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It is unprofitable, because it can be read and interpreted in any number of ways.do you think that Scripture can be properly understood only by reading?!, what if many words/expressions in Scripture are kind of (very) figurative and the literal interpretation doesn't profit us?! - as a witness of the true One i can say a very big part of the biblical scriptures is figurative and the language of Scripture as a whole is very special - even to a very great extend
i used the word "universal" in the sense of most rational and comprehensible
Blessings
We do not engage in "what if's", with conjectures like "Satan afflicts us". Instead, we know that the root cause of afflictions is delusion. Because of delusion, we engage in unskillful activities which causes afflictions in ourselves or in others. By dispelling delusion, we resolve afflictions.
E.g. Because of the inexperienced delusion of a child, he touches a hot stove, and suffers affliction. The experience of cause & affect dispels the child's delusion, and he avoids similar unskillful behaviors in the future, thus eliminating one source of affliction.
It is unprofitable, because it can be read and interpreted in any number of ways.
With over 20,000 different Christian sects with differing Scriptural understandings, if there is only one proper understanding, that creates a real problem in seeking out the right one.there is one proper understanding of Scripture, then who misinterpret Scripture?!, aren't they the false prophets?!
Satan is a conjecture because - as a purported individual - nobody I've known has ever met him. Belief based on blind faith, perhaps - but not belief based on personal knowledge.and why has "satan tries misleading people" been a conjecture for worshipers?!, because they have not believed properly in the One Who is really the true God and therefore have not known His(the perfect) truth
Delusion is caused by a lack of wisdom. If you claim that delusion is created by your evil one, then does the acquisition of wisdom - in the process of dispelling delusion - exorcise him?and what is the cause of delusion?!, there must be a cause of causes, in the biblical scriptures there is no speech of delusion created by the true One, but it is written that the wicked/evil one created delusion through the spiritual workers/servants of unrighteousness
Who has the proper understanding then, and who are the true prophets? Do you claim to have the sole, proper understanding (just like millions of other Christians also claim, though they hold differing beliefs)?there is one proper understanding of Scripture, then who misinterpret Scripture?!, aren't they the false prophets?!
2 Peter 3:14-16 "be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction."
Blessings
With over 20,000 different Christian sects with differing Scriptural understandings, if there is only one proper understanding, that creates a real problem in seeking out the right one.
Satan is a conjecture because, as a purported individual, nobody I've known has ever met him. Belief based on blind faith, perhaps - but not knowledge.
Delusion is caused by a lack of wisdom. If you claim that delusion is created by your evil one, then does the acquisition of wisdom - in the process of dispelling delusion - exorcise him?
Who has the proper understanding then, and who are the true prophets? Do you claim to have the sole, proper understanding (just like millions of other Christians also claim, though they hold differing beliefs)?
For example: you quote 2Peter, a book which I know some Christians reject, along with the writings attributed to Paul (some of which you've quoted in this thread). They believe that Paul was demon-possessed (2Cor 12:7), and disobedient to the Holy Spirit (compare Acts 21:4 vs Acts 21:15).
What is the evidence and proof that your personal interpretation is superior and correct, over theirs?
Well, what that means for me is that I am agnostic to his existence. Neither I, nor anyone I know, have met this individual.on the one hand, how do you expect any of those people to have met/meet satan when he is a spirit in the category in which God is?!, on the other hand, the fact that none of the people you have known has ever met satan doesn't mean that he didn't ever appear to anyone else
I don't dispute that. What I'm stating is that if I do not understand it for myself, I am agnostic to it.as for (the) "belief based on blind faith", the fact that you don't understand the truth of the true One doesn't mean no one else understands it
Nobody needed to tell me. I know it from personal experience.who told you that delusion is caused by a lack of wisdom?!
I directly know that wisdom dispels delusion which gives rise to dukkha. I do not have direct knowledge about salvation, and how good or evil plays into that.the principal difference is between good and evil rather than (between) wise and unwise, because what if someone is wise (even if wisest) but not good (enough) to save their neighbors needing salvation?!, therefore "wisdom" is not quite the right word, the correct word is rather "righteousness", because:
So, because you met the "true One", your conclusion is that your interpretation of his words is more authoritative, correct?even if i tell you all the truth, you may not believe it if you do not properly practice the faith in the true One - there is a need at least for right reasoning, but if a person practices the faith wrong, either in the form of yoga or any other suchlike religion, they may not manage to understand the truth through anything, because the wicked one may unfavorably affect their minds so that they may not understand the truth through anything
i know from what the true One told me that all Holy Apostles presented in the biblical books of the New Testament, including Peter and Paul, are true Saints
i have no personal interpretation, when i witness to a god's word i witness only to what the true One gives me to witness to - without boasting about anything of myself i can say with full confidence that there are also true followers/worshipers of the true One whose spiritual(religious) testimony is not false, though the world is full of many bad religious worshipers
Blessings
Which is why Buddhism pursues universal care, and promotes widening our circles of compassion to include all living things instead of growing attached to the select few.isn't selfish to prefer working on oneself to working for overall/all-embracing salvation?!
