JosephM

Good question Rom. It seems to me we are prone to do harm to others most when " I and my beliefs are inseparable" Joseph.

arielmessenger, Alias Waterbear, Sonoman, and Stephen among other usernames you have used here and on other sites. You have been banned more than once from this site and continue to return with a new alias. This forum has nothing to offer you nor in my judgement does your behavior and words have anything constructive to offer members here. Your post above has been struck through and your referenced link deleted. JosephM (as Admin)

Sorry for any inconvenience. Issue is resolved. JosephM (as Admin)

To All Members, We have had a minor issue/problem with our hosting system billing. You may have noticed that an " Account Suspended " message showed up this past weekend when trying to reach this site . We are working on the problem and hopefully it will not reappear before we can fix it. Thanks for your patience. JosephM (as Admin)

Welcome Kay, Perhaps you will find God is the totality of what IS after you have eliminated the false or what God is not. Personally i think definitions get in the way of experiences. To me, God is an ever-present reality so subtle that the minute you try to get some definitive fix or put it in words you miss the reality of the experience. Enjoy the journey and welcome to the forum. Joseph

Annie, It speaks to me to 'look the other way', 'turn away' or as Steve says "resist not evil" or "not show up". Its in contrast to a previously understood OT belief that read "an eye for an eye" (retribution or vengeance) and seems to me a much wiser approach to "evil". While some may look at the verse literally, as if we are to subject our-self to evil, that in my view, is neither seated in wisdom or what i consider good sense. Eckhart Tolle has this to say about the first verse The verse that follows your first concerning your shirt and "giving to everyone that asks" i think has a deeper meaning than the literal translation and needs to be taken in context to all of Jesus's teaching as a whole. Eckhart Tolle would say this about the letting go of your shirt and giving to him/her that asks......... "All it says is sometimes letting go, there's more power in letting go than in clinging or hanging on to something. So there are situations when you actually become empowered when you let go, rather than when you cling. It does not mean that people walk all over you. In fact there are situations when you have to say no very clearly as to a situation or to a person, but even that 'no' can be of two different kinds." Tolle continued, "Usually the no is very negative. When you say 'no' to a person; a person says, 'I'll give you a ride home.' But you see the person is drunk. Of course you wouldn't say yes just to be pleasant. You say no." "Now do you say no with negative energy and in a state of resistance or do you say not that is positive? It simply means a clear and straight forward, 'No, I won't do that.'" "This is very different from the resistant no. I call that the no that is not negative - a high quality no." Joseph

Greetings and welcome ychild. For those who have a hard time forgiving others, much less themselves for the vanities and nature that seem to be a part of human life and the carnal mind, substitutionary atonement seems to be the pill. At least for those who believe they are sinners and believe in such an atonement. Even if not true, for those who do believe, it does provide a medium for those who at the present seem unable to forgive themselves or others for being in the human condition by any other belief. However on a deeper level even Jesus is recorded saying that as we forgive others, it is forgiven us ... and as we measure others, we are measured. It seems to me, this concept is superior and needs no substitutionary atonement by another for forgiveness. Personally, as you (my understanding from your post) i also prefer to live in the freedom of a forgiving spirit and non-judgement. For me it makes all things lawful to me but not necessarily expedient. It seems to me that living in the guise of an atonement does not make one truly free because the nature that is part of all men/women merely continues to bring us again and again to that atonement for a forgiveness that only requires we forgive others for any self guilt to depart. However i am comfortable with whatever approach another chooses to take. By the way, again, welcome to the forum ychild. . Hoping you find the clarity you search for. Joseph

SW, Concerning unequally yoked.... I don't think God is hurt by those who don't believe in some particular concept of God . Is it more important that we say we believe in 'God' or more important that our actions demonstrate love for one another? You judge for yourself. In my life i have found many wonderful human beings in spite of what they say they believe or don't believe. There may be rotten fruit in any particular basket but i have found there is much good fruit that can be found in all of them. Just some thoughts, Joseph

Dear Coen, What does CV stand for? Joseph

SW, Here is a group of scholars undertaking such an issue and their results so far.in an article by the New Orleans Times. http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2011/03/changes_to_the_bible_through_the_ages_are_being_studied_by_new_orleans_scholars.html Joseph PS Some think Constantine and the church system influenced content changes, some think not. It was a secretive document for much time in history that the general public had limited or no exposure to. How can one know for sure? It seems to me that people will believe what they want to believe but to me there are too many inconsistencies within its own pages to believe it is God's Word rather than that of men concerning their beliefs and stories about God.

