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In fact, if Dominicus really wants to know what it means to be born in the spirit, all he has to do is read what happened at the time of Jesus' own baptism and what the true Holy Spirit had to say and confirm. If the Holy Spirit did not confirm this same message to Dominicus, it was not from the God of the Bible that it came from.
When you acknowledge this simple truth (as written below), then you'll know that you've been filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the true definition of faith and what it means. This is what it means to be born again in the Spirit....
By saying that you think that Jesus and Buddha must live in the same realm, you just lowered the bar and the truth for who Jesus really was.
In fact, if Dominicus really wants to know what it means to be born in the spirit, all he has to do is read what happened at the time of Jesus' own baptism and what the true Holy Spirit had to say and confirm. If the Holy Spirit did not confirm this same message to Dominicus, it was not from the God of the Bible that it came from.
Not all mystical experiences are from God/Holy Spirit and you should know that. Go back and read about Dominicus' experience.
Originally posted by dominicus
2 Cor 3:6 "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
Is this statement a relative opinion? Or is this statement fact. Please do show how you can substantially back this statement up please. Thanks.
Yes, all the same messages were confirmed as those to Jesus and the Disciples, and then some....
"1 John 2:27: But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true--it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. "
Please do let me know which experiences that I have had are not of God/Holy Spirit or inspired by one or both.
I think that those that start out as atheists, and then start looking into Jesus, generally have no baggage, to get in the way, of them seeking the truth. Kind of reminds of that old zen proverb, about first emptying ones cup…
Although having said that, Christians who have become “born again”, are also sometimes just as condemning, to other groups like the Buddhist etc The biggest problem of all, is that the “born again” experience, only helps to compound an individuals, specific denominational belief, in Christianity.
Although on a personal level, I still believe that they (born again Christians) are still very much blessed by God.
To be honest, I still have times where I am hot and then cold. But during the times when I’m cold, I still have the knowledge that I know my experiences were real, and I know what I am spiritually etc…
When you say Holy Spirit hovered, do you mean literally or metaphorically speaking?
It’s just that when I first received the Holy Spirit, which was 2 n half years ago now, I literally saw what appeared to be a ball of flame, hovering in my room next to my light.
You see, I’m not entirely sure how the various Buddhist teachings define the oneness. And you might be thinking, well, they don’t need too, oneness is oneness, right? lol
Ghandi said it best, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians". Rather sad state of events, and I look to change that.
The verse above is talking about the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It is not talking about scripture.
Read John, chapters 14, 15 & 16. Jesus was not just a "Master of masters", as you put it.
So, when you gave your definition of who Jesus was to you, why didn't you include that he was the only begotten Son of God?
So, you think you're in fellowship with Christ when you spend more time contemplating Buddha's philosophy than you do the teachings of Jesus himself?
You think that's the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit only bares witness to the Word, which is Jesus. Jesus was the Word made flesh as told in John, chapter 1.
I don't believe your "ego slayer" was the Holy Spirit. When you start talking about ego slaying,
non-duality and absorption, you're talking from the spirit of Buddha, not the Holy Spirit.
Notice how you don't talk about Jesus much?
In all of your mystical experiences, what did it teach you about Jesus? Once again, I'm not talking about what you've learned about yourself, but what did you learn about Jesus?
So, if the Dalai Lama said that trying to combine Christianity with Buddhism was like trying to put the head of a Yak on the body of a cow, would you consider that judgmental too?
I know that your path started with Jesus, but I’m curious as to why you still consider, or refer to yourself as a “Christian mystic”, why not just mystic or Buddhist mystic etc?
Which aspects and elements of Christianity, do you still hold onto and why?
Can you show me where to start, or where you started?
The experience I described in my other post regarding my third eye…does that sound anything like what you went through yourself? I know those things aren’t mentioned in the Bible, but at the same time I know that I experienced it, and that it happened only just a few months, before I received the Holy Spirit.
Originally posted by DelayedChristmas
reply to post by dominicus
So what made you do what you did (fasting for 21 days, etc)? What compelled you to do it?
