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Old 04-03-2018, 01:09 AM
davidmartin davidmartin is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,082
 
i like to imagine a time thousands of years ago,
some nameless people, who may not actually have had names, were sitting by a stream and watching the water flowing
God came to those people through the symbol of the water, a flowing source of life they discovered within themselves (not through mental processes since minds were not so advanced)
they perceived that this being was a person, with a mind and thoughts
this essentially is what Jesus was getting at, at least in an idyllic, paradise fantasy, and ignoring his sacrifice and teaching, i mean just how it sort of is
this was before religions and gods and the fall from that place

One big difference between Christian ideas and that typified by the new age is in Christianity God descends to us, and/or is found within us
The new age seems to promote ascent driven by mental exercises, to reach up to somewhere with the mind
Christianity really is about a descending deity who can be known
A lot of junk in Christianity is about trying to ascend up, and how to do it
I personally just find the idea of a descent more appealing and aesthetically pleasing and beautiful.
'The Spirit descended like a dove on him'
There's always going to be the two different approaches but Christians can't be getting into this ascent stuff too much, it's just not what Jesus was teaching
The most you can do is say a person can become a perfect resting place for the Spirit through an inner path but it's on a soul and heart level in terms of transformation and rebirth, not intellectually driven through the mind or any kind of Christ consciousness that comes from study or secret teachings or attempt to reach higher levels of consciousness which would only be side effects not the way to get there, within the soul is dwelling that Spirit that made it's home there that was the root cause of everything
That really is the difference, but it doesn't sell books or make anyone any money
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