Personally, I think the affairs on earth are mostly "run like a clock" which sounds deistic I know. In other words, God set up the earth and let it run. I don't see any reason to think that He directly governs every minutae from heaven. In other words, I think that cloud formations are random and our brains tend toward identification and organization, etc. But I think that pure deism (or materialism) is an extreme. Just because the majority of things in life can be explained by natural processes, I don't think we can conclude that all do. I know we have come to different conclusions but sometimes spiritual beings do interfere/intervene in the affairs of men.
Now why do you accept this as a "proven" thing? Do you know what I'm asking? Did you read about it? Is it your conclusion based on something?
I'll get back with a more complete answer. But until then, this one sums it up fairly well: You must be born again before you can see the kingdom of heaven. And one must approach as a little child, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And don't forget, the kingdom of god is within you. The common denominator is innocence. Knowing you are innocent, and percieving things innocently without agenda is prerequisite to entering this magnetic vortex within called "heaven"...or even percieving that it is there. JohnnyK
the hidden meaning in these verses and the concept of a "childlike" faith is that a questioning mind is the enemy of faith.
Also, we must be careful about beating around the bush, otherwise there may be prostitutes entering heaven before we do! JohnnyK
I'm against "faith" just as much as the next guy. But I also understand "faith" has been used and abused to gain power, just like every other concept sold by those who want to own a peice of reality to sell for a profit. Faith can be a starting point or a stopping point. Religions teach it as a stopping point. A better perspective on faith is to see it as one leg of a two legged biped. The other leg is consciousness...actual knowing. Faith takes the first step. The intended fruit of this action is to KNOW. These two are needed to GROW....er go anywhere. That's my idea of faith. Maybe it would take a little faith to knock on a door expecting to get in. But if one is percieving the door innocently, without agenda, I don't think there would be much faith needed...maybe just small like a mustard seed. JohnnyK
I don't own a bible anymore. All my references come from memory or alternate sources. I have dowsed this out like most of my other stuff. I read things, people say things, I feel things. It get's the JohnnyK stamp of approval, and that's not easy. Then, I present my findings in the most entertaining way I can. This one is a recent finding, so I can't say that I've proven it by entering the secret portal. Haven't consciously attempted with that much intent yet. But just finding it out is an accomplishment in itself. If my findings are correct, this is the core issue...and all that matters. Everything else is beating around the bush. What I am now just becoming aware of is how this has been completely missed, even though it is right there for you to see from your own approved reading material. And if you, a christian can miss this, how many more? From your comments, it's clear that you have missed it . You have experienced a re-alignment toward Source that gave you some interesting feelings and a new attitude. The grass is greener, the sky is bluer, and you get the feeling your Home is elsewhere. And it's what binds you to fellow classmates in the school called Earth. You all decide to call this "born again", because the attitude change is so significant. But a consensus won't make an illusion a reality. The illusion is that your existence begins in Earth's time/space paradigm. This hides from you your True Birth...the one you are having such a hard time dealing with. Let's call it birth trauma. This will be healed, but first lets understand it so you can percieve the place of innocence in your magnetic Heart once again. There was a time before which you were, but there will never be a time after which you are not. There was a time when you were one and complete within the Source of Love. Love however decided to give you immortality as yourself and to grant you an identity of your own. It was a gift full of promise, opportunity and responsibility. But so many of us, having no point of reference except the simplicity of a common light, experienced it as shock and interpreted the gift of life as separation. Many deeply wounded themselves by viewing it as rejection. And people have been structuring and dramatizing it as separation ever since. Structure then became a substitute source of security, and the traumatized have been obsessed with it ever since. A good example is my friend Green Flash who is obsessed with the structure ot the Catholic Church, which he regards as "mother Church". So there was a tragic misconception. And many of the problems and pains suffered by humanity are a result of this original birth trauma. People are now torn between wanting to go Home, and fearing the loss of personal identity and freedom...wanting to stay apart, but fearing the perils of becoming lost. To be born again, simply realize that you have been given eternal life in your own name. You will never be reabsorbed into collective anonymity. Your place within the one spirit is always honored, and there will never be a time when you are not. When you are able to comprehend the grandeur of that gift, you will be able to experience your birth anew, with ecstasy. Obviously, doubts about "preexistence" will prevent you from being born again...which seems to be the motivation behind religion as structure. Like my friend Green Flash, you too find security in the structure of mother church. Your dependance, even on the Catholic Church is more than you wish to admit, but you have inherited most of the essential teachings which prevent you from being born again....preventing you from seeing the innocence that you were at your original birth, and have been ever since. As I have mentioned before...the original sin was the creation of a fiction about yourself that you were not innocent, not love, not immortal. Ultimately this was a judgment about yourself and so judgment was the "sin". Meanwhile, your source has never seen you any other way, except as innocent. The last judgement will be against judgement itself...and it is YOU who will make this judgement. Maybe now you can understand the importance of re-evaluating your opinions about yourself, about your innocence, about your immortality, about your identity as love...before you can locate the door to your True Heart...that magnetic vortex in the center of your chest. So you see, born again is not the end...it is the beginning...not the beginning of immortality (you already had that)...it is the beginning of the potential for experiencing a new quality of immortal life. That potential is mainly activated from within the True Heart, that magnetic vortex at the center of your chest. In the age that's coming, there will be a great healing. And it is now soon. And it will lift mankind above the trauma of his original birth, revealing the truth of his being, and establishing his place of honor within the universe. JohnnyK
Hindus have the Vedic scriptures Judaism has the Kabbalah Christianity has Gnosticism Islam has Sufism. The latter 2 religions have a book based on ancient Judaic texts on which they added text that was politically relevant to their times. The Judaic and Hindu texts are based on even more ancient Sumerian and other ancient texts. The freely available organized religion books are starter kits. Once the starter kit is mastered. One has the option of going into a higher conciousness of learning. Unfortunately not too many can maintain their sanity once they delve into the deeper conciousness. Hindusim provides some of higher levels of learning to the lower level initiates. Concepts like Kundalini, Chakra. Much of what Jhonnyk posts is similar to what is in the Hindu scriptures. http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/mysticism/vedic_hindu.html The essence of Johnnyks post is the same as this passage Communion with God Devout men (Yogins) who are intent (thereon) see this (spirit) seated in themselves; but the senseless, whose minds are unformed, see it not. Bhagavad Gita15:11?