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Christian Q&A (Read 8486 times)
Uno
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Christian Q&A
Jun 24th, 2017 at 1:50pm
 
This is the Christian questions & answers thread. The questions are to be respectful but straightforward and will be posed in the spirit of wanting to understand Christianity and Christians.

Questions are for anyone to pose, but answers are to be put forth by Christians. I start with question 1), and the next question is of course 2) and so on. Always remember to quote the question when providing an answer. We are different people and so not all questions will be interesting, but hopefully some will be.

Wonder - to think or speculate curiously, desire to know something.
Wonder - to ask yourself questions or express a wish to know about something.
Wonder - to be filled with admiration, astonishment, amazement, or awe; marvel (often followed by at).
Wonder - astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience.
Wonder - to doubt is sometimes a small wonder.

1) I've only just started reading the Bible and so far this is the summarization: the earth and the inhabitants are created. Looking at the world around you, can you see the fingerprints of God? Do you find any indications that we live in a created reality?
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If you claim there is no truth and in the same breath claim that is the truth, you are a leftist.
 
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I Am Dude
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #1 - Jun 24th, 2017 at 10:04pm
 
The sheer complexity of the universe, down to the cellular level, is a glaring indication that there is a creative intelligence behind everything. If one finds a book on the ground, it would be logical to conclude that the words didn't randomly jump onto the pages and organize themselves into a sensible body of text, but that an intelligent sentient being created it. Unfortunately many are trapped in a scientism/atheist/Darwinian belief system which blinds them to the fact that the same line of logic applies to DNA, the most complex coding language that exists, like a cellular instruction manual for the creation and biological processes of all life. To think the former requires a creator and the latter doesn't doesn't seem very logical to me, especially in light of how flawed Darwinian evolutionary theory is.
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But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
 
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Uno
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #2 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 3:26am
 
2) What is a prayer? Is love a prayer?

3) How does one make an effective prayer compared to an ineffective prayer?

4) As the recipient goes, does it matter if a prayer is presented to Jesus, Christ or God?

5) How often do you pray?

6) What does "pray without ceasing" mean?

7) As a Christian, is prayer an obligation?

8) Can you tell about a memorable experience with prayer?
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If you claim there is no truth and in the same breath claim that is the truth, you are a leftist.
 
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1796
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #3 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 4:52am
 
1) I've only just started reading the Bible and so far this is the summarization: the earth and the inhabitants are created. Looking at the world around you, can you see the fingerprints of God? Do you find any indications that we live in a created reality?


That is a hard question to answer, for me anyway. I can certainly see the imprints of God in the world, but that may only be because I have been fortunate enough to have seen behind the scenes of our material world and into the greater realities and have seen how it all fits together.

If not for having seen behind the scenes then I might not be able to see the imprints and workings of God in this world. Or maybe I would see them but not so well, I really don't know. I am what I am, and it is hard to imagine seeing the world around me without having had the experiences that I've had and without having the understandings that I have.

I will make the following related points though. They are adjacent jigsaw pieces in the jigsaw of understanding reality, and they have relevance to how I see the imprints of God all around. I have said these things before so please excuse me for repeating myself.

a. We live in a fractal existence, where all things replicate and are replications of things above, below, within and without of themselves, to the extent that dimensions and the nature of the matter in dimensions enables.

b. There are many laws of reality, all ultimately harmonious with each other. One law is the Law of Correspondences. All around us and within us, within all things and between all things, great and small, from most structured and material to the most intangible and energetic, are correspondences of everything to everything else, and between all things singular and things collective. And this in the three attributes of all things, being their structure, quality and function. Seeing the correspondences in all things, reality makes sense.

c. There are four main different kinds or categories of symbols. Here they are in their order of understanding them, for each understanding is built upon the prior:

1. Assigned or representative symbols. These are symbols that we give them their meaning.
e.g. letters, numbers.

2. Intellectual symbols. These are symbols that require an intellect to see their meaning, and an intellect sees their meaning.
e.g. the arrow,

3. Imprinted symbols. These are symbols that are imprints of realities of a greater dimension into the matter of lesser dimensions.
e.g. a foot print on the ground is a two dimensional imprint/symbol of a three dimensional foot. And there are imprints in our three dimensional world of great multidimensional realities.

