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Jeanne Guyon has done this in her work, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, written back in 1685 A.D. She never used the word meditation, but she prescribes exactly that, and she does it in a way that I believe the contemporary Christian can appreciate and accept without prejudice....
“There is only one way to conqueror your five sense, and that is by inward recollection. Or, to put it another way, the only way to conquer your five sense is by turning your soul completely inward to your spirit, there to possess a present God. Your soul must turn all of its energies within, not without! Within to Christ, not without to the senses. Your main concern, therefore, is with the presence of Jesus Christ. Your main concern lies in dwelling continually upon the God who is within you. Then, without particularly thinking of self-denial or “putting away the deeds of the flesh,” God will cause you to experience a natural subduing of the flesh!”
Consider a quote from the Zohar, a mystical work studied intensely by Jewish sages.
“The narratives of the doctrine are its cloak. The simple look only at the garment—that is, upon the narrative of the doctrine; more they know not. The instructed, however, see not merely the cloak, but what the cloak covers.”
—The Zohar
Although the Zohar is speaking of the narratives in the Old Testament, the same truth applies to the New Testament. All the narratives of the Bible are there to build concrete images and concepts in our minds so that we can then learn deeper mysteries. The narratives are the milk of the word. The meat is what’s hidden within the narrative.
Originally posted by BlueMule
Originally posted by guitarplayer
reply to post by undo
The bible does speak of an outer darkness a separation from God. The bible says that hell was created for the devil and the angels that rebelled.
Would you provide us with the information to look up the part of the Bible you are referring to here?
This may sound off but here goes it seems like Satan thought that God could not do anything against him because of the law of balance. By that I mean if God had smote the devil and his angels there would be less in creation an unbalanced universe. So God created man to fill that void.
God can no more smote the devil than you can smote your shadow-self. The devil is to God as your shadow-self is to you.
When we are ignorant of our shadow-self, we project it onto others who then become "the evil". We repress it and project it onto others and then we think it's outside us, just as you think the devil is outside God.
The trick is to withdraw our projections.
When Christ came it was in the fullness of time, I believe that the end will come when there is a fullness of balance between what was created that will be thrown into the lake of fire and what was created that will spend eternity in the presence of God. Just my 2 cents worth.
Well, time is pretty much a stubbornly persistent illusion. Sort of like space, like the ego-self. How can an illusion really achieve "fullness"?
edit on 7-8-2013 by BlueMule because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by guitarplayer
Time is a creature of God He created it He can do away with it.
Your human reasoning of Carl Jung will not bring spiritual truths.
Each trumpet blast and each vial of judgment poured out from the angels symbolize cleansings and openings within our spiritual gateways called chakras. This is the process of unveiling higher consciousness as the Holy Spirit rises within us. It isn’t about devastation, destruction, and the end. It’s about new birth and life in the conscious experience. It’s about the purging of lower thoughts and emotions in order to awaken to our higher natures. The stigma that has come with the Book of Revelations needs to be lifted.
The incompatibility between the egoic lower self and nature of our higher self is very real, albeit a very natural one. It is this divine tension that enables life as we know it to unfold. We should embrace it. It allows for the development of our thoughts and emotions. We should not fear the process, for in the end:
“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” (Rom. 8:28).
Originally posted by BlueMule
Originally posted by guitarplayer
Time is a creature of God He created it He can do away with it.
A "creature"? I'm not sure I've ever heard time referred to in such a manner. Can you provide scripture referring to time as a "creature"?
Your human reasoning of Carl Jung will not bring spiritual truths.
Well, with all due respect I trust his understanding of Christianity far more than I trust yours. Not to mention Alan Watts, Joseph Campbell, Aldous Huxley, Karen Armstrong, Huston Smith, Jeffrey Kripal.
I also trust my own understanding more than yours, as a comparativist who has actually had supernatural experiences.
If you read a few of his books for yourself, you might be surprised.
edit on 7-8-2013 by BlueMule because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by BlueMule
reply to post by guitarplayer
Thanks. If the outer darkness is hell, what does that make the inner darkness? After all, there is no outer without an inner. No up without a down.
Light has been likened to good, and darkness to evil, as if intrinsic. But there is nothing intrinsically evil about darkness. Light and dark are used as metaphors. So long overused that they are dead metaphors now - taken without a second thought, opaque.
edit on 7-8-2013 by BlueMule because: (no reason given)
Uh nope. This is their (muslims) god:
Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
Actually, the "feminine element" wasn't appreciated until Christianity came along. By all other religions women were nothing more but property, but that is not what Jesus taught and that is not what Torah teaches. Torah and Christ taught that man and wife are one flesh, co-partners and co-equals laboring together in Christ. A prime example of this is Priscilla and her husband Aquila, both roman converts who were in the tent making business and both traveled the roman empire teaching and preaching about Christ. They were a team, and they are not the only examples.
All those other religions treated women like sex objects, something old that has also risen again.
Originally posted by sunburst
Yahweh is the Most High God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending.
Originally posted by BlueMule
reply to post by guitarplayer
Thanks. If the outer darkness is hell, what does that make the inner darkness? After all, there is no outer without an inner. No up without a down.
Light has been likened to good, and darkness to evil, as if intrinsic. But there is nothing intrinsically evil about darkness. Light and dark are used as metaphors. So long overused that they are dead metaphors now - taken without a second thought, opaque.
edit on 7-8-2013 by BlueMule because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by sunburst
Yahweh is the Most High God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending.
Originally posted by guitarplayer
I don't beleive that I said that outer darkness was hell It is seperation from God.
Looked at your little list of authors and the only thing I can say is they will lead you straight away from God into their humanism.
Originally posted by arpgme
Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
Actually, the "feminine element" wasn't appreciated until Christianity came along. By all other religions women were nothing more but property, but that is not what Jesus taught and that is not what Torah teaches. Torah and Christ taught that man and wife are one flesh, co-partners and co-equals laboring together in Christ. A prime example of this is Priscilla and her husband Aquila, both roman converts who were in the tent making business and both traveled the roman empire teaching and preaching about Christ. They were a team, and they are not the only examples.
All those other religions treated women like sex objects, something old that has also risen again.
Exodus teaches about how a man can SELL his young daughter. (Exodus 21:7-8)
If a man dies and has no son, then his inheritance goes to his daughter. But if he has a son, then the daughter gets nothing. Also no mention is made of wives, sisters, or aunts. (Numbers 27:8)
Women MUST be obedient to their husbands. Obedience implies that the husband is a HIGHER authority. (Titus 2:5)
Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by lonewolf19792000
Yahweh said you're not supposed to make graven images of the heavens or under the sea. Yahweh didn't like graven images, So, if someone made a statue of Yahweh to worship, it makes sense that he would want to destroy it to be worshiped directly.