Is the Bible pure myth, pure truth, or a blend?

Religionists fail to understand that. And it is the same as what is taught in Hinduism. I am the way. Not “he”. You took all the actual spiritual truth out of it.

 

How do you know there were 500 witnesses?

 

You should compare his teachings with those of the Upanishads.

 

C.S. Lewis wrote some great books. I’m not sure I would look to him as a spiritual authority, though he had great themes in his novels.
I also think that latching on to a few words like “ he is the way”, while simultaneously discarding entire gospels because they clash with what Constantine wanted the message of the Bible to be is absurd.
I think when Jesus says “I am the way” he is in no way trying to be our “Lord”. I think the entire concept of “lordship” is completely alien to his teachings, but is exactly what the church wanted: dominance over the masses.

 

Oh bunk. Can you even say clearly what you mean by “allowed”?

 

I know 6 other people all of whom know exactly what he meant by “I am the way, the life, and the truth”. When he said “I am the way” he WAS NOT saying Jesus is the way. Religionists don’t know who I am.

 

The “I AM” is within us. Everything is within, all of existence. It is all one. When we see others, we are seeing ourselves.

The “I am” is not the ego, but that which is observing the ego, the “Christ consciousness”. Which ultimately, is god, is existence, experiencing itself.

 

Perfect. I knew you have ears to hear!

 

I will give you the morning star.

 

Josh 77.....if you read the Gospels and seriously want to see who Jesus is, then read the Book of Acts.....the progression of His Church ad the Body of Christ, then the Epistles, you will see the Progression of the Body of Christ and evidence of Jesus throughout and util this day. Your idea that "everyman is an island to himself" is a road to disaster. One thing the Bible throughout helps us understand is the "nature of mankind". Charles Manson would agree with you completely. Peyote would also help one to discover himself. So many ways to indulge oneself! But Jesus said "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me".

 

He permitted it to exist so there would be a contrast and mankind, like yourself, would have a choice. Perhaps you could study Job.

 

Why don't you just dispell the entire teachings of Christ if what you think is so divine? Jesus said "I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Me." That is a complete contrast to your "self - worship".

 

Hinduism is another Religion of works.

 

So the scenario is that you have a universe in which there is no good, no evil. It just is. Then "the earth is created” (according to the bible) and everything is fine and dandy, and that is called “good”. But there is still no “evil”. It’s not hiding somewhere. It’s not waiting to spring out. It doesn’t exist and no potential for it exists among any “created” thing.

Then man is created, and then woman. And somehow humanity does something different, symbolized as “eating the fruit” of a symbolic “tree” that has the power to impart a capacity for “good and evil”. And it was all made available by god according to the myth. So god created evil though it had not yet found a “home”, until the human “ate the fruit”. The human didn’t create evil because the human is not a creator. There is one creator and it is god. So god created evil. There is no escaping it.

“He permitted it to exist” are weasel words. Evil didn’t exist, and then it did when evil was done. And since there is one creator according to your myth, it was created by that creator because there is no other.

“Allowed” = “created”.

And bingo, you have a conflicted god.

 

But you don’t understand that Jesus was not referring to Jesus.

You question Josh and “what you think” yet your ENTIRE religion, start to finish, is a belief system with no factual reality. That is why it is called “faith”! You have nothing to back up the religious beliefs in your faith. Some few of us do because of the direct, immediate experience of it. You don’t know what that means, do you?

 

So you say you know zero about Hinduism. Ok. I know from personal participation in Hinduism and its teachings that it teaches that to attain what they call “god consciousness”, which is Christianity’s “salvation”, it is necessary to “purify” self by letting go, surrendering, eliminating all worldly influences. In Christianity this is “overcoming the world” as taught by Jesus. Then, in Hinduism, it is taught that the harder you try, the farther you retreat from the Goal. You have to give up everything including trying. It only happens (“salvation”) when you have overcome the world.

So it’s the same as it is in Christianity. Christians just don’t understand their own religion because the truth is concealed within the bible behind a veil of symbolism, metaphor, and allegory. The bible even talks about a “veil” but in veiled terms!!!!

 

The locations are fact. Not much else is.

 

Resurrection is similar to reincarnation that is a central tenet of Buddhism, Hinduism and many other religions. Believing in reincarnation is how you cope with someone's death. Some of the followers of Christ saw him resurrected or reincarnated. I can understand the sentiment as I can still feel my mother's presence after her death in December. Buddhists believe that the soul wanders the Earth for 40 days after the initial death.

 

Funny thing he is "god" used to be a "goddess".

 

I would tell a sincere introspective seeker to read Job in search of this answer, but Kode that is not you. Go ahead.....you be god!

 

You don't understand that all you have is faith. Perhaps just faith in yourself to come up with your own truth.

 

If you think you have the power to "overcome the World" then you are God.....but I doubt it.

 

IOW you are unable to justify your position and the myth with logic and sound reasoning. You have to just surrender to the myth and the faith because you have nothing else to rest on.

 

See? Like I said, you didn’t understand the English.

 

You didn’t understand a word I said . . . . . —or you didn’t want to. Cuz what I said was that you must give up control of it and get it entirely out of your hands to let it come to you. Trying pushes it farther away. And that is what your Christianity says.

Luke 18:14 - "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Romans 2:29 - "but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter”

Matthew 16:25 - "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

Matt. 19:29 - "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life"

2nd Timothy 2:11-12 - "Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him”

"purify ourselves even as He is pure" (1 John 3:3)

"crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts” (Gal 5:24)

Here’s one that is guaranteed to throw you a curve:
Isaiah 2:22 - "Sever yourselves from such a man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?”


There are so many gaping holes in your myths.