4. Actual symbols. These symbols are the parts of great multidimensional realities that come into our world. They are those parts that imprints themselves upon lesser dimensions.
e.g. All natural things are symbols of greater things, are imprints and extensions into this third dimension of greater realities that exist in higher dimensions, such as mountains, valleys, rivers, all the elements, trees, animals, us and our bodies and souls, all life, the planets, moon, stars, sun, etc, etc.


By contemplating these categories of symbols, learning to recognise them in their kind and their order, and doing so in conjunction with understanding our fractal existence and the law of correspondences, enables our consciousness and its observing faculties to slide up and down the frequency scale of existence/creation and to see into and through the things/symbols of our reality and into the greater realities to which our world is part of. 

For the mind's eye cannot see where it cannot comprehend to look; it cannot look upward if it does not know where upward is. So contemplating the nature of the fractal existence, correspondences and symbols, also lines, right angles, and spatial things, gradually gives the mind the understanding of where it must reach to see through and out of this dimension. And where the mind can go, and the mind's eye can go, even the eyes can go, for they are little replicas/symbols of the soul and can see where the soul can see.
    

The categories of symbols above are not necessarily distinct from each other but may be mixed. For instance, the primary shapes such as the circle, the cross, triangle, square, five point star, etc, are assigned, intellectual, imprinted and actual symbols.
And naturally there are subdivisions/sub kinds of those categories, such as pictorial symbols, visual, audible, etc.
And relatively there are static and dynamic symbols. Dynamic symbols are rituals and ceremonies. Static symbols are related to the form and structure of things, dynamic symbols relate to energies, and together they relate to function and interaction. But again, it is a sliding scale and things are relative.

These understandings, combined with what I have said about holding a belief and value of truth above all else as described on the thread about "The validity of imagination method", and that combined with and enabled by prayer, faith and love, and combining heart and mind, is what has enabled me to see the imprints of God in our world and throughout all the other worlds that can be looked into.

The teachings of the new testament have a lot to do with it too.

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Something I do occasionally to learn about people is to go into other people's mindsets. Not into a person, but into such a mindset. It is not something I advise others to do, for it carries risks and requires safe know-how.

Not long ago I went into the common atheist mindset. Doing so enabled me to view the world as most atheists do, and enabled me to contrast the atheist mindset and view of the world with my own mindset and view of the world. It was an interesting and beneficial lesson.
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Uno
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #4 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 5:16am
 
Quote:
1796: And where the mind can go, and the mind's eye can go, even the eyes can go, for they are little replicas/symbols of the soul and can see where the soul can see.

Ah, sometimes all it takes is a key, think I'm starting to get it. The human body is a representation of the tethered consciousness. The brain is a replica/representation of intelligence, the eyes/nose/mouth/ear/sensation in the body is a representation of awareness. The arms, legs and other parts representations of force. Different looks personality. Duality is represented, and some body parts relating to senses come in pairs, like a scale to be able to better compare/discriminate/weigh.
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If you claim there is no truth and in the same breath claim that is the truth, you are a leftist.
 
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Uno
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #5 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 6:17am
 
I think this is wonderful by the way. Thanks Dude & 1796, and hope the beginning is a representation of how the thread will continue over time to evolve and form into a sensible and interesting body of posts.
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #6 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 7:54am
 
Uno wrote on Jun 25th, 2017 at 5:16am:
Quote:
1796: And where the mind can go, and the mind's eye can go, even the eyes can go, for they are little replicas/symbols of the soul and can see where the soul can see.

Ah, sometimes all it takes is a key, think I'm starting to get it. The human body is a representation of the tethered consciousness. The brain is a replica/representation of intelligence, the eyes/nose/mouth/ear/sensation in the body is a representation of awareness. The arms, legs and other parts representations of force. Different looks personality. Duality is represented, and some body parts relating to senses come in pairs, like a scale to be able to better compare/discriminate/weigh.


