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Originally posted by Deetermined
reply to post by 3NL1GHT3N3D1
A camel going through the eye of a needle? Read: impossible. So that means it is even more impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. So since the church is the richest in the world, wouldn't that mean it is impossible for them to get there? Yes!
The "eye of the needle" was the smaller gate within a larger gate in Jerusalem. The larger gate was closed at night and people could only enter into the city through the smaller gate at night. Not impossible for a camel to go through, but it was much more difficult.
Just where is that gate in Jerusalem?
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
(Matthew 19:24) For the last two centuries it has been common teaching in Sunday School that there is a gate in Jerusalem called the eye of the needle, through which a camel could not pass unless it stooped and first had all its baggage first removed. After dark, when the main gates were shut, travellers or merchants would have to use this smaller gate, through which the camel could only enter unencumbered and crawling on its knees!
Great sermon material, with the parallels of coming to God on our knees without all our baggage. A lovely story and an excellent parable for preaching but unfortunately unfounded! From at least the 15th century, and possibly as early as the 9th but not earlier, this story has been put forth, however, there is no evidence for such a gate, nor record of reprimand of the architect who may have forgotten to make a gate big enough for the camel and rider to pass through unhindered. www.biblicalhebrew.com...
Many people have tried to explain this phrase. We believe it means exactly what it says, and does not need watered-down explanations to make it easier for a rich man to enter Heaven. We will show you why.
Small gate?
Some say the needle's eye, or the eye of the needle, was a small gate at the entrance of Jerusalem and other cities. When the city-keepers had locked the main gates, camels and their owners who arrived after hours could squeeze through this gate.
But scholars have searched in vain to find ancient evidence that people referred to any of these gates as “the eye of a needle”.
www.creationtips.com...
Originally posted by windword
It seems that where people do believe in reincarnation, people are less likely to be scared or think the children are "demon possessed" because of their memories, and therefore their claims are researched instead of mocked or dismissed as childhood fantasy.
He is referring to the fact that (according to Stevenson), reincarnations appear to coincide with the cultural beliefs of the society in which they are reported. For example, in cultures where they believe that you cannot change sex in a reincarnation, they don’t report cases of changed sex reincarnation. To me, these are indications that the children and/or the adults observing them are (knowingly or subconsciously), applying their pre-learned cultural beliefs to make the stories fit. In other words, this is a reason to doubt reincarnation. (Source)
The child remembered lying in a hospital longing to speak with Leila, the daughter of a Lebanese woman who had died thousands of miles away in Virginia. The child could name all the woman's relatives and recalled wanting to ask her brother to ensure that her daughters received her jewels.
In such a case in Lebanon, for instance, a 5-year-old boy talked about a village that was 50 kilometers away, describing events in a man's life and naming his relatives, Stevenson said. "He also talked a great deal about a woman who turned out to have been his mistress and described [a rifle] the man had owned," he said.
He added that children in Asia are also often discouraged from speaking about the past lives they remember -- not from skepticism, but because they don't like what the child says, or they believe the child may become ill because of the apparent memories.
"These children can be troublesome, especially if they say they came from a higher class or caste, and they grumble about the food and the clothes. They can also become tediously repetitive in talking about their past life, sometimes including pretty sordid murders," he said.
Oddly enough, according to the foremost scientific reincarnation researcher, when people do believe in reincarnation, their children's stories are completely in harmony with their beliefs, even when in direct conflict with other groups' beliefs in the same phenomenon..
Grumbling about food and clothes?
Murders?
Of course, I've already shared where I think this information truly comes from.
Originally posted by Deetermined
reply to post by windword
Let's take a look at someone who has studied this phenomena and what these children have to say.
"Stevenson studies children who remember past lives"
www.virginia.edu...
Let's look at the second paragraph...
The child remembered lying in a hospital longing to speak with Leila, the daughter of a Lebanese woman who had died thousands of miles away in Virginia. The child could name all the woman's relatives and recalled wanting to ask her brother to ensure that her daughters received her jewels.
One of the first messages this deceased spirit wants to pass on to their surviving relatives is where their jewels are?
Here's another one...
In such a case in Lebanon, for instance, a 5-year-old boy talked about a village that was 50 kilometers away, describing events in a man's life and naming his relatives, Stevenson said. "He also talked a great deal about a woman who turned out to have been his mistress and described [a rifle] the man had owned," he said.
Mistresses and guns?
He added that children in Asia are also often discouraged from speaking about the past lives they remember -- not from skepticism, but because they don't like what the child says, or they believe the child may become ill because of the apparent memories.
"These children can be troublesome, especially if they say they came from a higher class or caste, and they grumble about the food and the clothes. They can also become tediously repetitive in talking about their past life, sometimes including pretty sordid murders," he said.
Grumbling about food and clothes?
Murders?
Of course, I've already shared where I think this information truly comes from.
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Originally posted by windword
reply to post by adjensen
And so it is with Christians who see visions of St. Mary, or hear the voice of God.
-------------------------- @windword: ADDITIONAL EDIT: That's TWO OF US in this very thread who had cued up a different copy/paste and inserted it. Uh Oh!!!
Originally posted by wildtimes
did you watch the video program that wind posted? It has Stevenson himself discussing the 'frailties' of the research. Ian Stevenson is the foremost researcher on these phenomena.....
he even hired a lawyer to review his thousands of files to ensure that they were objective and scientific. Unfortunately, he was unable to say "aye" or "nay" to the discovered 'facts' around the children's memories. He's no hack. But, he honestly admits that further research needs to be done, even that it may not be possible to prove it.
From what I've read, the majority of his studies were of things that had already happened,
Originally posted by wildtimes
What little kid knows about jewels and guns and murders and mistresses? Very few, and even if they have heard conversations, we have to remember that they are little kids - who don't understand those concepts until later age.