The Way to a Happy Life for Dummies - What can Set you Free from this Life Below? Suffering!

Buddha - Dhammapada

Chapter 1 - Choices

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

---you are the ox pulling the burden in life as the wheel turns. You must be born again. That wheel will turn until you see the answer. When you do, the burden is lifted and you exit the wheel.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.

"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate.
"Look how he abused me and hurt me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in love.

---Love is the answer. Stop looking at you and start focusing on what you can do for others.

In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.

---Only positive can walk negative back to zero.

You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?
How easily the wind overturns a frail tree.

--How can you be solid as a rock and a strong tree planted on firm ground? What do you do first?

Seek happiness in the senses,
Indulge in food and sleep,
And you too will be uprooted.
The wind cannot overturn a mountain.
Temptation cannot touch the man
Who is awake, strong and humble,
Who masters himself and minds the dharma (Law / Right thinking).
If a man's thoughts are muddy,
If he is reckless and full of deceit,
How can he wear the yellow robe (honor)?

---Start with food. It's the most obvious. Then move to the other senses. Take control.

Whoever is master of his own nature,
Bright, clear and true,
He may indeed wear the yellow robe.
Mistaking the false for the true,
And the true for the false,
You overlook the heart
And fill yourself with desire.
See the false as false,
The true as true.

---Stop ignoring truth. Deny ignorance.

Look into your heart.
Follow your nature.
An unreflecting mind is a poor roof.

---Meditate on your life. Focus on one solution at a time. Patch one hole in the roof each day.

Passion, like the rain, floods the house.
But if the roof is strong, there is shelter.
Whoever follows impure thoughts
Suffers in this world and the next.
In both worlds he suffers
And how greatly
When he sees the wrong he has done.

---Suffering is the point of life. Smoke, and you suffer health problems. Go to the Gym and suffer work and you gain health. Suffer on purpose. It's the unavoidable truth of life. It makes you a better person. Stop doing things that cause you to suffer as a result.

But whoever follows the dharma (Law)
Is joyful here and joyful there.
In both worlds he rejoices
And how greatly
When he sees the good he has done.

---This key is important. You exist in two worlds at the same time. Below, you are a human. Above, you are an Angel awaiting your call to wake from slumber. This life is the dream that prepares you for the next.

For great is the harvest in this world,
And greater still in the next.

---Sow seeds in this life to reap in the next. I will explain below.

However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act upon them?

---The point of ATS is to deny ignorance. Stop ignoring truth and this task is complete.

Are you a shepherd
Who counts another man's sheep,
Never sharing the way?

---The way is not that hard to find. The truth is what you lean from philosophy. Only life comes from another source.

Read as few words as you like,
And speak fewer.
But act upon the dharma (Law).
Give up the old ways -
Passion, enmity, folly.
Know the truth and find peace.
Share the way.

Now that you have read the way, I will assume you already know the western concepts of the Truth (Philosophy). If you will listen, let me share the Life with you.

John 14

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Earlier, I stated that you are Human. Many people think they are a human having a spiritual experience. This is not true. You are a Spiritual being having a human experience. You are existing with one foot in each domain. You are dwelling at the threshold of each world. How do you get past the dweller on the threshold and exit this tipping point between Earth below and Heaven above?

First, educate yourself on why you are both an Angel and a Child of God on the Earth.

Matthew 18 - Quantum Entanglement Explained

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

---Where do you rank as a child of God? A child is open to learning. They lack judgment. When we welcome children, we welcome God into our lives. This is symbolism for seeing yourself as the one in the classroom. It is not seeing the classroom as a place to play. Focus on the lesson and become a good student. Compare this to any classroom. Who learns in the classroom? The child that pays attention to the lesson.

6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

---Again. What is the point of this life? Learning. Help others instead of being the stumbling-block to their own education.

10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

---And here is the key to the entire thing. You are the child of God here. You are in the classroom. Above, you face the Father as an Angel. YOU are in both worlds. You are awake here and asleep there.

12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

---God is the headmaster of this school. We are the children learning. He is the Shepherd of the flock.

Continued next post...

Entanglement

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[d] 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in heaven.

