Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Click Here if you want to upgrade your account
If you were able to post but cannot do so now, send an email to admin at raypeatforum dot com and include your username and we will fix that right up for you.
I'm trying to walk softly here. These are your choices, and neither I nor the Creator will judge your decisions, as far as I know.Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this post. I really appreciate it.
I'm aware of Teal Swan and Ra and am warily interested in "New Age" (for lack of better terms) perspectives. You know of course that Christians regard it all as demonic. I can't quite shake off that suspicion.
I will tell you this, though: former New Agers who convert to Christianity are almost always the kindest, chillest Christians. I think they retain the whole "positive vibrations" mindset, and Christianity could really use more of that instead of all that cold, cruel puritanism.
As for your comments on eternal hell, yes, I often think about that and these are among my qualms with Christianity. All I can tell you is addressing it with mere logic is probably insufficient. We can play with syllogisms like lego bricks but we don't really know the content of all the syllogisms. God created the world knowing many would end up in hell, that is weird, yes, but why did he create the world? Why and how did he know many would choose hell? Was free will ontologically necessary? Was hell ontologically necessary so justice may be sated?
"Sadism" is certainly not it. It's more like a betrayed parent kind of thing. God loves us madly but is willing to be just if we mess up. Is what I believe. You ever read some hideous story, some "son tortures own mother to death" kind of story, and get the nagging feeling that if such acts go unpunished the universe is meaningless? Now picture an edenic world, sinless perfection, nothing but good will and humility and generosity and warmth, all animals in harmony, no predation, all humans sincerely friendly to each other.
Now picture sin entering into this world. In a capricious fit of sadism a human grabs a little mouse and squeezes it to death. In a flicker of pride a man sneers at his friend's stupid comment. Cruelty and pride infiltrate paradise. The halo of innocence that covers Creation is dimmed. The pact has been violated, the magic extinguished. This is sin. It mars beauty and innocence and kindness. Turns everything into a bleak wasteland. Hell is probably a consequence of this disposition of the soul. A geographical materialization of evil, to which those who are evilly disposed are as it were magnetically drawn.
This is easier to feel than to explain. When I pray with sincerity I get a feeling of holiness and feel a warmth/light/flame in what some people call the heart chakra region. When I masturbate (particularly if I do it to certain types of porn) I feel like I am spiritually transported to some lower realm, like the bleakness of my act saps my very surroundings of innocence, purity, joy. It feels bleak. Heaven and Hell are probably a matter of "vibrational alignment", then, to use New Age terminology.
I will tell you this, though: former New Agers who convert to Christianity are almost always the kindest, chillest Christians. I think they retain the whole "positive vibrations" mindset, and Christianity could really use more of that instead of all that cold, cruel puritanism.
As for your comments on eternal hell, yes, I often think about that and these are among my qualms with Christianity. All I can tell you is addressing it with mere logic is probably insufficient. We can play with syllogisms like lego bricks but we don't really know the content of all the syllogisms. God created the world knowing many would end up in hell, that is weird, yes, but why did he create the world? Why and how did he know many would choose hell? Was free will ontologically necessary? Was hell ontologically necessary so justice may be sated?
And I would suggest not watching porn. At least for a while since you seem quite confused atm and you have noticed a bad effect. Not that it is a sin, but it does imho damage you. Not your soul, but the human.
"What comes to mind is seeds of personal faith being choked out by garbage." Yes. I trust your spiritual intuition here. I'm fine with 99% of Christianity but there's that 1% that drives me into scrupulosity and makes me want to abandon the whole thing. And then it feels cold and bleak and I miss the warmth of the faith.
Hell is not a place, it is an event.
