What would it take to make you a Christian?

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

That's all good, but when I look at the world, it doesn't at all seem obvious to me that this would be the purpose of existence.

I see It is to know and Love God using 100% free will.
To do this Christ said we need to be born again. We have to be born from this material world into our spiritual reality. This world is a matrix to obtain all the virtues and this world is a perfect matrix to grow our spititual limbs, but it is our choice to do so.
Thus when we find Christ, we can use Faith to connect and then live a virtue filled life serving all of humanity.

The key to understand pain and suffering, is that Faith in God is not a free ride, it takes effort and sacrifice and God in all His Grace and Bounty will provide many tests of Faith. Only in this way can we appreciate such a gift and realise the true purpose of this life. Life reflects this, as nothing is gained without effort.

There is much on this topic in the Baha'i Writings. Regards Tony

 

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

Though it's important, I think that being humane is only part of what it means to be a more human, Human Being. There's so much more going on.

That is a great observation as yes indeed there is so much more going on.

This tradition says what science us now finding materially.

"...Consider the following well-known tradition and examine its meanings indicative of the vastness of the cosmos and its awesome limitless expanse: 'God, exalted be He, fashioned one hundred thousand, thousand lamps and suspended the Throne, the earth, the heavens and whatsoever is between them, even Heaven and Hell -- all of these in a single lamp. And only God knows what is in the rest of the lamps.' The fact that philosophers and sages have posited limits and restrictions for such matters is to be explained by the limitations of peoples minds and perceptions and the blindness of the followers of allusions, whose natures and intellects have been rendered dull and inanimate by the interposition of many veils..."

Baha'u'llah has said every planet has its own creatures and that there is other creatures that can know and love God as we can.

We now can start to understand that Christ (Holy Spirit) covers an expanse far beyond our species and our world. We can also start to undestand how doctrine can restrict what is being offered in the 'Word of God'.

The future, that is now being built, will see a united humanity and astounding discoveries will unfold as the mind of man unites in a common goal.

Regards Tony

 

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

God does not just like people, He loves and has opened the door for any person who has ever lived or will live to receive eternal life. But like the boy, many people instead of receiving Gods love and eternal life. They began to find fault with God so as to give them an excuse but what they fail to realize that those excuses will do them no good one day when they find out God is love, true and just.

To be a Lover of Christ, I see that is a lover of the Light of Christ, no matter where it shines from.

Christ said I have many sheep that are not of this fold (Christian) and one day there would be one fold and one shepherd.

Our challenge is to see what is truly the 'Christ'.

Regards Tony

 

[dlamberth]

To be a Lover of Christ, I see that is a lover of the Light of Christ, no matter where it shines from.

Christ said I have many sheep that are not of this fold (Christian) and one day there would be one fold and one shepherd.

Our challenge is to see what is truly the 'Christ'.

Regards Tony

I've often played with the thought that in order for Christ to be fully realized, Christianity (religion) must die, or at the very least be transform in a pretty major way.

 

[cloudyday2]

To be a Lover of Christ, I see that is a lover of the Light of Christ, no matter where it shines from.

Christ said I have many sheep that are not of this fold (Christian) and one day there would be one fold and one shepherd.

Our challenge is to see what is truly the 'Christ'.

Regards Tony

What is light without its opposite? What good is good without evil? How can we swallow the truth without a lie to wash it down?

 

[dlamberth]

What is light without its opposite? What good is good without evil? How can we swallow the truth without a lie to wash it down?

The Light of God has no opposite. It's the Light of Ego that lives in duality, not God.

 

[cloudyday2]

The Light of God has no opposite. It's the Light of Ego that lives in duality, not God.

Light waves have both peaks and troughs.

 

[Robban]

Light waves have both peaks and troughs.

"In Your light do we see light"

There is light and there is light,

If you do not want to invest an hour in learning,
then just fast forward to about 29:59.

 

[cloudyday2]

"In Your light do we see light"

There is light and there is light,

If you do not want to invest an hour in learning,
then just fast forward to about 29:59.

So if God wants the light to be gradually weakened by passing through layers, then God must like darkness. God is both light and darkness, and we should embrace all possibilities in the spectrum from good to evil. A religion that makes light the goal is not a religion that makes God the goal, because God made sunglasses.

 

[Robban]

So if God wants the light to be gradually weakened by passing through layers, then God must like darkness. God is both light and darkness, and we should embrace all possibilities in the spectrum from good to evil. A religion that makes light the goal is not a religion that makes God the goal, because God made sunglasses.

What is there to say?

 

[dlamberth]

Light waves have both peaks and troughs.

The Light of God does not contain waves. It's something different.

 

[Robban]

What is there to say?

Shadow boxing?

 

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

I've often played with the thought that in order for Christ to be fully realized, Christianity (religion) must die, or at the very least be transform in a pretty major way.

Or be born again.

Regards Tony

 

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

What is light without its opposite? What good is good without evil? How can we swallow the truth without a lie to wash it down?

That is what builds strong Faith. God doeth as He Willeth and gives us the conditions to know what is Love (Light), so we can choose it over what is not Love (Lack of light = varying degrees of Darkness)

Regards Tony

 

[keith99]

A burning bush that is not consumed by the fire would be a good start (and one that can be checked, not the report of one person).

A better follow-up would be if he got his own house in order. Lightning strikes would be great, but simply striking lying preachers dumb is enough for a start. And making liar, liar, pants on fire something that actually happens would be a lot of fun.

 

[Carbon]

Making me a Christian wouldn’t be too tricky. Short version is that any persuasive argument would do. Rational arguments based on established facts would work but seems unlikely. I feel like all logically possible attempts are fatally flawed. A more promising route is arguments playing in my self-serving biases like greed or fear of boredom. Take heaven for example. If the modern Christian heaven was demonstrably real then I would fake belief until I made it real even if I thought Jesus was a quaint magician and God was a sky tyrant like Abraham Bosse’s Leviathan. Never be ashamed of a little false groveling to get the things you want in life.

Keeping me a Christian is much trickier and would likely require Anterograde amnesia, the inability to create new memories. I say this because I suspect that for me any single belief is an inherently unstable state. When I become enamored with some idea or person, Jesus let’s say, I tend to learn everything I can from them then experience a rapidly diminishing return once their flaws are laid bare and a better option presents itself. Better meaning wrong in new and interesting ways. All ideas and people are at least a little wrong, I am a fallibilist for goodness sakes. We can still be great friends and learn from each other but once you’re on an equal playing field with someone, following in any sense of the word is out the window much less worshiping them. So if I did convert it would take some neuro-shenanigans to ensure a state of blissful suspended animation.

 

[Carbon]

I've often played with the thought that in order for Christ to be fully realized, Christianity (religion) must die, or at the very least be transform in a pretty major way.

Moreso than the perpetual dying and rising that Christianity does and has done since its inception, constantly reinventing itself to respond to the needs of each time and place?

 

[cloudyday2]

What is there to say?

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

 

[cloudyday2]

The Light of God does not contain waves. It's something different.

Then they need to call it something different. We should call it "God Lite - the same great radiance but half the waveform."

 

[cloudyday2]

The Light of God does not contain waves. It's something different.

Seriously though, wouldn't you agree that "perfection" and "holiness" in many religions can be symbolized by an infinitely tall ice cream cone that never melts and doesn't make you fat? We have a world where animals have teeth and claws and eat each other, but we imagine a God that just wants to feed us ice cream.