Who were you before this life? The Imprisoned Spirit for Dummies

I often read familiar passages from the Bible with new eyes. When I do, I am amazed what I missed the first 100 times I read the passage. These last few thread I have written represent an awakening of sorts for me. The dummies title of my last few threads is not intended as an insult to anyone here on ATS, but to my own lack of understanding on these simple and obvious truths. We are all dummies when it comes to topics hidden in mystery and wrapped in enigma.

There is a great passage in 1 Peter 3 that gives away part of the biblical mystery of who we are here on Earth. Before I get to this, examine this verse in Deuteronomy 4 and another in Galatians 3.

19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 20 But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

---In this passage, we are said to be in bondage to Egypt (Cruel Master) and in a refinery. We are also reminded that the Heavens will be our future inheritance.

Galatians 3

23 Before the coming of this faith,[j] 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.

---Here, we are reminded that the law is a guardian while we are held in custody. Faith removes the law by allowing the mind to attach to love for others. We must first love God for this to engage. God uses our faith to prepare us for departure from this place. Keep this in mind as you read the reason Jesus came here to free the captives. Before you do, ask yourself a few questions: Where do you go when you die? What does it mean to be baptized into the waters of life? Why are we baptized (to repent)? Where were we before we were born again?

1 Peter 3

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.

---If you read the links below, you will see that suffering for something brings reward. Peter agrees on this point. It is also an obvious part of all life. We must work if we desire to eat. Suffering work brings reward. taking reward ends in suffering. Smoke and you harm your health. Workout in a gym and you gain health.

“Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

---Here on ATS, Ad Hominem seems to be the way to answer any thread that deals with truth. I stick to the context of the argument and keep my comments to the truth of the Bible. God is invariable and I try to do the same. God's law is invariable. Many people confuse my threads with an attack on them. Not so. My thread reflect my own struggles in life. I am constantly seeking truth and trying to avoid my own sins in life. All of my threads are outlines for me to follow on this path. If truth judges you from my threads, it is truth only that can accomplish this. I cannot judge anyone.

17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

---Again, my contention that taking reward (like drinking, smoking, overeating...) brings suffering. Suffering on purpose (Like working a job), brings reward. Smoke and you have health problems. Suffer exercise in a gym and you gain life and vitality. This is what he is saying above. Suffer for good. Work for your family. Save your money for your kids rather than spending it on self-gratifying behavior. Again, I do not judge you. The truth may judge you. This is not my work.

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

---This is the pattern. When we suffer in the flesh, we are finished with sin. This is why we must suffer for the benefit of others in this life. You cannot give a gift without earning it first. Christ suffered for us all.

HERE IS THE MYSTERY REVEALED

19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

---As I outlined in my last thread, the flood and ark are symbols for baptism and the beasts riding the waves of immersion into reality. Here, he outlines the fact that baptism is our chance to repent in the water. Who were the imprisoned spirits? That would be you and I here in this life. We have been baptized and resurrected so we can repent. Repentance means bearing fruit. We must give to others in the form of our own suffering of work. We must bear fruit.

Matthew 3

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

---To be sure, there is a coming wrath. The way to put out the fire is with the water. We MUST bear fruit by faith in Christ. We have been resurrected into this life through the process of baptism (Involution). This process is so we can raise to new life (Evolution). All of the symbols in the Bible are there to show us these facts. All of my threads are here to outline these simple truths so that even a dummy like me can see them clearly.

Consult this Link for more 'Threads for Dummies...'

Only after death, in spirit, are we truly ourselves. If there is a way to remember who we were I would try it.

reply to post by EnochWasRight


Also great work on the writing, keep it up! S&F!

For the TL;DR crowd:

---To be sure, there is a coming wrath. The way to put out the fire is with the water. We MUST bear fruit by faith in Christ.

God loves you so much, he made hell in case you didn't love him back.

Luuke123
Only after death, in spirit, are we truly ourselves. If there is a way to remember who we were I would try it.

Meditation helps some people remember their past lives...

I would recommend it...

S&F Ed, as always

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Actually, he provided the ARK. All are invited on board. Christ is our parting of the waters. It has always been a choice to repent in the water. We are kept in darkness from our past lives for a reason. Duplicity would be created if we remembered. A person can seek good to avoid judgment. What are they really after? A person can seek good to receive reward. What do they really want? When a person sees that good is its own reward, they have found the point. Hell is reserved for those who choose to walk away from love.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

Hell is reserved for those who choose to walk away from love.

