The post of mine you quoted was a little off topic for this thread so not sure if i should expand here. The theme of this thread, interpreted rightly, is that salvation is not for those who think they know what it is, but those who admit their idea of reality might be a little too off kilter to get hold of salvation without some help, as in, help from above, so to speak. Sinners are those who think the world they live in is normal, real, or in some way meaningful or legitimate. They have no idea how deluded they are. A sinners condition is made worse whenever s/he presumes to know anything, especially anything about salvation. The delusion especially blocks comprehension about anything relevant to salvation. When caught in a delusion, salvation is simply seeing reality as it is, so that it can be experienced as it is. The delusional (sinners) simply do not see or experience reality, and make the ongoing repeated mistake of thinking they do. So, whenever descriptions of reality come from above, they will indeed seem outrageous, hard to comprehend, and possibly beyond the understanding of even very intelligent processors of language. Doubting one's apparent knowing of reality is a step forward, for any sinner (deluded mind in regards reality). I was simply trying to accelerate the beneficial doubting admission by pointing out the deceptiveness of time. This is an area of study that anyone, any sinner could look into, and realize he might not know much about his own environment, which he takes for granted as "real". Without some influence from beyond man's environs (from above so to speak), not one two-legged walker (all mankind) has any clue whats up from down. This is because man derives his apparent existence from a mind that departs from reality in all its notions. Man inherits all those notions, and walks them forward, never stopping to realize he has no clue where he has come from or where he is going. Your response might be a step forward if you got suspicious about your origin as well your destiny enough to admit that there are delusions so severe, so completely decieving, that it can make any discussion of reality sound like jibberish at first. If you keep at it, you may experience a break through of sorts. Consistency is the closest thing to the truth man has. Seek, and demand consistent statements and arguments that harmonize with each other. They cannot be expected to harmonize with unreality.
In the interest of staying consistent, i should point out that probably the most challenging issue to master is sorting out the prime pronoun "I". There is, what i call the True Self, capitalized, having it's own pronoun "I", capitalized...whenever i discuss issues of salvation. i use a small "i" when coming from the human perspective, speaking as a man, and/or as an ego. An ego is a psychic identity which takes form as mankind, and splits up to take form as every individual man or woman or child. Not one of the ego's identities is true or real. So i keep track of that by using the small "i". Damnation is the confusion or conflation of who we are. This is initially effected by denying the True Self it's identity, it's qualities and conditions. That denial produces an ego, an alternative identity, which is not true. A mental concept, it takes shape and manifests as mankind, splitting itself up into mental compartments. It would seem these compartments cannot communicate without a mouth forming words which are consumed by ears. But there is still communication on a deep, hidden level of the ego's domain, which is sometimes called the "universe", falsely so-called, because the True Self is the Universe (All That Exists). Salvation is about sorting out the confusion and the conflation about identity. Jesus was good at this, for example, in stating things like, "I am that I am", or, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". These are references to the True Self, not the man going by the name "Jesus". At other times, Jesus spoke as a man, saying things like, "Why do you say that i am good? There is none that is good but God". Sure enough, no man is good, not even Jesus. But the True Self is indeed Good, it being the Supreme Being comprising All That Is. Jesus got the reputation of being sinless as in, "without sin". This is because of his strong identification with his True Self. But as a man, he was as much a sinner as anyone appearing on the face of the earth. It is impossible to appear on the face of the earth without some serious delusions about Reality, which is the True Self. Therefore, he "descended" in the same way we all descend...from "heaven" (the True Self). Conversely, we must all ascend the same way he ascended, by re-identifying one's self with the True Self. This is salvation. In this regard, he clearly showed the "way". Only the True Self is "without sin", sin being seriously insane notions about the True Self (Reality, Truth). Jesus rose above the insanity of his own delusions about his True Self by holding tight to his True Self as his identity. As that identity is taken more and more seriously, our use of personal pronouns starts to sound strange to those who still identity as human beings. To some old Jews, it might even sound blasphemous. For Jesus' own salvation, there had to have come a time when he had to doubt all his prior notions about reality, and about self. In doing this, he would have admitted he was a "sinner". He became "without sin" by subsequent realization that sinners don't exist. That is, sin, and the sinners (egos0 who believe in sin, is not true. If it is not true, it also does not exist. What does exist is the True Self, which either knows it's Self, or, entertains erroneous beliefs about its Self. Only as it entertains erroneous beliefs about itself do those beliefs take on a "life" of their own, so to speak. Lies grow legs, so to speak. The beliefs manifest as mankind, and man's conditions. None of the conditions are actually "true". Sin, therefore, stands on a foundation of sand. Not even it's foundation is true. Being entirely untrue, sin does not exist. This is how the "truth washes away the sins of the world".
