Religion & Spirituality - 28 June 2006

gods commandments? If not all,most people will and have lusted sexually after a person they like or love. So isn't that like a trap for all humans.....because the moment we lu we sin,and then we have to repent ,but we end up doing it again.

2006-06-28 14:45:05 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous

I've taken a class on world religions and they've called into question my dwindling faith in Christianity. I'm perfectly happy to call my self an agnostic and I've never been happier in my life, as I've spent most of my Christian life unhappy and completely unable to attain happiness through Christianity. Wondering how many people are out there like me. Thanks!

2006-06-28 14:44:20 · 7 answers · asked by martini_fight 1

Where could I find white racist christians? I'm a black atheists and I would like to find them and see how they react to me being a black atheist. I will have my weapons just in case they try anything

2006-06-28 14:43:12 · 13 answers · asked by Black Atheist 1

aka: abortion. it's sad and weird and true because the same people that want to save a freakin tree want to kill inocent lives. why?

2006-06-28 14:41:29 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

I'm curious to know people's opinions about Faith Healers. I for one think they are joke and exploit peoples belief in God. What do you think?

2006-06-28 14:41:26 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

In 1939 Elizabeth Caspari visited the Himis monastery. The Abbot showed her some scrolls, which he allowed her to examine, saying: "These books say your Jesus was here."

Robert Ravicz, a former professor of anthropology at California State University at Northridge, visited Himis in 1975. A Ladakh physician he met there spoke of Jesus' having been there during His "lost years."

In the late 1970s Edward Noack, author of Amidst Ice and Nomads in High Asia, and his wife visited the Himis monastery. A monk there told him: "There are manuscripts in our library that describe the journey of Jesus to the East."

Toward the end of this century the diaries of a Moravian Missionary, Karl Marx, were discovered in which he writes of Notovitch and his finding of scrolls about "Saint Issa." (Marx's diaries are kept in the Moravian Mission museum. The pages about Notovitch and the scrolls have "disappeared" and their existence is now denied in an attempt to discredit Notovitch, but before their disappearance they were photographed by a European researcher and have been made public.)

From all this testimony we see that Jesus studied the Buddhist Dharma as well as the Hindu Dharma during His life in India.

Notovitch also claimed that the Vatican Library had sixty-three manuscripts from India, China, Egypt, and Arabia-all giving information about Jesus' life.

In 1812, Meer Izzut-oolah, a Persian, was sent to Ladakh and central Asia by the East India Company. Though religion was not his mission, he observed much and subsequently wrote in his book Travels in Central Asia: "They keep sculptured representations of departed saints, prophets and lamas in their temples for contemplation. Some of these figures are said to represent a certain prophet who is living in the heavens, which would appear to point to Jesus Christ."

When Swami Abhedananda was in the Himis monastery doing his research on the records of Jesus life in India he was told by the abbot that Jesus had not departed from the earth at the time His Apostles saw Him ascend, but that He had returned to India where he lived with the Himalayan yogis for many years.

The Nathanamavali

The Bengali educator and patriot, Bipin Chandra Pal, published an autobiographical sketch in which he revealed that Vijay Krishna Goswami, a renowned saint of Bengal and a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, told him about spending time in the Aravalli mountains with a group of extraordinary ascetic monk-yogis known as Nath Yogis. The monks spoke to him about Isha Nath, whom they looked upon as one of the great teachers of their order. When Vijay Krishna expressed interest in this venerable guru, they read his life as recorded in one of their sacred books, the Nathanamavali.36 It was the life of Him Whom the Goswami knew as Jesus the Christ! Here is the relevant portion of that book:

"Isha Natha came to India at the age of fourteen. After this he returned to his own country and began preaching. Soon after, his brutish and materialistic countrymen conspired against him and had him crucified. After crucifixion, or perhaps even before it, Isha Natha entered samadhi by means of yoga.37

"Seeing him thus, the Jews presumed he was dead, and buried him in a tomb. At that very moment however, one of his gurus, the great Chetan Natha, happened to be in profound meditation in the lower reaches of the Himalayas, and he saw in a vision the tortures which Isha Natha was undergoing. He therefore made his body lighter than air and passed over to the land of Israel.

