Yes, like threading a needle, the road is truly "narrow", and the way to "destruction" is broad. Yes, you could barely fill a Starbucks with the number of those who truly "get it". Yes, most of the "seed" falls on rocky soil that does not bear fruit. Yes, most bandy about words in vain that they do not understand. Yes, my name is used to build idols of illusion. Yes, most are "insane"....and their ideas about me and my Father are insane. And yes, these are not "fit for trial". Actually, no one is fit for trial...especially those "insane" who are using my name in vain. "Many are called, but few are chosen" . What does this really mean? All it means is that there are few that actually choose to answer the call to make a choice...the only choice that matters. Self deception is the hallmark of insanity, and many will say they have made the choice...only to deceive themselves, trading one illusion for another. Ultimately, the choice is made "alone". Though a thousand misunderstand...you must be the one who understands. Now, just because only a very few enter the "King domain" of their own sane mind...this does not mean that anyone else is forever excluded. For there is plenty of time for everyone to make the choice to be "chosen"...rather than flip flopping all the time. Time will not end till all are "chosen". But along the way, it is only a few here, a few there. When you take responsibility for your own life, the Benny Hills and the Pat Robot-sons and Jerry Fall-wells don't matter anymore. A sane mind easily selects what is sane and what is insane the instant a thought comes to mind. Therefore, nothing anyone can say or do can disturb the peace of one who is truly sane. There is no threat. Love allows all things. It is not "sane" to ask God to smite this one or that one. All are treated as if they already exist within the King-domain of their own mind...within the "Kingdom of God". This means that all things are allowed, all thought systems, all events...as insane as they may be. These in no way threaten the sane...rather, these are opportunities to wake up....for it is obvious the world is insane. To those whom much has been given, much is required. It turns out that all have been given all...everything! So much is required of all. All are required to make a choice, all are required to experience the fruits of their own thought patterns, all are required to accept full responsibility for their own decisions. You are very close to the "King-domain" of God. Why let Pat Robertson stop you from making the choice to enter completely? You are given complete domain of a very powerful, very sane mind. It is yours for the choosing at any moment. If you choose it not, there is always another moment to choose it. Some are choosing private jets to test the power of this "mind". This is allowed, and is all well and good. Yet there is yet a stage of maturity when you realize that whether you have manifested a jet or not, you are a creator of every moment of your experiences without exception. And whether you are in poverty or in excess, you have created powerfully and "good". You must learn to look at all your creations and call them "good". Jesus
I heard some smuck on tbn once say" sow your seed, send in that $1000. Stop that cancer from growing in your body". Low life scum.
Eh... this from the holy messiah, the Christ himself, reincarnated on a trader's message board? As the esteemed philosopher B-Real of Cypress Hill once said: Insane in the membrane. Insane in the brain. There are some traces of truth in your words, O Bizarrely Self Deluded One. Consciously or not, some of your ramblings are borrowed from Zen. I'm skeptical, though, as to whether you know or care about the snippets of truth you accidentally communicate... because anything worthwhile you share is immediately buried in an avalanche of smarmy bullshit. Your result, if not your intent, is recreating the cheap incense and 3D placard environment found in the back of a holy man's taxicab. If you have something worthwhile to share, why not just share it... instead of jerking people around with your delusions of being Napoleon / Lennon / Satan / Christ.
DD: >LOL. The bible is fairly clear enough as to >what it takes to get in. If that were true, there wouldn't be (dozens, scores, hundreds) of different groups DISAGREEING on what it takes. Each of these group members (including you apparently) feel that since it's clear to THEM, that means it's clear. Hint: -- by definition, if it's "clear enough", agreement will be easy to get. JB
Remember, though, that proof is in the eye of the beholder. In my view, the most powerful proof against Christianity is simply that it doesn't work. It doesn't perform as advertised. They may be few and far between, but Christianity still offers up a handful of testable claims. "And they'll know we are Xians by our love"... "the fruits of the spirit"... "spiritual wisdom"... that sort of thing. Christianity does not just claim that God exists; Christianity claims that God has a positive and consistent impact on the lives of believers. Via the Holy Spirit, believers are supposedly endowed with a maturity, an understanding, and a peace not of this world. The evidence of such is Nil. Zip. Zero. You can claim that these folks are out there, but Waxie Kachingo can also claim plenty of big winners with his infomercial trading system. He can even give you video testimonials. The population of wise, caring, well-adjusted, peaceful individuals in this world is no different within the church than it is outside it. If anything, the numbers are greater outside it, because one has a greater chance at happiness when there is no huge load of baggage to drag along. And as I have said before, protestant Christianity loses all the important contests. When it comes to tradition, the Catholics win. When it comes to moral rectitude and righteous living, the Mormons win. When it comes to inner peace and tranquility, the Buddhists win. When it comes to downright fervor, the Muslims win. The only thing protestant Christianity kicks ass at is capitalism. The face of the modern church is this guy. Doesn't that make you gag? If you're like I used to be, you've been suppressing that gag reflex for far too long.
I'm far from a wise sage. But thanks for the compliment. According to Christianity as outline in the bible... Foundationally speaking, a belief that Jesus's death on the cross atones for any and all of your sins and that without that belief, you cannot enter into eternal life. No point in going any deeper as this is the starting point. Fail this point and the rest becomes irrelevant.
All true. And I have to say, most Christians, let me be blunt, cannot hold a candle to a devote Buddhist in the department of inner peace and tranquility. Nor consistency in regard to adherring to their principles. But since I was addressing an atheist POV, I was defaulting to empirical proof. So, if there's no proof of the Christian God, by default, all the transference Christians claim, like the outcropping of the Holy Ghost are equally as specious. My thinking is, no proof of the diety, no proof of anything related to the diety either.