19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

---If we agree together below, God is faithful to adjust us above. Ask forgiveness and you are forgiven. Ask for guidance and receive it. Ask for selfish desire and you will be denied. God gives, but only to empower your improvement or to assist you in doing the same for someone else. What you bind here is bound there. What you loose there is loosed here. You are entangled to your higher nature. Your higher nature is entangled to your choices here. You make the next robe you wear.

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

-- Do you want to be forgiven? The forgive others. Do you want to see happiness in this life and the next? Then reciprocate between the two. Honor the teacher.

Deny ignorance. To do this, stop ignoring truth.

Jesus is the way:

Eightfold Path and Way (Eastern)

The Truth (Western)

The Life (Salvation from the Classroom)

As much of this thread sources buddhism to begin with, an apt addition is this rather insightful Zen proverb: Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
Do we see the distinction - pain is a matter of physicality; suffering is a matter of mentality.


LOVE

Seemed pretty interesting until you got into the retarded Jesus mumbo jumbo. Have fun with that.

awake1234
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
Do we see the distinction - pain is a matter of physicality; suffering is a matter of mentality.

As a person who is chronically ill with a progressive painful disease or two .... and as a person who has passed a 4mm kidney stone (and has more still in the kidneys) .... I can tell you for a fact that suffering is NOT a matter of mentality but it is a matter of PHYSICAL PAIN.

I say phoooooeeeey on 'suffering is a matter of mentality'.

Try telling that to THIS CHILD
I double dog dare you a'll to tell that child his suffering is all in the mind.

reply to post by FlyersFan


The pain has physical causes, there is no arguing that fact, but the way in which that pain signal is processed is all down to mental acuity, this shown in instances where people demonstrate great pain tolerance.

Pain managed mentally is one extreme of the spectrum, not taking offence to what someone says to you is the other. Both reactions are controlled by mind, it takes a lot of training to develop the abilities to choose our response to every interaction.

As humans we are in the unique situation of being able to self manage our life situation mentally, for example: I have seen people in India living in abject poverty, with great happiness in their hearts - where in contrast I have seen westerners who have everything leading miserable lives. How can this be so? It's all down to how we use our minds.

I thought I'd share this thoughtful insight in 'letting go' - but one should really read the whole article in the link below.

The abandoning — in which you refrain from unskillful thoughts, words, and deeds inspired by craving — is obviously an antidote to clinging. The developing, though, plays a more paradoxical role, for you have to hold to the skillful qualities of mindfulness, concentration, and discernment that foster awareness until they're fully mature. Only then can you let them go. It's like climbing a ladder to get on a roof: you grab hold of a higher rung so that you can let go of a lower rung, and then grab onto a rung still higher. As the rungs get further off the ground, your view gets more expansive and you can see precisely where the mind's clingings are. You get a sharper sense of which parts of experience belong to which noble truth and what should be done with them: the parts that are suffering should be comprehended; the parts that cause suffering should be abandoned; the parts that form the path to the end of suffering should be further developed; and the parts that belong to the end of suffering should be verified. This helps you get higher and higher on the ladder until you find yourself securely on the roof. That's when you can finally let go of the ladder and be totally free.

So the real question we face is not God's question, passing judgment on how skillfully he created life or the world. It's our question: how skillfully are we handling the raw stuff of life? Are we clinging in ways that serve only to continue the round of suffering, or are we learning to hold to the ladder-like qualities that will eliminate craving and ignorance so that we can grow up and not have to cling. If we negotiate life armed with all four noble truths, realizing that life contains both suffering and an end to suffering, there's hope: hope that we'll be able to sort out which parts of life belong to which truth; hope that someday, in this life, we'll discover the brightness at the point where we can agree with the Buddha, "Oh. Yes. This is the end of suffering and stress."

www.accesstoinsight.org...

