Mistranslations of the Bible

A serious mistranslation is-

Mark 15 v 34
The Death of Jesus

Jesus cried out  “Eloi, Eloi lema sabachthani”
“My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?”

This is a mockery.
The correct saying is:

Jesus cried out “Lem zabachthani”
“My wounds will be kept open by those who defame me”

Another; and for those who have taken this
message to heart, it is said with sensitivity.

Jesus did not die on the Cross for Mans sins.

As Jesus said to the Pharisees told by Mark 7 v 6-9

6.  Well hath Esais prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written. This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

7.  Howbeit in vain do they worship, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

8.  For layside the commandments of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things ye do.

9.  And he said unto them Full Well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

As the washing of pots and cups …. Man thinks that no matter how he misuses life he can wipe out the memory of the hurt caused to him by the mere fact of going to church and receiving absolution for his misdeeds and, of course they say, Jesus died for your sins on the cross.  Why do they keep Jesus on a cross in their churches?

One thing Jesus never said was that salvation could come only through  the churches.

Jesus did not die for our sins. How Jesus must wonder at what has happened to the simple gospel which he taught his humble disciples.

Another; the missing Reincarnation law -

The church says that – we have only one chance in life and if you mess it up you will go to hell.  Does that sound like the loving God Jesus spoke about?  This is how the church undermines our very Soul; this indoctrination is saying – you are not that important, you are not Great, you are weak and feeble and if you don’t listen to us you will Die.  They are ruling by fear.  Because do you know what – we are Great! Their doctrines do not make logical sense either; if each soul only came into Earth once – the Spiritual realms must be in a state of chaos! You can imagine how many Souls there would be, from different eras – talk about over population and confusion!

There are only so many Souls in our Universe – they are counted!  There is a logical process of growth and development; we have gone through many trials and errors, joys and happiness, to be able to say I am what I am today and tomorrow.  No church can take that away from us.

Woe.

Mark 7 vs 9

The curious thing about the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, and ilk; it is a mixture of untruths and truths.

The teachings of Jesus are there, the doctrines of the wine and bread has symbolic meaning. The praying to saints; the hierarchy and angels.  The Old Testament and the Word of God; albeit the history is mixed up.

There is however, subtle mistranslations that are so glaring they cannot be overlooked.  There seems to be a lie worked into the doctrine of these churches.  Even more so when the truth about Eve in the Garden of Eden is told; as too Mary the Mother of Jesus is released from their suppression of Her.  

This twisting around of the facts and the subtle spiritual abuse that comes with it, suggests it is a war against Adam and Eve.

Adam Ptah El Daoud his divine twin Evam El Daouda; Father, King; Mother, Queen Initiates of Spheres of Gross Matter (Earth’s rightful God) and their beloved children of the message; Jesus Arbal and his divine twin Arbel; Osiris and his divine twin Isis.

The church does not recognise Osiris or Isis at all – why? Or Merk, the space visitor, the shinning White Lady and the very Shinning Ones that are written about in other writings? Our past history comes from Egypt.  Why does the church not teach the meaning of the Sphinx or the Pyramids when clearly the biblical period, especially the Old Testament was written during the reigns of the Pharaohs? Especially when God said in the bible; He will put a sign in the middle of Egypt; the Great Pyramid of Gaza, a place of initiation and as a Geometry symbol; pointing to Orion.  Why do they not teach Astrology, it is so gentle for the hearts of men.

It seems the church chose to change meanings in the bible; completely leave things out and worse of all defame The Hierarchy.  But at the same time teach a religion.  My opinion is; they believed what they preached!

They thought if they could take control of the reigns of Earth; they could still appeal to the

Universe Architecture and the Divine Cosmic Breathe

(whom they did not know) for salvation through absolution.  Regardless of trying to overthrow Earth’s rightful God, they believed they would be saved by saying absolution and still rule the world!

This says, to me that the soul of Amen is not well , it is unbalanced and lower in intelligence.  They thought they could overtake the Divine Plan and at the same time receive favour from the Divine One.  They are not evolved in the true spirit, they are a lower entity who do not choose to Raise their or the people’s Consciousness. The reason - they want to rule the Earth.

The teaching in the bible has been handed down to us and has been translated and re-translated and it is a fact no originals are shown to researches who ask to look at them.  The Dead Sea Scrolls is an example of originals been quickly whipped away by the Vatican City.  