Currently, modern Christianity still conflates the True Self with the ego and it's offspring. They say things like Jesus was fully God and fully man. Well yah, but only if you mean God as the prime ego, which splits up and "descends" as billions of compartmented egos. As such, Jesus would have been fully prime ego, and fully sub-ego. As are all men. That is, any man can identify with the prime ego, and take responsibility for it's notions and manifestations. As much as you can take responsibility, Jesus did, including taking responsibility for the making of man's "world". In this way, he took the sins of the world (the world is a sin) upon his own shoulders. In this way, he also showed the way for all mankind to rise above (overcome the world): by taking responsibility for it's manifestation in the first place. This is done by identifying with the prime ego, that is, the very first ego that departs from Reality, and denies the True Self it's qualities and conditions (such as changelessness). However, to be saved, one must renounce the prime ego as one's own identity. It too is false, as is all it's manifested offspring of alternate, alt-sub-egos. In renouncing the prime ego, Jesus would have renounced the "God of this world" as his "self", so as not to conflate his identity with his True Self. No sooner you identify with the "God of this world", you want to renounce it, as well any other identities it has given you (man, woman, Jew, Greek, slave, free, etc). Identifying oneself as the "God of this world" is not anything to brag about. It's actually a confession of sin. It is the prime confession of sin we must all confess, if we will somehow be forgiven, or otherwise absolved of the sin. So far, not one modern Christian has confessed his sin, taking responsibility for the manifestation of the world that man seems to live in. But this is what Jesus did, and in doing so, showed the way for others to follow. Absolving oneself of the sin of making this world takes mental strength. It might even require some strength from on high, so to speak. The highest strength, the highest mental strength in existence is the power of the mind of Christ, the True Self. Only it has the power to renounce the existence of the prime ego, which has power over it's sub egos. One must reach beyond the power of the prime ego, to the only other power with the strength to renounce it. This is done by strongly identifying ones self with the True Self, which i sometimes call "Christ". It takes mental strength to realize that nothing about the prime ego is true, and therefore, does not exist. If it doesn't exist, then I, the True Self, am "without sin". This is the awakening to the Truth, the proverbial "resurrection". It is impossible to be fully Good, and fully man. This conflation of opposite qualities is a concoction of the prime ego, which tries to blend existential exclusives into a world all it's own. It's world is symbolized by the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". It's impossible to know both good and evil, as knowledge can only ever pertain to that which actually exists. One cannot "know" what can only be imagined: "evil" (the opposite of good). Thus, in stating that good and evil can both be known, the prime ego insists that both exist. The prime ego's sub egos still believe that both can exist, and continue to conflate these exclusive opposites. In this way, mankind continues to eat from such a tree, and continues to die of it's poisoned fruit. Getting back to the theme of this thread, the True Self can only "save" those who admit they made "the world" (the prime ego's world), and all it's terrible conditions. The True Self can only save those who admit they have long since departed from the Reality of the True Self, to wander about in an unreal (untrue) imaginary experience of another "self", or other "selves" which it has falsely called "the universe". Thus, the True Self can only save "sinners". Those who will not admit they made "the world" (of trees, bees and seas) are the "righteous" who cannot be forgiven.
By identifying with the prime ego, one admits he is the proverbial "prodigal son". For some sinners, this is a thrilling identification, going about boasting they are the eternal maker of the stars and seas and trees and bees. They end up looking foolish like civilians who put on uniforms and pretend to be decorated soldiers, like RainMaker3000 (google stolen valor). The prime ego is not eternal, but it makes them feel special for a while, until they realize any man, woman or child can lay claim to the same fame. As these sinners mature, they realize it is not fame to claim, but infamy to admit. it is the ultimate admission of sin. Admittedly, the prime ego will outlast it's manifestations, but it is not itself immune to "death". It dies when you reach beyond it, to the True Self (Christ), and by laying hold of Christ's Identity, renounce the existence of the prime ego. This will feel like "death" to those who still identify with the prime ego, or any of it's subsidiary alternatives. This is the only "death" that Jesus recommended, having set the example (showed the way) himself. Any of us can "kill" the prime ego deep in our ancestry by accessing the power and strength of Christ as the True Self. If you say that Christ is anything other than the True Self, you lose the potential of the strength residing in the name. Christ is the only power stronger than the prime ego, which is why there is only salvation in Christ. The more we identify with Christ, the more power we will have to renounce ("judge", "kill", "condemn") the prime ego. We don't have to wait for this strength. We can accept it, today. If we had strength today, then today, we would be "in paradise", so to speak. We would be experiencing the qualities and conditions of Christ, as they are, now.
Sin comes up often . The original Hebrew translation is "to miss the mark". "Hebrew Word Definition: Sin | AHRC https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/definition/sin.htm WebThe Hebrew word for "sin" is חטאה ( hhatah, Strong's #2403) and literally means "miss the mark." From my understanding of the Bible, there are two types of sin, accidental and deliberate. I explain it this way. The Hebrew …"