I agree, to an extent. I'm no type of religious, my question is, don't we or shouldn't we know or feel what's right from wrong from our subconscious? I mean, a "sin" is what we feel guilty of right? So what exactly is a "sin"? Something a book said it was to make us feel guilty thus mongering fear and allowing us to believe (at least not me) that we're gonna burn for eternity and blah blah? We all have our own beliefs and I was open enough to read your bible passages, but the whole "throwing this into the fire" thing? Not buying it. I believe we all have the ability to create our own paths as our days go, focusing on now, not the next hour or the past, but now. I agree that love conquers all, but once again, why should a book try and make people think that almost 90 percent of things they do are a "sin" and will send them to "hell" ?

reply to post by EnochWasRight

Stop ignoring truth. Deny ignorance. Look into your heart. Follow your nature.

This is where the paths outside the Body of Christ can cloud the Waters.

Psalm 51:5
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Those that heed the call of Wisdom will follow the Path that Invites the Holy Spirit within, not the sinful nature inherited at birth that can lead hearts astray.

First, educate yourself on why you are both an Angel and a Child of God on the Earth.

? I am not aware of any basis for such belief that aligns with Bible Testimony and how you came to such interpretation based upon the scriptures included.
"Can men become angels?
No, not in their heavenly form: 1 Corinthians 15:42; Hebrew 9:27; Revelation 7:9-14.
Yes LIKE an angel in character: 2 Samuel 19:27; Acts 6:15; Galatians 4:14.
Yes as a messenger: 1 Chronicles 21:11; 2 Samuel 2:5; 1Kings 19:2; Malachi 2:7; Luke 7:27; James 2:25."
"For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are LIKE angels in heaven." Matthew 22:30
www.bible.ca...

Thank you for sharing the Light of Truth within that you did. Flagged.

claud9
I agree, to an extent. I'm no type of religious, my question is, don't we or shouldn't we know or feel what's right from wrong from our subconscious? I mean, a "sin" is what we feel guilty of right? So what exactly is a "sin"? Something a book said it was to make us feel guilty thus mongering fear and allowing us to believe (at least not me) that we're gonna burn for eternity and blah blah? We all have our own beliefs and I was open enough to read your bible passages, but the whole "throwing this into the fire" thing? Not buying it. I believe we all have the ability to create our own paths as our days go, focusing on now, not the next hour or the past, but now. I agree that love conquers all, but once again, why should a book try and make people think that almost 90 percent of things they do are a "sin" and will send them to "hell" ?

It's not about what constitutes sin, but what constitutes invariant law. Gravity is a law of nature. This one law then restricts action. It is the law that is a guardian. Faith sets us free from law. Of course, we can't have faith apart from hope and love. They are part of the same package. If one is missing, then the other two falter. I would assume hell is reserved for those souls rejecting any one of the three aspects of salvation. Faith, Hope and Love are all states of mind. Skepticism, Hopelessness and Hatred do nothing to abide in law.

Galatians 3

23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I started off admiring this thread...Dhammapada and all...

Spiritual rules/laws are spiritual...
Physical rules/laws are physical...

The one follows the other...existing in 2 places at once, and all that...

Buddhism has no saviour mechanism...tying christianity and buddhism in this way is disingenuous...there is no 'God put you here to suffer, seek out the ONE true saviour, using free will given by God who will allow you to burn in hell for negotiating laws that take more than a lifetime to discover'...that's hogwash...and that's not what buddhism says...

The saviour mechanism is a jumbled mess of God is within you (indeed, why-how were you put here?), SLAM - you're incarnated, get yourself out of this mess - I disown you, unless you adhere to these spiritual rules - from there, my friend, you're dancing with that other made-up character (that God 'created')...

The laws would need to be shown to be consistent across all paradigms - physical and spiritual...christianity does not do this...albeit it's borrowed cosmological teachings.

Å99

reply to post by EnochWasRight


May I ask a stupid question here?

When Prince Guatama supposedly reached Enlightenment, why is it he called first on Guanyin, the mother goddess of mercy and compassion?

He said a lot of nice things along the way, but then why did he call on a goddess for mercy?

Was it to end his suffering, do you suppose? Was it to end the suffering of others? Because he called out to the goddess of mercy kind of negates everything he said before that moment, because in the end, he desired mercy. He could not escape suffering just by thinking that way. He didn't call out "Dharma" or that big word you used, he called out for mercy from a goddess.

He can't have it two ways, he can't say there is only the path to enlightenment, and then say there are gods, goddesses and a God, which in his day was called Shang Di, which the Chinese today still call Almighty God.

