Understanding the Lords Prayer

[winter light]

The Lord's prayer is to me a condensation of all of the messages of Jesus. I understand the prayer as an invocation that affirms the truth, and in so doing awakens us and reconnects us to our divinity. Jesus is apparently bridging us with God though in reality we have never been actually disconnected. We felt abandoned but God has never abandoned us. By way of this prayer we are remembering and consciously participating in everlasting life and creation.

That is the new covanant - that we share divinity with God and with one another in holy communion. We make this happen by honoring God and one another, all as one creation. Notice it begins with the word "Our". We are praying together as one. An affirmation that we are all one.

Thanks jonesboy for starting the thread. And to all for participating.

[sky]

Originally Posted by django

..........

Whether nirvana is equivalent to heaven or not is an interesting question.


Buddist believe that you can attain Nirvana while still on this earth, Buddha was said to be in a state of Nirvana after his Awakening until his death. Heaven is for a afterlife.

[django]

Originally Posted by sky123

Whether nirvana is equivalent to heaven or not is an interesting question.


Buddist believe that you can attain Nirvana while still on this earth, Buddha was said to be in a state of Nirvana after his Awakening until his death. Heaven is for a afterlife.

Looking into it a bit more I don't think they are the same.

Nirvana is a state of desirelessness; heaven is a state of having one's most fundamental desire (for God) fulfilled.

Nirvana is a state of being extinguished, heaven is associated with ultimate joy and fulfillment.

Nirvana also differs from heaven because it suggests one will eternally lose his body and his individual identity, while Christians believe they will keep their identity eternally, as well as a spiritual body.

If anything I think a Buddhist might say the concept of heaven is too limiting and needs to be gone beyond to achieve complete cessation.

[sky]

Originally Posted by django

Looking into it a bit more I don't think they are the same.

Nirvana is a state of desirelessness; heaven is a state of having one's most fundamental desire (for God) fulfilled.

Nirvana is a state of being extinguished, heaven is associated with ultimate joy and fulfillment.

Nirvana also differs from heaven because it suggests one will eternally lose his body and his individual identity, while Christians believe they will keep their identity eternally, as well as a spiritual body.

If anything I think a Buddhist might say the concept of heaven is too limiting and needs to be gone beyond to achieve complete cessation.

'Nirvana also differs from heaven because it suggests one will eternally lose his body and his individual identity '


This is Parinirvana. Modern Buddhist describe Nirvana as an Awakening experience but Parinirvana as a death experience.

[barrynu]

Originally Posted by sky123

https://youtu.be/locW-9S00VU


Beautiful Aramaic rendition of Our Father.

I felt that vibrating in my ears ........I didn't understand a word which reminded me that God doesn't speak or use words(to me)

God comes in waves and these "Waves" affect my emotions which gives me experience's...........Thanks God for creating me

[sky]

Originally Posted by barrynu

I felt that vibrating in my ears ........I didn't understand a word which reminded me that God doesn't speak or use words(to me)

God comes in waves and these "Waves" affect my emotions which gives me experience's...........Thanks God for creating me

It touches something inside of me and like you said vibrates, I love it and listen to this once a week.

I understand what you mean, instead of words God uses feelings.

[barrynu]

Originally Posted by sky123

It touches something inside of me and like you said vibrates, I love it and listen to this once a week.

I understand what you mean, instead of words God uses feelings.

That's the reason we have so many different interpretations of what "God" is.
Lots of books wrote about what God is and what God wants but books and words are a human thing and cannot describe God.

Feelings are one step closer to God than words and books.
My advice to anyone that want to feel god is to put away the books and take the thinking mind out of the process.

There's a monastery not far from me where the monks sing,,i think i will visit soon

[sky]

Originally Posted by barrynu

That's the reason we have so many different interpretations of what "God" is.
Lots of books wrote about what God is and what God wants but books and words are a human thing and cannot describe God.

Feelings are one step closer to God than words and books.
My advice to anyone that want to feel god is to put away the books and take the thinking mind out of the process.

There's a monastery not far from me where the monks sing,,i think i will visit soon

Yes it's lovely to sit and just feel the music wash over you in Monasteries /Churches etc: especially when they are spacious and echo's bounce of the walls. You should go and enjoy the atmosphere

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by django

..........

How is heaven found 'thru you'? Heaven is within you is stated in the Lord's prayer, but what do you mean by 'Heaven is found thru you'?

Think more about Grace and how Jesus shared that Grace or Peace with others.

Are nirvana and samsara ultimately the same? Not the best source but this wiki quote states that "samsara ends if a person attains nirvana":

Saṃsāra (Sanskrit, Pali; also samsara) in Buddhism is the beginning-less cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again.[1] Samsara is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful,[2] perpetuated by desire and avidya (ignorance), and the resulting karma.[3][4][5]

Rebirths occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, ghosts, hellish).[note 1] Samsara ends if a person attains nirvana,[note 2] the "blowing out" of the desires and the gaining of true insight into impermanence and non-self reality.[7][8][9]

Whether nirvana is equivalent to heaven or not is an interesting question.

Samsara is this world one is caught up in. In Buddhism, depending on the tradition all of this is just energy. When one has moved beyond the local mind and realized it is all one and the same. They have entered in or realized nirvana.

Jesus describes it like this.

22. Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father's) kingdom." They said to him, "Then shall we enter the (Father's) kingdom as babies?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."

I have heard it said that God allows the devil his chance at winning a soul to his side, otherwise the devil could rightly say a soul didn't choose God freely, where only one possible choice is available. God wants people to choose him, not as an innocent babe, but in full consciousness. Jesus himself was tempted three times, and was not swayed from his personal faith and conviction. All saints are tested I imagine. No one would seek temptation but it is inevitable on a truly spiritual path. Perhaps this line is an affirmation that given temptation, may I have the strength to not succumb, but with the help of 'the Father' be led always towards God only. As you quote above, God does suffer us to be tempted, but also shows us the way to Himself so we might choose that way.

If you look at the temptations of Jesus. Were they not all temptations of the ego? Power, glory, etc.

Those are our attachments, let them go and you realize the light within.

[Nature Grows]

Originally Posted by jonesboy

22. Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father's) kingdom." They said to him, "Then shall we enter the (Father's) kingdom as babies?" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."

Awesome.

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