--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], t3rinity <no_reply@> wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> > wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> > > wrote: > > > > > --- In [email protected], t3rinity <no_reply@> > > wrote: > > > > <snip> > > > > > > Even a fundamental Christian may have had an Awakening > > > > > > experience, and therefore believes that anything > > > > > > connected with that religion is true. > > > > > > > > > > You're deluding yourself...*most* Christians in > > > > > the world have had NO SUCH EXPERIENCE. They are > > > > > merely trusting what they have been told to trust. > > > > > > > > Most Christians, perhaps. But Michael specified > > > > *fundamentalist* Christians, many if not most of > > > > whom have had some sort of "born-again" experience. > > > > > > Thanks Judy, that's what I had meant indeed. It's just that such > > > experiences aren't counted as such by some people. They are > > > so 'low' that they don't even count them as such. > > > > That's not it at all. It's a "numbers game." In the > > world of Christianity, mainly reflected by mainstream > > Protestant or Catholic followers, it would be a *rarity* > > to find someone who had personally had some kind of > > "born again" experience. > > True, but entirely irrelevant. Michael was talking > about FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS. *Not* mainstream > Protestants or Catholics, FUNDAMENTALISTS.
Yes right, I had specifically born again Christians in mind. > Talk to actual priests and > > pastors sometime instead of imagining what they deal > > with; they would tell you that the name of the game > > is FAITH. They deal with "flocks" who have *had* no > > spiritual experiences. They read stories about them. > > > > But forget about the numbers. Assume a group of only > > ten people who have had no personal experience that > > they would call "spiritual," never in their entire > > lives. How would you know? You know everybodies heart and mind don't you? Maybe you are limiting what you call spiritual to a certain type of experience like witnessing etc. > > Yet they believe in the Bible as described > > to them by their priest or pastor. > > > > Where exactly is the component of "experience" in > > this? > > > > What I'm saying is that I think trinity thinks that > > people in the world at large think and act the way > > the people he's used to interacting with do. I'm > > suggesting he needs to get out more. :-) Oh, I thought that this was good for you, to get some fresh air at the weekend apart from this group! :-) Well, take my Mother as an example. When I started TM at a young age, I persuaded my Mother to start as well which she did after one year. At that point in life my Mother was atheistic or rather agnostic. When she started TM she had experiences immediately and told me that she had similar experiences as a child when she was at catholic church. I suggest that its just one of your stereotypes that people who have believes don't have experiences, and you acquired it sometime along your TM and ZEN involvement. Its just a false dichotomy between experience and belief. Recent Brain scans show that there are areas that are involved and stimulated by seeing spiritual symbols, giving people those very experiences. I think, everything in life is an experience. Even trust is an experience and certainly LOVE is. Somebody who has Love for God or Bhakti would immediately understand somebody else who has the same, even if its under the umbrella of a different religion (like Islam). He wouldn't understand this Love (positive) as Attachment (negative), or view the defense of the appropriate symbols connected with it as mere 'political correctness' It shows he is missing a full sequence of the spectrum of religious experience. It shows. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/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/
