To: K-list
Recieved: 2001/06/07 13:08
Subject: [K-list] Loooong Ramblings!!!! Sorry!!!!
From: Le Chien Du Cosmos
On 2001/06/07 13:08, Le Chien Du Cosmos posted thus to the K-list:
Good stuff!
I have always had a 'problem' with Christians in my area and I felt
that the story about Gandhi was similar to how I feel. I love Christ,
but I am baffled by organized christianity. They seem to have taken
all the juice out of spirituality by removing the idea of direct
personal experience of God being a possibility. They TALK about
asking Jesus to come into your life and they TALK about being filled
with the Holy Spirit, but when someone comes to them asking for
advice because they have suddenly experienced this very awakening of
the Holy Spirit, the one who is supposed to be their guide is baffled
and assumes that the person has aquired a 'demon' and needs to be
exorcised or something!
It's like in the Gospel of John where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus
about being born again of the spirit and Nicodemus just has no idea
what he's talking about and takes everything he says literally saying
How can a person be born again when he is old?". In fact, that
happens all over the place in the gospels. Jesus speaks in metaphors
and the teachers of the 'Law' are supposed to be great masters, but
they are incapable of understanding the true meaning of Jesus' words.
I feel that this is the case with most Christian leaders - even those
that really mean well.
I think about that 'born again' concept too, and I really think that
what mainstream christians think to be born again means is a
seriously watered down version of the truth. They assume because they
have said the prayer accepting christ and have been dunked in some
water that they now have the holy spirit dwelling within them
completely. I'm sure for SOME, that really is all it takes, but in
MOST cases, this is not what happens.
When I was 9 years old I remember our local pastor coming over and me
and my older brother had to say a prayer to accept Christ. We had to
make it up on the spot in front of him and our dad and step mom.
Needless to say, it was embarassing. But, when I was saying the
prayer, something really cool happened. It was my first experience of
meditation and devotion. I remember feeling really different
afterwards and I thought it was really cool.
But the next day and all the way up until I discovered meditation
just 3 years ago, it was gone.
It was the pastor who suggested that we be baptised but my dad
thought that we were 'unworthy' because we didn't go to church much
and didn't know the bible well so he didn't allow us to go through
with the baptism at the church. I vaguely remember arguing a little
bit about it but he had made his mind up.
It's kind of funny too, because when he married my step mom, he
immediately had her baptised I guess because he wanted his parents to
think that he was marrying a 'good christian'. My dad doesn't go to
church at all anymore but when we were kids, church was a big deal
and I think my dad thought he was pretty righteous.
At this point I don't know where I'm going with this post!
Oh, I have this friend who recently 'found God' a few years ago and
she was a major friend before that and for a while we were in total
conflict because I was all into mysticism and the experience of God
and she was totally mainstream christian and since I wasn't that
meant I was gonna go to hell. She used to tell me that she was
praying for me to which I was like, "If you're praying for me to
believe what you believe just 'cause you think it's 'right' then
PLEASE don't bother." or something along those lines.
A few months ago we got into a really big argument and I didn't talk
to her again until 2 or 3 weeks ago. She called me up 'cause she
missed me and wished we wouldn't have gotten into an argument. In the
argument, she was trying to tell me that I had fallen away from God,
and I was sitting there feeling the presence of God that very moment
and totally baffled at her accusation so I tried to explain that and
she just went off on me!!!
Then I made the mistake of saying that my Guru (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)
was a true expression of divinity (he IS widely recognized as a
satguru) and discussing the concept of enlightenment. So, I just
should've kept my mouth shut.
Now, we have agreed to disagree. The only thing is, I don't really
disagree with her! It's just that my viewpoint is a little more
expanded and universal. I believe in God/Holy Spirit/Christ. But,
since I'm not technically a christian she doesnt belive me (not that
I really care whether anybody believes me or not!).
To be a christian you have to believe that Jesus 'died for your
sins'. The way that that is to be understood is that prior to Jesus
death and resurrection, God's laws were somehow different and you had
to make sacrifices to atone for sins. Then, when Jesus came, he took
the punishment for everyone's sins, and anyone who 'believes' in
Jesus gets to have Jesus as their whipping boy - which is why we
couldn't sin, 'cause everytime we sin, God punishes Jesus instead of
us!!!
I know that sounds childish, but that was the actual explanation I
was given when I was a kid which I thought sounded ridiculous!!! Not
so much the concept of Jesus dying for our sins - which is something
I DO believe albeit with my own interpretation of what 'dying for our
sins' means. BUT, that prior to some specific point in time, Christ
DIDN'T take the punishment for our sins - that is absurd. It says in
the bible that Christ has existed from the beginning so I don't see
how our relationship to Christ could be different now than it was 15
billion years ago.
Maybe different in magnitude, but never in function.
Awe man! Another long one - and one that didn't really have a final
point! I promise I'll try to keep it short and substantial next time!
SPACEDAWG
http://www.kundalini-gateway.org
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