"The day of his arrival was marked with thunder and lightning, for the gods were angry with the Jews, and the whole world trembled. When Chetan Natha arrived, he took the body of Isha Natha from the tomb, woke him from his samadhi, and later led him off to the sacred land of the Aryans. Isha Natha then established an ashram in the lower regions of the Himalayas and he established the cult of the lingam there."38

This assertion is supported by two relics of Jesus which are presently found in Kashmir. One is His staff, which is kept in the monastery of Aish-Muqan and is made accessible to the public in times of public catastrophe such as floods or epidemics. The other is the Stone of Moses-a Shiva linga that had belonged to Moses and which Jesus brought to Kashmir. This linga is kept in the Shiva temple at Bijbehara in Kashmir. One hundred and eight pounds in weight, if eleven people put one finger on the stone and recite "Ka" over and over, it will rise three feet or so into the air and remain suspended as long as the recitation continues.39 "Shiva" means one who is auspicious and gives blessings and happiness. In ancient Sanskrit the word ka means to please and to satisfy-that which Shiva does for His worshippers.

The Bhavishya Maha Purana

One ancient book of Kashmiri history, the Bhavishya Maha Purana, gives the following account of the meeting of a king of Kashmir with Jesus sometime after the middle of the first century:

2006-06-28 14:41:12 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous

Misunderstanding becomes a religion

Throughout the Gospels we see that the disciples of Jesus consistently misunderstood his speaking of higher spiritual matters. When he spoke of the sword of wisdom they showed him swords of metal to assure him they were well equipped.27 When he warned them against the "leaven" of the Scribes and Pharisees they thought he was complaining that they did not have any bread.28 Is it any wonder, then that he said to them: "Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? How is it that ye do not understand?"29 Even in the moment of his final departure from them, their words showed that they still believed the kingdom of God was an earthly political entity and not the realm of spirit.30 This being so, the Gospels themselves must be approached with grave caution and with the awareness that Jesus was not the creator of a new religion, but a messenger of the Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion he had learned in India. As a priest of the Saint Thomas Christian Church of South India once commented to me: "You cannot understand the teachings of Jesus if you do not know the scriptures of India." And if you do know the scriptures of India you can see where-however well-intentioned they may have been-the authors of the Gospels often completely missed the point and garbled the words and ideas they heard from Jesus, even attributing to him incidents from the life of Buddha (such as the Widow's Mite) and mistaking his quotations from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Dhammapada for doctrines original to him. For example, the opening verse of the Gospel of John, which has been cited through the centuries as proof of the unique character and mission of Jesus, is really a paraphrase of the Vedic verse: "In the beginning was Prajapati, with Him was the Word, and the Word was truly the Supreme Brahman."31 Having confused Christ with Jesus, things could only go downhill for them and their followers until the true Gospel of Christ was buried beneath two millennia of confusion and theological debris.

Return to India-not ascension

It is generally supposed that at the end of His ministry in Israel Jesus ascended into heaven. But Saint Matthew and Saint John, the two Evangelists that were eye-witnesses of His departure, do not even mention such a thing, for they knew that He went to India after departing from them. Saint Mark and Saint Luke, who were not there, simply speak of Jesus being taken up into the heavens. The truth is that He departed into India, though it is not unlikely that He did rise up and "fly" there. This form of travel is not unknown to the Indian yogis.

That Jesus did not leave the world at the age of thirty-three was written about by Saint Irenaeus of Lyon in the second century. He claimed that Jesus lived to be fifty or more years old before leaving the earth, though he also said that Jesus was crucified at the age of thirty-three. This would mean that Jesus lived twenty years after the crucifixion. This assertion of Saint Irenaeus has puzzled Christian scholars for centuries, but if we put it together with other traditions it becomes comprehensible. Basilides of Alexandria, Mani of Persia, and Julian the Emperor said that Jesus had gone to India after His crucifixion.

