Spirit, Soul & Body


This is a re-post of a blog I previously wrote on mychurch.org


For several months now I have been wanting to blog about this topic of Spirit, Soul, and Body. The truths that I have discovered while meditating on this teaching have revolutionalized my life. There is so very much to say on this topic, that I honestly feel like I can't get everything out in one blog. I can say that I have much more to learn in this area. I am going to make an attempt to present at least the basic concepts here, but more than likely, this blog is going to have to develop over time. Sometimes it is difficult for me to pull what I know to be spiritual truth into my soulish realm, and then pull it even further into the physical realm so that my fingers are able to put this into words.

I understand too that there are many people who believe that this is some new-age teaching. I have to blatantly disagree. There is a plethora of scripture that have set the foundation for this teaching. A few of them I will present here within. Some may have to be added later as the this revelation becomes more clear to the three of me.

At the end of this blog I am going to also post links to an Audio series that contains over 4 hours of teachings on this very topic. I strongly encourage you to take the time to listen to this series. This understanding has changed my life. I know that 4 hours of teachings sounds like a lot of time, but I cannot emphasize enough how much I have grown from learning this. It's has opened up a door for me to be able to have an even greater knowledge of who the Father is and how much He loves us. I also want to say that these audio messages are not dry, or boring. It's not hard to listen to. At the very least, listen to the first message of this series. I almost guarantee you will then want to hear the rest.


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5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23


4:12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

These two verses alone make it very clear that we are composed of three parts. We are a spirit, we have a soul (mind, will, emotions, and conscience, or personality), and we live in a body.

Our spirit, is the very core of who we are. Our spirit is the part of us that is going to live forever. Our spirit is the part of us that got born-again the moment we made Jesus our Lord.

We are able to feel both our body and our soul. We can immediately take an inventory of either one. We know if we are feeling depressed, happy, angry, or any other emotion, in our soulish realm. And in our bodies we know whether we have pain, or a headache, or we are tired, maybe our adrenaline is pumping or maybe we can feel the sunshine warming our skin. However, your spirit cannot be accessed in any natural way.

Jesus said:
3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6

What He is telling us is that there is no direct connection between the two. They are inter-related, but not directly related. That which is spirit is spirit and that which is flesh is flesh. You cannot contact your spirit through your emotions or your physical body.

If you don't understand this then it becomes very hard to understand when the bible tells you that you have the same power that raised Christ from the dead. We try to grab hold of this truth in our senses but without knowing that this power lies in the spirit realm it's almost impossible to fathom.

What about when the bible tells you that all things have become new?

5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17


What old things passed away? What exactly became new? Our physical bodies certainly didn't become new. If you were fat or out of shape or sick the day you got saved, then you are still going to be fat, out of shape and could possibly still be sick the day after you got saved. Likewise, our soulish realm didn't immediately become new either. If you were stupid, or discouraged or lonely the day you got saved, it's quite probable that you could still be stupid, discouraged and lonely the day after you got saved. So what became new then? The answer is your spirit!

Your spirit became brand spanking new! The old sin nature that was inside of you, because you were a child of the devil, got put to death and the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead took up residency. Your spirit is the part of you that got born again! Praise God!


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All things in your spiritual realm are brand new! Isn't that awesome?

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So how then, you might ask, are we able to unlock the spiritual realm so that we can experience who we are and what we have in Christ? Since the spirit realm cannot be naturally seen or felt, the only way to perceive spiritual truth is through the Bible. You have to simply take God's Word and believe it!

Jesus said:


6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
John 6:63

If you want to know what your spirit is like, you must find out from the Word. You cannot just go by your emotions or some other type of perception. God's Word is spirit, and it is life!

You have never seen your spirit! So how do you know what your spirit looks like? By looking into the spiritual mirror. The perfect law of liberty!

1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 1:24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 1:25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James 1:23-25

God's Word is an exact replica of who you are in the spirit. You have to look into the Word and trust that what you are seeing is a perfect reflection, or a mirror-image of your born again spirit. You are what God's Word says you are.

Look at this verse:

6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:17

Your spirit got joined to the Lord the moment you got born again. You now have raising from the dead power living on the inside of you. This is the way and the reason that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. It is not from some outside source. You are not waiting for the Lord to reach down and give you strength. You and He are joined as one spirit. The power for everything you need in this life, and the power to perform the super-natural is already contained within you!


