Originally posted by Medicine*Woman
The dungeon where Peter and Paul were killed, just outside the Vatican as I recall, in a place formerly called "Nero's Circus," was dark and eerie. It made me really think about why, if they were saints, would they be beheaded and crucified right here for their beliefs if their beliefs were true.
I have the answer for you:
John 21
Jesus said, "... I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go." 19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
My guess is that all of the martyrs ended up in evil places like the one you mention because people with evil intentions
took them there.
There's just too much discrepancy about Jesus being associated with xians. I get the picture that he wanted no part of it.
Everything you've mentioned depend on your surroundings, and they are wholly unbiblical. There is a discrepancy because most of what you heard is anecdotal (and you probably won't find them outside Catholic circles). You'll feel like that many places in the world where death and suffering was present. Have you been to Auswitz? Does the feeling you get there mean the Jews were all liars? No, and Jesus probably wanted no part in that either.
M*W: I don't see our Creator as having a "will" nor a "personality." Those attributions are what "WE" have given it. The God I know and understand cannot make choices. The only choice is to be or not to be. God cannot make decisions. God cannot do anything except weigh the positive with the negative as in an electrical force. Holy is another word used for "positive." Unholy would be "negative." That is all God really comprehends--the alpha and the omega.
Oh,
you don't see it that way... does that mean you are right? Was Jesus and all the Rabbi's wrong to believe God
chose Abraham,
chose David,
chose his servant (1 King 11:34)? Did God not say:
"I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge uprightly.
When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm." (Ps. 75)
"Holy" means "separated or put aside for God". It means not following your own will, but God's will. The two cannot be the same - it goes against the defintion of holiness.
M*W: It's not God's choice, it is our choice. We are the ones who decide where God dwells.
Do you even realize what you are saying? What is God then, just a puppet of our wills? Aren't you doing exactly what the Prophets warned about, saying "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14). The outcome of such thinking is nothing other than spiritual death (Is. 14:15).
M*W: First, I don't believe the Earth will ever be destroyed. It may change as we know it, but it will never pass away. That's God's promise. God will always be positive energy, and that will never go away. Everyone can "enter" into God's presence. It's their choice. God doesn't discriminate at all. People are in control if they choose to be filled with positive energy, no energy, or negative energy. God leaves it up to the container (the ARK) the individual to carry the degree of energy the individual wants. It's not a judgmental thing. Only humans judge. God does not judge.
Everything that is material is temporary and decays. That includes our bodies and the earth, even the universe itself. Only spiritual things can ever be immortal. You call it "positive energy", but don't you think "negative energy" is just as immortal? You have defined heaven and hell right there. And there is no doubt God will judge between the two.
Ezekiel 18:30
"Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.
If there ever does come a time when the Earth doesn't exist anymore, that wouldn't be a problem. The One Spirit of God that is within the human race and all creation would just simply exist as the One Spirit of God. This energy wouldn't die. It never dies. There may be a time while we are living totally in the spirit--no wars, no matter, no need for food, clothing, nothingness, only pure positive energy. I can see that happening, but we would still exist, only without the need of an Earthsuit. This would be the ideal.
So we will all continue not just as gods, but "as God"? The energy might not die, but it might not be God either. It might just be you, as it always was, and then where will you be?
If everything that remains to exist after everything that can be destroyed is destroyed, is us, then what is left to define "God"? Do you see how you will have replaced Him then? You make no distinction between us and God, and that is the greatest lie ever believed.
