Total Consent to the Will of God

Originally posted by Wonders
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

I am a veteran. Killing a person does not make life more bearable.

I haven't followed this from previous posts. It struck me hard enough to make this comment. My brother fought and killed people in Viet Nam. He was trained to do it. It was his job to do it.

And then his job was over. He had to come home and live like a civilized human being again. He said it was really hard to get on with life because he couldn't kill people that either got in his way, or just deserved it. He got addicted to xanax, and someone in a restaurant asked him why he ate so many of them. My brother's response was, " I eat so many of them so I don't kill you."

Killing makes life more UN-bearable.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Wonders

 

Does the phrase "Go and sin no more." mean anything to you? Your answer there would be the determining factor on whether you were paying attention to what Jesus said.

How do we learn without sin?

What is the POINT of life without sin???

God gives us life and then says, Don't do anything. What the hell good is that? lol

Don't lust after beautiful women. Don't even think about it.
Oh, I'm thinking about it. A LOT!

If someone strikes you, turn the other cheek.
Okay, I'll turn the other cheek, but only because I'm heading that way to get my baseball bat.

If somebody steals your coat, give him your shirt too.
Well, I'll give him my wife, but NOT my shirt!

reply to post by jiggerj


Ha. I hadn't anticipated a response like that. You know, that is the drawback in becoming a condoned killer. You begin to see it as a quick-fix, a solution that covers all bases. If you don't like it, destroy it. It's reminiscent of the Christian god, it really is.

I'm not sure what to say about your brother. The fact that he became so used to judging his fellow man, so used to destroying what he can't understand, is a little disturbing. To kill someone because you are unable to comprehend their nature is a weakness, a terrible weakness. It means that should you find yourself unable to comprehend something about yourself, you will be unable to overcome it because you're so used to obliterating problems instead of giving them the chance to unfold into something greater.

In the movie "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", Gandalf says to Bilbo:

"True strength comes from knowing when to take a life...and when to spare one."

If you kill someone because they annoy you or you THINK they don't deserve to live, then you are too weak to take the hard road. If you feel they are wrong, show them how they are wrong. Show them what you think is right. Show them your convictions in action. Your brother seems aware of this to some extent, but I think he took the wrong lessons from the battlefield.

And that is testament to the horrible effect war has upon us. We come away believing we are worthy of deciding another's fate. Life is more than just convenience. I sincerely hope your brother is taking anger management, because he has some problems he needs to confront. It is not my business that he should do so, but I believe it will help him considerably. And if he is already seeking guidance, then he is fighting himself.

Maybe a Buddhist can help him.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by jiggerj

 

And that is testament to the horrible effect war has upon us. We come away believing we are worthy of deciding another's fate. Life is more than just convenience. I sincerely hope your brother is taking anger management, because he has some problems he needs to confront. It is not my business that he should do so, but I believe it will help him considerably. And if he is already seeking guidance, then he is fighting himself.

Maybe a Buddhist can help him.

Nice, honest response, AI. My brother passed away three years ago. He had been diagnosed with PTSD and agent orange, and died of cancer. If not for his wife and kids I think it would have been easy for him to become one of these mass shooters. He had a terrible phobia about having sharp knives in the house. I remember stories of him being a knife man in the war. I'm not sure what that entails, but it sounds like up close and very personal with the enemy.

He was ten years older than me, so I was 8 or 9 when he went to Viet Nam. I wanted so bad to go with him. Now, with all the stories I've listened to from Viet Nam Vets, I am so glad I didn't go. I don't think I could've handled it any better than my brother.

reply to post by jiggerj


That is why killing is so frowned upon. Such acts, especially when they become so habitual, make it very tempting to become a judge of others, to take their fate into our own hands. Since when has a human being been such a fitting judge for the lives of his fellow men? To decide in three seconds whether the man should live to kiss his wife or choke on his own blood.

Humans are far too emotional, and too easily swayed by personal passions, to make such a heavy decision.