You are welcome Uno.

And yes, you are well on track.

I hope Dude writes more, for we are two Christians come from different yet similar angles, and together we should make an interesting picture of Christianity for you and others to read and wonder about.   

Regarding the eye. Seeing as that rung a note with you, I will say a little more about it.

The central consciousness when positioned in its driver's seat, retracted, condensed and clear, has the screen of imagination before its eye, across a gap to the screen and image seen, which screen is part of the mental body and on which consciousness projects and observes visual thoughts. Surrounding the mental nature or layer is the emotional nature, the layer in which the emotions ripple or resonate, and surrounding the emotional layer is the physical layer/body. Back within the condensed consciousness, within and upward at the inner upper pinnacle of consciousness is the conscience or crown centre, which is the highest sense within oneself of what is good and right to do by others, and is like skylight on the inner upper ceiling of the soul, through which comes light as life and communication from the oversoul. If we turn our self within and upward, up through the crown centre/skylight, there is a communication line going up to the oversoul on its own level. That is the upper part of the silver cord. We move up inside it like a tunnel, for we are the cord itself. Life/consciousness travels down the centre, and communications/information travels on its outside, like a coaxial cable. At the crown centre the outside layer stops and the inside layer comes into our consciousness and continues down through the body's mental, emotional and physical layers with a centre associated with each layer down to the base centre between the legs.

...

Now if we look at the eye in cross section we can see it is comprised of the clear central lens, then across a gap is the inner layer, the retina on which are projected and seen the images, then external of the retina is the choroid which is the vascular layer, and outside of that is the sclera which is the toughest outer layer. The lense and the 3 surrounding layers of the eye correspond with the consciousness and the 3 surrounding mental, emotional and physical layers. Notice that running through the centre of the optic nerve is the blood vessels that carry life to the eye. Surrounding the blood vessels is the nervous tissue that carries communications between the eye and the brain.

All our body's systems and organs, their structures, qualities and functions, are representative of structures, qualities and functions in the soul - the body's brain, heart, lungs, arms, hands, etc everything, even the littlest things like hair, are all physical representations of energetic structures, qualities and functions on a soul level and higher, repeating themselves as fractal copies or correspondences, on each layer as the particular matter and energy of each layer/dimesnion best manifests that structure, quality and function, going all the way back, up and up, through myriad of multidimensional layers, up to heaven itself, as Swedenborg described heaven is structured like a man, and as the Bible says that man is made in the image of God. Even the physical earth, the surrounding emotional lunar obit, the mental canopy of stars, the rising sun, its path across the sky, and its setting, is all a copy of the soul and its mechanism. Everything corresponds, copies and reflects itself all over creation. 

This is not a theory of mine. I have seen it with my own eyes. But never think I want others to believe me, only to look around, to think and wonder for themselves - and dare to pray.

By the way, this is related: https://lacecurtain.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/616/

   
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Uno
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #7 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 10:26am
 
Hehe, just eyeing the cross section you put up makes for an internal "ah, of course" and the added text is very helpful, well laid out and best of all, thought provoking. This will probably linger in the mind for a long time. Awesome!
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I Am Dude
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #8 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 1:44pm
 
2) Prayer is communication with God.

The Bible describes love beautifully:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it his not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13:4–8

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4.7–8 
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But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
 
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I Am Dude
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Re: Christian Q&A
Reply #9 - Jun 25th, 2017 at 8:28pm
 
3) This thread will be more helpful than anything I could say on the subject: http://afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1493321321

Some key points are that one should not pray in a repetitive manner, one should avoid praying in a way that informs God of what he already knows, ie "Jesus, you died on the cross", one should have the utmost faith that the message is being received, and one's prayers should be in alignment with what God wants, to advance his kingdom on Earth and carry out his will, so praying for materialistic things with a selfish motive would be an example of ineffective prayer.
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But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
 
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