Anyone believe in either God or karma?

[Jack Earth]

I don’t believe in my mom. I know my mom.
I don’t “believe in God”.
I know God.

Can you tell us more about this? It's pretty interesting.

 

[orangeUglad]

God is real and I feel His presence all the time. Jesus.

 

[Peatful]

Can you tell us more about this? It's pretty interesting.

God became a person- Jesus - and I got to know Him; as He knows me.
Like a real relationship.
I’m not saying “Jesus is my homeboy” (like the t shirt says)- but because of Jesus, I get to know God through his Word and Spirit.

Its a weird concept to explain without sounding woo-woo.
That’s why I put it in context of a loving earthly relationship most know.

You know your mom and your mom knows you.
A relationship.
I know God and God knows me.
Emphasis not on a conceptual belief- but on an intimate relationship.

I don’t know if that helped at all.

 

[AdR]

Can you tell us more about this? It's pretty interesting.

If you surrender yourself, if you cease to intend on achieving anything at all, then the only will left is God's will. This is how the knowing happens and how you form that relationship.

 

[PurpleHeart]

You are perplexing things without a reason, I am a carbon based life form with a certain body, sensorium, capabilities and needs, all of these can be tampered with and changed, science gives me the ability to do so and my intelligence and resources make this possible, exploring gathering resources and playing with the universe is what I do.

I entertain myself and have fun gathering information and resources which enables me to go on, I do not fell the need to sugar coat this in sacredness, I am ok with things as they are.

 

[mariantos]

I never said there wasn't a creator .... how did you hear him exactly?in your head or like you was speaking to someone infront off you? How do you know for a fact God saved you from these situations??

It gives me the impression that you are slightly ironic, that's why I don't want to tell you or explain absolutely anything about the many experiences I had, but also about the way God manifested and communicated to me.

I wish you much good and peace of mind!

 

[mariantos]

You are perplexing things without a reason, I am a carbon based life form with a certain body, sensorium, capabilities and needs, all of these can be tampered with and changed, science gives me the ability to do so and my intelligence and resources make this possible, exploring gathering resources and playing with the universe is what I do.

I entertain myself and have fun gathering information and resources which enables me to go on, I do not fell the need to sugar coat this in sacredness, I am ok with things as they are.

Your intelligence and your resources, play with the universe.
Thank you for giving me reasons to smile.

Man cannot create a match straw out of nothing. He needs certain resources for this, these resources were made available to him, he received them as a gift. Please consider this.

Science, among many other things, has been revealed to man by God. Because satan is allowed to still rule the earth, technology is predominantly used to suppress individual freedoms, to kill the other as effectively as possible, and so on. Therefore, instead of evolution, we have involution, not even stagnation. I hope and believe that the day will come when man will use resources and information for the benefit of his neighbor, predominantly.


I'm glad you're having fun, as long as you don't cause anything harmful to you or your neighbor with the information you've accumulated and the resources that have been made available to you.

 

[TheSir]

As for the above conversation about sin vs karma, to my eyes both could be defined as 'spiritual debt'. The defining question would thus be: will you carry the burden and consequences of your debt on your own shoulders, or will you shift this burden on the shoulders of Christ? I'm not sure if either is a wholly invalid approach, or if they, in the end, are even the same thing. Each is to carry their own cross, after all. Actions have consequences, and each reaps what they sow. For mystics, the notions of sin and karma alike lose their meaning as one achieves communion with God: sin traps only the sinful, and karma traps only those who follow their own will. They allude to the same thing. To those who're with God, or 'the uncreated', sin/karma are but an illusion, a shadow on the wall, much like the whole fallen world. One awakens to the realization that life is less serious than we fear and more meaningful than we dare to hope.

 

[L_C]

Just curious about how the rp forum members think about this in general.
Also feel free to discuss law of attraction beliefs

Karma is basically just a method to trick you back into the reincarnation system. Read the book by John Lash- not in his image, and you will understand how religion 'prepared' us for the state we are currently in.

 

[Jing]

It gives me the impression that you are slightly ironic, that's why I don't want to tell you or explain absolutely anything about the many experiences I had, but also about the way God manifested and communicated to me.

I wish you much good and peace of mind!

I'm going to assume you heard him in your head then, so it was obviously your imagination the brain is powerfull can easily trick you

 

[Jack Earth]

God became a person- Jesus - and I got to know Him; as He knows me.
Like a real relationship.
I’m not saying “Jesus is my homeboy” (like the t shirt says)- but because of Jesus, I get to know God through his Word and Spirit.

Its a weird concept to explain without sounding woo-woo.
That’s why I put it in context of a loving earthly relationship most know.

You know your mom and your mom knows you.
A relationship.
I know God and God knows me.
Emphasis not on a conceptual belief- but on an intimate relationship.

I don’t know if that helped at all.