This is another mainstream Christian bible thumper failure. Fear should have been translated to revere. Fire, damnation, and torture is a satanic doctrine. Come out of babylon. Our Father is all loving and like He said is Hosea 6:6, He does not want our burnt offerings, He wants our Love. A Great leader does not lead through fear, He leads through Respect and Reverence. Satan leads through fear.fear God
This is another mainstream Christian bible thumper failure. Fear should have been translated to revere. Fire, damnation, and torture is a satanic doctrine. Come out of babylon. Our Father is all loving and like He said is Hosea 6:6, He does not want our burnt offerings, He wants our Love. A Great leader does not lead through fear, He leads through Respect and Reverence. Satan leads through fear.
Brother, you are lost and need to get with a good teacher. God is not going to torture people for Eternity. I will not argue with you over scripture and gave the tools to plow in my end times thread. I will not do the work for you, plow your own field.Unquenchable fire in which the flame doesn't die and the worm dieth not is a satantic doctrine? Those are Jesus' own words
Brother, you are lost and need to get with a good teacher. God is not going to torture people for Eternity. I will not argue with you over scripture and gave the tools to plow in my end times thread. I will not do the work for you, plow your own field.
Take care.
Howdy friend, I went though all this myself throughout my teens until I lost my particular religious worldview in my early 20's, which was Mormonism. And yes the scrupulosity was absolutely miserable during my teen years. Strangely it seemed the majority of people I knew didn't experience religion and spirituality this way despite having the same religious worldview. Well for whatever reason it wasn't working for me and it led to me losing all my religious beliefs involuntarily and abruptly which was very traumatic. I suppose some of us just aren't compatible with the linguistic effects of some aspects of a more insulated culture. We take it very sincerely to heart in ways that other people typically don’t. I think we can see it as a gift and find a positive use for our natures.Anyway my scrupulosity has grown byzantine. It's grown so bad I want to kill myself. I feel guilty for everything but I know my guilt is ridiculous. I feel guilty for pirating
But...didn't pastors and churches teach you how to interpret Jesus' words on this subject?Apart from the holy spirit, I don't need a teacher to tell me what Jesus' words mean. He said it, I believe it, that's all I can do.
But...didn't pastors and churches teach you how to interpret Jesus' words on this subject?
This is another mainstream Christian bible thumper failure. Fear should have been translated to revere. Fire, damnation, and torture is a satanic doctrine. Come out of babylon. Our Father is all loving and like He said is Hosea 6:6, He does not want our burnt offerings, He wants our Love. A Great leader does not lead through fear, He leads through Respect and Reverence. Satan leads through fear.
Pray for the scales to fall off your eyes. Look at the scriptures you posted, it goes from fear to praise, fear to worship, fear to righteousness. Does that even make sense? Change fear to revere and then Praise God for showing you the Truth of how Loving and Amazing He is.(Deut 6:2) That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
(Psalm 22:23) Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
(Psalm 33:18) Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy
(Prov 1:7) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(Mat 10:28) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
The scriptures (2 Tim 3:16-17) are filled with references to the fear of the Lord. Did Isaiah fear or revere the Lord when he was brought into his presence in his vision?
(Isa 6:1-5)
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
(Psalm 103:17) But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
By God’s grace, Who has blessed by removing my heart of stone and giving me a heart of flesh that now beats for him, who I once despised in word, thought, deed, and desire, he has brought me by his providence into a faithful congregation of believers sit under faithful preaching of the whole counsel of God, where his people worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23, Heb 10:25), by his grace alone - without which we could in no wise honor him in the slightest. It is the greatest privilege to be brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd, to worship him with his people, singing hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs, to be nourished and strengthened for the Christian life through the ordinary means of grace (preaching of the word, the lords supper, and baptism). Fear for him leads his people to worship, fear for him, in reverence rather than solely in terror, is only made possible by his spirit, and we are only made righteous by the work of Christ and faith in him given us by the Holy Spirit.Pray for the scales to come off your eyes. Look at the scriptures you posted, it goes from fear to praise, fear to worship, fear to righteousness. Does that even make sense? Change fear to revere and then Praise God for showing you the Truth of how Loving and Amazing He is.
revere - to show devoted deferential honor to : regard as worthy of great honor