Some Buddhist historical records about Jesus

A contemporary written record of the life and teachings of Jesus in India was discovered in 1887 by the Russian traveler Nicholas Notovitch during his wanderings in Ladakh. He had it translated from the Tibetan text (the original, kept in the Marbour monastery near Lhasa, was in Pali) and, despite intense opposition from Christians in Russia and Europe, published it in his book The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ.32

As would be expected, the authenticity of Notovitch's book was attacked33 and various articles written claiming that the monks of the Himis monastery, where Notovitch had found the manuscript, told investigators that they knew nothing of Notovitch or the text. But both Swami Abhedananda and Swami Trigunatitananda-direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna34 and preachers of Vedanta35 in America-went at separate times to the Himis monastery. The monks there not only assured them that Notovitch had spent some time in the monastery as he claimed, they also showed them the manuscript-part of which they translated for Swami Abhedananda, who knew from having read Notovitch's book that it was indeed the same writing found in The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. Subsequently, Abhedananda had the English translation of Notovitch's text printed in India where the Christian authorities had until then prohibited both its publication or its importation and sale.

Swami Trigunatitananda not only saw the manuscript in Himis, he also was shown two paintings of Jesus. One was a depiction of His conversation with the Samaritan Woman at the well. The other was of Jesus meditating in the Himalayan forest surrounded by wild beasts that were tamed by His very presence. A copy made from his description is reproduced on the cover of this booklet.

Later, Dr. Nicholas Roerich, the renowned scholar, philosopher, artist, and explorer, traveled in Ladakh and also was shown the manuscript and assured by the monks that Jesus had indeed lived in several Buddhist monasteries during His "lost years." He wrote about his own viewing of the scrolls in his book The Heart of Asia.

In 1921 the Himis monastery was visited by Henrietta Merrick who, in her book In the World's Attic tells of learning about the records of Jesus' life that were kept there. She wrote: "In Leh is the legend of Jesus who is called Issa, and the Monastery at Himis holds precious documents fifteen hundred years old which tell of the days that he passed in Leh where he was joyously received and where he preached."

2006-06-28 14:38:56 · 22 answers · asked by sun rays 1

Although this tradition of Shiva [Linga] worship has faded from the memory of the Jews and Christians, in the nineteenth century it was evidenced in the life of the stigmatic Anna Catherine Emmerich, an Augustinian Roman Catholic nun. On several occasions when she was deathly ill, angelic beings brought her crystal Shiva Lingas which they had her worship by pouring water over them. When she drank that water she would be perfectly cured. Furthermore, on major Christian holy days she would have out-of-body experience in which she would be taken to Hardwar, a city sacred to Shiva in the foothills of the Himalayas, and from there to Mount Kailash, the traditional abode of Shiva, which she said was the spiritual heart of the world.

Isha's life in India

For the next few years the Himalayas became Jesus' well-travelled home. During part of that time Jesus meditated in a cave north of the present-day city of Rishikesh, one of the most sacred locales of India, and also on the banks of the Ganges in the holy city of Hardwar. In the years He spent in the Himalayas, He attained the supreme heights of spiritual realization.

Having attained perfect inner wisdom in the Himalayas, Jesus journeyed to the Gangetic plain to engage in the formal study that would prepare Him for the public teaching of Sanatana Dharma both in India and in the countries between India and Israel as well as in Israel itself.

First he went to live in Benares, the spiritual heart of India, the city most consecrated to the worship of Shiva and the major center of Vedic learning in all of India. During His time in the Himalayas, Jesus' endeavors had been centered almost exclusively on the practice of yoga. In Benares Jesus engaged in intense study of the spiritual teachings embodied in the Vedic scriptures-especially the books of spiritual philosophy known as the Upanishads.

