Laughing My Ass Off

a reply to: Creaky

When it over, suffering ends, that’s why christians want the end to come
Justice is served
End to suffering
Complete Reconciliation of relationship and nature

Right. That's why, when I was involved in church things, we had revivals, and went knocking on doors, and gathered to witness to people on street corners, because "the end is nigh" and we're trying to save as many souls as possible, before, you know...

I'm sure it would be a short stint, the saints always get crucified or assassinated.

Heaven is forever, the Pina Coladas will still be cold and frothy when you get back!

a reply to: Sookiechacha

Well I don’t believe my calling is saving souls, winning people, that’s God’s job, mine is to love.
You chose your theology, your actions, I choose mine
Not the same and not suggesting I am right
As I said earlier, Christianity is relationship with Jesus

Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done...

I am awaiting Gods kingdom and Gods will being done, as the prayer says

a reply to: Creaky

God's kingdom is right here, you don't have to wait.

What are you waiting for?

originally posted by: midicon
a reply to: Creaky

God's kingdom is right here, you don't have to wait.

What are you waiting for?

Clearly you have a different version of “the Lord’s Prayer” to mine

Luke 1-11
And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,

a reply to: Creaky

And Christ said look neither here nor there. The kingdom is within you.

a reply to: Creaky

Well I don’t believe my calling is saving souls, winning people, that’s God’s job, mine is to love.

No problem. You don't have to come back as a Christian soldier. You can come back as a rock star, like John Lennon.



John was assassinated. See, short stint! Won't you please reincarnate to help Jesus spread his love? Do it for the love of Christ!

a reply to: midicon

Yes, the kingdom is within the Christian, not on earth
Basic christianity
Doesn’t mean Gods kingdom is manifested on earth

a reply to: Sookiechacha


I don’t believe in reincarnation
You believe what you want

Bit like the op, don’t assume you know, clearly you don’t know

originally posted by: Creaky
a reply to: midicon

Yes, the kingdom is within the Christian, not on earth
Basic christianity
Doesn’t mean Gods kingdom is manifested on earth

I think you will find the Christians are on Earth.

Anyway, I don't want to derail this thread. I'm not even a Christian lol.

originally posted by: midicon

originally posted by: Creaky
a reply to: midicon

Yes, the kingdom is within the Christian, not on earth
Basic christianity
Doesn’t mean Gods kingdom is manifested on earth

. I'm not even a Christian lol.

That’s obvious

originally posted by: midicon
a reply to: Creaky

And Christ said look neither here nor there. The kingdom is within you.

Many Christian denominations teach that the Kingdom of God is within a person, or in someone’s heart (or a condition in the hearts of Christians). For example, in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention declared that the Kingdom of God is in part “the reign of God in the heart and life of the individual.” Similarly, in his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI stated that “the Kingdom of God comes by way of a listening heart.”

Some people have become confused about the location of the Kingdom by the rendering of Luke 17:21 in some Bible translations. For example, the King James Version says that “the kingdom of God is within you.” To understand this verse correctly, we must consider the context.

Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders who opposed him and shared in arranging for his execution. (Matthew 12:14; Luke 17:20) Does it make sense to think that the Kingdom was a condition in their obstinate hearts? Jesus told them: “Inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”​—Matthew 23:27, 28.

Other translations accurately clarify Jesus’ statement at Luke 17:21: “God’s kingdom is here with you.” (Italics added; Contemporary English Version) “The Kingdom of God is among you.” (New World Translation, footnote) The Kingdom of heaven was “with” or “among” the Pharisees, in that Jesus, the one designated by God to rule as King, was standing before them.​—Luke 1:​32, 33.

So no, God’s Kingdom is not merely a condition in the hearts of Christians. The Bible identifies its true location by calling it “the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 4:​17, King James Version) Consider how the Bible shows it to be a real government that is ruling from heaven.

- God’s Kingdom has rulers, subjects, laws, and a mandate to establish the will of God in heaven and on the earth.​—Matthew 6:​10; Revelation 5:​10.

- God’s government, or Kingdom, will rule over all “the peoples, nations, and language groups” of the earth. (Daniel 7:​13, 14) The authority for its rulership comes, not from its subjects, but directly from God.​—Psalm 2:​4-6; Isaiah 9:7.

- Jesus told his faithful apostles that they would join him in the Kingdom of heaven to “sit on thrones.”​—Luke 22:28, 30.

- The Kingdom has enemies, which it will destroy.​—Psalm 2:​1, 2, 8, 9; 110:​1, 2; 1 Corinthians 15:25, 26.

