 says, atones for one's life, but not to the point of canceling the cycle all together.
The physical stuff will take care of itself. It's the mental stuff which gets in my way. To have someone come up to me at a street corner and tell me; "Brother, please read this, if you understand it, it will surely save you". I'll politely nod my head, but in my mind I tell him to go masturbate somewhere else.
Me too I hate those scumbags, Oh man if you knew. one time a guy approached, I didn't even let him talk (they're prolific where I live), I just told him Up front "I have my bible that I read on regular basis, so I don't need your crap." as I pulled it out. And he STILL tried to force me to take his garbage by saying "Yeah, but let me give you some thing TO READ."!!!! I kid you NOT. Then I pulled out my phone and told him "did you hear what I just said? get the f outta here, you're harassing me. I will dial the cops if you don't.". That's when he disappeared. Much like you, I don't go to church and I don't mix with them. Churches are breading grounds for gossip, phoniness, envy, evil. etc. I study my bible and I talk to Jesus. And I do my deeds as far as practicing my Christianity as best as I can.
I will be very much interested in going through the NT you and I to just explore what's REALLY in there.
You keep saying that, and I keep saying I'll gladly take you up on it. But you keep "missing it" somehow. So far, you have only put up a few random verses and then claimed there is more to it. This is what I saw for 17 years in the United Methodist church. But, lucky me, I found you! Please begin my education. NO I never kept on saying anything. When I say something once, you claim it's repetitive. Unless you can't count til 10. Either that or you see double or multiple. This is where you problem is: You look to fault Christ while you claim you are looking for him. Let me burst your bubble: YOu are NOT looking to find Christ, you are looking to FIND fault with him. THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Those are diametrically opposed stands. Looking to DISCREDIT someone has nothing to do with looking to find Who they are or what they're about. And in doing so, you are dong the work of the devil. Good Morning! So don't ever expect to find Christ. Anybody who has a basic elementary knowledge of the English language KNOWS what's in the bible. And it is not "believe in Jesus and you will be saved." repeated over and over and over and over and over throughout the 260 chapters. Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." For the honest student, the bible answers its own questions. One does not need to go else where. So, I take you are not "very much interested in going through the NT" then? Figured as much. I hope you post something interesting someday. Meanwhile, here's a question for you live with. If you only need a basic elementary knowledge of the English language to KNOW what's in the Bible, why are people who have seminary degrees, and spending every week studying the scripture so they can speak on it having so much trouble? Not only do they seem to believe the people in the pews need to hear another lesson every Sunday, they can't get together and agree with each other about what the scripture means. If they could, the trend would be toward greater spiritual unity and greater understanding across borders and fewer denominations. Instead, we see the exact opposite. Why is that?