And he can't say that that your suffering is eased by your thoughts, and then call on an end of suffering from a goddess. So then he could not have achieved enlightenment if at the point of his enlightenment, recognized there was something greater than his own thoughts.

WarminIndy
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

May I ask a stupid question here?

When Prince Guatama supposedly reached Enlightenment, why is it he called first on Guanyin, the mother goddess of mercy and compassion?

He said a lot of nice things along the way, but then why did he call on a goddess for mercy?

Was it to end his suffering, do you suppose? Was it to end the suffering of others? Because he called out to the goddess of mercy kind of negates everything he said before that moment, because in the end, he desired mercy. He could not escape suffering just by thinking that way. He didn't call out "Dharma" or that big word you used, he called out for mercy from a goddess.

He can't have it two ways, he can't say there is only the path to enlightenment, and then say there are gods, goddesses and a God, which in his day was called Shang Di, which the Chinese today still call Almighty God.

And he can't say that that your suffering is eased by your thoughts, and then call on an end of suffering from a goddess. So then he could not have achieved enlightenment if at the point of his enlightenment, recognized there was something greater than his own thoughts.

'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'

...the Son of God, already enlightened...

Å99

WarminIndy
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

May I ask a stupid question here?

When Prince Guatama supposedly reached Enlightenment, why is it he called first on Guanyin, the mother goddess of mercy and compassion?

He said a lot of nice things along the way, but then why did he call on a goddess for mercy?

Was it to end his suffering, do you suppose? Was it to end the suffering of others? Because he called out to the goddess of mercy kind of negates everything he said before that moment, because in the end, he desired mercy. He could not escape suffering just by thinking that way. He didn't call out "Dharma" or that big word you used, he called out for mercy from a goddess.

He can't have it two ways, he can't say there is only the path to enlightenment, and then say there are gods, goddesses and a God, which in his day was called Shang Di, which the Chinese today still call Almighty God.

And he can't say that that your suffering is eased by your thoughts, and then call on an end of suffering from a goddess. So then he could not have achieved enlightenment if at the point of his enlightenment, recognized there was something greater than his own thoughts.

Suffering is the point. His platform was that suffering could be eliminated. He was incorrect. Life comes from the suffering we do for others. This is the point of Christ showing us true life.

Here is an example. Smoke and you suffer lost vitality. Why? Taking a reward ends in suffering. Flip this to the other direction. Go to a Gym and suffer exercise. What happens when you do? Suffering brings reward. Suffering is unavoidable. Only the suffering you do on purpose brings reward and life. Some of the most handicapped people in the world are the hardest workers, living full and fruitful lives. Some of the most capable people in the world end up with cardboard signs on the side of the road, begging for survival. What is the difference? Take from life and there is imbalance. Give and you reap reward. This is not the Way, it is the Life. Buddha had it wrong.

Why did he call on the Mother? Who knows. Maybe he knew the details of the Aleph Mem. We may never know. We do, however, know the Father, Son and Mother today.

EnochWasRight

WarminIndy
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

May I ask a stupid question here?

When Prince Guatama supposedly reached Enlightenment, why is it he called first on Guanyin, the mother goddess of mercy and compassion?

He said a lot of nice things along the way, but then why did he call on a goddess for mercy?

Was it to end his suffering, do you suppose? Was it to end the suffering of others? Because he called out to the goddess of mercy kind of negates everything he said before that moment, because in the end, he desired mercy. He could not escape suffering just by thinking that way. He didn't call out "Dharma" or that big word you used, he called out for mercy from a goddess.

He can't have it two ways, he can't say there is only the path to enlightenment, and then say there are gods, goddesses and a God, which in his day was called Shang Di, which the Chinese today still call Almighty God.

And he can't say that that your suffering is eased by your thoughts, and then call on an end of suffering from a goddess. So then he could not have achieved enlightenment if at the point of his enlightenment, recognized there was something greater than his own thoughts.

Suffering is the point. His platform was that suffering could be eliminated. He was incorrect. Life comes from the suffering we do for others. This is the point of Christ showing us true life.

