You have to understand that people got me wrong right from the beginning. Those travelling with me quarreled, bickered, wondered, debated trivia, split into sects, bowed to political correctness, and generally misunderstood me. Christianity grew out of a filtered version of my message. I don't have anything more to do with it than God has anything to do with this world. I was a catalyst, yes. But people eventually will have to stop blaming me for what the world did with my message. It crucified me. Why should it treat my message better than that? I am not the book police or any kind of thought cop. However, I will accept John 14:6 as an accurate quote which only has meaning if you interpret it truthfully. Here the long and short of it... I found that there is a way of looking at the world that reveals a world beyond. And beyond that there is an even greater reality from which we come and to which we return to be one and equal to God our Father. Now, unless people look at the world exactly like I looked at it, they will not see beyond. I learned to look at it with the eyes of truth. Without the truth, you cannot see. The truth is the same for everyone. So if you want to see, you must see from the same point of view. Now, there are couple of ways you can find the truth. You can find it the way I found it, by looking within, or you can listen to what I have to say about it. If you choose the latter, it will save you time. But you will still have to find it within. It is not so much through "me" as it is through the truth that you must pass if you intend on returning to the Father. It just so happens that I am the truth...but then, so are you. I am merely the first to accept the truth of who I am, which puts me in a unique sequence. If you ever reach the Father, you can be sure that it is because of my accomplishment and the influence it has upon the mind that makes this world...of which you are a part. It may not have the name "Jesus" attached to it, but the influence is there, nameless... faceless. But that's just part of the truth. The gospel writers were interested in making me special. But the truth is, no one will come to the Father but by you too. This means that until you fulfill the special function that only you can fulfill...no one will reach the Father. The truth is, every individualized aspect of the mind that makes this world has a special role in the unmaking of it...without which none of the rest will escape it. Each forms a link in an unbroken chain of atonement. There is no weakest link. They are all of equal strength, equally important. That means I am as dependent on you are you are on me. And the only one who knows exactly what our special function is, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the uncorrupted aspect of the Son of God with the specific mission of saving the mistaken aspects of the Son from the error of their ways by bringing the broken pieces back together. It's like a puzzle, and there is only One who has knowledge of the masterplan, exactly how to reassemble it. I, Jesus, did not have the masterplan. I merely followed the specific instructions that were meant for me. Had I not done that, I would not have reached the world beyond this, beyond which is the Father. Now, the reassembly of the Son requires that you lay down the concept of individuality, and identify with the Holy Spirit who is really you, who is really the Son of God. When I did that I began to speak as the Holy Spirit in the first person. An example of that is when I said, "I am the way, the truth and the life". What people witnessed during my mission was a demonstration of an exchange of identity. I went from "Jesus" the "son of man" to Teacher, the Son of God. Signs and wonders confirmed it. This set a precedent, a kind of model that all will follow who want to leave this world and go to the Father. Mind you, your process and my process will not be exactly the same. For one thing, crucifixion was part of my process. It is not part of anyone else's process. Suffering is not part of the process. The fact is, I did not suffer during that sequence. What is the same for everyone is the identity exchange, and the resurrection, which occurs in the mind. It is not about bodies coming up from the ground. Exactly how you exchange your identity is up to how well you listen to the Holy Spirit. How fast you exchange it is up to how willing you are to accept the truth. The truth about you is the same truth about me. True religion is about sorting out what is true from what is false within your mind. There is only a responsibility to clear one's own mind. How that affects others is up to the Holy Spirit. There is no obligation to change how anyone else sees things. The only reason to spread the good news is to retain the good news in one's own mind. That is why I sent the apostles out teaching. It was not so much for others as it was for the apostles so that they could learn that giving is receiving...an important lesson on the path to the Father. If the apostles gave rocks, then they got rocks in their head in return. But if they gave "bread", then they got bread in return. If they offered truth they would be released. But if they offered untruth, they would be bound. The key is to offer truth, so that truth lodges firmly in your own mind. As truth clears your mind of the false, you are gradually set free of the world, free to see the world beyond. Sorry to say, the apostles never saw much of the world I spoke of...not in that generation. And for the most part, they remain bound to this world, even to this day. But they are making good progress. Progress is made by letting the false go in peace. Is that intolerant? There is a big difference between letting something go, and attacking it. If you attack something, you will never be able to let it go because attack implies you believe it. The false does not exist. If you attack it, you reinforce the idea that it exists. It's imperative that you disbelieve this world. You want to get to a place where you just can't believe anything about the body at all. Is that intolerant? So this is a different kind of intolerance. Those who are waking up to the truth become increasingly intolerant of anything that causes sleep because it's painful. It's painful to be confused. There comes a time to let illusions go. The truth asks you to throw away everything you thought you knew about the world. Is that intolerant? Toss everything away you thought you knew, and your mind becomes like a net that can be filled with an abundance of fresh fish. The apostles were not willing to toss away everything they thought they knew. So they looked at what I said with old filters which distorted their perceptions. There is no truth in this world whatsoever. And if you are in this world, nothing you think is true, because the world is a reflection of your thought. To begin to sort through your thoughts, you must dump everything...dump it like a bad stock, sell everything and get rid of it. None of it is true. Only then are you really ready for the truth. Jesus
If religion wasn't boring and irrelevant before.. I am has hammered the last nail in the coffin... err cross with that delusional, demented diatribe
I would have thought that within the context of western civ, it would be clear that the protestant reformation represented a break from Roman Empires, Roman Catholic church. Why we brought Constantine into this I do not know. If anyone wants to get information on whether we where a Christian Nation or a nation of Christians. We have had that debate here in chit chat. The U.S. Supreme court court declared that we were a Christian Nation.
Protestant, Catholic, tomato tomatoe.. still a deluded fantasy to believe a 3000 year old pagan myth is history
Protestants were intolerant and did not believe in the separation of church and state. The union of politics and Christianity started with Constantine, who ironically used the power of the state to proclaim Christianity a legal religion. Future Roman leaders had an impact in which theological beliefs were to be considered "Christianity". The debate HAS been settled by historians and by those who study political thought: we are a nation of Christians, but certainly not a Christian nation. As for the Supreme Court argument, Judge Brewer was a justice, not a historian, and he was wrong, not because I say so, but because of what the evidence affirms.
We were a Christian Nation. At the time of the constitution convention the majority of states has strong ties to Christianity. The establishment clause was created to protect the states from the federal gov't choosing one denomination. you don't have to believe me.. here is a link to my professor's book which contained his peer reviewed paper on the establishment clause http://books.google.com/books?id=XA...im_BN&sig=LyRs9QQCNAHXiCuMU5XVFhWN9Wo#PPP1,M1 When the Supreme Court declared we are a Christian Nation - it was not the utterance of one individual. It was the proclamation by the Court telling you what the law of our land was. I am not sure what else you might need to figure out this question. State and federal govts giving money and supporting religious institutions and schools. State Constitutions declaring Christianity. 3. The Supreme Court holding we are a Christian Nation. It was because the founders of the U.S. and its Christian citizens preserved and respected peoples God given right to be individuals that human rights flourished around the world.