The True Meaning of Christianity

I will not undertake to defend Christianity from all the criticisms leveled against it by it's opponents. I will only testify to my own experience.

Indeed, I did not reach up to God, quite the opposite. My salvation from the spiritul disease of sin was all God's gift to me and it had instantaneous effects of drastically changing my heart. It was comparable to having been dead and made suddenly alive. I became a new person in a matter of seconds.

I then sought how to align my daily life with the will of my Savior and joined a group of local believers studying scripture and praying as I began my spiritual journey on the path shown me by The Holy Spirit.

I have sometimes walked it well, sometimes staggered along, but never forgotten my destination; to go to the Light of His Presence.

"All The Way My Savior Leads Me".

TeeHee, maybe you could look at it this way: Perhaps God is the Reality that is within all of us. Even our own faith says that God is love; maybe that means that God is sort of the "embodiment" of love. And, of course, love dwells within each one of us, or, at least, its power does. God could be the energy of love inside all of us.

Originally Posted by UniversalLove

TeeHee, maybe you could look at it this way: Perhaps God is the Reality that is within all of us. Even our own faith says that God is love; maybe that means that God is sort of the "embodiment" of love. And, of course, love dwells within each one of us, or, at least, its power does. God could be the energy of love inside all of us.

Yes, I have looked at it from that perspective. We are made in the image of God, and as Buddha's teachings suggested, if we were to carry it further in Christian teaching, it would be to know when and how our image was tainted by sin. Because we are made in the image of God we can know something about God, and because sin resides in us we can know something about our self. Our self affects the will of God and His lordship over our lives.

This is what I have gathered thus far from reading the last part of this thread.

Originally Posted by Mary Baker

I will not undertake to defend Christianity from all the criticisms leveled against it by it's opponents. I will only testify to my own experience.

Indeed, I did not reach up to God, quite the opposite. My salvation from the spiritul disease of sin was all God's gift to me and it had instantaneous effects of drastically changing my heart. It was comparable to having been dead and made suddenly alive. I became a new person in a matter of seconds.

I then sought how to align my daily life with the will of my Savior and joined a group of local believers studying scripture and praying as I began my spiritual journey on the path shown me by The Holy Spirit.

I have sometimes walked it well, sometimes staggered along, but never forgotten my destination; to go to the Light of His Presence.

"All The Way My Savior Leads Me".

That is beautiful Mary, I'm so happy for you in both your fellowship with fellow believers and your salvation in the Lord.

Best wishes.

Originally Posted by UniversalLove

TeeHee, maybe you could look at it this way: Perhaps God is the Reality that is within all of us. Even our own faith says that God is love; maybe that means that God is sort of the "embodiment" of love. And, of course, love dwells within each one of us, or, at least, its power does. God could be the energy of love inside all of us.

All these definitions of God as Love work for me.

Originally Posted by Mary Baker

I will not undertake to defend Christianity from all the criticisms leveled against it by it's opponents. I will only testify to my own experience.

Indeed, I did not reach up to God, quite the opposite. My salvation from the spiritul disease of sin was all God's gift to me and it had instantaneous effects of drastically changing my heart. It was comparable to having been dead and made suddenly alive. I became a new person in a matter of seconds.

I then sought how to align my daily life with the will of my Savior and joined a group of local believers studying scripture and praying as I began my spiritual journey on the path shown me by The Holy Spirit.

I have sometimes walked it well, sometimes staggered along, but never forgotten my destination; to go to the Light of His Presence.

"All The Way My Savior Leads Me".

You save yourself not by how someone else leads you, but from within.

Thanks Mayflow. That's just how I personally see God. My mind is kinda complex sometimes, lol.

[psychoslice]

Well I have been a Christian for many years and what it taught me personally was that I AM One with the Universal Consciousness or Father, the stories of Jesus was my story, I applied it to me personally again, where as I once thought the stories were separate from me and that I had to pray and beg for forgiveness, no, I forgave myself and from there the Christ within started to be born, he was born from my inner Being, the place within that has never been tainted by the outer world, you could say, the virgin. This is what Christianity as a stepping stone led me to, but i had to move on from there to be Whole.

Originally Posted by Mayflow

You save yourself not by how someone else leads you, but from within.

That contradicts teaching in Christianity, one can do nothing by their own merit to gain salvation. This is where Buddhism denies a personal God where there is no "other" from where we can go.

Originally Posted by psychoslice

Well I have been a Christian for many years and what it taught me personally was that I AM One with the Universal Consciousness or Father, the stories of Jesus was my story, I applied it to me personally again, where as I once thought the stories were separate from me and that I had to pray and beg for forgiveness, no, I forgave myself and from there the Christ within started to be born, he was born from my inner Being, the place within that has never been tainted by the outer world, you could say, the virgin. This is what Christianity as a stepping stone led me to, but i had to move on from there to be Whole.

Hey slice,

I think Christianity has been a stepping stone for many as they began their spiritual journeys there and expanded as the Spirit lead...