The Bible does not teach that the Kingdom of heaven is in your heart in the sense that it rules through a person’s heart. However, it does show that the “word of the Kingdom” or the “good news of the Kingdom” can and should affect our hearts.​—Matthew 13:19; 24:14.

a reply to: whereislogic

Thanks for the lengthy reply. You know and understand the New Testament far better than I. However I don't need all that.

Nothing can trump experience. I don't like the word 'trump'. I'm just using it in the context of this conversation.

I'm all for the solitary mystics.

a reply to: midicon

Anyway, I don't want to derail this thread.

Too late. It turned into a beat down of the OP.
Poor guy.

But seriously:
Christianity purports to provide individual eternal life.
Buddhism purports to provide enlightenment as a means to achieve personal annihilation of self.

Just a couple of terms:
Arhat:

"In Buddhism, an arhat (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or arahant (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved Nirvana[1][2] and liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth (One who has no spirit or anattā and ended all of their own suffering).
...
After attainment of nirvana, the five aggregates (physical forms, feelings/sensations, perception, mental formations and consciousness) will continue to function, sustained by physical bodily vitality. This attainment is termed the nirvana element with a residue remaining. But once the arhat passes away and with the disintegration of the physical body, the five aggregates will cease to function, hence ending all traces of existence in the phenomenal world and thus total release from the misery of samsara. It would then be termed the nirvana element without residue remaining.[18] Parinirvana occurs at the death of an arhat.
" wikipedia

I take this to mean that the divine spark has left the person and it is the natural physical bodily vitality alone keeping the arhat alive, until he dies.

My current position on the matter is that the divine spark can leave the person upon death whether or not nirvana has been achieved sometime during life. He is merely enlightened about it.

It's like saying Parinirvana is a free gift whether nirvana has been achieved previously or not.
=============
If that makes any sense.
I shouldn't be saying these things any way. It's too much like teaching.
And it's heresy anyway.

Best for Westerners to stick with good old Epicurus or even Stoicism.

a reply to: FullHeathen

I don't think it's a free gift. It's just what happens.

The dissolution of self is the greatest fear and yet it frees us from the burden of self.

I think it's there for all of us.

The Christains want to hold on to the non-existent self and the Buddhists want to get rid of it.

a reply to: FullHeathen

But seriously:
Christianity purports to provide individual eternal life.
Buddhism purports to provide enlightenment as a means to achieve personal annihilation of self.

Christianity is easier. Buddhism gets too zen to the point where you want to scream, "Will you stop talking like that and just answer the damn question!"

"Why is the water like the wind?"

"I don't know, I was asking you about rebirth"

Most flowery version of goddamn nihilism ever. Really committed too. Really spending a lifetime enlightening yourself to how little you actually matter, having already established the dharma of anatman is dukkha and annica.

(The natural order of no self is suffering and impermanence)

a reply to: Degradation33

The irony is one has to reach a place where there are no questions.

No one to ask them and no one to ask.

There is such a place but it's a state of mind.

A subjective affair.

The great Nijinsky would lose himself and become the dance in such moments.

Perhaps that great moment of joy awaits all of us in our final dissolution.

a reply to: FullHeathen

There is a huge difference between the immortality of the body and the immortality of the Soul.

a reply to: RussianTroll

What is a soul?

originally posted by: FullHeathen
The joke goes like this:

What Western Religions seek to achieve, the Eastern Religions seek to cast off: Immortality.

The "wise" Western Christians convert to Buddhism thinking reincarnation = immortality.

LOL LOL LOL

Epicurus had it right all along.

But what do I know.
I am only a temporary mortal heathen.

Reincarnation is not immortality, it is the continuous wheel of birth and rebirth in the effort of the soul to learn its lessons, balance karma, and achieve dharma. Generally speaking, Siddhartha looked for a way to get off off the wheel, but it’s still pretty much the same goal of the Sadhu to to throw off attachment to earthly desires. The path of the yogi is to achieve oneness(Union) with God.
shaiva.yoga...

The true goal of yoga is not physical, but spiritual at its core. It is the process of achieving union with the Divine: merging the individual soul or jiva with the Supreme Soul, Shiva. Through the practice of yoga, one merges with his/her true Self and is liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

a reply to: FullHeathen

The joke must be on you, because that didn't make any sense.

Christianity doesn't believe in reincarnation of a human body. It believes in resurrection to a heavenly incorruptible body...or as Russian Troll stated above...immortality of the soul into a new, non-human eternal body.