It seems strange that the church, the supposed interpreter of God and His Laws, should stand still.  Offering little or no comfort to the World at a time when there is such a desperate need for a guiding hand.


9.  And he said unto them Full Well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

For it must be understood; for Light to be known, Darkness must be known.  For Love to be known, Hate must be known. Did a roman solider not stab Jesus?

Here we must have an understanding; Eranus was banished to the Astral regions of the Earth where Setturn, the Lord of the Astral regions, used the satankic / luciferic  spirits to test the strength of Man.

This deception of the church is being used by God for Man - to understand this kind of enemy scheming and level of intelligence.  The churches are like a Veil, although I doubt the church comprehend this.  If the Veil is removed the truth will be uncovered.

God wants us to come to him willingly, not full of doctrine and false teachings; with knowledge and courage.

I cannot help but think though; the trickery of the Amens must be a dishonour and basically an irritant to the Hierarchy.  The Warriors of the Lord must want Justice.

In vs 9 Jesus said Full Well, this says a circle that will be filled in a period of time.  These times to go a Full Well before the Hand of God moves.

"A serious [Bible] mistranslation is-

Mark 15 v 34
The Death of Jesus

Jesus cried out  “Eloi, Eloi lema sabachthani”
“My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?”

This is a mockery.
The correct saying is:

Jesus cried out “Lem zabachthani”
“My wounds will be kept open by those who defame me”
___________________________________

Augie, who is the New Age pseudo-scholar who fed you this nonsense?   in Mark 15:34 Jesus expresses His very human feeling of abandonment by identifying with the psalmist's words.  The saying you quote is an Aramaic rendering of the Hebrew text of Psalm 22:1: "MY God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  No Bible scholar of any stripe (skeptic or believer) challenges this fact.  I can confirm this consensus from my reading of the Bible in its original languages.

[Augie:] "Jesus did not die on the Cross for Mans sins."
_____

Again, you display complete ignortance of Jesus' self-understanding.  I could prove this with a blizzard of Gospel texts, but will limit myself to two:
(1) "I, the Son of Man, came not to be served but to serve others, AND TO GIVE MY LIFE A RANSOM FOR MANY (Mark 10:45)."

(2) And why do you think Jesus established the rite of Holy Communion? "Then He took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, `This is my body WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU.  Do this in remembrance of me.'  And He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, `This cup THAT IS POURED OUT FOR YOU is the new covenant in my blood (Luke 22:19-20).

If you want to know the meaning of Christ's atoning death, just read my "Spitfire" thread, where I explain in considerable detail.

[Augie:] "This indoctrination is saying – you are not that important, you are not Great, you are weak and feeble."
_______

On the contrary!  It is saying that we are incredibly important: we are created in God's image (Genesis 1:26) and are destined to "paricipate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1;4)."  It is saying we are so important to God that God took on human flesh and, by His resurrection, incorporated humanity into the divine nature, so that we can ultimately achieve union with God.

Don

Don,

I've been reading your posts for a few months now, and I must say that I am impressed.  You are extremely knowledgeable about the Bible and interpretations of scripture.  Your words always make me smile.  Thank you for shedding light for so many who might not hear the truth otherwise.  Your blessings will be many.

Much love,
Bug

Not a single word of what Jesus is claimed to have said, or what is alleged Jesus meant by what it is said he said, exists!

The entire theological industry is based upon fertile imagination and is the only one built upon superstitions, guilt, fear and remorse - all exploiting the basic human condition.

Beserk;

I respect your comments as much as I respect the subject.  I do not change my statements though.

Hiorta and Augie nicely illustrate why they belong to the myopic New Age ghetto.  Both are biblically illiterate and yet quite willing to parrot their ignorant New Age gurus' rants.  All respected scholarship would unanimously find these rants ludicrous.  Both stubbornly refuse to examine contrary evidence or to read books advocating the opposite point of view.  In other words, both lack intellectual integrity.   Must I once again show how Gospel traditions can be connected with eyewitness testimony?  

Still, there is one spiritual payoff.  As honest seekers see the mentality of these New Agers flushed out and descredited, they often thank me in PMs and become more balanced and open in their spiritual quest.  In that sense, Hiorta, Augie, and their ilk serve a useful purpose.

