Is It Worth It?

Is what worth what????
As for "doomsday" prophecies, be they true or false is of little importance to you or me; we have only today for sure .

People who hate Christianity must never have met the God I met.

BTW, IMO whatever "sins" you want to mention are not what kills the soul., they are merely symptoms of the actual disease of Sin, which is an absence of love for God, for others and for self.

We can only have this kind of Love when God gives us the ability. Since we are each precious to a very real, living and loving God. "Whosoever cometh unto me I will no wise cast out."

Negative attitudes toward God seem to me to be cultivated by us when we want to be God rather than accepting the love of the only God there is.

Like an hallucinating man perishing in a desert following mirages.

[Internal Queries]

Originally Posted by Mary Baker

Is what worth what????
As for "doomsday" prophecies, be they true or false is of little importance to you or me; we have only today for sure .

People who hate Christianity must never have met the God I met.

BTW, IMO whatever "sins" you want to mention are not what kills the soul., they are merely symptoms of the actual disease of Sin, which is an absence of love for God, for others and for self.

We can only have this kind of Love when God gives us the ability. Since we are each precious to a very real, living and loving God. "Whosoever cometh unto me I will no wise cast out."

Negative attitudes toward God seem to me to be cultivated by us when we want to be God rather than accepting the love of the only God there is.

Like an hallucinating man perishing in a desert following mirages.

well, imo Christianity does not equate to "God" so hating a dogmatic and damaging (to some) religion isn't the same thing as hating "God".

and since only "God" can provide one with the ability to Love as "God" Loves no one who hasn't been provided with that ability can be blamed or punished for being unable to Love as "God" Loves. unless, of course, "God" is a sick sadistic unjust entity who would torture his creations for being as he creates them, which would belie the whole "God is Love" meme.

having once been a Fundy Christian i do understand that in your belief system only your version of "God" is "God" and anyOne not believing as you do is wandering in a spiritual wasteland hallucinating and perishing. it's a very tiny oasis you have there so it's understandable that exclusivity is required. fortunately for me and every other non-adherent to your belief system "God" is a unimaginably expansive so there are endless ways to manifest Love.

IQ, I can speak for myself and what you imagine I believe is a far cry from what I do believe.
See Experience # 1 in the link below.

http://www.oberf.org/mary_b's_ste.htm

Since I believe God directs me and is the guiding Light on my life path, I believe Christianity (as I understand it) is the correct path for me. There are a number of versions of Christianity. I believe in the one presented to me by the Person I call God.

My idea of being a Fundamentalist (called "Fundy" to denigrate Fundamentalism) is to have the foundation Christ presented, that being Love.

Love for the one true Living and Loving God, for our fellow man, for ourselves and for our enemies. Jesus taught that and said he gave us a new commandment, to love one another as he loves us.

That is my version of Christianity.

I can understand your revulsion of your version. Christ never taught it.

[Morpheus]

12padams:

I just wish it would all go away... That's why you may notice I am alway trying to determine if god/astral projection is just a mind creation or a real external experience... My life literally depends on it. I'll be in big trouble and go to hell if I follow god and if I don't yet god wins the battle I'll go to hell anyway. Life is a terrible curse we have been forced to suffer... At least mine is if god exists :(

Pad, I think you will find my, "Mirror Time", thread helpful, in this forum.
Take heart. Be courageous, bold, and not fearful. God loves you.

[Morpheus]

Originally Posted by norseman

I have nothing against Christ as an important teacher of Man along with such as Buddha, the Taoist Masters, etc but I have a major objection to christians preaching damnation and punishment - a religion based on fear !

Well, perhaps you disagree also with statements from the Tibetan Book of the Dead?

"First of all there will appear to you, swifter than lightning, the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness, and that will surround you on all sides. ...
Try to submerge yourself in that light, giving up all belief in a separate self, all attachment to your illusory ego.
The judgment:
You are now before Yama, King of the Dead.
In vain will you try to...deny or conceal the evil deeds you have done. ... the mirror in which Yama seems to read your past is your own memory, and also his judgment is your own.

It is you yourself who pronounce your own judgment" ...Buddha

Buddhist Faith, 560 B.C. Holy Scripture: Tipitaka Quotes from: (The Tibetan Book of the Dead)

I would like to first apologize for my post here since I haven't actually read the thread. I just sort of came across Morpheus's last post. I agree with what norseman said in general as there is that side of Christianity which I think turns a lot of people off and me as well.... but certainly not all Christianity is like that - they don't all try to make it a fear based (read negative re enforcement) type of thing. In fact I think only a few do that.

Now as for the Tibetan book of the dead. I am pretty sure it can be found in local libraries, and free online in many translations. If you haven't read it, I would suggest to do so, and interpret and take from it what makes sense to you on a Spiritual level which I understand is what this forum is meant for.

What I notice is that in that book, you are upon dying, offered beautiful lights and inner joys and encouragement up to a point, and if these are not paths you choose to follow, then the negative actions you have done in life and feel subconscious guilt over will begin to come into force. One thing the book seems to me to stress is that everything that is going on is extremely intense and all of it is emanations from your own mind. This is a reason why doing actions and thinking thoughts meant for good for everyone while wanting also happiness and freedom of mind and heart for everyone is such an important goal in life.

[Morpheus]

Well stated Mayflow. I just wanted to example corresponding statments from faiths other than Christianity, involving Truth. My signature quote is but another.

Concerning Buddha, also...

“There is, O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed." (God)

"Were there not, O monks, this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed.
Since, O monks, there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, therefore is there an escape from that born, originated, created, formed.

What is dependent, that also moves; what is independent does not move.
Where there is no movement, there is rest; where rest is, there is no desire; where there is no desire, there is neither coming nor going; no ceasing-to-be; no further coming-to-be.
Where there is no ceasing-to-be, no further coming-to-be, there is neither this shore (this world) nor the other shore (Nibbana31), nor anything between them.32
Udana 8:3
(Cf. translation in Minor Anthologies, pg. 98.)