I apologize to all Christians and the Religious, page 1
Pages: <<  1    2    3    4  >>
ATS Members have flagged this thread 6 times
Topic started on 16-7-2008 @ 01:35 AM by dunwichwitch
Hello there.

I've been on ATS for just about a year now, most of that time under the name indierockalien. I had the penchant to bash religious people for being weak minded and foolish and easily led. It was very wrong of me. I probably never seriously hurt anyone's feelings, but looking back, I made a complete a-hole out of myself by doing this. Who am I to judge people's hopes?

It would be a shame to live in a world where nobody had any hope beyond just what can be physically seen, and whether you do that through Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, new age, general spiritualism, the most important thing is that you believe, and even better, that you KNOW that life is not all about what can be seen and touched and grasped and owned.

Myself lately, I've come to a very curious crossroads. I've had some very revealing experiences... but I don't think I know enough on my own to truly make perfect sense of it all and make peace with the blinding light of truth. Do I take this spiritual path on my own? Do I trust myself to random new age sometimes cult-like methods? Do I take that often confusing and disturbing journey inward by way of my own flawed judgment on something that's bigger than all of the minds in the galaxy combined? It is within me, but can I trust my ego to guide me fairly?

Quite the contrary to my old Christian bashing ways, I've decided that Christianity seems to be the way to go. I'm not talking about Orthodox Christianity. I have seen too much to take the Bible literally. I'm talking about the path of Gnostic Christian Mysticism.

A member of this site emailed me about a few of the posts I had made, and said that he was a Christian mystic, and I should check it out. I don't think I emailed him back right away haha. A curious thing happened, though. I was at Borders, looking through the metaphysics section, when all the sudden I saw this book just sticking out at me, like it was begging me to pick it up. I was hesitant because it had a big picture of Jesus on the front... but the title intrigued me to no end.

It was called Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ: A Gnostic Christian Kabbalah by Tau Malachi. Not only was the phrase Cosmic Christ pretty bitchin' sounding, but it was just the most synchronistic of events because only a day or two prior, this person had u2u'd me about Gnostic Christian mysticism.

Reading the book a bit, I was amazed to find out that much of the Gnostic Christian teachings are very much in line with my philosophies about the universe. I had, within the last year, come to a conclusion during meditation that within every single individual thing on Earth, there contains the potential for the whole. Everything is a fractal of itself. Which means that everything is God. We are all God, underneath all of our layers. This is what the Christian Kaballah teaches. This is what Jesus taught. This is what the mysteries of every religion teach.

I have no choice now BUT to have faith the Jesus was exactly the thing he claimed to be. I feel the kind of burden he must have felt, only the difference is that I don't have all the esoteric knowledge of exactly how it all works. I just know the beginning and the end, and that knowledge alone is too heavy to bear all alone like this. I have read quite a few pieces of the bible and the gnostic texts that confirm my knowledge to be 100 percent accurate. Read the Gospel of Thomas, and you'll find many references to it.

It's very strange, me running headfirst into all of this. Even though for the longest time I was an athiest, and even when I was into spiritual matters but against any form of religion, I had always been attracted to the story of Jesus. What would it have been like to be the Messiah, the bearer of such HEAVY duty knowledge? It must have weighed on his conscience like a ton of bricks. One of my favorite movies was always The Last Temptation of Christ.
(Willem Defoe as a tortured and disturbed Jesus? What a great idea!)

Anyway...

Mainly, I'd just like to send my apologies to all the faithful out there. Maybe you have certain dogmas I would still disagree with, but the important thing is that you have faith in something more than this fallible flesh.

Unless you are a spiteful pessimist, you cannot deny the beauty and truth in much of what Jesus taught. You could say it was all made up, and that Jesus never existed... but then you're missing the message, and instead shooting the messenger, and that is the definition of ignorance, my friends.

Thank you and peace.


reply posted on 16-7-2008 @ 01:40 AM by Alexander_Supertramp
reply to post by dunwichwitch



I agree with you on a lot of the points you have made. Especially that whether people believe Jesus existed or not, his teachings show us how to act. I don't think it matters whether someone has the "right" religion or not, but how they treat others.

I don't know much about Gnostic Christianity, could you put a site or something up so I could research it? I've read a little bit but just enough to get a general idea, and I did agree with a lot of it myself.


reply posted on 16-7-2008 @ 01:57 AM by dunwichwitch
I've been meaning to check out that book forever.

And here's some links to gnostic christian websites:

Sophian Fellowship

Wiki Christian Mysticism

What is Christian Mysticism?

I'm not too deep into this stuff yet, but I do know it's not for everyone.

I squirm still, but it's just because I have been so biased against any form of Christianity for SO long... and now I'm very timidly reaching out to figure out just what those crazy desciples were on about all those years ago when Christianity first started. I can't go wrong studying and gently practicing it, can I? There must me some truth to it all, because why did the Romans and the Hebrews oppose and oppress the religion so bad at first, only to turn around and completely distort it and lose all of the original meaning? It must have shown people a path that flew directly in the face of every authority one could possibly give their power away to... and we all know how the authority feels about people who gain their power and their responsibility for themselves and the world back.


reply posted on 16-7-2008 @ 11:05 AM by jmdewey60
reply to post by dunwichwitch



I think it's a great idea to eliminate that fear of death and the need to be preoccupied with the gain of material things (which is also a byproduct of the fear of being finite), and that is what is at the HEART of the teachings of Jesus.

I think these concepts should be within our grasp from reading the canonical Gospels.
The Gnostics created their own gospels in order to introduce their own concepts that Jesus did not necessarily teach.
I do not think full-on mysticism is the way to go.
What if you die before you attain your own salvation?
Would it not be better to rely on a salvation, already completed in Christ?


reply posted on 16-7-2008 @ 11:22 AM by kidflash2008
reply to post by dunwichwitch



You don't need to apologize for past posts but it is a nice peace gesture. I am glad you are willing to learn more and will treat everyone else with dignity. I am also interested in the Gnostic part of Christianity and want to thank you for the sites.


reply posted on 16-7-2008 @ 01:20 PM by jmdewey60
reply to post by SpeakerofTruth



I also feel that people should leave other people's beliefs alone.

I believe in leaving PEOPLE alone, as in not persecuting them.
As for people's beliefs, well, if you want to put them out, you have to expect some questioning.
Pages: <<  1    2    3    4  >>    ^^TOP^^



I Am Christ-The Almighty!
  Posted 9 days ago with 12 member flags
The Pope\'s Advice for ATS (and others)
  Posted 15 days ago with 10 member flags
God\'s Judgment on homosexuality.
  Posted 12 days ago with 10 member flags
The Bringer of Light
  Posted 9 days ago with 10 member flags
Christ! My Hero!
  Posted 4 days ago with 9 member flags
WTF just happend to me?
  Posted 2 days ago with 9 member flags
End of the world, You should start paying attention! WW3
  Posted 8 days ago with 8 member flags
Van Gogh\'s "Starry Night"
  Posted 18 days ago with 7 member flags