Go ahead and try who cares if it sounds woo woo to some.
Do you speak to Jesus or have a dialogue?
Does he speak back to you in words or some other type of communication?
If it's impossible to explain then it's fine. But don't worry about sounding weird all viewpoints are welcome I'm curious to hear more about your relationship with Jesus.

 

[Peatful]

Go ahead and try who cares if it sounds woo woo to some.
Do you speak to Jesus or have a dialogue?
Does he speak back to you in words or some other type of communication?
If it's impossible to explain then it's fine. But don't worry about sounding weird all viewpoints are welcome I'm curious to hear more about your relationship with Jesus.

Thanks for diving in.
Above all that I say- and im not good with words- I want to say it is amazingly encouraging to see how you are very in-tune with deeper truths.
I believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to you too Jack.

I met Jesus once.
As in physically met him.
I had already thought- “what the heck- ive tried everything else- sure I’ll cry out to God”.
But there was a very dark battle of sorts one night while I half slept- and Jesus came down to touch and deliver me. It was unforgettable, very real and powerful.

I have fully been His, since.

my relationship with Him has deepened through suffering.
I believe suffering is the only thing that brings true change- and I needed to change a lot. (To give this some context- my sister is in prison for murder. We had a dark dark upbringing.)

so- yes. I talk with Him all the time. He is always present with me- like that of a true mother’s love.
the closer I am with Him- the more intuitively and implicitly I can live.

im not a religious person at all.
I live in the southern US- and I see much cultural Christianity, which is troubling for me honestly.

I only heard him once audibly (while my youngest was a newborn) but as said above- since Jesus now lives in me- Him communicating with me- and I to Him- is implicit or intuitive.
And quite frequent when I actually open up a Bible.

Jesus said He was the the Word of God brought to life- and I should meet Him there more often.

 

[AdR]

You are perplexing things without a reason, I am a carbon based life form with a certain body, sensorium, capabilities and needs, all of these can be tampered with and changed, science gives me the ability to do so and my intelligence and resources make this possible, exploring gathering resources and playing with the universe is what I do.

I entertain myself and have fun gathering information and resources which enables me to go on, I do not fell the need to sugar coat this in sacredness, I am ok with things as they are.

I would say that mental gymnastics of seeing yourself through the lenses of chemistry and biology is perplexing it more than anything. If you want to think about in such an abstract way as you just presented it, then you should continue with your analysis until it is truly and completely finished.

Your waking experience can be reduced finally to your senses. That you are a life form with those senses is merely information provided by those senses. You cannot point to a single thing that you or anyone else can prove is truly material. Nothing you can see, feel, touch, or imagine can be reduced to anything other than information being provided to you by those sense. Any scientist can agree will agree with you on this point. However, to believe that information is the mirror image of something material is the real act of faith, perhaps the greatest act of faith in the world. It is here that true reason is abandoned and faith is adopted, while those who have that faith call those without it unreasonable. One could say that materialism is the world's most widely practiced religion.

 

[Jack Earth]

Thanks for diving in.
Above all that I say- and im not good with words- I want to say it is amazingly encouraging to see how you are very in-tune with deeper truths.
I believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to you too Jack.

I met Jesus once.
As in physically met him.
I had already thought- “what the heck- ive tried everything else- sure I’ll cry out to God”.
But there was a very dark battle of sorts one night while I half slept- and Jesus came down to touch and deliver me. It was unforgettable, very real and powerful.

I have fully been His, since.

my relationship with Him has deepened through suffering.
I believe suffering is the only thing that brings true change- and I needed to change a lot. (To give this some context- my sister is in prison for murder. We had a dark dark upbringing.)

so- yes. I talk with Him all the time. He is always present with me- like that of a true mother’s love.
the closer I am with Him- the more intuitively and implicitly I can live.

im not a religious person at all.
I live in the southern US- and I see much cultural Christianity, which is troubling for me honestly.

I only heard him once audibly (while my youngest was a newborn) but as said above- since Jesus now lives in me- Him communicating with me- and I to Him- is implicit or intuitive.
And quite frequent when I actually open up a Bible.

Jesus said He was the the Word of God brought to life- and I should meet Him there more often.

Incredible. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Twohandsondeck]

This is precisely the message of the Vedic tradition and the Taoists as well. Salvation is a gift and there is nothing you can do to get besides being still. To do anything else requires forcing yourself away from God in favor of the material.

So... by doing nothing/coercing the mind into a state of nothingness, then you receive salvation?

"Being still" is not the default state of any life. Being still is to welcome death under any natural circumstance.

Also, "being still" is still a work, because if a person isn't still, then they don't have salvation (at that moment, at least, much less eternally). It's only a momentary salvation at best.

Lastly, if we are "being still," then we are only detracting from everything around us. We're selfishly consuming energy without providing any charity to anyone else except for ourselves.

A born again Christian is taught that charity is the highest act, yet the men and women of the world are convinced of this hypocritical notion that if they aren't doing anything to or for anybody, that they are being as peaceable as possible.

