Don:
I can't say that meeting Christ in the astral has been a regular occurence. I had what I refer to as my might in heaven experience years ago, and without meeting him in a personal way, I found out that there is truth behind his story. I couldn't precisely tell you all of the details.
There have been a few other occasions where I was visited by his spirit, but I wasn't in the astral at the time. It was a matter of allowing my awareness to open up so I could make contact with him.
Most of the time when I make contact with guidance, a name isn't provided. I believe a mixture is involved. Sometimes I make contact with my higher self, sometimes with a disk member, sometimes with Christ. As long as the beings I make contact with live according to love and a higher purpose, it doesn't matter who they are. I figure Christ has lots of friends that try to accomplish the same thing he tries to accomplish.
Regarding Church, I figure a time comes when as opposed having a preacher, minister, reverend or priest tell one what one should believe, one will try to figure out for one's self. If I would've allowed a preacher to tell me what to believe, there is no way I would've made the spiritual progress I made. Not unless, the preacher told me to find out for myself.
I don't mean to suggest that preachers are never needed. If this is what a person wants, then this is what he or she wants. But a person doesn't become unholy when he or she realizes that the main church we need to make contact with is the church that resides within ourselves.
Churches have been around for years, yet the World is full of problems. Some of these problems are caused by people who attend churches. They get more into condeming people such as new agers, rather than striving to love their neighbors as themselves.
If a person lives according to love, he or she doesn't need to go to church.
Here's a story I heard one time. I don't remember where it comes from. A black man was troubled because a church didn't allow him to become a member. Jesus told him, "Don't feel bad, I've been trying to get into that church for years."
Berserk2 wrote on May 1st, 2009 at 8:32pm:Albert,
New Agers like yourself are continually making unwarranted assumptions about alternative approaches. My definitions and explications, I believe, accurately portray New Agers as I've experienced them here and in public life. But reply #22 does not label Roger, Matthew, or any specific poster as a New Ager.
Why do you imagine that you have often contacted the real Jesus in astral realms, but show no evidence of trying to understand Him or contact Him in the places He Himself indicated He could be discovered--i. e. the Church? If I understand you correctly, you worship neither God nor Jesus. Yet Jesus insists that we worship God and gladly accepts the worship of His followers. Do you really imagine that the ecstasy you have experienced in mystical encounters trumps the need to understand who the historical Jesus actually was and what His trusted eyewitness followers transmitted from Him and taught about Him? I ask this because you seem to acknowledge that Jseus was in truth who He claimed to be. Or have I misunderstood your position?
Don