Don  

wrote on Mar 15^th, 2006 at 5:54pm:

Must I once again show how Gospel traditions can be connected with eyewitness testimony?

don't know if it appies to your eyewitness testimony Don, but here's a fun read:
http://www.csicop.org/si/9511/eyewitness.html

Augoeideian,

There are a few problems with your approach.

One, you are repeating something that falls within a field of study that happens to be well develped with many experts, many who are non-believers, who have established themselves as authorities on the subject of texual criticism. Yet you fail to give credit to any of them, if indeed you are quoting even one of them. Neither have you established your credibility as a knowledgable layperson in this area in lieu of an expert.  So why should anyone take what you wrote seriously? It would be different if you were stating YOUR OWN opinions and saying as much. But you put forth "facts" without substantiation, either by someone credible or by self-evident means.

Which translation of the bible did you find these supposed 'mistranslations'? The King James Version, The New King James Version, The Jerusalem Bible, The New Jerusalem Bible, The New Amercan Standard Bible, Josepth Smith, Jr's (The Mormon Prophet) translation, The Living Bible, The New Revised Standard Edition, The Vulgate, The Good News Bible, and on and on and on...?

A few questions you might want to ask:

Is your translation more literal (New Amercian Standard), or does it tend to paraphrase (The Good News Bible)?

Which manuscipt(s) was your translation taken from? Do you have any idea how many manuscripts there are and all the thousands of differences between them? There are more differences between them than there are words in the NT. Were you aware of this? So how can you be sure what you are quoting isn't full of translation or transcription errors, never mind deliberate tampering for apologetic purposes?

Are you aware there is no such thing as the Roman Catholic Church? You won't find a single official document by the Catholic Church that refers to the Roman Catholic Church. Go ahead. Look. But everyone knows there is a Roman Catholic Church, everyone except the Vatican, that is. I point this out because even though something may be common knowledge, it doesn't mean what is *known* by everyone is true. How much more careful do we need to be about supposed truths from a single source that is less than credible?

Why did you blow off Beserk? You say you respect his comments, after he tells you he can read Christian scripture in the original languages, but you failed to take him up on that. Why?

There is a brand new book out. It's called "Misquoting Jesus." It's written by a guy who chairs the department of religious studies at a top American university. It an easy read and part of the  field of study I mentioned above. I think you will find it interesting. If you cannot afford it, send me a PM and I'll send you a copy. In it you will learn of actual mistranslations and additions to the NT from a more credible source, and who knows, maybe you will be able to make posts in the future with more confidence and credibility, with points that have impact and believability. This book, btw, is the most recent in a long and very interesting line of books on the subject going back many years.

Rob

Wonderful post, Rob!  Serious challenges can be mounted against Christianity---indeed against most worldviews--from a variety of perspectives.  Spiritual quests must have a high tolerance for mystery and ambiguity.  But one must at least make a token effort to investigate the primary sources and examine alternative perspectives.  I know that you yourself have done this and I respect you for that.

don

Don,

Agreed, and thank you.

Rob

According to Berserk, I am myopic, simply because i do not hold the similar views. Ah well!

There still is not a confirmed record of anything the biblical Jesus is claimed to have said - far less of what it is claimed is meant by what it is said he said.
Supposition aplenty, invention, wishful thinking and pious hope in abundance.

But nothing whatsoever, pointing clearly to objective truth.

We pay our money and make a guess! Or, we examine and speculate.

Rob-Roy your message is understood and taken seriously.  Beserk your knowledge of the bible is admirable and i am enjoying reading your postings under 'spitfires theological issues'.

How can i justify my postings? I cannot by academics that is true; i can tell you that the mistranslation of what Jesus said on the Cross and the statement that Jesus did not die for our sins is from the Osirian Scripts but these do not exist in any academic library and so i might as well be saying they are from Jupiter for that matter.

Yes, the rest is my opinion.  i take full responsibilty for what i say and do not post such statements with blase for the sake of it.  God will be my Judge. i am not here to change beliefs or thoughts or opinions; i do not say that i know it all, for i dont.  i put my opinion forward, maybe it shouldnt be as brazen as a new topic though. i do respect the elders of this site and do not mean to offend. These things are important to many; i do know this.

i am not challenging Christianity, on the contrary, i am challenging the church who tells me what i should think about Christ who lives in me.