He then journeyed to the sacred city of Jagannath Puri, which at that time was a great center of the worship of Shiva, second only to Benares. In Puri Jesus officially adopted the monastic life and lived some time as a member of the Govardhan Math,21 the monastery founded three centuries before His birth by the foremost philosopher-saint of India known as Adi Shankaracharya.22 There He perfected the synthesis of yoga, philosophy, and renunciation, and eventually began to publicly teach the Eternal Knowledge.

As a teacher Jesus was as popular as He was proficient in teaching, and gained great notoriety among all levels of society. However, because He insisted that all men should learn and be taught the meaning of the Vedas and their allied scriptures and began teaching the "lower" castes accordingly, as well as teaching that all could attain spiritual perfection without the intermediary of external, ritualized religion, He incurred the hatred of many religious "professionals" in Puri who began to plot His death.

Since "His hour was not yet come,"23 He left Puri and returned to the Himalayas where He again spent quite some time in meditation, preparing Himself for His return to Israel. He also lived in various Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayan region, studying the wisdom of the Buddha.

Before beginning the long journey westward, instructions were given Him regarding His mission in the West and the way messages could be sent between Jesus and His Indian teachers. Jesus was aware of the form and purpose of His life and death from His very birth, but it was the Indian Masters who made everything clear to Him regarding them. They promised Jesus that He would be sent a container of Himalayan Balsam to be poured upon His head by a close disciple as a sign that His death was imminent, even "at the door." When Saint Mary Magdalene performed this action in Bethany, Jesus understood the unspoken message, saying: "She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying."241

Return to the West

Jesus then set forth on His return journey to Israel with the blessings of the Masters to thenceforth be a Dharmacharya,25 a missionary of Arya Dharma to the Mediterranean world, which at that time was "the West." All along His way, Jesus taught those who were drawn to His spiritual magnetism and who sought His counsel in the divine life. He promised that after some years He would be sending them one of His disciples who would give them even more knowledge and benefit.

Arriving in Israel, Jesus went directly to the Jordan where his cousin John, the Master of the Essenes, was baptizing. There His Christhood was revealed to John and those who had "the eyes to see and the ears to hear."26 In this way His brief mission to Israel was begun. Its progress and conclusion are well known, so we need not recount it here except to rectify one point after the next section.

2006-06-28 14:37:20 · 2 answers · asked by sun rays 1

2006-06-28 14:36:41 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous

(one per life)
Can some of their souls go to Heaven and others to hell?

2006-06-28 14:36:20 · 9 answers · asked by Kenny ♣ 5

according to the bible satan only did as he was ordered. it was when he had the guts to stand up to Jehova that he was casted out. people attack satan constantly but their god Jehova is angry, jealous, and vengeful. even the Jesus story implies that Jesus saves people from Jehova and not really Satan per se.

2006-06-28 14:35:50 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous

13) They believed in astrology, cast horoscopes, and made "magical" amulets of plants and gems according to astrological aspects. They also believed that angels had taught Moses the practice of herbalism.

14) They believed that miraculous cures were natural extensions of authentic spiritual life.

15) They would wear only white clothes13 as a sign that they worshipped God Who is Light and were clothed by Him in light. This so provoked the other Israelites that praying in white clothing was prohibited by the Pharisees and Sadducees, and laws were drafted accordingly. (The Mishnah begins with such a prohibition.)

16) They observed the identical rules of purity (shuddhi) as the Brahmins in India at that time, especially in the matter of bathing frequently.

17) They practiced the strictest adherence to truthfulness.14

It should also be noted that most of these Brahminical practices were observed by Buddhists as well, so it is not out of place to consider that the Essenes-and Jesus and His disciples-possessed the qualities of both Hindu and Buddhist religion.

From all this we can see why Edersheim states that "In respect of doctrine, life, and worship, it [the Essene community] really stood outside Judaism." As a result of these differences from ordinary Judaism, the Essenes lived totally apart from their fellow Hebrews, usually in separate communities or in communal houses in the towns and cities. (The supposed "communal experiment" in the book of Acts15 was really a continuation of the Essene way of life. The Last Supper took place in just such an Essene "house.")