Here is an example. Smoke and you suffer lost vitality. Why? Taking a reward ends in suffering. Flip this to the other direction. Go to a Gym and suffer exercise. What happens when you do? Suffering brings reward. Suffering is unavoidable. Only the suffering you do on purpose brings reward and life. Some of the most handicapped people in the world are the hardest workers, living full and fruitful lives. Some of the most capable people in the world end up with cardboard signs on the side of the road, begging for survival. What is the difference? Take from life and there is imbalance. Give and you reap reward. This is not the Way, it is the Life. Buddha had it wrong.

Why did he call on the Mother? Who knows. Maybe he knew the details of the Aleph Mem. We may never know. We do, however, know the Father, Son and Mother today.

I thought it was a stoopid question...man the answer (as if you had any authority) was absolute junk...'we may never know'...man, you must be a laugh at the Twilight Zone parties you go to...you don't know that...but you're preety damned sure about everything else...man up, and stop spouting crap...

With respect

Å99

reply to post by akushla99


See, I asked a stupid question, and the answer was "I don't know why"....

But at least you responded with a question to my question, and I will give a response to your question.

When Jesus hung on the cross, it was in His full humanity. He had passed the cup with His disciples and since He asked His father to let the cup of what He was about to do, be passed, but then said "Nevertheless, not my will, but THY will be done".

The second cup was not passed, the cup of trembling, the cup of shame. It was His fulness of humanity crying out. Why has God forsaken humanity? But then His very last words were, "It is finished", the separation of God and man and all that had come before, the laws, the rituals, everything, and the plan to bring man back to God, all of that, was now finished because it was done. His work was done, finished, the work of His humanity. He was crying out as a man at that moment.

God did turn away, because God is a holy God. If God had not kept to His plan, since before the beginning of time, then judgment against the world would have come if God had to keep looking. Jesus hung on the cross, bearing the sin of all of humanity. He took that punishment for humanity, and could only do it as a human.

At the moment He died, there was a storm and an earthquake. There was also the same event for Elijah, and that is why those people said He called out to Elias (Elijah), because they knew already what happened to Elijah. But then the veil of the temple was torn apart, no more would man need a priest to go before God, man do it himself individually. That was the middle wall of partition, broken down, as Paul said, and Jesus entered into the temple to take the place of the High Priest, and no more would another sacrifice ever be needed, it was finished.

The natural had just met the spiritual. And it could only happen by the one who had both the human nature and the divine nature.

That's why God had forsaken, because He had to accept the sacrifice. God hadn't forsaken Jesus, He had forsaken the sin of humanity. Which is what Jesus was crying, in the place of humanity. Humanity had cried out, why has God forsaken us. But when that partition was broken, you and I could now come before God on our own.

That veil of the temple was the natural, but it had to also break the wall of partition of our hearts, that in us that separates us from God. It is finished, humanity can now come to God.

WarminIndy
reply to post by akushla99

 

See, I asked a stupid question, and the answer was "I don't know why"....

But at least you responded with a question to my question, and I will give a response to your question.

When Jesus hung on the cross, it was in His full humanity. He had passed the cup with His disciples and since He asked His father to let the cup of what He was about to do, be passed, but then said "Nevertheless, not my will, but THY will be done".

The second cup was not passed, the cup of trembling, the cup of shame. It was His fulness of humanity crying out. Why has God forsaken humanity? But then His very last words were, "It is finished", the separation of God and man and all that had come before, the laws, the rituals, everything, and the plan to bring man back to God, all of that, was now finished because it was done. His work was done, finished, the work of His humanity. He was crying out as a man at that moment.

God did turn away, because God is a holy God. If God had not kept to His plan, since before the beginning of time, then judgment against the world would have come if God had to keep looking. Jesus hung on the cross, bearing the sin of all of humanity. He took that punishment for humanity, and could only do it as a human.

At the moment He died, there was a storm and an earthquake. There was also the same event for Elijah, and that is why those people said He called out to Elias (Elijah), because they knew already what happened to Elijah. But then the veil of the temple was torn apart, no more would man need a priest to go before God, man do it himself individually. That was the middle wall of partition, broken down, as Paul said, and Jesus entered into the temple to take the place of the High Priest, and no more would another sacrifice ever be needed, it was finished.