Or refuse to be assimilated. Fear is not love.

EnochWasRight
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

Actually, he provided the ARK. All are invited on board. Christ is our parting of the waters. It has always been a choice to repent in the water. We are kept in darkness from our past lives for a reason. Duplicity would be created if we remembered. A person can seek good to avoid judgment. What are they really after? A person can seek good to receive reward. What do they really want? When a person sees that good is its own reward, they have found the point. Hell is reserved for those who choose to walk away from love.

I'm so in love with the backfired royal 'we'...you may perhaps need to IMHO, remove the notion that 'darkness' is a feature that is beyond question and without doubt. You have no idea if duplicity would be created if 'we' remembered (unless you are claiming to have the non-memory that [presumably] you include yourself in, which questions the obvious statement from ignorance of such a state, and what conditions would ensue)...any, and all supporting 'evidence' to your (or others) opinion on this, are merely supporting an opinion...or shaving the square block to fit it in a round hole...

Å99

AfterInfinity
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

Hell is reserved for those who choose to walk away from love.

Or refuse to be assimilated. Fear is not love.

Fear is duplicity. If you love God to avoid judgment, what are you really after? If you love God for reward, what are you after? Fear come from what is not known. It is uncertainty. Faith, on the other hand, is a hope that allows the observer to collapse the wave function of what is indeterminate. Quantum Mechanics and Salvation.

You say assimilation. This is partially true. God is invariable with truth. Truth is absolute. He expects no less than unity over chaos. He allows chaos for a time. Judgment comes when we have made our choice. You become what you love.

God's answer is Faith, Hope and Love. His foundation is the family. He works for the family and against those who work against His family. That makes Him a model Father.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

If you love God to avoid judgment, what are you really after?

That's why hell was made, right? Duh. See, you don't even demonstrate a clear understanding of human nature, yet you pretend to understand something so clearly inhuman. What a joke. A bad joke, at that.

Faith, on the other hand, is a hope that allows the observer to collapse the wave function of what is indeterminate.

Nuh uh. Don't even try that game. Maybe your assertion would ring true if we controlled the collapse, but we don't even determine the available options. Preset options, preset reactions. Also, there's no faith involved. It will collapse, it will do so in such a manner with such a result. Why? We don't know. That's not the same thing as faith.

Once again, you are ignorant and you refuse to admit it. That's why you're in the same boat as you've always been.

You say assimilation. This is partially true. God is invariable with truth. Truth is absolute.

Leave it to the human race to believe that everything is absolute. You've experienced 0.000000000000001% of the world for less than a century. Don't tell me what's absolute.

He expects no less than unity over chaos.

Scientifically speaking, that is literally an unrealistic expectation.

He allows chaos for a time. Judgment comes when we have made our choice. You become what you love.

Sounds like the kind of guy who gets into bar fights to feel manly.

God's answer is Faith, Hope and Love. His foundation is the family. He works for the family and against those who work against His family. That makes Him a model Father.

No, his answer is Fear, Oppression, Ignorance. As you are currently demonstrating. Threatening us with judgment, telling us we must obey or pay the price, and telling us stuff that isn't scientifically accurate. Ignorance at its finest.

reply to post by AfterInfinity

Nuh uh. Don't even try that game. Maybe your assertion would ring true if we controlled the collapse, but we don't even determine the available options. Preset options, preset reactions. Also, there's no faith involved. It will collapse, it will do so in such a manner with such a result. Why? We don't know. That's not the same thing as faith.

Once again, you are ignorant and you refuse to admit it. That's why you're in the same boat as you've always been.

Faith opens up understanding. Of course it is managed. This is a copy of the kingdom. The reason you cannot get it is because you do not have faith in it. Your bias against it determines your understanding. As for it being true, it is evident.

Hebrews 9

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The very reason you cannot stop focusing on it is because your higher self is scream at you to pay attention.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Whats absolute is the end of us. There is no way around that, us as a whole universe. You cannot say god does this or this you can only interpret. But the time that we end is not definite, what we do now can affect the future in exponential ways. The butterfly effect on a smaller scale, atomic even.

AfterInfinity
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

The reason you cannot get it is because you do not have faith in it.

I don't have faith in gravity, yet it works better than any god I have heard of.

Your bias against it determines your understanding.

