The prodigal Son is the story of a split mind, and the wandering about in the "far off" side of it. Such is man's experience. It is the Son's mind, and there is only one Son. So man must be the form the Son takes for the purpose of wanderlust. Upon leaving the "Kingdom" the Son is gifted with the creation of the Holy Spirit to go with him, "installed" in his mind. The Son proceeds to "make" this entire universe without the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Only when he recognizes its futility does he begin to "listen" to the Guide given him since the beginning of his journey, instructing him where to place his faith. As he is more and more willing to do so, his faith grows accordingly as he is given "grace" by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides the Son to place his faith in a world the Holy Spirit made in response to the one the prodigal Son made. This is the "world" spoken of in John 3:16, given to the Son by the Holy Spirit, Who was given to the Son by his Father. This alternative world is the loving antithesis to every decision the Son made in the making of his own hellacious world. While this world is based on thoughts of fear, the Holy Spirits world is based on thoughts of love. This other, loving world is seen by faith. It is all around, now, seen by those who want it above all else. This is the proverbial "Kingdom". It is a world that bridges the worlds of perception with the one world of knowledge which is the true Kingdom. Thus, there are two worlds within perception, and one within knowledge. Of the two worlds of perception, only one is loved and lovable, for it reflects accurately the true Kingdom by right/"righteous" perception of the truth. The other world - this world - is not understandable, and so cannot be appreciated. To appreciate the unreal would be to value an illusion. To value what is not there is to continue to "judge", and thereby make real what is not. As "real" this world will remain in each one's experience. That is the reason for "judge not". The Holy Spirit represents the Son's inheritance, keeping it safe while the Son squander's his power on illusions. The Holy Spirit represents the Son, so his world is the Son's world, given to him, and seen by faith. Blessed are they who have not seen it but believe in a world where nothing ever dies and all is loving and lovely. Although this too is a world of perception of symbols, it's reflection of reality leads the Son away from perception entirely, placing him close enough to "home" that when he is ready and willing, the Father can come forth and carry him over, back to the realm of knowledge, judging him innocent as always. In this way, perfect love casts out fear, and hell is exchanged for heaven. Jesus
The whole notion that there is such a thing as "biblical morality" is rather naive. Christianity is a monotheistic religion: one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. Those who emphasize the morality of Jesus in the New Testament are guilty of cherry picking, ignoring the very different morality of the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament is a vindicative, jealous being who has no problem with genocide. Should Christians pattern their lives after THAT being? If so, I see a long prison term in their future.
Hopefully you can overlook the fact that the list of apostles in one gospel differs from a list of apostles in another. All sources agree on a crucifixion/resurrection sequence. They differ only on what that sequence means and teaches. The fact that it is interpreted as a sacrifice for sins via vicarious punishment shows that most NT writers were not always inspired by the Holy Spirit. But that they told a story as they thought it should be told, each told it sincerely, though his perceptions may have been distorted. The discrepancies indicate distorted perception. The consistent facts represent the basis of meaningful inquiry. An inquiring mind who asks for the truth about what things mean will be answered truthfully by the Holy Spirit. Guilt subverts meaningful interpretation, and drowns out the Voice of the Holy Spirit. Guilt is not assuaged by rabbinically influenced interpretations of the crucifixion. For this reason, what is called "christianity" fails to properly represent the truth: The Son of God is innocent and cannot be destroyed. This is everyone's truth. What is built upon guilt cannot dispel it. The true gospel dispels guilt by telling the truth about the Son. The gospel defines the Son by inclusiveness, not exclusiveness. No one is special, not even me. To make me special subverts the only gospel that can dispel guilt, and bring back the awareness of universal innocence. Without universal innocence, there is no resurrection for the Son. I pronouned everyone innocent, and rose from the "dead" to prove the power of a holy mind versus the powerlessness of a body which is inherently un-holy. To "follow me" is to follow this example. If you know yourself as a body, you've already been self-crucified. I merely ask that you follow my example to your Self-resurrection. This is a return to the awake naturalness of a fully aware mind serving it's spirit in truth. Jesus
The kind of supercilious pompous self importance that oozes from your posts is only surpassed by your hypocrisy. How typical a display of the true believer
Father is Spirit-Mind Son is Spirit-Mind Holy Spirit is Spirit-Mind. These are all equal and same except for Cause-Effect, Creator-Creation order of things. The Son is a Creator with equal powers, and has Creations of his own. So he too is a "Father". The Holy Spirit was created to "save" the Son from the way he was about to use his God-given mind. Regardless, the Son made "this world" in his own mind. Finding it a futile endeavor, he turns to the Holy Spirit to save him from the symbols that confuse him. The Holy Spirit deals with symbols, converting them to it's own purpose of returning the Son's mind to the Kingdom. This world is not a "creation" properly speaking. It is a "making"...as in made up. It is not permanent, not true, and not real. It is a wicked twist on the law of love. It gives what each one asks for. But in a state of confusion, each one asks for what brings him suffering and pain, confusing it with love and joy. This world is a temporary abandonment of sanity and love to answer silly questions such as, "What am I?", or, "What if everything was different?" Those who value this world do not value a correct interpretation of the Trinity, and invariably get it wrong and make it confusing. For purposes of salvation, the only thing that matters is the Trinity, and that is all that exists. As I once said, "I am one with the Father, and you are one with me. We are one with the Father". We are the "Son". There is only one Son of our Father, because our Father creates only equals, and He is one. Our will and our Father's will is one. This world represents another, alternative, "alien" will, opposed to our own will, and therefore opposed to God. As such, it is a delusional fantasy. And what is hell? Salvation is for a split mind. So the oneness of heaven is described in parts that can be understood by those who believe themeselves separate and cannot comprehend oneness. This bridges a communication gap and "saves" the Son's "lost" mind. Jesus
Stu, these discussions, while entertaining at least for a while, wear on one. And eventually they deteriorate into the kind of exasperation evident in your above reply to Yannis. On one side we have those whose belief in the supernatural can not be shaken with any argument, other than perhaps another supernatural one, and on the other side are those who do not believe in the supernatural and accept that there is a logical explanation, consistent with the bedrock physical laws, for everything, though they may not know what it is. The probability that these two sides can reconcile as society now exists approaches zero. There is a path to future reconciliation however, say several generations down the road. It is no use trying to persuade the champions of the supernatural by direct argument. But they can be "re-programed" in a way that causes them without any conscious effort on their part to first question, and then discard, their belief in the supernatural. This only requires that they be constantly bombarded with the "impolite" truth at every opportunity. No religion requiring dogmatic belief in the supernatural can stand against truth, and that is why all dogmatic religions at first forbade the telling of truth by cutting out tongues, burning at stakes, stoning and such. These practices slowly, over centuries, transformed the religious into our present-day subservient societies where it is considered impolite to make any statement critical of another's religious belief. This has ultimately progressed to the point where it is even considered impolite to speak the truth about anything that might even indirectly call into question another's religious beliefs, or make them in anyway uncomfortable. What is needed then are a few centuries of impoliteness. Judging from this thread, a bang-up start to that end has been achieved by participating ETers, and Congratulations is therefore in order.
And how are you going to prove something that happened a thousand years ago ? So if some person shows up and says, I am God, this is where the arc is buried, and he is right, you will just assume he is God ? What if he is just a lunatic archaelogist who just happened to be lucky on his find ?