I appreciate your honesty and wish others would be honest like you instead of being hypocritical.
I think you do have a good understanding of Love and God is Love.
Most people really want to be loved for who they are and to love others for who they are and not in spite of whom you are.
Keep this all in your mind since there might come a time you just want to be unselfishly, unconditionally Loved in spite of what you have done. If you wind up in that state turn to Gods Love.
I don't know if I have it in me to love others unconditionally, nor am I sure if I could do so, that I would want to. Perhaps it is judgemental, but I cannot find it in my heart to love those who do horrible things.
Perhaps one day, I will desire an unconditional love for myself..., but I'm not sure I could will myself to extend my own love unconditionally, and isn't that at least part of what being Christ-like it about? If being Christian is partially following in the example of Christ isn't lacking the will/desire to follow his example a fundamental failure that suggests I should turn to other teachings?
Because I would rather focus the resources I have on improving my own life and that of my close, then helping those who have, through bad luck, or poor choices have fallen on hard times. I respect for their right to independence and life, but I simply do not have a universal love for my fellow humans, that motivates me to help them.
After a long time in my agnosticism, I came to my senses and said: what I am doing is not working.
The only people who believe in Jesus Christ first come to their senses and they see they need help. Those who RESIST this will perish in their sins and this is not worth it! Find your Bible and read John and ask God to lead you into Truth. God is faithful, God is good--He wants all men to come to Him, and going to Him is GOOD. It is not bad, it will not harm us, but in Christ there is freedom!
So few people think it is to our benefit to turn to God. A life once lived apart from Him has made me see that I never want to be without my Lord one day!! May God's peace and mercy rest on you.
I have read the gospels of John, Luke, Matthew and Mark several times. Its those accounts of the life of Christ, that made me think about my selfish disinterest in emulating him. I don't want to devote my life to helping others, nor will I stand and accept the blows of my enemies.
While I don't doubt that the presence of Lord's love may benefit your life, if I am unwilling to share my love with humanity, and I instead would rather focus on my close friends and family, and bettering my material lot. If I will not apply many of the lessons that Christ teaches in my own life, would turning to God not be insincere?
I can hardly beg him to forgive my weakness, in not following his son's example, when I don't even want to try.
Iamblichus-
Jesus wasn't that pacifistic. After all, he cleared the moneychangers and merchants out of the temple area with a whip made out of cords.
There are those who try to convince us that Matthew 5:38ff. tells us that we are to do nothing even if our families are being physically attacked in a home invasion. But in order to understand that passage correctly, we need to recognize to whom Jesus was speaking. They were all fellow Jews, learned in the laws and commandments of Torah, and conscientious concerning having those laws dictate their interrelationships with those around them. Judea at that time was a 'closed society', so unless a person was either a Jew or a roman soldier stationed there, they were not a part of that society.
But even a conscientious Jew could 'screw up', losing his temper and either saying something or committing an action which he would immediately regret. Under the intense legalism that Judea and Galilee used, even an offhand slap could be cause for serious repercussions. But instead of having it escalate, Jesus told all of them to 'take a chill pill' if they found themselves in that situation.
But his words were never intended as an order to permit those who deliberately chose to commit evil acts (such as rape and murder) free access to you and/or your family. Such people were not seen as 'evil', but instead as 'abominations'. As such, they were to be subject to the full fury of the societal laws condemning their actions, including whatever actions other individuals saw fit to take in order to save their intended victims.
I appreciate your explanation. I've seen several arguments on both sides, and I find yours to be very complete and well argued. However I think it also demonstrates another issue I have with the Christian faith. If my beliefs don't agree with one reading of the bible, one can typically find another alternate reading that supports a more acceptable position. How does one decide which interpretation is true? If one simply choose the argument which he or she like best, how different is that from just following your own ethical beliefs and ignoring the word of God on the subject?
Well, I will throw a few points in. I like your question, and I would welcome a chance to talk with the OP more on this subject.
There is no clear cut simple "How and why" answer to such a deep and abstract subject. The answer however, is born from love, and flourishes without hatred or fear. It is the last two which remain as formidable barriers to most people.
As a mystic, I have spent a lifetime meditating and studying this. Since no words I can write, or that anyone can write, can describe the ultimate truth, I can only use words that point to the truth.
Borrowing from Bishop Spong, who uses the term "Be all that you can be" (borrowed from the army) Describes the why.
The how is the concept which we call the "Christ Consciousness" I would suggest that you study that concept, as few I have met are aware of it and even fewer understand it. For myself, the journey involved stepping out of the bonds of religions and coming to the realization of who and what God is.
A good teacher does not claim to have all the answers. Neither do I. In fact, one known fact is that no one does. Proof of that is in the examples of life all around us. But our inner Kingdom, that reality of God within, remains constant for us to find, each upon our own path. I wish you all the Peace , Joy, Harmony and Love you need along this path.
Amen
You appear to have a very interesting perspective on the topic. Though I must admit it is one that is quite foreign to me.
What do you mean by "be all that you can be?"
I suspect you mean something akin to an enlightened state of being in which man recognizes himself as part of the greater whole of humanity, and decides to shed the material for the immaterial spiritual world.
If this is the case, what do you find appealing about that? I'm all for a relatively simple existence, however I have no desire to renounce the material. I find that concept of the material as shackles, to be more than a little strange/surreal.
To me the focus on the immaterial is incomprehensible, the material world is readily apparent, and we only have the one chance to experience it, whereas the spiritual world, may or may not exist.
I'd rather take the gamble and live a good live without depriving myself in the material world, then bank upon the existence of a immaterial spiritual world.
What do you find so appealing about the metaphysical, internal kingdom of God, that the material world holds less appeal?
Apparently there is a limit to how many posts you can quote in a single reply. I'll answer the rest of you in another post.