4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1 John 4:17

Without the knowledge of the fact that you and Christ are joined as one spirit, this verse becomes very hard to understand. This is talking about Jesus. And it says that as He is, so are we, in this world. Not that we will someday be like Him, but we ARE like Him. Present tense. Right now!


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Our spirit is joined with the Lord. That just rocks my world!

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One third of our salvation is complete. Our spirit is as saved as it will ever be. Your spirit is the exact same today as it will be a million years from now. We are no longer waiting on the salvation of our spirit, that part is a done deal!

This is important, extremely important. It is for this very reason that we are able to come boldly into the presence of the Father, even if we have sinned in our physical and or emotional realms.


4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 4:24

God is Spirit. God operates in the realm of the spirit. When God looks at you He sees that born again Spirit. You are righteous and truly holy in His eyes, regardless of what you may be experiencing in your soulish or physical realm. Your spirit doesn't just become holy through your good works, or by your own thoughts, it was created that way!


4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Ephesians 4:24

The new man? What is this saying? Remember 2 Corinthians 5:17? The new man is that born again spirit part of you. The part of you that is brand new. You didn't make it new. It was created that way! There is nothing you can do to change that!

This is another very powerful truth. If you were not the one who made your own spirit righteous and holy, because it was created that way, then likewise, nothing you can do can make your spirit unrighteous, or unholy. That's a powerful truth. You really need to get hold of that. You spirit is not only born again, but it has been sealed, forever!


4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30

This verse is not talking about sealed as in with some sort of stamp of approval. It is saying that your spirit has been sealed, as in vacuum packed. Nothing you do in the physical or emotional realms can touch it. Your spirit has been born again! It was created in righteousness and true holiness!


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You now have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you!

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Therefore, you have everything you need already within you. You lack nothing. You are not waiting on God to reach down and touch you from the outside. Everything that pertains to life and Godliness is within you!


1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2 Peter 1:3

Notice here that He hath given. Past tense. It's already done. Not some things, ALL things! Every spiritual blessing is already yours!

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ:
Ephesians 1:3

You are one blessed individual. God has given unto you all things. He has commanded a financial blessing, He has healed every sickness, He has blessed your relationships. He has delivered you from the evils of this present world. It's a done deal! The spirit part of you has been made perfect, forever!


10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Hebrews 10:14


12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Hebrews 12:23

God sees you as perfect if you are truly a born again believer and follower or Jesus. That is powerful! Extremely powerful!

Wow. I really have so much to share that I don't think I can say it all in one blog. But I realize that I have hardly even talked about the other two realms, our soul, and our bodies. One of the reasons is because we are commanded to be spiritually minded. Being spiritually minded is life and it is peace. That's the whole purpose of this blog really. I am trying to encourage you to realize that there is so much more to this life than what we can see, smell, touch, hear, and taste. Those are in the carnal realm. And not everything that is carnal is sin, but all sin is carnal. Carnal just means of the five senses, or fleshly. In other words, your soulish and physical realms. We are to walk according to the spirit.


8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:6

If we are not experiencing the abundant life that Jesus came to give, and or we are not experiencing that peace that surpasses understanding, then according to this verse it is only because we are carnally minded. That doesn't mean that we are sinning necessarily, it just means that we are focused more on what we can see, hear, smell, touch and feel, rather that who we are in Christ. Brand new creations.

So then, the key to this Christian walk is to be able to pull that which we ALREADY have, from our born again spirit and into the soulish realm. We have to renew our minds to the truth and that truth is revealed us from the Word.


12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2

The word that was translated as "transformed" here was the Greek word metamorphoo. It's where we get the word metamorphosis. That's a very powerful word. Metamorphosis is the word used to describe how a catapiller becomes a butterfly. You can completely transform your mind and train it to come in-line with your spirit. This is also very powerful. You have the mind of Christ within you, and the more you meditate and absorb the very Word of God, the more you are able to release this power from within. All wisdom, all knowledge, the very mind of Christ dwells within you!


2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16

That to me is just awesome. We have the mind of Christ. We can begin to think like Him, act like Him, be like Him. We are no longer only human.



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One-third of us is wall-wall Holy Ghost! That's amazing!