Originally posted by jiggerj

Originally posted by Wonders
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

I am a veteran. Killing a person does not make life more bearable.

I haven't followed this from previous posts. It struck me hard enough to make this comment. My brother fought and killed people in Viet Nam. He was trained to do it. It was his job to do it.

And then his job was over. He had to come home and live like a civilized human being again. He said it was really hard to get on with life because he couldn't kill people that either got in his way, or just deserved it. He got addicted to xanax, and someone in a restaurant asked him why he ate so many of them. My brother's response was, " I eat so many of them so I don't kill you."

Killing makes life more UN-bearable.

Well, while others may generalize when it comes to the military, I wouldn't. I didn't kill anyone during my time in service and I don't think that civilians in general are more civilized than military personnel in general.
Some people may praise veterans and try to persuade others that venerate veterans for their capacity for appreciation of their lives and the lives of others and THEN go on to say how bloodthirsty and uncivilized and all too emotional veterans are...whatever's convienient I guess.

reply to post by Wonders


This is beside the point. I didn't sign a contract coming to this earth, and if I did, I should be able to remember it so I know I did this to myself. I didn't choose to be born. So why must I give myself over? Why must I surrender? I have no free will at all, apparently. No signature on the dotted line, no sworn oath to sell my soul for a kind of immortality I don't want, nothing. This is not what I wanted at any time.

So why the total consent? Because his ego couldn't take it if I refused? So he can throw one of his beloved children in a fiery lake for all of eternity? I don't call that a father. I call that a drunken tyrant.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Wonders

 

So why the total consent? Because his ego couldn't take it if I refused? So he can throw one of his beloved children in a fiery lake for all of eternity? I don't call that a father. I call that a drunken tyrant.

It will only be you that suffers if you argue with reality.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


The only proof I have ever seen that the Christian god is a reality, is the effect such beliefs have had on the people I've encountered in my lifetime. Not that impressive, really. Just makes me more averse to giving the guy my soul. Or control over my life. Or my love. Or anything, really.

Let alone "total consent" to his will. Yeah, to hell with that noise.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


What is happening is done by the will of God. If you don't like what is happening (it could be sitting in a traffic jam, or reading a post) then you are arguing with reality.
Arguing with 'what is' hurts - have you not noticed?

Reality is not difficult, it is only difficult when you want it to be different. And then it is you who is being difficult (and delusional).
The 'you' who wants different is making your life hell.
Life is heaven when the 'you' who does not like surrenders to God will.

reply to post by Itisnowagain

What is happening is done by the will of God. If you don't like what is happening (it could be sitting in a traffic jam, or reading a post) then you are arguing with reality.
Arguing with 'what is' hurts - have you not noticed?

I'm arguing with the SANITY of reality.

"It just is" is a stupid argument, and completely devoid of integrity.

Reality is not difficult, it is only difficult when you want it to be different. And then it is you who is being difficult (and delusional).
The 'you' who wants different is making your life hell.
Life is heaven when the 'you' who does not like surrenders to God will.

Looking around, I think "different" could be very, very healthy for all of us. But we can't have that, can we?

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Wanting something else is madness. The mind does not see that this is what is. It does not want this, it wants different.
God said worship no 'other'. Because in reality there is no 'other' but the mind says it does not want 'what is' and so invents 'other' and people live in a world built inside the mind which is hellish.

reply to post by Itisnowagain

Wanting something else is madness. The mind does not see that this is what is. It does not want this, it wants different.

Having a different opinion without persecution is never madness, it's FREEDOM. But when the difference of opinion leads to conflicting desires leads to one desire overriding another leads to one man with his foot on another's back...that's when the problem arises. That's when it becomes madness.

So really, I would venture to suggest that your "God" is the meaning of madness. Ever seen I Robot? That's what I'm talking about. Our creation of a supernatural guardian has lead to groundless doctrine tying our hands and feet and making us dependent on a brand of spirituality that serves as nothing but a Vicodin addiction in the face of all the destruction we're allowing to happen.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


When there is no need for anything, when there is no need to become more or get more than there is here, right now, there is a relaxation into boudlessness. That is freedom.
When there is a wanting and a needing, you will be easily enslaved by promises. Wanting and needing manifest as greed and fear of loss. The mind promises that it will be better......but when? If not now? Always now.