Some of the 'New Age' literature also has misunderstandings and grave mistranslations; to me (my opinion) it is an extension of the church preaching into this level of spiritualism. It is worrying and one must be cautious of this.

i have a posting that i would like to post tomorrow on The Cross ... and i'll await your valid and respected comments.

i understand when you say i sound vague and mystic and ambigious this is not my intentions - its just me (its okay for you i have to live with myself!)

cheerio.

I don't believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, because I don't believe that we are sinners.

I believe his crucifixion represents that he wasn't a body, so there wasn't anything anybody could do to hurt him. The same is true for the rest of us. No matter what somebody does to our body, they can't hurt who/what we really are. Spirits/Souls that can't be harmed.

I believe his resurection is the real message. Through his resurection he showed the way back to God's kingdom, back to real life.  

Recoverer -
 You don't believe we are sinners?  Do you read the newspaper or watch the evening news?  One of the most fundamental experiences of life in general is that people do bad things to each other.  And if we look at ourselves then we will admit that we also have sins as well, or have done things to others that hurt them emotionally (or physically).  That old adage 'sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me' is simply flat out wrong.  I am at work now and don't have my bible handy, but there is a verse in Mark where Jesus is speaking and he says something like this - "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  In other words, unless you see yourself as spiritually sick or deficient (not perfect) in some way, then Jesus has not much he can do for you.  Near death experiences almost all have some sort of life review expience that goes on.  While people feel greatly loved, they can also feel ashamed of things they have done (typically).
 People are extremely good at justifying what they do in their own mind.  However we can learn to look at ourselves with God's perspective, with love, and note that there are things that we can do better.  I would say that its debatable whether or not life and the afterlife are about anything else at all other than spiritual development.

I believe that when God sees some of the negative things we do, he has absolutely no judgment towards us and does not think of us as sinners.

Because of free will, and because there are so many possibilities, Souls get lost for awhile. Eventually they see the error of their ways and find their way back to their inner divinity and truth.

Why do some people do negative things while others don't? Is it because Souls aren't created equally, or is it because some souls, due to the circumstances they go through during their life, get their inner divinity covered up more than others. There must be some causitive reason, because if there wasn't, and if it were perfectly clear what to do in each circumstance a person runs across, they would "never" do something negative. Either way, it doesn't seem fair to pass judgment on them and call them sinners.  When you do so you give more reality to what they appear to be, rather than to what they actually are.

What's more likely to wake a person up to his or her inner divinity. To call he or she a sinner, or to let he or she know that he or she is a divine being? There are too many people who focus their attention on not being a sinner and getting damned, rather than finding the splendidness of who they really are.

Is a person more likely to do the right thing because they're moved by the love they find within, or because they're afraid of being a sinner?



wrote on Mar 16^th, 2006 at 2:30pm:

Recoverer -  You don't believe we are sinners?  Do you read the newspaper or watch the evening news?  One of the most fundamental experiences of life in general is that people do bad things to each other.  And if we look at ourselves then we will admit that we also have sins as well, or have done things to others that hurt them emotionally (or physically).  That old adage 'sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me' is simply flat out wrong.  I am at work now and don't have my bible handy, but there is a verse in Mark where Jesus is speaking and he says something like this - "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  In other words, unless you see yourself as spiritually sick or deficient (not perfect) in some way, then Jesus has not much he can do for you.  Near death experiences almost all have some sort of life review expience that goes on.  While people feel greatly loved, they can also feel ashamed of things they have done (typically).  People are extremely good at justifying what they do in their own mind.  However we can learn to look at ourselves with God's perspective, with love, and note that there are things that we can do better.  I would say that its debatable whether or not life and the afterlife are about anything else at all other than spiritual development.

"Rob-Roy your message is understood and taken seriously.  Beserk your knowledge of the bible is admirable and i am enjoying reading your postings under 'spitfires theological issues'.

Thanks.

"How can i justify my postings?"

If we didn't have any way of discerning truth from fiction, we would go through life constantly swayed, back and forth by anyone who is capable of convincing us of their truth. The academic approach is just one means of discerning truth, of several, and not an infallible one by any stretch of even the most creative imagination. History is replete with examples of academics who *knew* something was true, only to later proven wrong. I look at academics (science) as more a process of discovery and conversation rather than a guide to all truth.

"I cannot by academics that is true; i can tell you that the mistranslation of what Jesus said on the Cross and the statement that Jesus did not die for our sins is from the Osirian Scripts but these do not exist in any academic library and so i might as well be saying they are from Jupiter for that matter."

