--- In [email protected], "Cliff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It's all Eve's fault. > > Seriously, Rick - there are many Christians (and, unbelievably to me, > quite a few women) who would argue that. It's so perverse and > so deeply imbedded in our (and much of the rest of the world's) culture > that this issue is impossible to discuss in any type of rational way. > > It's a matter of belief, and thus is not amenable to "addressing". You > either believe, or you see it as one of the most perverse, controlling, > and ultimately utterly degrading dogmas the planet has ever seen. Or > you just ignore its implications, go to church occasionally, and live > out your life trying to create as few waves as possible. > > --- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Perhaps Kai can address this. I often wonder how Christians reconcile the > > belief that God is omnipresent with the belief that humans are essentially > > sinful or that they can't realize their essential oneness with Him, or that > > such oneness doesn't exist. If God is really everywhere, nothing is closer > > or more intimate than He is. He is our very core, so how can sin be our > > core?
Rick, have you ever been very close to someone, in a room packed with people, but were not intimate with him? There was physical closeness, but no relationship. Another analogy: If by an accident all the nerves going into your left arm were severed, it would still be your arm, your blood vessels would still supply it with blood, but it would be of no use to you. It would begin to shrivel, the muscles would loose their tone and shrink. Same with God and man. Man is made in the image of God, and God's Spirit sustains us and all of His creation everywhere and at all times. But we have been given free will, to enter in relationship with God or not. Without free will, there could be no relationship, we would be puppets. The Bible tells us that man choose, at some distant point in the past, to forego his relationship with God, in an attempt to become himself like God, to live out of his own understanding of good and evil. God had made it clear that the result of that choice would be death. And spiritual death has been with man ever since. Jesus Christ paid this death penalty for all of mankind, for all past, present and future on the cross. "It is finished" were His last words. Nothing more needs and can be done by man to be restored to God, except to accept His gift of salvation by a free choice of his will. Your very insistence on God-likeness and on redeeming yourself from the curse of death stands in your way of accepting God's grace. This is what I expressed in the PBS feature. Let me ask you a question: If we are in essence God, without sin, without a deep inherited decision for separation from God, then why do people have such a hard time communicating with Him? Why does it supposedly take CC at least (according to Maharishi) to show true devotion to God, to be heard by Him? If that were the case, God had produced something with a serious design flaw, a being that was supposed to find Him, but being in constant danger of loosing the ability to do so, that was dependent upon a constant stream of gurus to fix and restore the lost communication. No, communion with God is not difficult, God is found easily by those who sincerely seek Him and are willing to walk His way. This is His promise, and this is my experience. Sincerely Kai ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