Standing by to watch a serial killer collect victims is not peaceable or charitable. Waiting for a newborn baby to feed itself is not peaceable or charitable. Doing nothing ("being still") is literally chaos without order in the collective scheme of things.

Nothing is more destructive than apathy.
____________________
1 Corinthians 13:13
[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Colossians 3:12-15
[12] Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
[13] Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
[14] And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
[15] And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

 

[AdR]

So... by doing nothing/coercing the mind into a state of nothingness, then you receive salvation?

"Being still" is not the default state of any life. Being still is to welcome death under any natural circumstance.

Also, "being still" is still a work, because if a person isn't still, then they don't have salvation (at that moment, at least, much less eternally). It's only a momentary salvation at best.

Lastly, if we are "being still," then we are only detracting from everything around us. We're selfishly consuming energy without providing any charity to anyone else except for ourselves.

A born again Christian is taught that charity is the highest act, yet the men and women of the world are convinced of this hypocritical notion that if they aren't doing anything to or for anybody, that they are being as peaceable as possible.

Standing by to watch a serial killer collect victims is not peaceable or charitable. Waiting for a newborn baby to feed itself is not peaceable or charitable. Doing nothing ("being still") is literally chaos without order in the collective scheme of things.

Nothing is more destructive than apathy.
____________________
1 Corinthians 13:13
[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Colossians 3:12-15
[12] Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
[13] Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
[14] And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
[15] And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

No not that. Being still is to avoid internal struggle against the will of God. It a stillness of the will and the spirit, not stillness of mind or body. Neither mind nor body belongs to you, spirit and will belong to you, and when they agitate, they change the course of your body and mind, but this causes suffering of the spirit. God moves and thinks through you. Meditation and mental grappling is for fools, but some people have to learn what not to do.

If you are still in spirit, then you follow the path that has been chosen for you, you can fight it on purpose (self-control types, those who have been misled) or you can give into temptation for sensory pleasure, which is such a powerful motivator that the effort can be hard to perceive, but both require a movement of the spirit away from its natural course. It takes no effort to remove a hand from a hot stove. It takes immense effort to keep it there. It takes no effort to spring into action to help a child in trouble. It takes a tremendous resistance to forget and walk away. It takes no effort to move through life letting your experiences and your God-given nature form your path. That does not mean creating lack of thought, lack of experience, lack of joy, or even lack of physical movement. That is quite ridiculous and takes great effort. Hope you know what I mean.

 

[Twohandsondeck]

No not that. Being still is to avoid internal struggle against the will of God. It a stillness of the will and the spirit, not stillness of mind or body. Neither mind nor body belongs to you, spirit and will belong to you, and when they agitate, they change the course of your body and mind, but this causes suffering of the spirit. God moves and thinks through you. Meditation and mental grappling is for fools, but some people have to learn what not to do.

If you are still in spirit, then you follow the path that has been chosen for you, you can fight it on purpose (self-control types, those who have been misled) or you can give into temptation for sensory pleasure, which is such a powerful motivator that the effort can be hard to perceive, but both require a movement of the spirit away from its natural course. It takes no effort to remove a hand from a hot stove. It takes immense effort to keep it there. It takes no effort to spring into action to help a child in trouble. It takes a tremendous resistance to forget and walk away. It takes no effort to move through life letting your experiences and your God-given nature form your path. That does not mean creating lack of thought, lack of experience, lack of joy, or even lack of physical movement. That is quite ridiculous and takes great effort. Hope you know what I mean.

I do understand what you mean. It's our reasonable service to give ourselves wholly to God that He may use us for some good.

The only question remaining is... do you honestly believe that - as the lying, blaspheming, fornicator you are lawfully judged as - you are worthy of a perfect, Holy God's eternal heaven of life? Are you certain that you'll make the cut based on your life's work?
_______________
Isaiah 64:6
[6] But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Romans 3:10
[10] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:23-28
[23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
[24] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
[25] Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
[26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
[27] Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
[28] Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

 

[OccamzRazer]

I was 'saved' back in 2013 and have been coming back to God recently.

There is a lot wrong with mainstream Christianity, but the more you zoom out the more beautiful Yahshua/Christ's leading principles become. Not to mention the chance for a relationship with the Creator Himself! Wow!

Peat provides great context when it comes to appraising nutritional concepts, but God provides the context needed to appraise the meaning of life in this world.

 

[youngsinatra]

I was 'saved' back in 2013 and have been coming back to God recently.

There is a lot wrong with mainstream Christianity, but the more you zoom out the more beautiful Yahshua/Christ's leading principles become. Not to mention the chance for a relationship with the Creator Himself! Wow!

Peat provides great context when it comes to appraising nutritional concepts, but God provides the context needed to appraise the meaning of life in this world.

I did not know that! Really cool man :)

 

[OccamzRazer]

I did not know that! Really cool man :)

Hey thanks man! ?

I don't talk about it much since that can all too often become a turn off. IMO God can speak to anyone regardless of their background/current beliefs.