"Fight the good fight.... I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith?" or...."endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier."

I take verses like these to mean hold to your OWN faith no matter what, not fight to make others change their's. Extremists could take these same verses to mean they should literally kill those who are not of their faith (sound familiar?)

I take verses like these to mean hold to your OWN faith no matter what, not fight to make others change their's.

Amen!

nirvana is a state of being you achieve while still alive, right?

Not necessarily. You can achieve enlightenment when you're alive, but you also achieve nirvana after your death (paranirvana).

Some people become bodhisattvas and delay achieving nirvana until all other beings achieve it too. They choose to stay and help other people achieve it.

I personally think of Nirvana after death much like hindu's imagine their afterlife to be: once you've gone through enough rebirths to attain enlightenment, your soul goes to join brahma's.

I like that. A lot.

This is beneath you, mod...I was stating my views, and you apparently have great difficulty reading in context. Since you apparently insist on making this a war, the only choice I have is to remove myself from it. Welcome to the blacklist.

does this mean you really do believe in God?

huh?

are there two bakerstreets?

It's a battle out there...it's not a flesh and blood one but a spiritual.

KFC, don’t you think we can afford to surrender that the victory is already won? If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, and God exists outside of time, then the ultimate outcome is already assured, and that outcome is good.

It’s logical to believe that God already knows everything that will happen – past, present and future. This doesn’t mean that we have no free will, incidentally. It just means that we have a different perspective to God. We can do whatever we like down here, for we have been blessed with free will. But whatever we do, it cannot change the ultimate outcome. God already knows who will become a Christian, who won’t, who will doubt, who will believe etc. (God even chooses who becomes a Christian and who doesn't in the first place, according to the Bible. I happen to agree with that.)

Whether we're Biblically orientated or not, we can afford to surrender our life to the Power that is greater than ourselves, and trust that He knows exactly what He’s doing. Jesus said that His yoke is easy, and He invites us to hand our burdens over to Him, to relax, and to find inner peace – whilst living on earth.

I believe that the most powerful prayer we can pray is “thy will be done”, because while our mind sees only the next corner of the road, or the next fork in the path, God sees the whole way ahead. Once we accept that God is watching over us, caring for us and loving us, we can confidently let go of our cares and problems, hand them over to Him, truly relax, and trust that He will guarantee success in ways that are most beneficial to our spiritual growth. We no longer need to fear what the future holds. Instead, we can place everything in God’s hands. Our task will be to take things a step at a time, do what we believe is best, and trust God completely. By the grace of God we will be allowed to make mistakes. The principle illustrated in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son shows that God honours our bad choices and mistakes. I personally believe that there is no such thing as mistakes - only learning curves, which lead to a higher good.

It’s all a question of trust, and a case of changing our frame of mind, which is what I was trying to say on the other thread. Even St. Paul affirms this: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” - Romans 12.2

hmmm how do I reconcile this with Paul when he said..."Fight the good fight.... I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith?"

hun I can’t answer that one, because you’ve already told me off for repeating myself too many times. But as long as you express the same principles over and over – as I do, I must admit – then you’ll have to expect the same replies. (My reply has something to do with “breathing space”, “Bible”, and “depends on where you are born”, as you know)

In my opinion, if we are bound to the Bible as tightly as you are, then it’s a bit like having our hands tied behind our back, in terms of seeking higher logic, or a wisdom that we’re ready for. But with that said, the Bible is clearly exactly what you’re ready for, so it’s not a bad thing at all. But I’m probably just sounding arrogant, so you can tell me off again if you like.

I think there are times when we can put more trust in our inner-guide, and try to align certain Biblical verses with what He has to say. It is true that just before Jesus finished His earthly work, He told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to guide us, strengthen us, and inspire us. Jesus also said that He Himself would remain with us always, even til the end of the age. We can therefore seek and find the Comforter and Jesus Christ within us (Colossians 1.27) - in the Kingdom, where He now is and where He has prepared a place for us. We can talk to this Jesus and find His wisdom and guidance and strength any time we like. We just have to attune our mind to Him, which is naturally something we will 'choose' to do when we're ready. If not in this lifetime, then in another.

49 by Gideon MacLeish Monday, March 06, 2006

This is beneath you, mod...I was stating my views, and you apparently have great difficulty reading in context. Since you apparently insist on making this a war, the only choice I have is to remove myself from it. Welcome to the blacklist.

wow gid, blacklisted over a disagreement? yikes! anyways you are always welcome here and I will continue to read you even if I cannot comment.

47 by Dr. Guy Monday, March 06, 2006

take verses like these to mean hold to your OWN faith no matter what, not fight to make others change their's. Amen!

amen again, one can hold dear to their own faith and religion without making it a a right and wrong thing.

#48 by dharmagrl Monday, March 06, 2006

Not necessarily. You can achieve enlightenment when you're alive, but you also achieve nirvana after your death (paranirvana).

thanx for the claification D, I love learning new things.

I'm not getting what irritated Gid so much about this. I can't believe he'd blacklist someone for something that happened on someone else's blog...

55 by BakerStreet Monday, March 06, 2006

I'm not getting what irritated Gid so much about this. I can't believe he'd blacklist someone for something that happened on someone else's blog...

tis ok baker, he will let me baack as soon as he fels like it. I am ok with that.

55 by BakerStreet Monday, March 06, 2006

I'm not getting what irritated Gid so much about this. I can't believe he'd blacklist someone for something that happened on someone else's blog...

tis ok baker, he will let me back as soon as he feels like it. I am ok with that.

I take verses like these to mean hold to your OWN faith no matter what, not fight to make others change their's. Extremists could take these same verses to mean they should literally kill those who are not of their faith (sound familiar?)

Yes, I actually agree here!!! I was just responding to the surrendering by Andy. The context is not a physical fight but a spiritual one. The problem tho is many take what they want and throw away the rest. It's all about context. A text taken out of context is nothing but a pretext.

Killing anyone, physically or spiritually goes totally against what Christ taught us.

My whole point was to just say "there are more than one path to GOD> many paths I think.

and my point would be...it doesn't matter what I think at all. It matters what Christ said....and he said there is only one way. He is the way.

Ok before ADAM "i am" does that make me GOD?

no, not you...LOL....are you claiming to be? Jesus meant what He said and said what He meant. He was and is God.

P.S. It was Abraham, not Adam. But Adam works.

disclaimer for those that care, you should all know I do NOT FEEL THIS WAY AT ALL

I knew it! Hehee.....I'm a bit late in responding! I wondered to myself, who pissed Elie off now?!

I'm not getting what irritated Gid so much about this. I can't believe he'd blacklist someone for something that happened on someone else's blog...

Baker,

Because this was a response to a statement made on my blog during which moderateman interpreted me to say that only Christians go to heaven, a fact I did NOT say and was careful to choose my words so that it was CLEAR I wasn't saying it. This was, in short, a pretty clear "answer blog" (why do I know this? because of the comments mod DID leave on my article!)

I am tired of having to put qualifiers before everything I say to avoid offending everyone. Moderateman is no exception. If he took offense to something I DID say, that would be one thing, although it WAS clearly labelled as an OPINION. The fact that he took offense to something I did NOT say irritates me even more.