The Bible

[ces]

Have you ever read the bible from cover to cover? If so what was your experience? Did it change your mind or influence your thought in any way? Did you get any positives from doing it?

Originally Posted by ces

Have you ever read the bible from cover to cover? If so what was your experience? Did it change your mind or influence your thought in any way? Did you get any positives from doing it?

Hi CES I did so in a college Biblical Lit class, and I can't say it changed my basic point of view much. It's my belief (knowing the documented historical facts of how this book was assembled, censored, and intepreted by those with a strong agenda) that no one can truly say he or she has actually read the complete unadulterated Bible. They might come closer to doing so if they are proficient in ancient Greek and Hebrew, the languages which the original books were written in, AND if they had access to all those books expunged by the Catholic and other orgainized churches because their content did not fit the existing agenda. But though there is great wisdom and beauty in some Bible verses, I personally prefer to do my communing with spirit on my own, one-on-one. That's by far a more trust-worthy means of accessing spiritual truth in my view

[John32241]

I have read much of the bible and even been part of a bible study group. I myself find the that the core principals for living are well defined there. However the most useful information for me comes from modern day scripture. Channeled information from todays messengers and the information that I receive from within the self.

That was the core message from the bible, that we are God's children.

John

[ces]

Thank you LightFilledHeart and John for your replies. I have a tiny bible from my church going days. It has been used much in the past but is not something I turn to now. I discovered a poem of sorts that I have in the front of it - not sure where it came from but remember the feeling when i typed it out and put it in there.

I've always foudn the bible quite difficult to read as its quite unlike anything I have read before. I would quite like to read it from cover to cover for the satisfaction of doing so but am yet to pick it up and start the task.

I suppose since seeing things like the da vinci code it has made me wonder how much of it is real if anything? Or whether its just the ramblings of individuals at the time and so the cycle goes on.

I do not want "cryptic" information I want "Clear" information. Much of the bible(s) are so cryptic (why? to make it easier to distort the meanings?)
- - - and I find the Course in Miracles very clear

Also now I've got a question for everyone. Can anyone find me a quote in any bible where God or any savior or avatar tells us WE are OF GOD?

- No, generally we are told we are separated from God, that only a very select few can be saved or realize God, or even worse, that we are "born in sin" etc

Originally Posted by ACIM guy

I do not want "cryptic" information I want "Clear" information. Much of the bible(s) are so cryptic (why? to make it easier to distort the meanings?)
- - - and I find the Course in Miracles very clear

Also now I've got a question for everyone. Can anyone find me a quote in any bible where God or any savior or avatar tells us WE are OF GOD?

- No, generally we are told we are separated from God, that only a very select few can be saved or realize God, or even worse, that we are "born in sin" etc

John 17:21-23

that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Obviously believers cannot be one with either the Father or the Son in every way the persons of the Godhead are one with each other, for we are not God. On the other hand, the unity among Christians is more than the invisible oneness of all believers; it is something that demonstrates itself in outward, tangible, loving cooperation for powerful evangelistic purposes and results.

[innerlight]

Originally Posted by Shim

John 17:21-23

that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Obviously believers cannot be one with either the Father or the Son in every way the persons of the Godhead are one with each other, for we are not God. On the other hand, the unity among Christians is more than the invisible oneness of all believers; it is something that demonstrates itself in outward, tangible, loving cooperation for powerful evangelistic purposes and results.

Does that not say that believes can be one with the father? Nowhere in there does it say that they can not be. In that quote you gave it says that they can be one with the father in the same way as the father and the other.

Originally Posted by innerlight

Does that not say that believes can be one with the father? Nowhere in there does it say that they can not be. In that quote you gave it says that they can be one with the father in the same way as the father and the other.

How do you mean by one? omit one

The creation can never be equal to the Creator. By the very act of creating creatures in His own image and likeness, God is creating creatures with mind, emotions and a will similar to His own. By definition He cannot create creatures in His own image and likeness which are not free to think, feel, and choose for themselves.

The Father retains ultimate authority and all that's done is in accord with his will and becomes "Father" when he creates for individual B a human body in likeness of Adam before the fall. He is the one appeased by sacrifice. Individual B, the creator of all things in the beginning and also the Son of the Father in the incarnation, and in the NT is called the word. Individual C is the one we seem to know least until we realize that we know even less about Individual A the Father, than we previously thought, because we mistakenly thought Individual B in the OT was Individual A. Individual C is the closest of the three to mankind, in that it is Individual C who actually indwells in us, inspires and guides mankind and is the one who inspired the Bible which is a book mostly about Individual B.

According to my understanding.

I have never accomplished such feat, I have tried many times, I just couldn't.

[innerlight]

Originally Posted by Shim

How do you mean by one? omit one

The creation can never be equal to the Creator. By the very act of creating creatures in His own image and likeness, God is creating creatures with mind, emotions and a will similar to His own. By definition He cannot create creatures in His own image and likeness which are not free to think, feel, and choose for themselves.

.

Even if his creations are in his image, there are still one with him. They are one with him in the same vein of his only begotten son. Which is what Jesus true message was, and is even hinted at in the quote your provided here.

"that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me"

So it would be that the father is in the word and the word is in the father who are one. The word who is in us that is also the same word that is in the father. making us one with the word who is also one with the father. Thus we are all one with each other. Thus you will find the true message of what Jesus was trying to teach. And not that he was here to say that he was the only one that was one with the father, that we are all one with the father.