Originally posted by dominicus
Ok, add it to the list. Although I think there is alot more mystical understanding to that specific title than meets the eye.
Doesn't matter what you believe. What matter's is what the word says:
1 Cor 15:31 "I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."
Matt 16:24 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
However, this "Self" that has to be denied, that has to die .....what is this Self? Do you know yourself? To find out what this "self" is requires understanding of various branches of Philosophy, Psychology, and surprisingly, Buddhism is RICH In describing the composition and inner workings of the "self." If you don't know this self, how can you possibly follow Biblical teachings?
I can write volumes of books of what the Mystical experiences have done to me in my understanding of Christ. One them also being a greater understanding of myself and who I am. That I pre-existed prior to an ego and body.
You lack understanding of what Buddhism is and teaches, which causes you to say what you say.
Q: Do you think it is possible to be both Christian and Buddhist at the same time?
A: I ... [previoiusly--see later] replied to this question indirectly when I said that belief in a Creator could be associated with the understanding of emptiness. I believe it is possible to progress along a spiritual path and reconcile Christianity with Buddhism. But once a certain degree of realization has been reached, a choice between the two paths will become necessary.
Originally posted by Deetermined
reply to post by dominicus
You lack understanding of what Buddhism is and teaches, which causes you to say what you say.
A: I ... [previoiusly--see later] replied to this question indirectly when I said that belief in a Creator could be associated with the understanding of emptiness. I believe it is possible to progress along a spiritual path and reconcile Christianity with Buddhism. But once a certain degree of realization has been reached, a choice between the two paths will become necessary.
But you don't need to turn to mysticism to figure that out.
If what the word says mattered to you, you wouldn't be practicing mysticism.
The Holy Spirit is more than capable of humbling someone without making them feel like they're going to die.
By the way, did you ever feel the need to repent during all of this?
You keep talking about destroying the ego, and yet you continue to search from within and go on and on about "Self". Quit focusing on the self at all and start focusing on Jesus and the Bible, then the rest will follow.
Quit focusing on yourself. You're being deceived when you do this. The idea of pre-existance prior to body is not biblical.
A concept of pre-existence was advanced by Origen, a Church Father who lived in the second and third century AD. Origen believed that each human soul was created by God[1] at some time prior to conception. Church Fathers Tertullian and Jerome held to traducianism and creationism, respectively, and pre-existence was condemned as heresy in the Second Council of Constantinople in AD 553.[2] Origen quoted Romans 9:11-14 as evidence for his position: For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Dalai Lama: But once a certain degree of realization has been reached, a choice between the two paths will become necessary.
This requires understanding in various branches of thought and your not seeming to understand. If you did not learn to read, to use logic/reason, you would not be able to understand the Bible/Jesus.
Then why is it that you keep misinterpreting the Bible?
I think it's clear from all of your previous posts that it's because you've gotten away from the Bible and spend more time studying the philosophy of men and texts written by spiritual gurus instead.
All I ask is that you compare these mystical experiences you have against scripture as a back up.
God has the foreknowledge to know who's going to follow him and who isn't and uses all of them to carry out his will.
Originally posted by AfterInfinity
Your scripture doesn't know everything, does it? After all, it was written by sheepherders ignorant by today's standards. Hell, they condemned Galileo for daring to suggest an idea that has now been proven a hundred times over, because it contradicted their ideas of scripture and was founded by methods not approved in said scriptures.
We have known for centuries that the planets revolve around the sun, the solar system’s center of gravity. Into the first half of the last century, we also thought that the sun was stationary and that each planet’s orbit was in a single plane. During the second half of the 20th Century, however, astronomers discovered that the sun itself revolves in an orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Therefore, we now know that the whole solar system is in motion and that, in order to keep pace with the moving sun, each planet must follow an orbit that is a spiral (or helix, as the astronomers call it). The radius, diameter and circumference of each orbit remain the same as before but now are seen as the radius, diameter and circumference of a helix.
This only proves that we're all human and we weren't meant to have all of the answers, even Galileo.