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Logos

Since it is late, I don't want to keep you up replying to me all night, so I'll keep to not quoting your texts (since I'm not good at it anyway), and I'm going to work backwards since that is simply my style...

http://www.marijuana.com/religion/93...tml#post875948

Either you are a camel, or my sig makes you humpy...

You are correct in that my opinions failed to take into consideration that you were specifically talking about the God of Abraham. I don't take the Bible as 100% God's truth, so to most Christians I'm a heathen that will be burning (bowls I hope) in hell right along with you.

The Aquarian Gospel is theoretically taken straight from the Record of God's Remembrance if such a thing exists. Since it can't be scientifically proven, it is up to each individual to "know" whether it is valid teaching or not. Some will feel it is, (as I do) or some will feel it isn't (as you do) neither of us is right or wrong, just different. To those who are seeking answers, it may be truth, or it may not, but reading it can't possibly hurt. Who is to say that Buddhism is wrong or that it even detracts from what Christ taught? What if both characters were the same spirit or soul if reincarnation is the case? What if the God of Abraham has been warped by the "holy Scriptures" of the KJV Bible? I don't fully trust any book, I don't fully trust any opinion, not even my own.

Just yesterday, I decided to contemplate existence from the perspective that it is simply a cosmic accident and there is no "Plan of God" and that all is simply random chance with no divine justice, no karma, no nothing but life and death, and I got really depressed, I felt hopeless and truly alone with no purpose or plan, life simply didn't mean much to me.

I have to believe in something greater than myself, I have to believe that there is some purpose, some destination beyond death, or I find myself feeling hopeless. In the end if I'm wrong and simply cease to exist, will I have any opportunity to be disappointed with my choice to believe as I do? Will I feel as if I have lived my life in vain if I don't exist? Will I feel as if I have deprived myself of anything by my choice to believe in a "God who has a plan for life"? If not believing in those things makes me feel hopeless, then I think I'l stick to believing and we'll see where I end up after that last breath.

I also doubt that God will be truly disappointed in you if what you are doing with your life is life affirming and helpful to others. Maybe you act as Jesus taught, but still don't believe in a book, I doubt God would be disappointed in that. Let me ask you this, if Christians actually followed the teachings of Christ, (baring the old testament argument) would the world be a better or worse place for it?

The statements you make about God are absolutely true in the sense you make them, but the subject is really broader than the scope you set out for it. To limit myself to only the Old and New Testament would be like you giving up science to believe in a book written by people who didn't really want the average human to find God within. The Church has always wanted to be special in the eyes of man and that is what distances the editors of the Bible from God, and I'd bet Jesus would say that to worship a book is idolatry. I don't worship any book, I'm fond of The Aquarian Gospel because it seems to me to be easier to read and a more complete biography of the life of Jesus the Christ than the testaments given in the Holy Bible. However, I also realize that it could be totally false. It simply rings true for me right now. In fact I just received my copy of it in the mail today and am reading it for the second time. I'll let you know if my opinion of it changes on my second time through... (btw it can be had used at amazon for a buck fifty +shipping if you don't like reading on the internet for free)

Free choice and starvation are linked in that people who deny God on the basis that he allows people to starve when those of us who regularly throw food away are really the ones allowing starvation because we have an excess which could feed others who go without. Just as a simple penicillin shot could cure many who just can't afford it. Wars are fought because leaders decide we need to fight them, or leaders decide to oppress people so they decide to fight the leaders, it is all human choice, and choice is a realm God will not interfere with, for if he did, we wouldn't really be free, but puppets. Our destiny with regard to God's plan is so much more than that, if any of what I have pointed you to is of any value with regard to universal truth.

All I'm trying to allude to is that the evils perpetuated here in this reality begin as thoughts in peoples heads that they act upon, is God to blame for those evils, should he stop them even if he could? What would be the point? How would we learn right from wrong if we weren't allowed to choose for ourselves?

When a father tells his child to not touch the stove because it is hot, and the child touches it anyway, is the father to blame for the child's choice? Does the child learn from that choice? Should the father always be present to ensure the child doesn't touch the stove, or should the child simply trust that his father knows what is best for him? Should the father always try to protect the child from bad choices, or should the father sometimes allow the child to learn for themselves how to make good choices? I try to view God as the father Jesus portrayed him as, in that he isn't always going to do everything for my ignorant stoopid self, and that my failures aren't God's fault, it is simply my job to learn from them and do better next time so that my father might feel some smitten of pride for my choice to trust that father really does know best in that he allows me the opportunity to trust and obey, or to try it out myself and learn from my own mistakes.

Humanity should be willing to help in a more selfless way rather than say you can't afford this technology so you get to die. If we have the means why don't we use it? This is where selfishness comes in, and selfishness is based in me me me. Maybe my thesis on ego was off base, but it is how I have thought for a long time. Does your greatness that stems from ego help others or only yourself? If it helps others then my feelings on the subject don't really apply to you.

The link I gave you might be fiction, he presents it as fiction because as he states, certain aspects of the story have been changed for various reasons, so in that sense yes, it is fiction, but the pertinent information presented (ie the stuff I'd like your opinion of, say the atheistic scientific stuff) may have some semblance of factuality to it that is pertinent to the questions being asked here, but that doesn't make it a complete work of fiction, to know for certain, you would have to be the guy who wrote it. I would still like your opinion of it if you decide to read it, other than the statement "It is fiction".

I do question the Bible. Just as I question the Aquarian Gospel, and just as I question the Reluctant Messenger. Everything is questionable, even reality. I have lots more questions than I do answers, that is one of the few things I know for certain. The Old Testament was a burden to read. I can completely understand your issues with it, I have quite a few myself. If it is to be taken literally, then a great number of people need to get stoned, and not the kind of stoned we prefer to discuss here.

I suppose I define conscience as concern for others, and ego as concern for self, from that perspective, it depends on what your egotistical endeavors cause you to do towards others, if it is to help them in a selfless way, then it doesn't flow with my prior definition of it.

Does you ego keep you up at night fretting on how you treated others, or would that be your conscience? The only time my ego kept me awake was while I was fretting on how I might pay someone back for wronging me. If I ever followed through with my previous night's planning, my conscience tended to keep me up the next night, and since I prefer to sleep, I just try to forgive and forget like Jesus taught, I do sleep better for it...

Have you ever noticed that if you add a hyphen to the word conscience you get con-science? That just jumped out at me...

Sorry if I have ballooned outside of the scope of your initial questions, I felt like ranting a bit tonight I suppose.

Anyway, sleep on this before responding, I wouldn't want to be the one keeping you up all night, and btw, did my lucky gram help any with that lunch date? You didn't hump your lunch I hope... ;p

Peace and Love (you camel you)

__________________
Brother Logos
The more I learn, the less I know. | Truth doesn't change, only our perception of it does.
THC Ministry | The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ | The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion
True religion is real living, living with all one's soul, with all ones goodness and righteousness. --Albert Einstein