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Your life is going to go the way of your most dominant thoughts. It is extremely important that we as believers, get our own minds in line with Christ's mind. Our thoughts are what control us.
23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.
Proverbs 23:7


So then again, how does this affect our soul? Well, renewing our mind and walking in the spirit allow us to operate in all of the fruits of the spirit. These fruits are where the manifestation into the soulish and physical realms occur.

5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23


These are the fruits of the spirit, that are where? Out there in the heavenlies somewhere? No. These are the fruits of the spirit that are already within you! They are always available. You can reach right down into your very own spirit realm and pull these out at any given time. Or better yet, all the time! Renewing your mind, our soul, is the key. Your emotions, desires, thoughts, feelings, habits, actions, and just about everything else has the ability to become completely transformed, a spiritual butterfly, if you will.

And our bodies? Well, these are really just our earth-suits. These are our houses for our spirits and our souls. Our bodies are going to react according to which one we let dominate it. When we are dominated entirely by our soulish realm, or I should say the un-renewed soulish realm, then we are often led according to the desires of the flesh. We over-eat. We sleep to much or too little. We don't take care of ourselves, or heaven forbid, fall into some form of fornication. However, when we walk according to who we are in the Spirit, then we are able to release healing into our bodies. We suddenly have a desire to be healthy and to get plenty of rest. We begin to exercise and protect the temple.

See, when our minds come in-line with our spirit, then it's two against one. The body is going to tag along with which ever one is the most dominant. This is the key to healing! Understanding that you have raising from the dead power already living inside of you then meditating on that to the point where you see yourself already healed. You can command your body to react accordingly. That's awesome!

I encourage you to spend a little time contemplating the diagram that I posted at the top of this blog. I think it does a pretty good job of depicting the message that I am attempting to relay. It indicates that how we can let things into our souls through the things of the world. What we see, hear, smell, touch, and feel are always trying to come in. That's not always a bad thing. But we have to carefully monitor those things. The cares of this world will always be trying to dominate your thoughts and drown out the spiritual truth that you are now, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But on the contrary, you can also begin to dig down deep into the very core of who you are and pull or draw the gifts, the fruits, the thoughts and the power of God Almighty from within you and allow those to become the driving force of your soul. This is the very key to victory in this Christian walk!

You will begin to walk and talk like Christ. You can lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. You can cast out demons, and you may, just may even begin to speak with new tongues!

16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:17-18

Wow. There is just too much for me to share on this topic in just one blog. I could speak on this for a week right now.

Below I am posting the links to the audio series that I first mentioned. I cannot emphasize enough how much this knowledge has changed my life. The teaching comes from Andrew Wommack. I have listened to it over and over and over gain. And I will continue to listen to it. It feeds me. It has fed me to the point where it is no longer just Andrew's message. It is now my message. God has given it to me. It has become one of my life messages and I am going to keep learning, and adding to it, and fine-tuning it to the point where I can take this message and give it to someone else. It's powerful.

Again I say, take the time to listen. You will not be disappointed. I tell you these things in love straight from the Father. He wants you to know who you are in Christ!

For those who are unfamiliar with MP3 files, I would suggest right-clicking on these links, then choosing "save target as". You will then be prompted for a location on your hard drive to store them. After that, they will open in Media Player, your IPOD, or some other device. Enjoy!

ORIGINAL POST: http://www.mychurch.org/blog/240685/Spirit-Soul--Body

AUDIO SERIES: http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1027

I love you brothers and sisters,
Michael

Who has time to read all that? LOL

Sounds like Buddhism, Taoism, and Shamanism.

I'm on dial-up and those are HUGE audio files, but I'll give it a shot and see if they'll download. I'm always interested in comparing philosophies.

It's always possible that these could be the standard truths just taught from another religious perspective. I've discovered that it truly doesn't matter who you think God is. All that truly matters is that you make the connection to your higher self. Call it what you will.

Spirit, Soul & Body

Well I listened to the audio lecture and it's precisely what I imagined it might be. The man realized his true nature and he somehow did this using the biblical scripture which is amazing to me because it flies in the face of what the religion teaches on the surface.

How many Christian churches actually teach what this man is talking about?

Not many, if any at all. Most Christians churches focus on a need to recognize that Jesus is the Son of the God of Abraham and allowing Jesus to 'come into your life' and HE will CHANGE YOU!