Monastic traditions in Christianity are no different. Buddhism as a whole rejects the notion of the asket on the mountain, and instead holds that the Buddhist journey always leads back to the market place, into the very centre of society. It is not a faith based on rejecting "the world", but on changing one's perception of the same. Now CHRISTIANITY, on the other hand...- Jesus and His true disciples presented in Scripture had saved(cleansed, healed, resurrected, converted, etc.) thousands of people since the beginning of their spiritual mission, buddhists have never saved their neighbors/cohabitants so, but rather lived in monasteries far away from (the) civilization...
you must be very blind if you have not seen that the idolatrous nations of the third world have been most degraded, i don't know there to be more degraded nations than the hindu ones, given that buddhism is also an indic religion (in fact, buddha was an indian and his teachings are very similar to the teachings of yoga) - the greatest iniquity has definitely been the situation in india through all that great idolatry and heresy there
however, there is no point in accusing each other, either we work for overall salvation or the religious speculations won't help anyone as they have not helped anybody
it is not a matter of choice it is a matter of fact...ALLAH or god is a truth ALLAH exists and he is the god of the whole universe..his existence is an absolute truth..he sent his messengers for us to call us to his worship..god or ALLAH sent us divine books to inform us about him..what is the signs of other gods???Yes I do, otherwise there's no reason for me to choose Allah or Yahweh over Aten, Ahura-Mazda, Waheguru, or Mbombo.
Usually, equally unproven claims: "holy" books, myths about miracles, creation, etc.it is not a matter of choice it is a matter of fact...ALLAH or god is a truth ALLAH exists and he is the god of the whole universe..his existence is an absolute truth..he sent his messengers for us to call us to his worship..god or ALLAH sent us divine books to inform us about him..what is the signs of other gods???
I haven't met Allah or a single one of his appointed messengers. On the other hand ... Aten's divine might manifests powerfully in the sky every morning?it is not a matter of choice it is a matter of fact...ALLAH or god is a truth ALLAH exists and he is the god of the whole universe..his existence is an absolute truth..he sent his messengers for us to call us to his worship..god or ALLAH sent us divine books to inform us about him..what is the signs of other gods???
Well, what that means for me is that I am agnostic to his existence. Neither I, nor anyone I know, have met this individual.
I don't dispute that. What I'm stating is that if I do not understand it for myself, I am agnostic to it.
Nobody needed to tell me. I know it from personal experience.
I directly know that wisdom dispels delusion which gives rise to dukkha. I do not have direct knowledge about salvation, and how good or evil plays into that.
So, because you met the "true One", your conclusion is that your interpretation of his words is more authoritative, correct?
Molecules of air can be experienced by other senses and using tools.if we don't see air, does this mean there is no air anywhere in the space (around us), including in our lungs?!,
If you can neither perceive these spirits, nor experience them or their effects, then why believe blindly in them?and when it comes to the spirits, they are most invisible/imperceptible and we the souls/(be)souled beings can only be (as it were) puppets in their hands - God forbid any of us turns out to be a puppet in the hands of manifestation(s) of the "darkness", so the fact that a religious worshiper doesn't believe there are spirits, either because he/she has never seen/met any of them or because he/she considers their presence in the universe somehow insignificant or unobjectionable, won't make spirits nonexistent or non-inducing/noncausative especially if that worshiper commits spiritual unrighteousness/lawlessness/wickedness - many religious worshipers can mislead themselves that there are not such and such spirits in the universe/world and at the same time be affected/induced by them...
Blessings
I cannot say. There are others who don't believe in "St Paul" or his words. How is your interpretation and judgment superior to theirs?Romans 14:14 (DRB) "I know, and am confident in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean."
how was St Paul so confident about things?!, something definitely made him be so confident, but how?!, there must be something innermost, faithful, true(-thful) or more powerful than the world, something that is in the true One...
Blessings
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