Chris, Welcome to the forum and best wishes on your spiritual journey, It seems to me that if we can recognize the false and stop trying so much to self define everything, the truth will surface of its own accord. To me, God is revealed to us in all that exists both seen and unseen and without words of men who try to limit God to their own liking or passed down traditions. May you reside in the new-found peace you seem to have found and be a vessel of light to those who oppose themselves. Again welcome and best wishes on your journey, Joseph

Buck, Its relatively easy , in my opinion , to find people who will disagree with and attack another no matter what ones position is. Progressive Christians are individuals and deal with it in accordance where they are at in their journey. I don't think there is a need for an official position though an individual progressive church may indeed have one.Personally i would not be concerned if i was writing a fictional story to get across points that i felt had a lesson that was valuable to some. In fact i have done just that with one book i wrote. Joseph.

HigherLove, Thanks for the introduction and welcome to the community. At the least i hope, from your presence here, you find a peace and an easier time dealing with those of different persuasions. While i believe from your post you will find much more agreement with the views shared here, i think, at least in my view of things, it is important that we learn to be more compassionate and forgiving of those who to us seem to oppose themselves through an ignorance that perhaps would also have overtaken us if we were born in their shoes with an identical genetic make-up and propensities for such things. Myself, i have indulged in much ignorance in this life and from forgiving others i have in essence, forgiven. myself.and found much peace. Again welcome and feel free to share your thoughts, Joseph

Greetings Jeanie and Blake Watched a couple of your youtube sessions and I must say they provide a unique approach to religion. There is a subtle message in your words and style that would not be intimidating to most fundamentalists. Humor does make it easier for people to step beyond their current self imposed limits of understanding. Keep up the good work and I would suppose you will also learn much for yourselves as you go forward. Joseph

Dudw, Thanks for the interesting introduction. Following your experience rather than just what is taught seems to me a most valuable lesson for the journey. Joseph

Greetings Karl, Your story is not unlike many others here . May you apprehend that which you are searching for. Love in Christ (the anointing of God) Joseph

Buck, I agree and have made a few suggestions myself concerning the layout of the organizations main page, Even the discussion board ( this forum) is more difficult to find from that main page than it was in the past. Suggestions for improvements can be made by contacting the organization directly as my responsibility is limited to this discussion board forum. It used to be more simple to navigate but it was redesigned a few years ago to include much more but in doing so i found it, in my view, to become more difficult to navigate. JosephM

Buck, We prefer attachments larger than 25KB to be posted as a link rather than space in a post.. Avatar/ picture uploads seem to offer adequate resolution within the confines of 25KB. That has been our experience to date and we have not had any other complaints to my knowledge other than yours. If it is a problem or becomes a problem to more individuals i would be open to changing it. JosephM

To me, it doesn't seem to make any difference in my journey whether Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist or not. Once I realized there were so many different options, I accepted that I could never really know the answer to those questions for sure because they are all plausible. Other than curiosity, how important is the answer to ones journey? Joseph

Lotharson, In my view, It is only a problem for those Christians (not "all kinds of Christians") who attribute to the Bible inerrancy and see it written as if it were the words of God to believe as a requirement to be called a Christian. When viewed as the writings of men of the times concerning their ideas/beliefs of God it can be seen in a different light. For me, the tenets of Christianity are found more accurately in the recorded words of Jesus and in many of Paul;s recorded words concerning Jesus and life. But even those words must be considered as only pointers written by men of their times. Words that need to be proofed for validity by study,logic,reason and in my view, more importantly, personal experience. I am of the persuasion that one can come to many of the similar conclusions of Jesus's teachings that are recorded without ever reading them, by examining other books , religions, verbal teachings or by examining life itself even if no book existed. Joseph

Try using this search page from our home site HERE. Search by state to find closest city. Joseph

GB, My brother gave me the book and it was autographed by the author but i have only scimmed through it so far. To me, PC is neither of the labels you mention even though a PC might associate him/her self with either label. I don't think you can accurately define a PC by any particular label although there is a propensity for many to try and sometimes possibly a good fit for for a particular person or time in ones journey. In my opinion, PC is progressive and no one is to say when or what you must believe other than to subscribe in general to the 8 points which to many are purposely left vague or abstract Joseph

Welcome GB, Thanks for the introduction. Glad you stopped by and hoping you enjoy your experience here. Your story is not uncommon among members of this community. How is the weather doing in Kansas at this time? Joseph

Personally i don't think about it at all but perhaps others do and will respond. Joseph

Probably but this is a prepackaged bulletin board that doesn't allow that option except within personal posts..