But clearly that's not what this man is talking about. This man clearly had to change himself. In fact, he continually states that so many people give up because they don't BELIEVE that there is anything to it, OR they give up because they don't FEEL the presence of a 'Spirit' or 'Jesus'. Then he goes on to explain how it is YOU how must do this!

He also clearly states that you already have everything you NEED!

You already ARE a perfect Spirit! That's what he says. But you are also a "soul" and "body" in his terminology. He has recognized the three aspects of human nature.

But this isn't unique to the biblical scripture. In fact, I hold that the biblical scripture makes this knowledge so obsure and difficult to understand and completely overshadows it with this egotistical lust of God himself to be recognized and worshipped that it's extremely difficult to DIG OUT what this man has apparently found in the background text.

Personally I see this as simply a man who had become enlightened naturally and has worked the Bible into this picture.

Also, I'm in total agreement with the basics of what he's saying with the complete and total exception that the Bible is the only place it can be found. On the contrary I feel that the Bible is probably the LEAST of the ways to discover what this man discovered. And that's mainly because the Bible is so focused on the need to recognize God as specific egotistical individual deities who will cast into hell anyone who doesn't "get it".

That's NOT how it works. That kind of thing is a total distraction to what this man is actually talking about actually.

What he got RIGHT is the idea of the three aspects of human nature. And I think he does undestand these fairly well.

He calls it Spirit, Soul, and Body. But those are just words. Labels. Other spiritual traditions view them differently. But they too recognize the three fundamental aspects of human essence.

Buddhism

In Buddhism this is seen as "emptiness", "Conventional Truth", and "Ultimate Truth". These are the three aspect of being. I supposed if you had to line these up with Spirit, Soul, and Body, they would be listed as, "Ultimate Truth", "Emptiness", and "Conventional Truth". And the key to enlightenment is to recognize the mapping between Ultimate Truth and Conventional Truth via Emptiness.

I realize that taken out of context this may seem extremely abstract and esoteric, but it's fundamentally the same idea. The ultimate truth is that we are spirit. The conventional truth is that we are living in a physical body and physical world. The 'emptiness' is the non-reality of the 'soul'. The soul is the illusion (or dream) that must be 'Awakened' from. To awaken from the dream is called "Enlightenment".

In other words, to recognize that the true nature of our essence is spirit and not 'Soul' (or ego) is the to be "born again".

In fact, the concept of being "born again" is indeed the very same concept as becoming "Enlightened" or "To awaken from the dream".

Shamanism

In Shamanism they do precisely the same thing, but again they use different terminology and view the process in a different way. In Buddhism people are often awakened "Suddenly", they have a sudden realization of the true nature of the world and their essence. But in Shamanism it's more of a gradual process of realization over time. Also, Shamanism doesn't make a big deal about it. Shamans don't view this transformation as a significal 'goal'. Instead they just view it as a natural process of unfolding like a flower bud blooming. And becasue of this they don't speak in terms of being "born again" because instead of viewing the flower in two stages (i.e. a bud, and then a fully open flower), they view the entire process of a bud slowly openging and maturing and so they recognize the entire process as one continuous flow.

They also speak in terms of the three aspects of human nature, they call them the Upper, lower and middle minds. The upper mind is the universal mind, or the "Mind of God" which is always available and always a part of us. It's not external to us, and just like this man says in this tapes it's always been present. We are always pure in spirit and we have this power available at all times.

The middle mind is what the man on your audio set refers to as the "Soul". This is what the Buddhists would refer to as the illusion of the "ego" or the "Emptiness" because it is indeed an illusion and has neither uliamtely truth nor conventional truth in it. It's is simpy the mapping between these two truths.

Finally the lower world or lower mind is the manifestation of physical reality. This is what the man in your audio set refers to as 'body' and the Buddhists refer to as 'Conventional truth".

The whole idea behind Shamanism is the brinding together these three aspects of human nature into a harmonious single "whole".

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So all these religions are attempting to get at the very same concept.

I might add too that while the man on the audio tape has convinced himself that this can only be found in "God's word" through the Holy Bible he is defintely WRONG on that point. That is the religion and path that he chose for whatever reason. But the truth that he is teaching is indeed found in many other religions.

In fact, if you listen to his teachings on his tapes it certainly appears that he's clearly saying that the realization of these three aspects of being are indeed KEY. Far MORE IMPORTANT that appeasing the ego of a jealous God.

He's also under the believe that Jesus somehow "paid" for our ability to achive this enlightenment. But the question that would need to be answer is WHO did he PAY?

