"Son of man" <sonman1@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:B5udnZttkInTdb_eRVn-sw@comcast.com...

The real debate of evolution should not be whether the earth and
everything in it was created or physically evolved.

The real, more meaningful debate should be humanity's spiritual
evolution.

In the past mankind has worshipped the moon and the sun, made animal
sacrifices, and persecuted any form of knowledge that was contrary to
beliefs that were considered sacred. Astronomers were condemned for
teaching that the world is not the center of the universe. Women were
burned alive at the stake for simply being under the suspicion that they
were witches. Men were stoned to death for doing work upon what were
called "holy" days.

When is humanity finally going to be free of the evils of old
superstitions and old religions which did nothing but keep mankind in the
darkness of its ignorance?

Humanity is evolving spiritually, to be sure. But many are still in the
mindset that somehow to condemn other human beings who don't believe as
they do will get them into a heaven where their "God" will bless them for
destroying the unbelievers

Mankind no longer lives in the Stone Age, and unless the spiritual
evolution of humanity as a whole starts to parallel its scientific
evolution, then all that humankind would have accomplished was to make
mass destruction an easier task to achieve than it was in the past.

It is time to get rid of all the harmful baggage in every religion that
would have humanity believe is the undisputable and inerrant word of God.
And to do so, any commandment in any of these so called
one-true-religions which encourages the destruction of people based
simply on what they believe, needs to be given up.

All the above translates into mankind becoming the master of scripture,
and to stop being slaves to scripture. Thus, only the scripture which
encourages unity and harmlessness among people should be considered to be
truly divinely inspired.

Luke:12:57: Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?

It is in the spirit of weeding out all that is harmful in scripture that
the gospel of Christ was given to us.

Excerpt from "The Old Serpent Chained" :

The real Bible codes exist as a series of challenges which the New
Testament makes against the Old Testament. To give one such example of
the Bible's "coding" it is suggested that the King James Version of the
Bible be used, as its use of repeated phrases is precise.

For example, in trying to discover the deceiver described by the New
Testament in the book of Revelation, we look at the most important clue
given:

Revelation:13:13: And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14: And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth.

Since pride is the Devil's greatest sin, were he indeed capable of doing
great wonders, one would certainly expect him to be boastful of such.
Hence one should be able to find some account of the Devil's conceit
throughout the entire Bible. Knowing that the book of Revelation does
warn the Devil doeth great wonders, if someone did a search through the
entire Bible for "doeth great wonders" he would come up with just one
other verse:

Psalms:136:4: To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy
endureth for ever.

The only possible logical conclusion to draw is that Revelation:13:13 and
Psalms:136:4 refer to the same being.

Not only that, but if one also did a search for "fire come down from
heaven" which is specifically the power of the deceiver as appears in
Rev:13:13, one would also find:

2Kings:1:10: And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I
be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee
and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and
his fifty.

2Kings:1:12: And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of
God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And
the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

Those verses confirm that the particular great wonder of calling fire
down from heaven was indeed exercised by God of the Old Testament who
alone doeth great wonders.

It could certainly be argued that Jesus and his disciples also did great
wonders in the New Testament, however Rev:13:13 also testifies -
specifically - that the great wonder of the deceiver is in fact to call
fire down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Even more
amazing is that a search of "Elias" in the New Testament will reveal the
following relevant verse among the results:

Luke:9:54: And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said,
Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and
consume them, even as Elias did?

And the even more revealing answer Jesus gives to his disciples:

Luke:9:55: But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of.

Jesus rebuked his disciples and warned them they did not know what manner
of spirit they were of (certainly not of his Father's spirit) when they
tried to follow the example set by Elijah in the Old Testament who called
fire down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, that same power
warned in Rev:13:13 of the future deceiver who exerciseth all the power
of the first beast before him.

The fact that millions of people who live in the world today blindly
believe in the standards and the morality set by the "God" of Old
Testament requires our utmost attention, because it is just precisely
such a mass deception that is forewarned by the book of Revelation to be
repeated in the future! How can people in the world today actually
believe that a 'holy' day is a day for which people were once commanded
to kill someone for gathering firewood in the wilderness (see
Numbers:15:32-36)? To refer to what is most obviously evil as 'holy' is
the Devil's trademark.

One of the greatest lessons of the Bible is the revelation that the "God"
in the Old Testament which millions of people today still worship, is
undeniably proven by the New Testament to be a deceiver. Just the two
simple verses of Psalms:136:4 and Revelation:13:13 undoubtedly points to
the deception, and it is further elaborated upon by the rebuke Jesus made
to his disciples in Luke:9:53-55.

The warning of the New Testament is twofold.

(1) Many millions of people in today's world are still deceived and
continue to place blind faith in the "God" of the Old Testament.
(2Corinthians:3:12-15)

(2) In the future, another mass deception will convince those millions
who to this day still place blind faith in the "God" of the Old
Testament, to commit more murder and acts of iniquity in his service
while promising them a place in heaven. (see Revelation:12:12 &
2Thessalonians:2:12)

There are two rules given in the New Testament which can shield those who
believe in it against the future deception:

(1) Treat others the same way that you yourself would like to be treated.

