I sense something is wanted from God which is not in his nature.

reply to post by jmdewey60


Ok, that should at least help me place them, in time, and know from my research that anything that tries to state that they are new, is false. There's something strange happening online, and I have since found out how this is being done, and I can guess a few reasons of why it's being done.

What I have found, is that people wishing to spread lies, are making sure, that if you do a search, their pages come up first, the truth is sometimes only found on the 4th - 6th pages of any search. I have managed to pinpoint one or two websites that are doing this, and now when I do a search I make sure to -XYZ. That at least filters out some of it and makes the search quicker. Some of them I've managed to block using addons, they still come up in a search, but if I try to open them, the page wont load, then I'll know, ok, this is one of the ones I blocked for spreading lies about a certain group or religion.

Still I haven't pinpointed all of them, and some pages focus on a particular religion, and not any others, so they wont come up in any other recognisable search, until I search for information on them specifically, which I then I have to try to figure out is it truth, or someone who has a beef with them. Not an easy subject to research, I can tell you that.

What I am doing now, since discovering that this is happening, is to actually download the pages that are legit, in other words done by a completely neutral party, and preferably a scholar in this line, in this instance it's preferable to go with an atheist, scholar, believe it or not, because they base their work on facts and research, not on how they feel about a particular religion. I download those pages, and keep them on file, because if this trend continues, I'm afraid, in a few years time, to find legit information on any of the religions, is going to become increasingly hard, if not impossible, to find, it's like it's being done on purpose, especially with regards to particular controversial religions.

In many of the search results, you can't go with somebody who is in the religion either, because, naturally, they're going to be biased

Thank you for the information you have given me, it at least gives me an idea one what I can filter out.

How am I doing?

reply to post by Pixie777

Thank you for the information you have given me, it at least gives me an idea one what I can filter out.

I am not talking about anything new or something I am promoting. I was talking about a church I went to back in the fifties and sixties. The building itself was sold and a new one build several miles away from the first one. I am not promoting the denomination because I believe my experience in that particular church was peculiar unto itself, where there was a lot of difference between one congregation and another, within this denomination. The Arian nature of the people's view about the trinity could vary in degrees from one individual church to another. So I can not tell someone, 'Go to the nearest church to you of this denomination and you will find something good' because there may not exist a single church today that would match the one I went to forty something years ago.
The Arian nature of the philosophy towards trinity was not something consciously arrived at, as if they knew Arius or even about him, but arrived at it naturally by discarding what the Catholic Church held as dogma, and coming to their own conclusions based on their reading of the Bible. Since when I learned my theology there, the Denomination decided to adjust some of their beliefs to be more in conformity with other churches and to avoid the charges of Arianism and being classified as a cult.
You already mentioned the Council of Nicaea so I figured you were familiar with the "Arian controversy" since that was what caused the council to be convened in the first place. The idea of Arianism is not new, if what you were warning of as new was that.

reply to post by jmdewey60


No, I didn't mean anything new, sorry, sometimes I don't make myself clear. I only remembered about the man, Arius, after starting to read into all that again. You need to remember I came across the council of Nicaea business, right in the beginning, and I am terrible with names, which is why I'm making notes. Now that I'm re-reading it, I remember who he was. I just didn't realize that after the council, they continued, because my studies took me into researching the Catholic canon itself, so it was a kind of split path that I had to choose which one I was going to follow first.

Also I thought, I should get to know the books, and then tackle the religions, and then pull up the books again, while I tackle the religions themselves as per the books they work from. For example, I went from the council, to the canon, to the banned books, so that I can figure out why they were left out. That's why I forgot who Arius was. I'm sure when returning back to the council, to then go from there to the different religions, I would have come across it again.

Arius was not the only reason for the council being created in the first place, there were various split-off branches in those days, what Arius was saying was just one of them. If it was just Arius, the King wouldn't have felt the need for the council, his whole problem was the fighting between all the various groups that branched off, and he wanted to bring them back together. Which failed anyway, because you can't force people into a path, they do not believe in. For example, what Arius was saying, and what the council was saying were too different to combine, even if you did tried to force it.

I haven't made up my mind up either way about the Arian path and I probably wont, because that's not what this is about, I am simply doing this to learn what all the different religions are all about. I'm not doing this to decide which ones are right and which ones are wrong. To me, it doesn't matter which path you follow, because I truly believe that the Creator is too big to put into a box and label it a religion.

I've pulled up some documents, which I quickly scanned over, just to acquaint myself with what the Arian path was about, and bookmarked all the pages so that I can return to them, when I am ready to tackle the different religions. I have a feeling, this is all going to take me quite some time, but I'm enjoying it. It's fascinating.

reply to post by etherical waterwave


I don't know, you haven't told us yet, how are you doing today? Ahh don't mind me, I'm just messing with you. You're doing great, I like the Cranberries too And she's right, salvation is free, and everything here, is not what it seems.

reply to post by Pixie777

. . .I have a feeling, this is all going to take me quite some time. . .

I used to consider the study of Arius as my life work but I realize that as much as I have studied it, I am only part way, that's why wars like what happened to destroy his teachings are so tragic and it was just the pride of one man (Athanasius) to have ultimate authority of doctrine, even if it meant killing everyone who could possibly understand it.

kind of makes me think of this:

John 8; Your Father the Devil
39 ¶ They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.