That feeling that drives you to search for that which will complete you is happening presently. If you actually go into the feeling instead of searching in mind, in thought or in time or space, you might find that which completes you is here and now. Here and now - the only place and time there ever was and ever will be in your experience. The mind cannot supply something that is not here, it can only promise and tease.
Don't be lost in thought, lost in time. Find yourelf here and now and as you do you will disappear - you will be raptured.

reply to post by Itisnowagain

When there is a wanting and a needing, you will be easily enslaved by promises.

Sounds like Christianity.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

When there is a wanting and a needing, you will be easily enslaved by promises.

Sounds like Christianity.

It is the human condition. Wanting what you don't have and not wanting what you do have. It's madness.
How can there be love when there is so much wanting, so much lack that has to be filled?

Arguing with reality and demanding more like spoilt children is the human condition. But who is hurting? Is it reality or you that feels it?

reply to post by Itisnowagain

It is the human condition. Wanting what you don't have and not wanting what you do have. It's madness.

Yep. You're right. I have conditional life and all I want is the freedom to die happily. Not eternal life - just to fade into the night with a smile on my face, knowing that I'd taught someone what love can be.

How can there be love when there is so much wanting, so much lack that has to be filled?

"That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.” - Stephen King

When love stays locked within, not for want of an expressive touch, but for want of an understanding heart. Filling voids is only a problem when you don't know what to fill it with. I know what to fill it with. I know what I want in life.

I don't think you understand what life is about. All your cryptic messages and riddles, I think it's all because you really don't know what you're talking about. I know how I want to die. Do you? Do you want to die at all? Do you even know what death is? What ending is? What change, transition, or damnation is?

I don't think you do. I don't think you know what truly grinds the gears of the mind and soul. But I'll tell you that while I don't have a perfect understanding, I understand a lot. And I can truthfully say that no god who designs a lake of fire for his children is ever purely benevolent, merciful, or loving. Because no god would ever create the necessity for such a place, nor would they ever hold their flaws against that which reveals them.

We get upset when a student shoots a teacher. So why do we not hold "God" responsible when he condemns us for showing him the flaws he gave us? We get upset when an artist trashes his masterpiece, because it was unique and valuable, and it was a piece of him. So why would a god destroy his children, even if he isn't satisfied? We are unique and valuable, and we are a piece of him.

So for every soul that is ever damned, a piece of him is also damned. And for every piece that is given to total consent, so is a piece of him locked in place, unable to escape himself when it becomes too much. And when you are chained to your own passion, you become chained to your own pyre. When you are unable to step away, you will be caught in the fury and the cold. You will be engulfed in the maelstrom of energy that embodies your heart. You will burn.

Just like "God".

Originally posted by AfterInfinity

We get upset when a student shoots a teacher. So why do we not hold "God" responsible when he condemns us for showing him the flaws he gave us? We get upset when an artist trashes his masterpiece, because it was unique and valuable, and it was a piece of him. So why would a god destroy his children, even if he isn't satisfied? We are unique and valuable, and we are a piece of him.

Who gets upset when i student shoots a teacher? I don't.
No one is responsible - the happening is happening. You can either hate what you see and hear or just accept it and move on. What is you hating it going to do to improve what has happened? You hurt yourself, you can't blame god because you can't see what is.

reply to post by Itisnowagain

Who gets upset when i student shoots a teacher? I don't.

...Your Honor, I rest my case.

Itisnowagain, I have nothing further to say to you. You have a whole different view of reality, and that's cool for you. But seeing as how you clearly don't see anything the way I do, I cannot communicate with you in this matter. I would have to take a flying leap from my platform to yours, and I don't do that. I take methodical steps. You have provided none.

Good day to you.