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First, that my kid grows to be a free man (moral, self-directing, self-reliant, self-responsible)
Second, that I should remain a free man.
Third (optional today, perhaps mandatory tomorrow), that every last son of a bitch who looks to apply the leash to anyone gets exactly what he deserves. a quick death and a shallow grave
Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:02 pm
But we give an account of ourselves to God moment by moment. Morality is a component of every minute choice and every big choice.
You haven't made your account yet. Nor have I. You won't make it until you see God.
But this much is true: the judgment we face will involve every minute and big choice we've ever made. So that much is right.
If I were to die one moment from now, my experiences would cease to be my experiences at the moment of death . There is no immortal soul that is like a personality that survives death. Every thing turns into dust.
Your belief that God dips into time to judge people at some time and presumably some place, does no harm. My interest is to make sense of God, the Absolute, and the eternal now. The world badly needs a reasonable faith.
A reasonable faith would require a person to appreciate Meister Eckhart's observation. As we are, we argue about what to do. Who bothers with what we are? That is why nothing changes.
“People should not worry so much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you are righteous, then what you do will also be righteous. We should not think that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctified our works.”
Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:04 pm
You haven't made your account yet. Nor have I. You won't make it until you see God.
But this much is true: the judgment we face will involve every minute and big choice we've ever made. So that much is right.
If I were to die one moment from now, my experiences would cease to be my experiences at the moment of death . There is no immortal soul that is like a personality that survives death. Every thing turns into dust.
Your belief that God dips into time to judge people at some time and presumably some place, does no harm. My interest is to make sense of God, the Absolute, and the eternal now. The world badly needs a reasonable faith.
A reasonable faith would require a person to appreciate Meister Eckhart's observation. As we are, we argue about what to do. Who bothers with what we are? That is why nothing changes.
“People should not worry so much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you are righteous, then what you do will also be righteous. We should not think that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctified our works.”
The finality of death is a fact of life that justifies the belief that existence precedes essence.
Nick_A wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:46 pm
A reasonable faith would require a person to appreciate Meister Eckhart's observation. As we are, we argue about what to do. Who bothers with what we are? That is why nothing changes.
“People should not worry so much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you are righteous, then what you do will also be righteous. We should not think that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctified our works.”
Ah, but what he doesn't say is how one is supposed to become a different kind of person than one already is.
And that's the problem for the secular person...he is compelled only, ever to be what he is. He cannot be otherwise, nor can he imagine how to be otherwise.
What we need is rescue from what we are. And simply trying to reform out own deeds will not do it.
Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 4:04 am
where's the "contradiction"?
I pointed it out in bold in plenty of recent posts - don't try to play me for a fool. If you genuinely failed to register the emphasised text then it's you who is the fool. Go back and have another read.
That has nothing to do with whether I can, or can't, express my opinions.
AJ, if you could tell me what my perspective is, and why I'm lost in it, and why my opinions, drawn from that perspective, are irrelevant and unimportant, you would have, lickety-split, and you'd have relished doin' so.
You haven't preferring instead to play the distraction game (an old, obvious, strategy).
We both know what that means.
Prove me wrong: tell me, what's my perspective, AJ?
Ah, dear hq, you won with this tactic the first time. You, alone, secreted from AJ a list of that which is valuable in Christianity. But he's onto you now. You need a new tactic...
Belinda wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:54 pm
Yes, it's also called 'the eternal now'.
No, actually, it's not. You will not find that idea in the Bible at all.
But I have heard preachers talk of "eternal God". If that means anything it must mean God is not temporal.
There is a difference between "not confined by time" versus "not capable of being within time." They're not the same idea at all.
The Bible makes it very clear that God is able to act within time. But it also identifies Him as the eternal "I AM," meaning, "the one who transcends all bounds of time." This is said in different ways: He is "the alpha and omega," the "beginning and the end," the "first and the last," and the "One who lives forever."
So it's not an either/or. It's both/and. He is both the One who acts within time, and also the One who is not Himself bound by time.
AJ, you've been hitting it out of the park in your recent posts. Great stuff. Just wanted to express that before any potential responses to any of that material.
Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:08 pm
What you've said is that you don't like the your depiction of a quasi-Catholic Hell, because it seems unfair to the standards you hold.
No, you manipulative spinner, that's not what I've said. Go back and reread.
