Catholic devotee of Christ

Hello, to paarsurrey. I wish to respond to your post as I believe their are some serious discrepancies in how you are portraying my faith. I realize that many factors have come into play arising in many conflicts. It is a very sad thing when any religious group claims to have the sole monopoly on the truth. Truth can be found in all religions. The Catholic Church believes that 'salvation' (choose your own interpretation of this) CAN be found outside of its doors. <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote --> Quote: <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-left: 3ex; padding-right: 3ex;" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"> Originally Posted by paarsurrey Hi I am sorry to say that Jesus dieing a cursed death on Cross for the imaginary sins of the Christians is only a mythical creed invented by Paul; not by Jesus himself. This is how the followers of religion corrupt his life account and its founder. </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- END TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote -->The concept of Christ's death is a very comforting one to me. The gospels contain many instances of Jesus foretelling of His death and resurrection. As for the apostle St. Paul, he was converted through a vision after having been a persecutors of Christians. He was not even necessarily accepted by Christians at first until his story corroborated with theirs. Christ frequently finds the most unlikely of individuals to use in his message of mercy and compassion.<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote --> Quote: <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-left: 3ex; padding-right: 3ex;" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"> Just think talking of love and then offering a deity so cruel to kill his only begotten son this way! Can there be anything more mythical than this. </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- END TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote -->We believe that Jesus IS God.Much the way Krisna devotees believe that Krisna is Vishnu; And much the way Sai Baba devotees believe that Sai Baba is Shiva. Much the same way that Shiva and Vishnu are Brahma.(I apologize if my understanding is in error. Please forgive me and correct me if I am wrong.) God gave His own life willingly to atone for the wrongs of humankind. I also would like to add that Catholics interpret the Bible in a contextual fashion as opposed to a literal fashion as the modern fundamentalists are inclined to do.<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote --> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-left: 3ex; padding-right: 3ex;" bgcolor="#e0e0e0">This way we learn as to how the message sent by ONE- on High, on His messengers is lost under debris of time. Here is a lesson to learn. This is what I firmly believe in faith-with-eyes; others could believe what they think is right. There is no compulsion in religion. I respect everybody's religion. Thanks </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- END TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote -->This statement I can agree with.However, Jesus has said that blessed are they who have not seen and yet still believe. There is a mystery to faith. It is a type of a magic. Although, my fellow Catholics would cringe to hear me call it a magic, so to speak. I can think of no other universal term to explain it in. Jesus' message is one of peace, love and compassion and mercy. Ahimsa. No harm.

Thank you, Amlesh! These are very interesting threads. I am sure I will learn a lot here.

Hello, to paarsurrey. I wish to respond to your post as I believe their are some serious discrepancies in how you are portraying my faith. I realize that many factors have come into play arising in many conflicts. It is a very sad thing when any religious group claims to have the sole monopoly on the truth. Truth can be found in all religions. The Catholic Church believes that 'salvation' (choose your own interpretation of this) CAN be found outside of its doors. The concept of Christ's death is a very comforting one to me. The gospels contain many instances of Jesus foretelling of His death and resurrection. As for the apostle St. Paul, he was converted through a vision after having been a persecutors of Christians. He was not even necessarily accepted by Christians at first until his story corroborated with theirs. Christ frequently finds the most unlikely of individuals to use in his message of mercy and compassion. We believe that Jesus IS God.Much the way Krisna devotees believe that Krisna is Vishnu; And much the way Sai Baba devotees believe that Sai Baba is Shiva. Much the same way that Shiva and Vishnu are Brahma.(I apologize if my understanding is in error. Please forgive me and correct me if I am wrong.) God gave His own life willingly to atone for the wrongs of humankind. I also would like to add that Catholics interpret the Bible in a contextual fashion as opposed to a literal fashion as the modern fundamentalists are inclined to do. This statement I can agree with.However, Jesus has said that blessed are they who have not seen and yet still believe. There is a mystery to faith. It is a type of a magic. Although, my fellow Catholics would cringe to hear me call it a magic, so to speak. I can think of no other universal term to explain it in. Jesus' message is one of peace, love and compassion and mercy. Ahimsa. No harm.

I have read of Sai Baba. I admire what he stands for very much. I had a Mala which I had used to chant the OM SAI RAM. This went on for quite a while. I even had a Mahadeva statue which I kept on my altar which had been covered in a yellowish pollen like dust. Which I understood as Vhibutti. Googling about Sai Baba I found many 'exposes' on His alleged charlatranry, which I found disheartening. Many of the devotees I have met told me I should remain Catholic.But, there was no problem with me honoring Him. This was a long time ago. I would be interested in knowing more again. (at the risk of my 'stuffier' Catholic friends warning me about false prophets and such....-whatever) Anyway, I think it is good I found this post.

If I may,...with my limited understanding, present a theory I've been tossing around in my head for awhile. I think that maybe we could see it somewhat like plate techtonics. Where the earths crust goes in on itself and new earth is formed in the lava flows and volcanoes. Perhaps in the same way, if there are black holes which suck matter into them, there are white holes which spew the same matter back out.Which appear as 'big bangs'...(?) maybe? Which could show how the universe is eternal.Even if there was a beginning, how are we to measure it?

Hello and thank you for allowing me in to your forums. I don't know where to go to introduce myself. So, I came here. My name is Bill. My user name is supposed to be devotee of Christ. But, I left out the 't' by accident. Oops! Anyway, I'm vegan. I have studied your guys' stuff a little bit and I have a lot of respect for you. I will probably just lurk in the forums. But,if I have a question or something to say, you can believe I will. I found this by surfing for stuff on Veganism. I am vegan. So is my fiancee. If anybody reads this, thank you again. [moderator's note: your name has been corrected]