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PaulS

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8 minutes ago, Elen1107 said:

That was all so very horrid. Thing is, it was because the people who did those horrid things were totally out of touch with ant sense of a Higher Spirit or even a good sense of sanity and decency that those thing could occur.

Which is why we refer to this as evil or wicked.  The Germans were good Christians who were spiritually occupied by National Socialism.  

Evil is a creeping contagion.  I think it starts when you hog all the toilet paper.

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5 minutes ago, Elen1107 said:

I've heard and read that the Nazis were not Christian.

This was likely true for the senior ranks …  by and large

And likely not true for the rank and file that carried out the orders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nazi_Germany

And of course Gott Mit Uns was on most German soldier belt buckles - regardless of denomination.

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Can't help but feel that regardless of how many Nazis were some degree of "Christian", just like the Inquisition, what they did and the things they did were and are not Christian.

Those things are certainly not supported in the New Testament.

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1 minute ago, Elen1107 said:

Can't help but feel that regardless of how many Nazis were some degree of "Christian", just like the Inquisition, what they did and the things they did were and are not Christian.

Don't they get to define for themselves who they are? :) 

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6 minutes ago, romansh said:

Don't they get to define for themselves who they are? :) 

Well, one could define themselves as a cat or a chipmunk, and get to be defining for themselves who they are.

Seems to me there are limits to this sort of thing, in order to remain in the parameters of commonly understood language and concepts.

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2 hours ago, Elen1107 said:

That was all so very horrid. Thing is, it was because the people who did those horrid things were totally out of touch with ant sense of a Higher Spirit or even a good sense of sanity and decency that those thing could occur.

I agree the ones who did the horrible things lacked a sense but many (most?) of the Jews who were exterminated considered themselves tuned into God - yet they suffered.

 

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1 hour ago, Elen1107 said:

Well, one could define themselves as a cat or a chipmunk, and get to be defining for themselves who they are.

Seems to me there are limits to this sort of thing, in order to remain in the parameters of commonly understood language and concepts.

44367-D4-A-5-F85-49-F9-AA58-052-BCB4-CAD

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2 hours ago, Burl said:

Evil is a creeping contagion.  I think it starts when you hog all the toilet paper.

😄

I once wrote ... "Evil is a bumpy road that gets worse with fewer turn-offs". You can quote me on that!  It seemed so at the time.🙂

Later i would add ... "Good is a road that gets smoother as you go and with more turn-offs"

However, now i must admit, the point at which the demarcation line was drawn is no longer visible to me.

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2 hours ago, JosephM said:

However, now i must admit, the point at which the demarcation line was drawn is no longer visible to me.

For some this is the end suffering …  not seeing the world in duality/

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19 hours ago, thormas said:

I agree the ones who did the horrible things lacked a sense but many (most?) of the Jews who were exterminated considered themselves tuned into God - yet they suffered.

 

I'm not at all suggesting that these Jews weren't 'tuned into God', nor am I saying that they somehow deserved that suffering whether they were 'tuned into God' or not.

What I am saying is that the other people, the Nazis, weren't 'tuned into God'. Whether they felt or thought they were or not is another question.

I do often wonder and do kind of think that if the Nazis had been 'tuned in' whether to God or some higher and better principals, that what we call the holocaust would not have happened.

edit > there are only so many posts that I can make in a day, so I'm leaving off any comments about the squirrel. Plus I don't really know what I think. 

Edited by Elen1107
see above
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18 hours ago, JosephM said:

😄

I once wrote ... "Evil is a bumpy road that gets worse with fewer turn-offs". You can quote me on that!  It seemed so at the time.🙂

Later i would add ... "Good is a road that gets smoother as you go and with more turn-offs"

However, now i must admit, the point at which the demarcation line was drawn is no longer visible to me.

I don't know if this is what you are saying, but I do think that once one has been evil for a while, it gets harder to be good and get and stay on a good track. Somewhat likewise, when one is good and has been on a good track and on good ways of doing things, it becomes easier and more natural or second nature to stay on the good path. It can even lead to a kind of spiritual bliss and contentment, as well as mind opening enlightenment.

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1 hour ago, Elen1107 said:

I don't know if this is what you are saying, but I do think that once one has been evil for a while, it gets harder to be good and get and stay on a good track. Somewhat likewise, when one is good and has been on a good track and on good ways of doing things, it becomes easier and more natural or second nature to stay on the good path. It can even lead to a kind of spiritual bliss and contentment, as well as mind opening enlightenment.

I do think that when some do 'evil' or something wrong or immoral, they feel guilty and it is not necessarily harder to be good the next time; sometimes there is a great desire to go good. However, I do agree if one forms a habit of doing wrong it becomes easier and easier to continue.

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2 minutes ago, thormas said:

I do think that when some do 'evil' or something wrong or immoral, they feel guilty and it is not necessarily harder to be good the next time; sometimes there is a great desire to go good. However, I do agree if one forms a habit of doing wrong it becomes easier and easier to continue.

Yeah, I think that's what I meant, like you say, "if one forms a habit of doing wrong".

I just didn't know how to put it into words in the sentences or context I was writing it in.

Thanks 

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1 hour ago, Elen1107 said:

I'm not at all suggesting that these Jews weren't 'tuned into God', nor am I saying that they somehow deserved that suffering whether they were 'tuned into God' or not.

What I am saying is that the other people, the Nazis, weren't 'tuned into God'. Whether they felt or thought they were or not is another question.

I do often wonder and do kind of think that if the Nazis had been 'tuned in' whether to God or some higher and better principals, that what we call the holocaust would not have happened.

I didn't think you were on either count. I was simply saying that the holocaust Jews, as an example, even though many were probably 'participating' with the Spirit, it was not enough to rescue them from suffering. I do agree that the Nazi was not in tune with that Spirit.

The Spirit can't rescue us, can't rescue anyone without human cooperation/participation yet such participation does not guarantee that we will not suffer. In that sense there is no rescue.

I totally agree if they were tuned to God, there would have been no holocaust.

 

I think I was just restating or emphasizing what you had said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 3/15/2020 at 3:09 PM, thormas said:

I didn't think you were on either count. I was simply saying that the holocaust Jews, as an example, even though many were probably 'participating' with the Spirit, it was not enough to rescue them from suffering. I do agree that the Nazi was not in tune with that Spirit.

The Spirit can't rescue us, can't rescue anyone without human cooperation/participation yet such participation does not guarantee that we will not suffer. In that sense there is no rescue.

I totally agree if they were tuned to God, there would have been no holocaust.

 

I think I was just restating or emphasizing what you had said.

 

I agree, at least most often that the Spirit needs a person's cooperation and participation.

The Spirit can also help us cope better with bad circumstances and situations.

Bad and awful things do happen to people who are very much in-tune with the Spirit. As you've said, look at what happened to Christ, though one can say that he still overcame.

I really don't know what is happening with these things. It's probably worth investigating and thinking about. Still I do feel that the Spirit helps with all of this, and perhaps in the long run, will make it all go away.

I read a verse from the NT sometime ago that depicted Jesus as saying, "These things will neither happen nor will they come to mind", (meaning bad things). I can't help but really want that and to be there. How and why this could happen is another question.

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