And yet you are not biased? Liar. If you can't be honest, what's the point of talking to you?

edit on 2-11-2013 by AfterInfinity because: (no reason given)

Bias is against others. My comments are always toward the betterment of others by reflecting the Word of God, which itself a testament of benevolence to others through love and giving. The platform I rest my comments upon is as solid as it comes. Bias, however, is a platform of judgement against the individual (Ad Hominem being a primary tool). My comments are not associated with the individual, but toward the betterment of the whole. I stand in unison with the truth. Am I biased against any individual that scoffs at truth? Yes. This is my bias. I lean in favor of truth, faith, hope, love, grace and mercy.

What do I make of those who align themselves with objectivism, theft, robbery, stealing, killing and destroying? I am against it and biased toward giving, preserving life and building up the community that loves others.

You are using bias in relation to my invariable understanding of truth. If you find a variable, then speak to the variable. When you attack me Ad Hominem, this is based on a foundation against the Truth I rest upon. Instead, find a crack in the truth. Speak to the subject.

Did I mention your bias? In relation to what? Standing against me. Instead, stand against the subject. Debate can take place if you take any of my posts and argue my points.

We are here to deny ignorance with truth. Ad Hominem is not part of this unless you can demonstrate a higher truth to back up your comments.

**ATTENTION**

Please remain on topic and discuss the content of the OP, not each other. Further name calling or off topic remarks may result in a temporary posting ban. It's hard enough to discuss religion without people throwing sand in other's eyes.

Thank You.

~Tenth
ATS Staff

Luuke123
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

Whats absolute is the end of us. There is no way around that, us as a whole universe. You cannot say god does this or this you can only interpret. But the time that we end is not definite, what we do now can affect the future in exponential ways. The butterfly effect on a smaller scale, atomic even.

I agree with you on this. I loved a comment that Rob Bryanton said: We are all affected by choice, chance and the actions of others. I now see this by the truth in the Bible. There is no chance. In a managed universe of invariable law, there can only be providence. Actions and choices are a variable, but not providence. Even with actions, law answers our choice with an equal reaction. The fact that we know the law makes our choices reap consequences that can be determined. We will reap what we so and what we so can be changed.

The universe is self-correcting. This gets back to the invariable symmetry law of the strong nuclear force. It is always the authority over the weak force. The heel in physics is the same one under your two feet. When you tell a dog to heel, you are acting as the head of the dog. Your command is a learned response.

Genesis 3

15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

The word heel, as we use it for bread, is the opposite ends of the one loaf. In nautical terms, the angle of heel is the mast of the ship bending to the authority of the captain.

This is a good thing. We are here in a safe environment. Although the illusion is that we will die and suffer at the hands of chance, the truth is much different. We do not see that we are safe in the arms of the Father. It is a managed environment to assist us in gaining sentience. If that sentience becomes malevolent, then the universe reacts to manage us by the invariable symmetry law of physics.

It is a good thing unless we become a detriment to the one giving us a home in the strong house of Creation. God protects His family. This is what Jealous means in relation to God. He is jealous over His own family. He even adopts us in if we find ourselves separated. On his terms and not ours.

The question in the thread is: Who were we before this life? If we are in a refinery, then we are children being refined. What were we before this? Unrefined.

I find it just a bit arrogant for a human to tell me he knows the mind of GOD.

Especially when using metaphors, analogies and BS to explain it.

What were we before this....????

olaru12
I find it just a bit arrogant for a human to tell me he knows the mind of GOD.

Especially when using metaphors, analogies and BS to explain it.

What were we before this....????

edit on 2-11-2013 by olaru12 because: (no reason given)

The mind of God is freely accessed. There are two methods, but both are required. First, you can read the impressions reflected by God our direction (like scriptures, other people, nature, movies, literature...). Second, what you read is then a light which reveals what it hits. This is the work of the Spirit of God within the individual. If you choose to read the Bible, then realize that it will show you what you look like.

What were we before this? The knowledge is in the scriptures. You can read it in Rumi the Sufi's writings, the Bible, the writings of Buddha. You can glean it from intuition or even see it within your own inner nature. You can watch it expressed in movies. It's everywhere. The patterns and archetypes are in every corner of this hall of mirrors. The word is in us all. We each reflect a part of the overall picture.

It's not arrogant to let my light shine. Did the answer come from me or from 1 Peter?

reply to post by EnochWasRight

In this soul factory we are refined, but if we don't make it were right back on the starting line of the assembly process. Also If we become more self aware we can do things previously "proven impossible" such as a computer updating its software, the only difference is our software is locked in deep memory banks in our consciousness, just like a computer we have to search to find the answers. The more we do it, the easier it gets.