This man talks about Jesus having purchased our salvation on the cross. But that raises the question of WHO did Jesus "purchase" salavtion from? It's an empty metaphor and completely unnecessary to the process of enlightenment.

In fact, this man clearly states that most people fail in the process because they don't feel anything coming from Jesus and so they quite. He's clearly stating that THEY MUST DO IT THEMSELVES!

So this actually flies in the very face of some diety having PAID for our salvation, or that we could even ASK that diety to come into our lives and "take over". Clearly we must do this for ourselves. Even he confesses this!

And finally this is NOT what is taught in Christian Chruches. I've never been to a Christian church that ever gave a sermon on how to map between and recognize the three aspects of human essence "Spirit, Soul, and Body". All they ever preach is to accept Jesus as our "Savior" and LET HIM guide us!

Yet this man is clearly stating that Jesus doesn't guide anyone! It's entirely up to the person to do this one their own FAITH.

So I'm in total disagreement with this man that the biblical scripture are the 'only way' to do this. I personally feel that the Bible is the least effective of all spiritual doctrines. I would simply say that this man probably isn't aware of the fact that these other spiritual traditions actually do this precise same thing and have indeed been doing it LONG BEFORE Jesus was ever even born. (if he even existed at all)

So yes, what this man is teaching is one way to enlightenment, but it most certainly is not the "only way". And it's also a very difficult way becasue, as I say, the Bible DOES NOT make this process clear. On the contrary it's so bogged down with egotistical Gods who demand that there be no other Gods before them, and so many threats of being cast into hell, and so much focus on SIN that the process of enlightenment and being "Born Again" has been lost.

In fact MOST CHRISTIANS are under the totally erroneous idea that all they need to do is ACCEPT that Jesus was the Christ and recognize him as their "Savior" and by having that that they are indeed 'Born Again'. But that's not anywhere close to being "born again".

And the danger there is that those people think they've done all that's necessary so they aren't going to continue seeking the process. Why should they? They believe that they have already been BORN AGAIN!

In fact, of all the traditions I perfer Shamanism becasue Shamanism doesn't even speak of being "born again". It views the process as the eternal unfolding of a flower. Therefore there is never an 'end' to the process. It's just a continual refinement of the mapping of the spiritual realm onto the physical realm until the ego simply vanishes and there's no need to even think of this as being 'born again'.

So of all the traditions I personally feel that Shamanism is actually the most effective and straight-foward process.

This guy seems to be confused in his dogma about the spirit of Jesus.

In one place he states that your spirit dies and removed and replaced by the spirit of Jesus. But then later he states that your spirit is 'married' with the spirit of Jesus and they merge to become one.

This also conflicts with what he said eariler that we were born at the moment of conception with a perfect spirit and that we've always had a perfect spirit and that we've always had everything we've need to be righteous and that we simply need to realized it and make that connection.

So this man seems to be all over the board and grossly confused about how the "Spirit of Jesus" works into this forumula.

What he appears to be doing is trying to incorporate a religious dogma that he believes to be the 'word of God' into an experience that he has had concerning his true nature of humanity. A nature that has indeed been recognized by sages in all cultures.

I also have no doubt that some of the sages who's writings ended up in the biblical cannon did indeed have this knowledge of enlightenment and therefore they also tried to work it into this specific Mediterranean religious dogma. So it makes perfect sense that these fundamental insights would indeed be present. Just as they are present in all human cultures and traditions.

What doesn't "fit" is the idea that Jesus had to be crucified to make this possible, or that any one deity needs to be involved in this process.

And this man on these audio tapes isn't making a good case for fitting Jesus into this picture either. He's trying really hard to do that, but he's contradicting himself when he makes those attempts.

Either we have a 'spirit' essence or we don't. There's really no need for some deity to 'give us a spirit' (or swap out an old spirit for a new one). Those concepts simply make no sense.

In fact, if we claim that we ARE spirit and that to be born again means that OUR SPIRIT must die and the Spirit of Jesus must replace it, then all that would say is that Jesus is the only spirit that exists and all other spirits are replaced by the spirit of Jesus.

This just doesn't work.

There is also no reason why any God would need to be crucified to make this process possible. There's no explanation for that. He claims that Jesus 'bought' our salavtion but WHO did he buy it from?

From Satan?

