GIZ@PSUVM.BITNET (10/11/86)
Ken posts excerpt: >"But beyond all that, Alex has, in her way, reduced all my normal >maunderings about God and the hereafter to one terribly simple >proposition. If there is a heaven - must be a heaven - great. If >not, if this incredible little person spent eight years in pain, >cursed, hopeless, only to completely disappear, poof, like that, then >it is all quite pointless, all a gag, and it is of no great consequence >to me whether or not I'm asked to participate in life as straight man >or comic." p.61 >Keep chargin' > >Ken Arndt In reply to Ken's posting... Another view -nonXtian- of that ill eight year-old's life : As a soul wishing to work out her unfulfilled Karma, she incarnated to burn off that which binds her to the MAYA of Earth. She successfully dealt with her Karma, left her body and is now free of earthly attachments. (This, of course, leaves her in Heathen heaven ;-) I changed from Christianity to Raja Yoga when I realized that the Biblical world view made no sense. Reincarnation, spiritual growth and evolution to God-consciousness explains more of the inequalities of life on earth. The Jesusism taught today is the antithesis of what Jesus preached anyway. It may come as a surprise to Ken, but Jesus wasn't the only one to rise from the dead - and he certainly wasn't the first. The Hindus have had "Sons" of God predating Yeshua Bar Yusef by centuries (and some are still around - I met one). I hope Ken will learn to explore farther into the spiritual life. When Ken reaches self-realization of God-consciousness, Ken will be free of attachments to the Earth plane and his narrow and egocentric view. (And will probably join HASA ;-) ------- +-=-=- Jeff Ganaposki -=-=-=- (814) 865-3405 -=-=-=-=-=----------------+ | ____ God? Dial : 1-800-MED-itation | | ______ BITNET : GIZ@PSUVM | | ________ UUCP:{akgua,allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!giz| | __________ Memories...Don't leave home without them! | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
pmd@cbdkc1.UUCP (Paul M. Dubuc) (10/13/86)
In article <7857GIZ@PSUVM> GIZ@PSUVM.BITNET (Jeff Ganaposki) writes: >Ken posts excerpt: >>"But beyond all that, Alex has, in her way, reduced all my normal >>maunderings about God and the hereafter to one terribly simple >>proposition. If there is a heaven - must be a heaven - great. If >>not, if this incredible little person spent eight years in pain, >>cursed, hopeless, only to completely disappear, poof, like that, then >>it is all quite pointless, all a gag, and it is of no great consequence >>to me whether or not I'm asked to participate in life as straight man >>or comic." p.61 >> >>Ken Arndt > >In reply to Ken's posting... >Another view -nonXtian- of that ill eight year-old's life : > >As a soul wishing to work out her unfulfilled Karma, she incarnated to burn >off that which binds her to the MAYA of Earth. She successfully dealt with >her Karma, left her body and is now free of earthly attachments. >(This, of course, leaves her in Heathen heaven ;-) Heathen Heaven? Seriously, I thought it would leave her Nowhere ... a drop of water disappearing into the ocean, therefore ceasing to be. As far as the meaning of it all goes, this seems to have the same result as Ken's scenario. Maybe I've got you pegged in the wrong religion, but aren't you still implying that there is no reason to grieve at death? A high value of life in both this life and the next is an important feature of the Christian view, as I see it. There's no need to deny the importance or reality of one at the expense of the other (that's not to say one is not ultimately more important than the other). For the Christian, the "earthly attachements" aren't an obstacle to be overcome or an illusion to be denied (they aren't inherently evil), but an environment which the Creator uses to make us into new beings. Mere escape from pain or desire isn't our only hope. It is hoped that the experiences themselves have some meaning for our continued existence other than just being something that is "burnt off". >I changed from Christianity to Raja Yoga when I realized that the Biblical >world view made no sense. Reincarnation, spiritual growth and evolution >to God-consciousness explains more of the inequalities of life on earth. Well, at least you're giving all the "heathens and atheists" on the net another choice of how to resolve the dilemma. -- Paul Dubuc cbdkc1!pmd
daveh@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (10/14/86)
>>I changed from Christianity to Raja Yoga when I realized that the Biblical >>world view made no sense. Reincarnation, spiritual growth and evolution >>to God-consciousness explains more of the inequalities of life on earth. > > Well, at least you're giving all the "heathens and atheists" on the net > another choice of how to resolve the dilemma. > -- > > Paul Dubuc cbdkc1!pmd Nope. A Heathen is someone who's not either Christian or Jewish, though sometimes members of the Islamic faith are included in the set of heathen, and sometimes in the set of non-heathen. Contrasting with an infidel, which is usually a non-Christian or non-Muslim, or a kaffir, which is almost always a non-Muslim. Now a pagan is usually a polytheist, though not a Christian, and obviously not a Jew or Muslim, though a pagan may also be any non-(Christian | Jew | Muslim), even if that pagan's a monotheist. A gentile is usually one who's non-Jewish, though it also is used to specify someone who's non-Morman, and sometimes someone who's specifically Christian. I think most of this confusion stems from the fact that the non-(heathen | infidel | pagan) but possibly gentile people made up the language. -- ============================================================================ Dave Haynie {caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh "Techno-Hippie, heathen, designing evil computers" These opinions are my own, though if you try them out, and decide that you really like them, a small donation would be appreciated.