No, we can learn from anyone. Often we pass through one belief system after another before finally realizing that we have to discover things for ourselves, rather than allow someone or something else to decide for us what is true. Others can help, and often those others present a mix of truth and untruth, but the truth they do have can help us tremendously. The messy part is telling one from the other.

"Yes, the rest is my opinion.  i take full responsibilty for what i say and do not post such statements with blase for the sake of it.  God will be my Judge."

That's great, but what's behind what you say? Or rather, what's behind what you are repeating? For example, if, say, a graduate of the Monroe Institute's Lifeline program says she or he does soul retrievals, we can believe him or her or not. But the retriever will be quick to point out that the opportunity for proof is readily available. All one has to do is go to TMI, or use other recommended means, and begin the process of seeing for oneself. Although this is mostly subjective, it affords the skeptic the opportunity to repeat the experiences, thereby establishing truth or falsehood for her or himself.

When we read someone's script, we can believe it or not. I have beside me the Urantia Book. It's a hefty tome, full of very interesting things. It claims to be yet another revelation. I have no idea what to do with it. Interestingly, and not coincidentally I believe, I just opened it up (since I mentioned it to you) to a page with this passage:

"The accepted supreme value of the religionist may be base or even false, but it is nevertheless religious. A religion is genuine to just the extent that the value which is held to be supreme is truly a cosmic reality of genuine spiritual worth." (italics mine)

The key words here are truly, reality and spiritual. Putting these together, we may ask: "What is true spiritual reality?" The TMI grad would answer: "Go see spiritual reality for yourself. Doing that will help you turn beliefs into Knowns." Others have had other experiences that validate, for them, the spiritual knowledge and beliefs that they have.

We may be convinced that this or that book or scripture is the Truth. We may have genuine spiritual experiences while adhering to our beliefs, and the energy of others who believe as we do serves to reinforce and confirm for us the rightness of our path. And you and they would be almost right. Each scripture contains some or even a lot of truth. Spiritual experiences happen to people whether they adhere to a particular belief system of none at all. Often we open ourselves to more spiritual experience by doing spiritual things, no matter what they are. And the energy of our friends who sincerely believe they are helping us is good, positive, and endenders trust. The sum total of all this can be very convincing to someone adhering to a particular system of beliefs, who is unware that these experiences are all common to most people engaged in spiritual matters. The difficulty lies, for the genuine seeker, in determining what is truth in a book and what is not, and the true meaning and purpose behind the spirtual experiences that he or she has. Again, the TMI grad would say: "Go see for yourself."

The Christian bible, The Urantia Book, The Book of Mormon, The Koran, and others say very important things about Jesus. Which do we believe?

Along comes you, a sincere person, telling us about Osirian Script. Ok, what is that? Why should we believe it, or you who are representing it? Before answering those obvious and very important questions, you post conclusions, putting the proverbial horse before the cart.

Whatever is good and true in the Osiran Script is worth noting and sharing. The question there, though, is what is that, really?

And how are Afterlife exploration, soul retrievals, energetic healing, and other "New Age" practices "an extension of the Church preaching into this level of spiritualism."?

None of these practices are new, btw. They have been done for thousands of years, in all the major belief systems, in one form or another.

The answer to any challenge or question you may raise though, in the final analysis is: "Go see for yourself." Ultimately it's up to each of us to determine what is true and what isn't.

Rob

Is God indifferent to suffering or is he not?  I would say if God sees the horrible acts committed on Earth and does not feel those acts are horrible - that would make God indifferent to the point of being evil, and suffering in the world would be pointless.

You also tend to remove responsibility for individual's actions away from themselves and onto God.  While things like circumstance, environment, upbringing, etc, etc, etc, factor into a situation, we are still responsible (some more than others) for our reactions and actions in most situations.  This explains the existence of evil - we are given some limited degree of freedom here in this life to live and learn from it, and to see what we become - loving people or selfish.

Let me agree with you in a sense - I think God loves us more than we are aware of and that when he looks at us its with love - he sees what we could become, and sees us lovingly.  We judge ourselves in a sense after death, reflected in what we have done from all vantage points.  However, to say that he does not hate wrong actions is to say that God simply doesn't care enough about victims, and that would make God immoral.

I also agree that we have a Divine Spark within us, and in a sense become more like God over time as we develop.  But to say that we are pretty much God now or effectively God now ignores the daily selfish actions that we take in life, the lack of love and the indifference that does hurt people and does matter in the long run as it affects others.

