Our true nature is....Spirit

[Rizzo]

Stop trying to put OP in a box with labels. Even Jesus despised religion
Inspiring post OP.. Keep on keeping on.
Look and you will find

Wow, that was a breath of fresh air!
Thanks sMp

[Wordupmybrotha]

Closed minded with no intellectual reply.
Try again.

Lol. Ok

[TrailerparkTrash]

Wow, what a can of worms I opened with a simple quote from Buddha to emphasize a point I was making.

I can see now that if conversations or points made are not strictly Bible related that people here get their feathers ruffled.

Sorry about that but there are other points of view relating to Spirituality that are from other sources than the Bible.

The yogis in India for example are deeply spiritual and believe in spiritual advancement to ultimately know our true oneness with God.
Hardly flawed in my opinion.

The Buddha himself did not believe in the existence of God. Others speak of the Buddha as a universal enlightened consciousness or as a god (little g). Aligning Buddhism in any way to Christianity is creating a non-sequitor fallacy. The two belief systems can NEVER harmonize nor work in conjunction with one another in the slightest.

Actress kook Shirley MacLaine popularized part of this philosophy of yours in the 80’s. She took the new age movement by using selected bible passages, Taoist, Native American beliefs, astrology, mysticism, karma, magic, Hindu and BUDDHIST writings to conform to her ideological and twisted beliefs into a feel-good oneness paradigm.

You’re just using a new color of lipstick to dress up the same old “pig.” It’s nothing new, nor does it work in the slightest with Christianity ...nor Buddhism.

[Rizzo]

[Rizzo]

To get back on track with this thread, I am interested in knowing what you believe about our origin.

Quoting myself in the OP:

"The way I see it is that we were once "residing" in the Spiritual world and wanted to experience God's beautiful creations in the material world, like God wanted us to do, so we indulged in it."

Do you agree that we "existed" prior to our mortal births?
Did our spiritual selves get created at the time of conception, or later?
I assume we all believe that our Spirit/Soul continues after death....then what? Heaven or hell only?
Do you believe in reincarnation?
Any other thoughts about this topic?

[billvau]

To get back on track with this thread, I am interested in knowing what you believe about our origin.

Quoting myself in the OP:

"The way I see it is that we were once "residing" in the Spiritual world and wanted to experience God's beautiful creations in the material world, like God wanted us to do, so we indulged in it."

Do you agree that we "existed" prior to our mortal births?
Did our spiritual selves get created at the time of conception, or later?
I assume we all believe that our Spirit/Soul continues after death....then what? Heaven or hell only?
Do you believe in reincarnation?
Any other thoughts about this topic?

Sorry, don't agree that we existed, i.e. had life before mortal birth. God's word says our existence began at conception. God created our soul at that time. Yes, our life body and soul/spirit continues eternally - either heaven or hell (Lake of Fire) - depending on whether or not you are saved before you die (grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, no works). Hebrews 9:27 says we live once and then judgment, so no reincarnation.

[mossy]

1.Nope. You are missing the point.
Again, how is my quote from Buddha an argument for the existence of God?
It wasn't. That is the answer. It relates to what causes suffering in man, which is desire.
Get it now?

2. Sure I can. We are Spirit in nature and that quote relates to what keeps us from Spiritually advancing.

3. Your last paragraph makes no sense to me.

BTW, I am not Buddhist but have read about his life story.

your OP takes the traditional creation myth of Christianity and justifies the fall of man through Buddhist beliefs.

Here we go through life with it's ups and downs and get so involved in our "material" lives that we forget our true nature.
God made us in His image.
"....don't you know that ye are gods?..."

That doesn't mean that we are God but it does suggest that we have the same "abilities" as God does.
So why are we here in this material world with all of it's misery, pain, sorrow, etc.?

The way I see it is that we were once "residing" in the Spiritual world and wanted to experience God's beautiful creations in the material world, like God wanted us to do, so we indulged in it.
Unfortunately we got caught up in all of the material pleasures available (money, power, sex, etc.) and over time those desires for more money, power, etc. totally occupied our "conciousness" and thus we forgot our true nature.
Buddha said "the root of all suffering is desire."
It is these desires, that act like a ball and chain, that keep us here and keep our mind away from God.

of course the last paragraph does not make any since to you, you are cherry picking Buddhist beliefs without fully understanding them. your quote about desire is a small part of the four noble truths. you have conveniently chosen the one that supports your own belief while ignoring all other parts of the teaching. the root of suffering in Samara is attachment. Desire is the result of ones attachments controlling his life thoughts and actions.

what bothers me about "western spirituality" is that it's a philosophical grab bag of cherry picked beliefs. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and even some native american religions all mixed together. if you want to be a christian, BE a christian. if you want to be a Buddhist, BE a Buddhist. if you want to be a Hindu, BE a Hindu. you can not be all three at the same time.

[TrailerparkTrash]

<Sigh>
TpT,
The topic is spirituality. Not Buddhism or Christianity, or comparing the two belief systems.
Those two do believe in an afterlife, that is, a belief that the "Spirit" does still exist after mortal death.
References or quotes by me were only to give reference to that issue and to show different ways of looking at what it takes to get back "home" again.

