What do you make of stigmata? The markings of christ on people such as padre pio and st francis. Does it not prove christianity is the one true religion?

Hi:

Not necessarily.  People of different belief systems can experience supernatural things.

I don't believe Jesus had it in mind to make people narrowminded.  If he were around today he'd probably suggest that people learn to listen to their hearts and to not allow fear to get in the way of finding out what's true.

As far as I'm concerned truth can't be owned by any religion.

I had one very sacred experience where I apparently experienced stigmata.  I was in my senior year at Princeton Seminary (MDiv) and had applied to 3 doctoral programs in religious studies.  My first choice was Harvard Divinity School, but a friend had discouraged me, saying I had no chance because I hadn't taken enough courses in my proposed field of specialization--New Testament, Judaism, and Greco-Roman backgrounds.  I thought he was probably correct; so I was worried about whether any of the programs I applied for would accept me. 

Unknown to me, a relative stranger, Ted, overheard me expressing my worry and he decided to pray fervently for my admittance in Harvard!  Then he came to my dorm room and told me what he had done and said God had given him assurance that I would be accepted by Harvard.  I was overwhelmed by his unselfish, thoughtful concern and, oddly, he somehow imparted the same confidence to me.

The next night (Tuesday), an attractive young woman (Ann) came to my room and stunned me with a false accusation.  She claimed that I had called her and told her that she was too psychologically unstable to be in seminary.  The voice of whoever had made this cruel call must have sounded like me because she dismissed my fervant denials!  In the midst of her harangue, a knock on the door brought me the message that I was wanted on the dorm phone down the hall.  Relieved to get away from Ann, I hurried to the phone.  It was John Strugnell, the Harvard professor who, at that time, controlled the Dead Sea scrolsl editorial project.  He was pleased to inform me of my acceptance at Harvard.  Just imagine my conflicting emotions--joy at this news, but hurt from Ann's false accusation.  When I returned to face her in my dorm room, she soon asked me if I was all right.  I replied, "Under the circumstances, yes.  Why do you ask?"  She replied, "Because the palm of your right hand is gushing blood!"  I looked down and my pants were just covered in blood, and yet, I felt no pain or soreness at all!  I can't say I even believed in stigmata at the time.  Ann construed this as a sign of my innocence and quietly left my room. I guess I agree with her about the sign, but I certainly don't take it as a sign of my saintliness.

The timing of all this--Ted's kind word of reassurance, the false accusation, the phone call, and the stigmata was one of the most sacred sychronicities of my life, and one of my most treasured memories.

Don

Not certain what this means, a while back, one night before I went to sleep I prayed and asked for a dream or some other experience that told me whether or not Jesus was crucified.

Sometime during the evening I experienced like an OBE state, looked at the palms of my hands, and they were bleeding.

Thanks, so it doesnt mean all non christians will be sent to hell?

Correct. Non-Christians don't get sent to hell.  It's not that simple.

Jesus basically said "As you sow so you reap."  I believe this means that if you develop yourself in a positive love-based way you'll end up in a nice place after you die, and if you develop yourself in a negative way you'll end up in a negative place.

If a Soul ends up in a negative place it doesn't have to stay there forever, because if it changes its way for the better it can move on to a more positive place.

In the spirit World we don't have physical bodies so how we move is based on our state of mind and the resulting energetic level. In a way, it's sort of like tuning into different radio stations.

recoverer wrote on Oct 4^th, 2013 at 8:30pm:

Not certain what this means, a while back, one night before I went to sleep I prayed and asked for a dream or some other experience that told me whether or not Jesus was crucified. Sometime during the evening I experienced like an OBE state, looked at the palms of my hands, and they were bleeding.

To play at being the Devil's Advocate...that's not necessarily an objective implication of your experience. If we take it as a given that the non-physical is senior to physical embodiment...I.e; your mind has influence over your body...then your "stigmata" may have been a function of belief influencing the plasticity of the physical. An interesting and perhaps useful experience but one that doesn't point to an objective Truth in-of-Itself.  It's a question. Are our explanations of our experience objective? Or are they framed by belief?

Well, I asked the question because I didn't know the answer.

It may be that I was being told that we all make a sacrifice when we incarnate in this challenging World.  We all collect knowledge and experiences that can be used later on by all beings who are a part of the Oneness we are all a part of.

When it comes to Jesus, I don't believe that being crucified is the biggest sacrifice he made, even though some people think that way. I believe that he sacrificed his entire life to serving the World and the greater good.  He put selfless love before selfishness. This enabled him to live according to Christ consciousness.



Griffin wrote on Oct 8^th, 2013 at 2:00am:

recoverer wrote on Oct 4th, 2013 at 8:30pm: Not certain what this means, a while back, one night before I went to sleep I prayed and asked for a dream or some other experience that told me whether or not Jesus was crucified. Sometime during the evening I experienced like an OBE state, looked at the palms of my hands, and they were bleeding. To play at being the Devil's Advocate...that's not necessarily an objective implication of your experience. If we take it as a given that the non-physical is senior to physical embodiment...I.e; your mind has influence over your body...then your "stigmata" may have been a function of belief influencing the plasticity of the physical. An interesting and perhaps useful experience but one that doesn't point to an objective Truth in-of-Itself.  It's a question. Are our explanations of our experience objective? Or are they framed by belief?

Thanks Albert,  I appreciate your response. Sometimes the smartest thing  that I can say for myself is " I don't know."   Wishing you & all of your own the very best, Tim