The natural had just met the spiritual. And it could only happen by the one who had both the human nature and the divine nature.

That's why God had forsaken, because He had to accept the sacrifice. God hadn't forsaken Jesus, He had forsaken the sin of humanity. Which is what Jesus was crying, in the place of humanity. Humanity had cried out, why has God forsaken us. But when that partition was broken, you and I could now come before God on our own.

That veil of the temple was the natural, but it had to also break the wall of partition of our hearts, that in us that separates us from God. It is finished, humanity can now come to God.

Hey...I said the question was stoopid...not you...(and not that I thought you were so precious that you wouldn't see that)...

You, at least have the cohunas to engage in discussion...I have no problem with belief and faith...As long as it resides in discussion and not preaching, without discussion...these OP threads are fascinating, least of all because they pose no question except from OP themselves, which they answer themselves...'Do I think that blah, blah, blah...', 'Well, this explains it well...' That's called a monologue...

What you choose to believe is fantastic...better than having the nous, and, extrapolating in the other direction towards spiritual anarchy...that's why we're 'on the wheel'...

Concurrences between 'operational manuals' don't differ that much...OP tried to use one in a way, I thought was disingenuous...the same, 'I'm right - you're wrong...and here is where it says so in my chosen manual (which by the way, is the ONLY one that has any truth in it)'... that's taking vanity to whole new level, and dressing it in Gods' word, by attributing absolute credence to a word you maintain is completely true, because its written in a book that you believe was written in truth, so it must be true and what follows from that (ad hoc - on the fly interpretation) is swallowed like Danish herrings...around and around in a circle...that's called circular logic...it is internally consistent, but outside of its spinning disc, it's dead-end thinking. I'm not fooled by words, nor thinking.

The similarities are what interests me, and how similar notions get bent into (in christianitys case) complicated checks and balances, in reverse-engineered mitigations that take away from any message that the little golden book might give...Paul said Jesus said this, Peter said Jesus said that...strip away all that 500-hand news, and you have the essence...Roccocco thinking is embellishment for embellishments' sake - substance poor except for the edifice holding it together.

We're here! 'Suffering' is a condition of the locale...we can niether be blamed for its creation, nor the consequences concommitant with navigating its territory - so all this 'sin' guff is blaming a little lamb for having been dropped in the middle of a freeway, leaving it (if it would have the thought) to internally voice to itself...'huh?...my fault?!'...

Essential Buddhism and essential Christianity (to name but 2) are operational manuals for behaviour that will propel the adherant (if followed) in the correct direction...that can't be a bad thing...extrapolations and fabrications on extrapolations is gilding a lily to gain an invisible upper hand...question then becomes...why?

Å99

reply to post by akushla99


I know I'm not stupid, I was just positing a stupid question, because it might be to some people.

But some people just poo poo any question because they don't really have a clear answer. Some people can't be bothered with any question.

And thank you for the props, it made me smile

Conversation is always good.

WarminIndy
reply to post by akushla99

 

I know I'm not stupid, I was just positing a stupid question, because it might be to some people.

But some people just poo poo any question because they don't really have a clear answer. Some people can't be bothered with any question.

Hey (and I abhor this bonmot) 'tell me about it!'...

OP is being gracious in providing the questions and the answers...he he...why would you expect clarification?

Å99

reply to post by akushla99


As the old prophet said..."Come and let us reason together". That to me is a pretty good indication that we should be engaging in questioning and answering together. As none of us holds all the truth, we can only have it in bits and pieces, then there's no problem in trying to figure out what truth is. That's why I never say I know the whole truth, I am just a human with limited human eyesight and understanding.

But I never go on the position that I am the source of all truth, that would be insulting because it removes from others their right to reason with the questions about life and all of that other stuff. If something does not make sense, then you have the right to say it makes no sense.

I can't take that right from any one. It's your mind, use it.

The only thing I don't like is when people misrepresent another view and do it on purpose. I wouldn't come on here and say "Buddhists believe this way" when they don't. So I am defensive also of when people blatantly misrepresent Christianity, but then again, even Christians misrepresent their own faith sometimes.

Come, let us reason together.