The History of Isha Messiah-Jesus the Christ16

Among the Essenes of Israel at the threshold of the Christian Era, none were better known or respected than Joachim and Anna of Nazareth. Joachim was noted for his great piety, wealth, and charity. The richest man in Israel, his practice was to divide his increase into thirds, giving one third to the temples of Carmel and Jerusalem and one third to the poor, keeping only one third for himself. Anna was renowned as a prophetess and teacher among the Essenes. Their daughter Mary [Miryam], Who had been conceived miraculously beneath the Holy of Holies of the Temple, had passed thirteen years of Her life as a Temple Virgin until her espousal to Joseph of Nazareth. Before their marriage was performed, She was discovered to have conceived supernaturally, and in time She gave birth to a Son in a cave of Bethlehem. His given name was Jesus (Yeshua in Aramaic and Yahoshua in Hebrew).

This Son of Miryam was as miraculous as His Mother, and astounding wonders were worked and manifested daily in His life-for the preservation of which His parents took Him into Egypt for some years where they lived with the various Essene communities there. But before that flight, when the Child had been about three years old, sages from India17 had come to pay Him homage and to establish a link of communication with Him, for His destiny was to live most of His life with them in the land of Eternal Dharma before returning to Israel as a messenger of the very illumination that had originally been at the heart of the Essene order. Through the intermediary of merchants and travellers both to and from India, contact was maintained with their destined Disciple.

At the age of twelve, during the passover observances on Mount Carmel (not in Jerusalem), Jesus petitioned the elders of the Essenes for initiation-something bestowed only on adults after careful instruction and scrutiny. Because of His well-known supernatural character, the elders examined Him before all those present. Not only could He answer all their questions perfectly, when the examination was ended He began to examine them, putting to them questions and statements that were utterly beyond their comprehension. In this way He demonstrated that the Essene order had nothing whatever to teach Him, and that there was no need for Him to undergo any initiation or instruction from them.

Upon His return to Nazareth preparations were begun for His journeying into India to formally become a disciple of those Masters who had come to Him nine years before. The necessary preliminaries took something more than a year, but sometime between the age of thirteen or fourteen,18 Jesus of Nazareth set forth on a spiritual pilgrimage that would transform Jesus the Nazarene into Isha the Lord, the Teacher of Dharma and Messiah of Israel.

The spiritual training of Jesus

In the Himalayan fastnesses Jesus was instructed in yoga and the highest spiritual life, receiving the spiritual name "Isha," which means Lord, Master, or Ruler, a descriptive title often applied to God, as in the Isha Upanishad. Isha is also a particular title of Shiva.19

The worship of Shiva centered in the form of the natural elliptical stone known as the Shiva Linga (Symbol of Shiva) was a part of the spiritual heritage of Jesus, for His ancestor Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, was a worshipper of that form. The Linga which he worshipped is today enshrined in Mecca within the Kaaba. The stone, which is black in color, is said to have been given to Abraham by the Archangel Gabriel, who instructed him in its worship.

Such worship did not end with Abraham, but was practiced by his grandson Jacob, as is shown in the twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis. Unwittingly, because of the dark, Jacob used a Shiva Linga for a pillow and consequently had a vision of Shiva standing above the Linga which was symbolically seen as a ladder to heaven by means of which devas (shining ones) were coming and going. Recalling the devotion of Abraham and Isaac, Shiva spoke to Jacob and blessed him to be an ancestor of the Messiah. Upon awakening, Jacob declared that God was in that place though he had not realized it. The light of dawn revealed to him that his pillow had been a Shiva Linga, so he set it upright and worshipped it with an oil bath, as is traditional in the worship of Shiva, naming it (not the place) Bethel: the Dwelling of God. (In another account in the thirty-fifth chapter, it is said that Jacob "poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon." This, too, is traditional, both milk and honey-which Shiva promised Moses would flow abundantly in Israel-being poured over the Linga as offerings.) From thenceforth that place became a place of pilgrimage and worship of Shiva in the form of the Linga stone. Later Jacob had another vision of Shiva, Who told him: "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me."20 A perusal of the Old Testament will reveal that Bethel was the spiritual center for the descendants of Jacob, even above Jerusalem.

