quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
Ah, Doug.
"You folks"? "Constantly"? Feeling a bit persecuted are we? I was merely attempting to remind you (since you must know) that the scriptures of the Torah were preserved accurately and without any possibility of change by Sofers; as opposed to those who engage in midrash, which is anything but scripture.
By "name-dropping", (I did say "as it were"), I refer to your habit, when entering into religious discussion, of chosing a term that you know will not be familiar to most of the readers here in order to (rather transparently I think) lend credence to what you hope will be perceived as your authority on the subject, or at least convey deep study of same. Sadly, this ruse fails with the most cursory examination of your conclusions and your reactions to the opinions of others, which reveal more emotion than deep thought.

Nicely written, but no.

quote:

Originally posted by Nico:
Perhaps Doug is not dropping obscure (to us) terms for the purpose of seeming important-

Perhaps, he wants us to investigate these terms.

Thank you.

By the way, others, I don't understand how using the term 'midrash' would make me seem important. It isn't my secret word - it's available to all who have a desire to know.

I am thoroughly flummoxed!

I am further flummoxed by the apparant fact that so many conservative/evangelical/traditionalist types are not only uninterested in learning more about the birth of their faith, but actually annoyed with someone for speaking of it!

Doug Spaulding
Pray tell. Exactly how do you describe yourself? Modernist? Free thinker? Non conformist? Free wheelin'? Progressive? Humanist?

You certainly do not fit any religious mode. Who are you? Perhaps you are a mystic? Perhaps an Indian spiritualist? Or one of those carmel coated New Agers? Are you a hedonist? You sound like one. How about a transcendentalist? Tell me you don't fit in any mold whatsoever? If so, then you are one of those an island onto himself sort of fellow.

I cannot for the life of me see any evidence that you ever have experienced the Spirit of the Word. You seem to have another spirit, one without the 's' capatalized. A spirit of the world, of the culture, of self?

So, Doug Spaulding, perhaps the cliche' that you are on the path of self-discovery, which has nothing to do with Holy scripture, applies to you. And then, maybe not. So exactly how do you define your search for truth.

Ray Bradbury is said to be a Universalist.

I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. Keep it simple.

quote:

Originally posted by libRArY:
So exactly how do you define you search for truth. Keep it simple.

An honest one.

Simple.

...attempting to describe a tiny window into the meaning of the Holy Spirit:

..... When the Holy Spirit "speaks", you may "see" normal things around you but their meaning now has extraordinary dimension. You now are looking beyond time, space, and death. Something like what many of us may understand and experience when a particular Ray Bradbury passage strikes us with life altering effect!

The difference is its source. And that makes all the difference.

Both sources are from God! But are not recognized as such, and there the differences mean everything. With Bradbury, it may be a series of moments on the porch with Grandparents on a late summer afternoon moving to evening, where all the wind and conversation entwine into a fabric that never changes, forever imprinted with eternity, now written into pages of his stories. But such same 'speaking' to a Christian is, we understand, that very character of Jesus Christ embedded into our psyche and soul and spirit as a one-of-a-kind life-saving reality to an individual, an irrefutable 'bond' relinquishing the destructive holds of man because of estrangement, but now connection; that invaluable moment of connection scripture says, is a forever bond of 'redemption'.

To look only to that porch and family as the source, is to lose sight at what the driving force is behind the moment. And that driving force, LOVE, sets us back into the original intent of God: personal recognition by the Father and a recovery of friendship because Jesus Christ now "invades" the identity of a person like the waves of an ocean that rub-out graffiti written along the shore in sand. The original sand-scape returns. The"original" person begins to be seen.

One of the things scripture says when this happens is, "...we are seeing things thru a glass darkly..." It means just that, we're peering thru a pair of sunglasseses into the night. But look how much we actually see. So much! but so darkly. It says, "...in heaven, all things will become evident with great light you can't bear on this Earth, but can in heaven."

As scripture points out, ..."it has not entered into the heart, or the mind, of mankind what God has prepared for those who love Him."

"Hear, see" and feel! Powerful, Nard.

Ditto!

I became aware of this new book and have it on order. I know the author and his prior works were well written and scholarly on medical topics. Sounds like it will be an interesting read.

http://www.didmancreategod.com

I very much wish someone of a different religion WOULD post on this thread. That would be interesting.

Well, I'm an Episcopagan, and when I post, it's very interesting! (the responses, I mean)

Episcopagan,
Is that anything like a Cathoholic?

quote:

Originally posted by spacemanspiff:
Is that anything like a Cathoholic?

Not at all!

Doug Spaulding. Cathoholics are very much like Episcopagans!

Thanks for that, Hislop! I'm a catholic...

spacemanspiff~
Christianity takes you for a ride into the littlest particles of life. You find sympathy for the smallest creatures and the largest. You feel compassion when a snail is injured, when he cannot extend his eye to look at the heavens. You feel compassion when a scruffy beetle is hurriedly running across some parched ground on a hot day looking for a sliver of water. You can feel his panic. Or you can look into the eyes of a child with a life ahead mixed with the terrible pains and the wonderful experiences of the journey and understand grace.

Without Christ exchanging his life into your heart and mind and soul his character for yours, which gathers everything on every emotional level of His creation, then all falls a notch short, a mile wanting, a lifetime missing that eternal moment and never quite right. You miss the miracle by blinking a second too early, you look the other way on passing by an opportunity when you could have looked it straight-on. You are numb to truth, and go thru life always searching, never finding.

There is nothing else to talk about. Because everything you ever thought and everything you never thought, is encapsulated in Christ. If you wish to be a Christian there is this one thing you will soon discover and either run towards or run away: to become like Christ, God will take you thru everything Christ went thru. Think about that one!