From Himself?

From the God of Abraham?

The whole idea that someone would need to be crucified to make this process possible is truly nonsensical.

This would also imply that before Jesus there was no salvation possible. No way for this to happen. Yet the Buddhists and Shamans seemed to be doing it long before Jesus was born!

Also, it flies in the face of a supposedly all-knowing God. What sense would it have made for God to have a world without Jesus if during those times there was no way to reach God?

This implies horrible things about God. That either God didn't care about the people who lived before Jesus, or that God hadn't figured out how to make it possible for people to reach him yet.

There's just no way that Jesus could be an element in this process from a spiritual point of view.

The only role he could play is that of a teacher.

And I've often said that Jesus taught exactly the same things as Buddha. Many scholars recognize this.

And why would Buddha have been teaching these things if they weren't even POSSIBLE without Jesus?

Clearly the crucifixion and Jesus have nothing to do with this process. However, there are things in the Bible that do support the teachings of Buddhism and Shamanism.

I certainly agree with much of that. Like the idea of being driven by carnal thoughts versus spiritual thoughts. But that's that's the very basis of Buddhism!

So the fundamental truths that this man is trying to get at are indeed the fundamental truths of Buddhism. And those truths were known long before Jesus ever existed.

Therefore Jesus and the cruficixion cannot possibly be part of this process.

And I'm not stating all of this for the purpose of argument. I'm stating it so that people can see the TRUTH. These ideas existed LONG BEFORE Jesus was ever born.

This man has an idea of spirituality, but he's trying to tie it into the Biblical mythology where it doesn't truly need to be. And it's wrong to claim that the Bible is the only place where these truths and teachings can be found. That's where he is flat out wrong.

Being on dial-up I only listened to the first audio thus far. They take far too long to download, and to be quite honest this speaker is extremely inefficient and tiresome to listen to.

However, I'd also like to make the following point:

How would Satan fit into this picture?

In what way would some fallen angel benefit by trying to 'steal' people's souls?

Also, who would benefit from lost 'souls'?

If God doesn't benefit from them then why would God have created such a fruiless process?

There is so much in the overall biblical picture that just doesn't fit in with this ideal.

I think what this man did was look at the Bible as word of some "god" he then went about trying to make sense of it and he became enlightened (recognized his true nature just as is taught in Buddhism), but then, becuase he had envisioned the Bible as being the 'word of God' he just assumes that all the rest of it must also be true, and so he tries to work that into his overall view.

But there's really no role for either Jesus or Satan to play in this process. And the idea that people will be eternally punished for not "getting it" is truly a ludicious idea.

The main difference between Buddhism and Christianity is the idea of reincarnation. Christians believe that we are created at birth and we have one shot to get it right otherwise we'll be tortured for eternity. And that came from the mouth of Jesus according to Matthew. "They will be cast into an furnace of fire and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth"

Although, even in the book of Matthew is is often stated as, "they will be cast into outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"

So it's unclear whether hell is a furnace or a place of outer darkness, but in both cases they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So the Bible preaches punishment for not getting it right. And part of not getting it right would be refusal to recognize Jesus as the Son of God and the crucifixion as being payment for out ability to get it right.

That's the part that missing from Buddhism. There is no threat of eternal damanation. Enlightenment is something that all will achieve eventaully, it's just a matter of time and there are many lifetimes in which to accomplish this.

It's the damnation aspect of the Bible that I reject. As well as the idea that Jesus is somehow a necessary component to this process. It can't be that way otherwise the Buddhists and Shamans wouldn't have figure it out long before Jesus was ever born becasue at that time it wouldn't even have been a possiblity. But clearly it has always been possible. Shamanism goes back some 50,000 years. Way before the God of Abraham was even invented. Must less Jesus.

In the op (well-one small part of it) is this...
16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:17-18
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Reckon NO ONE believes in him the right way...

Ain't seen much casting out, true speakin new tongues, taken up of serpents, drinkin of deadly things (and surviving). Definately ain't seen much layin on hands and folks recoverin less its some quack running a money basket at a revivial


course what would one expect... Show me that book which is written in the hand of god, by the finger of god, and from which I may breath the holy spirit... And I not have in my hands that which is created by the tools of man...

Only then will it match the word of god that is present at all times in the air we breath.

Present at all times in the words that we speak (no matter the perception of the speaker OR the hearer).