2006-06-28 14:35:26 · 4 answers · asked by sun rays 1

Do you think you should be an iniciative person in order to get and be where you want to be? Sometimes many things go through our minds. Do you think that everyone's career depends on the person or the heavens? Our world was well created by God, there's many secrets we don't know yet! However, how do you personally describe this statement? Could it be true that careers fall from the sky or is there something else that we don't know! mysteries, mysteries and more mysteries to discover!

2006-06-28 14:34:55 · 4 answers · asked by Peter 2

Their contact and interchange with Indian religion-Brahminical practices in particular-were manifested in several ways among the Essenes:

1) They practiced strict non-violence.

2) They were absolute vegetarians and would not touch alcohol in any form. Nor would they eat any food cooked by a non-Essene. (Edersheim says: "Its adherents would have perished of hunger rather than join in the meals of the outside world.")

3) They refused to wear anything of animal origin, such as leather or wool, usually making their clothes of linen.

4) They rejected animal sacrifice, insisting that the Torah had not originally ordered animal sacrifice, but that its text had been corrupted-in regard to that and many other practices as well. Their assertion was certainly corroborated by passages in the scriptures such as: "Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?"5 "To what purpose [is] the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord:...I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats."6 "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices."7 The quotations from Isaiah are particularly relevant since he was himself the Master of the Essenes.

It was the Essenes' contention that the "animals" originally offered in sacrifice were symbolic effigies of animals that represented the particular failing or fault from which the offerer wished to be freed. (Appollonius of Tyana taught this same thing in relation to the ancient Greek sacrifices, and urged a return to that form. Long before that, in India dough effigies were offered in "sacrifice."8) In the Essene practice, each person molded the effigies with his own hands, while praying and concentrating deeply on the traits he wished to have corrected, feeling that it was being transferred into the image. The effigies were made of five substances: powdered frankincense, flour, water, olive oil, and salt. When these had dried, they were taken to the tabernacle whose altar was a metal structure with a grating over the top and hot coals within. The effigies were laid upon this grating and burnt by the intense heat. As they burned, through the force of the heat the olive oil and frankincense liquefied and boiled or seeped upward. This fragrant liquid was called "the blood" of the sacrifice. It was this with which Moses consecrated the tabernacle, its equipment, and the priests,9 not animal blood. And it was just such a "lamb" whose "blood" was sprinkled on the doorposts in Egypt.10

For the Passover observance, the Essenes would bake a lamb effigy using the same ingredients-except for the frankincense they would substitute honey and cinnamon. (Or, lacking honey, they would use a kind of raisin syrup.) This was the only paschal lamb acceptable to them-and therefore to Jesus and His Apostles.

Consequently, the Essenes refused to worship in Jerusalem, but maintained their own tabernacle on Mount Carmel. They did not have an actual building on Mount Carmel, but a tent-tabernacle made according to the original directions given to Moses on Mount Sinai. They considered the Jerusalem temple unacceptable because it was a stone structure built according to Greco-Roman style rather than the simple and humble tabernacle form given to Moses-a form that symbolized both the physical and psychic makeup of the human being. Further, the Jerusalem temple was built by Herod who, completely subservient to Rome, disdained Judaism and practiced a kind of Roman agnostic piety. Because of this the temple was ritually unclean in their estimation. They placated the Jerusalem Temple priests by sending them large donations of money. On occasion they gave useful animals to the Temple in Jerusalem, but only with the condition that they would be allowed to live out their natural span of life.