(2) It is the greatest scheme of the Wicked One, or the Devil, to deceive
the world into worshipping him as God, and he is recognized because he
commands those who follow him to break the first rule!

Nowhere throughout the entire New Testament does God or Jesus command
anyone to kill others. Any execution in the New Testament is performed by
God himself or his angels, and this certainly is the right moral conduct
to teach those who do believe in God, that there is no need to kill
anyone on his behalf, unlike the countless acts of genocide and murder of
women and children that is littered throughout the Old Testament- indeed
all the works of iniquity performed in the service of the deceiver who
exalts himself above all as the "God" of Israel.

Therefore it is one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible, that the
first beast is in fact the "God" of the Old Testament who teaches that he
alone doeth great wonders and calls fire down from heaven on earth in the
sight of men, described exactly the same way as the deceiver forewarned
by the book of Revelation in the New Testament.

--
The Old Serpent Chained
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=32848

And for those who have Buddhist backgrounds, you can read the in depth
overview of my first book:
http://tinyurl.com/7kpnr

The first book's emphasis is on the relation between Jesus and the
Buddha, and only scratches the surface of the main thesis that is fully
explored in "The Old Serpent Chained" which decipers the mystery of
Leviathan, the old dragon-serpent whom "God" boasted of so much in the
old testament even to say of Leviathan, "Any hope of overcoming him is
false, shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?"

Sound familiar?

What in the hell is wrong with you? Your 'Book of Revelation' states in
the very
first that all the events 'John' is about to 'foretell' are going to occur
in his and the
believers belonging to the seven churches in Asia that he lists' lifetime
(or
thereabout)! Examine Revelation 1:1 closely and tell me this is not so.
It's some
two-thousand years now later, you brainwashed person, you. And guess what?
'John' was talking out of his *****. The Church has got you believing things
only a
three-year old would believe (and maybe not even then). And that isn't
funny.

Spiritual growth? Exactly what is that? Is it going from belief in a Santa
Claus to a
belief in a Jesus-God who had supernatural sex with his own mother so he
could
ultimately be sacrificed to himself for the 'sins' of each and every
person ever born?
Some growth!

Do you have any real support for the claim that man is spiritually
evolving ?

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:05:35 -0400, Son of man wrote:

The real debate of evolution should not be whether the earth and
everything
in it was created or physically evolved.

The real, more meaningful debate should be humanity's spiritual
evolution.

In the past mankind has worshipped the moon and the sun, made animal
sacrifices, and persecuted any form of knowledge that was contrary to
beliefs that were considered sacred. Astronomers were condemned for
teaching
that the world is not the center of the universe. Women were burned alive
at
the stake for simply being under the suspicion that they were witches.
Men
were stoned to death for doing work upon what were called "holy" days.

When is humanity finally going to be free of the evils of old
superstitions
and old religions which did nothing but keep mankind in the darkness of
its
ignorance?

Humanity is evolving spiritually, to be sure. But many are still in the
mindset that somehow to condemn other human beings who don't believe as
they
do will get them into a heaven where their "God" will bless them for
destroying the unbelievers

Mankind no longer lives in the Stone Age, and unless the spiritual
evolution
of humanity as a whole starts to parallel its scientific evolution, then
all
that humankind would have accomplished was to make mass destruction an
easier task to achieve than it was in the past.

Up to here, your making sense.

It is time to get rid of all the harmful baggage in every religion that
would have humanity believe is the undisputable and inerrant word of God.

And that...

And to do so, any commandment in any of these so called
one-true-religions
which encourages the destruction of people based simply on what they
believe, needs to be given up.

And I'm not exactly disputing that part.
The problem with "accepting" a religion based upon "acceptable" parts of
religious texts is that it keeps the religion around. Down the road, the
next guy decides those bits need to be put back...

If the texts have been tainted by the devil, as you appear to be
suggesting, or simply corrupted by man or "created" by man, then all of it
is corrupted.

Use anything you like for inspiration or guidance. But justify it
yourself, and don't call it "holy" or "divine".

All the above translates into mankind becoming the master

of scripture,

and to stop being slaves to scripture.

Better to be the master of yourself, than the master of scripture.

Thus, only the scripture which
encourages unity and harmlessness among people should be considered to
be truly divinely inspired.

No scripture should be considered divine. They have all been put on paper
by people.

Luke:12:57: Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?

Again, something I agree with.

It is in the spirit of weeding out all that is harmful in scripture that
the gospel of Christ was given to us.

Excerpt from "The Old Serpent Chained" :

The real Bible codes exist as a series of challenges which the New
Testament makes against the Old Testament. To give one such example of
the Bible's "coding" it is suggested that the King James Version of the
Bible be used, as its use of repeated phrases is precise.

One would think that if a "code" were to exist, it would exist in the
original language, and not require the use of a poetic translation.

<snip>

Probably the part you really wanted me to read, but Luke:12:57 tells me
that I need go no further :)