Again, you’re combining various religions into one melting pot. Non of the above religions you mention share your beliefs. They are all singular belief systems that do NOT harmonize with one another. Each religion varies uniquely on how they get to the “afterlife.” As for Christianity, there is only ONE WAY to Jesus Christ and His heavenly kingdom. “Spiritualism”as you talk about is NOT a way to “get home” (your words) to God’s heavenly kingdom. That for sure, is crystal clear. Im only insistent about this topic because YOU brought it all up to begin with and it is incorrect within the core of orthodox Christianity. Im compelled to defend the Christian faith.

This is a Discussion of Faith Forum, not a Christianity Only Forum.

I regret now that I ever made that quote from Buddha.
Obviously most of those who replied saw red when reading it and focused on that quote rather than the real topic.

"You’re just using a new color of lipstick to dress up the same old “pig.” It’s nothing new, nor does it work in the slightest with Christianity ...nor Buddhism."

Somewhat insulting there TpT, and the paragraph before that one.
Sorry, but Spirituality does work with Christianity and Buddhism.

Wasn’t trying to insult you in the slightest and I apologize if you took it that way. However as you correctly pointed out, this is a discussion of (all) faiths and you’re the one that decided to bring up both Buddhism and Christianity within the same sentence, then calling it “spiritualism.” I think it’s accepted that we all here (including you and me) are allowed to vigorously defend our respective faiths in a “discussion.” You mix Buddhism with Christianity, calling it a path to spiritualism and ultimately “going HOME” again and you believe this idea. Great, I say defend your stance then. But on the other side of the debate, you’re going to get a response from a Christian and probably a Buddhist if he/she were reading this thread as well.

Are we not allowed to politely disagree with your philosophical idealogs in this forum? I’m happy to “discuss” with you the fact that you disagree with my beliefs and I don’t get “offended” about it. Again, this is what happens in a civil “discussion.” You knew exactly what you were getting into when you brought this topic to the table, right? You presented your position, your stance and what, we can’t counter and defend ours now? Using the words “lipstick on a pig” is an old saying that has been used analogously since time and for a variety of topics. It’s NOT offensive.

You’re correct, this forum is NOT solely exclusive to Christianity alone. I have never felt that way and I respect ALL people with their individual beliefs here. We discuss all topics from many faiths from time to time. But... don’t act so surprised that the majority of topics in this forum come from predominantly “Christians.” You simply can’t ignore that fact when you bring up a topic that may be controversial to the majority. That’s just life.

what bothers me about "western spirituality" is that it's a philosophical grab bag of cherry picked beliefs. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and even some native american religions all mixed together. if you want to be a christian, BE a christian. if you want to be a Buddhist, BE a Buddhist. if you want to be a Hindu, BE a Hindu. you can not be all three at the same time.

^^^ Bingo.

[kustomkat1950]

your OP takes the traditional creation myth of Christianity and justifies the fall of man through Buddhist beliefs.


of course the last paragraph does not make any since to you, you are cherry picking Buddhist beliefs without fully understanding them. your quote about desire is a small part of the four noble truths. you have conveniently chosen the one that supports your own belief while ignoring all other parts of the teaching. the root of suffering in Samara is attachment. Desire is the result of ones attachments controlling his life thoughts and actions.

what bothers me about "western spirituality" is that it's a philosophical grab bag of cherry picked beliefs. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and even some native american religions all mixed together. if you want to be a christian, BE a christian. if you want to be a Buddhist, BE a Buddhist. if you want to be a Hindu, BE a Hindu. you can not be all three at the same time.

Exactly.^^^^ I was this guy...My father was a pastor, I was raised in the church. Turned my back after joining the service. Professed at be agnostic, but entertained other religions...God had me on a short leash...

Had everything in life I wanted, everything. Still wasn't happy. Broke down at the dinner table, dedicated my life to Jesus, things changed. I felt whole again, and it has been amazing 8 years.

sorry to thread jack. Just wanted to share that once you open your heart to Jesus, he is ready to take control of your life.

[Rizzo]

Well, this thread has gotten me a bit frustrated.
I do respect all of your points of view and I thank you all for your replies.

I thought it might generate some interesting conversation and an exchange of different views.
I see now that by referencing ("cherry picking" as one said) some quotes from a couple of different belief systems on the issue of what keeps our Spirit from getting back to God was a bad idea.
In my view it generated a lot of misunderstanding as to what I was saying.

In case you were wondering, I do not "label" myself with any organized religion although I was baptized and raised Catholic (Catholic school, altar boy).
Also, I am not lost and searching for a belief system to conform to.
I have a persnal relationship with God and talk with Him everyday. I can feel that Love in my heart that acts as a beacon for me to come back "home". Jesus is also a part of my life.
Am I a Christian? I would say yes if you need to label me but I suspect that some of my beliefs would not agree with yours so you would not see me as a Christian.
I have read the Bible (KJV) cover to cover and reference it frequently. I have also read several Eastern Religion related books as well.

I do believe in reincarnation.
That is a non starter for a lot of you I suspect.
There are references to it in the Bible (John the Baptist as Elijah for example) but I suspect that will generate more debate here on that.
So, for me, I can see somewhat of an overlap between eastern and western beliefs, regarding our Spiritual nature.

I hope that gives you a better understanding of where I am coming from and what my original intent was with this thread.