I never said God likes it when we do negative things. I just suggested he understands why, doesn't judge us, and loves us unconditionally.

Having an understanding of why people do the things they do, isn't contradictory to seeing the need to change. Sometimes this takes time.  Until we can truly put ourselves in the place of people who do wrong, we shouldn't throw stones at them. It is better to be thankful that at this point we're experiencing a life with more clarity than their life, and to do what we can to help them.

It isn't a matter of placing responsibility on either God or a person who does negative things. If souls are going to be given the opportunity to evolve in their own unique way, then you have to allow for the possibility that sometimes souls will have to go through some tough growing pains. The only other option is for God to treat us like a bunch of puppets.  It is hard to imagine him doing such a thing.






wrote on Mar 16^th, 2006 at 4:01pm:

Is God indifferent to suffering or is he not?  I would say if God sees the horrible acts committed on Earth and does not feel those acts are horrible - that would make God indifferent to the point of being evil, and suffering in the world would be pointless. You also tend to remove responsibility for individual's actions away from themselves and onto God.  While things like circumstance, environment, upbringing, etc, etc, etc, factor into a situation, we are still responsible (some more than others) for our reactions and actions in most situations.  This explains the existence of evil - we are given some limited degree of freedom here in this life to live and learn from it, and to see what we become - loving people or selfish. Let me agree with you in a sense - I think God loves us more than we are aware of and that when he looks at us its with love - he sees what we could become, and sees us lovingly.  We judge ourselves in a sense after death, reflected in what we have done from all vantage points.  However, to say that he does not hate wrong actions is to say that God simply doesn't care enough about victims, and that would make God immoral. I also agree that we have a Divine Spark within us, and in a sense become more like God over time as we develop.  But to say that we are pretty much God now or effectively God now ignores the daily selfish actions that we take in life, the lack of love and the indifference that does hurt people and does matter in the long run as it affects others.

augoeideian,

Three words:

Pure Unconditional Love: what me must have in ourselves before we can see others clearly. The more we have, the more clearly we see Reality, Truth, ourselves, and other people. This is the place to start, not at the circumference of an organization that would have no reality except for the people in it.

Two more:

Mother Theresa: someone who lived PUL. Oh, btw, since you seem to have forgotten about people like her: she was a CATHOLIC.

The churches are allowed to continue for a reason.

Enough said.


Rob

The churches do have a role.
i have viewed my opinions and now i let it be.

Peace and love to all Mankind.

Pure unconditonal love, is a pure myth.

There is alwasy personal motive behind such acts.... always. wether that means, gaining brownie points with a higher power, or being a glory hog, theres always a motive.

No, Spitfire, there isn't always a selfish motive. But since you see it that way, you are in effect creating your own reality. Until you decide to change that, that's all you'll see.

We can learn about love the hard way, through negativity. We can be angry, resentful, projecting blame everywhere but at ourselves, ect. We draw in more negativity this way. This teaches us what love is by showing us what love is not. It's very painful.

Or, we can be an open and loving person. In this way we bring in love, attract loving people, and learn more of what love is through the experience of love. This, obviously, is the preferred way.

I'm in the middle, in transition, btw. You won't see PUL until you start letting it in.

No rush. You'll learn one way or the other. As always, it's your choice.

Rob

Amen to that Rob.

Love, Mairlyn ;-)

Man, Rob, you're like the smartest dude on this whole board. Kudos.

Anyway, as a Catholic, I feel a lot of guilt sometimes, like "God must be disappointed in what I'm doing," or "what if God chooses to judge me for one 'flaw' that may or may not have even really been translated right." It drags you down a lot sometimes, but if anything, it makes you want to do anything you can to get closer to God.

I've said before that I don't like how much the Catholic church gets slammed. Yes, they're not perfect, but they don't claim to be, if you pay attention. Maybe the reformation comes slowly, but things are starting to change, if even a little. (I mean, of course it's going slow, it's run by a bunch of old men.) And maybe we might look odd to you, with all our ritual and fanfare and stuff, but that's just how we choose to worship. It doesn't mean we're insincere, or brainwashed, or showoffs, we just...are who we are, you know?

Thanks Mair and Sasuke,

Sasuke,

You sound pretty wise to me yourself. You are waaay ahead of your peers, for sure.

Love,
Rob