5) They interpreted the Torah and other Hebrew scriptures in an almost exclusively spiritual, symbolic, and metaphysical manner (as did the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher Philo). They also had esoteric writings of their own which they would not allow non-Essenes to see. But even more objectionable to the other Hebrews was their study and acceptance of "alien" scriptures-the holy books of other religions-so much so that an official condemnation was made of this practice. In contrast to all those around them, the Essenes held a universal, eclectic view of religion.

6) Celibacy was prized by them, being often observed even in marriage, and many of them led monastic lives of total renunciation.

7) They considered their male and female members-all of whom were literate-to be spiritual equals, and both sexes were prophets and teachers among them. This, too, was the practice in Hinduism at that time, women also wearing the sacred thread.

8) They denied the doctrine of the physical resurrection of the dead at the end of time, which was held by some Pharisees-who usually believed in reincarnation-and later became a tenet of Mediterranean Christianity.

9) They believed in reincarnation and the law of karma and the ultimate reunion of the soul with God. This is clearly indicated by the Apostles asking Jesus about a blind man: "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"11

10) They believed that the sun was a divine manifestation, imparting spiritual powers to both body and mind. They faced the rising and setting sun and recited prayers of worship, refusing, upon rising in the morning, to speak a single word until the conclusion of those prayers. They did not consider the sun was a god, but a symbol of the One God of Light and Life. It was, though, felt that appropriate prayers directed toward the sun would evoke a divine response. (See Jesus' words to the king of Kashmir as recorded in the Bhavishya Maha Purana that are given later on.)

11) They believed in both divination and the powers of prophecy.

12) They believed in the power of occult formulas, or mantras,12 as well as esoteric rituals, and practiced theurgy (spiritual "magic") with them.

2006-06-28 14:34:00 · 1 answers · asked by sun rays 1

2006-06-28 14:33:04 · 5 answers · asked by italiana mocha 2

2006-06-28 14:32:26 · 14 answers · asked by valcus43 6

Yes Jesus lived in India. You have got the right information.

At the time of Jesus there were two major currents or sects within Judaism: the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees were extremely concerned with strict external observance of their interpretation of the Mosaic Law, ritual worship, and theology. The Sadducees, on the other hand, were very little concerned with any of these and tended toward a kind of genteel agnosticism. Today these two groups might be compared with the Orthodox and the Reformed branches of Judaism respectively.

There was also a third sect which both was and was not part of Judaism. They were the Essenes, whose very name means "the Outsiders."1 Whether they chose this name for themselves or whether it was applied to them by the disdainful Pharisees and Sadducees is not known. But that they were incongruent (even incompatible) to the normal life of Israel at that time is certainly known.

Their claims about their very existence was a controversial matter. For the Essenes averred that Moses had created them as a secret fraternity within Judaism, with Aaron and his descendents at their head. The prophet Jeremiah was a Master of the Essenes, and it was in his lifetime that they ceased to be a secret society and became a public entity. From that time many of the Essenes began living in communities. Isaiah and Saint John the Baptist were also Masters of the Essenes. Their purpose was to follow a totally esoteric religious philosophy and practice that was derived from the Egyptian Mysteries. As the grandson of the Pharaoh, Moses had been an initiate of those Mysteries and destined to ultimately become the head of the Egyptian religion.2 These Mysteries were themselves derived from the religion of India: Sanatana-or Arya-Dharma.3 Because of this the Essenes had always maintained some form of contact and interchange with India-a fact that galled their fellow Israelites. Regarding this, Alfred Edersheim, in his nineteenth century classic The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, wrote: "Their fundamental tendency was quite other than that of Pharisaism, and strongly tinged with Eastern elements."

The reality of this contact with India is shown in the Zohar (2:188a-b), a compilation of ancient Jewish mystical traditions and the major text of the Jewish Kabbalah. It contains the following incident regarding the knowledge of an illumined Rabbi concerning the religion of India and the Vedic4 religious rite known as the Sandhya, which is an offering of prayers at dawn and sunset for enlightenment.

"Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Hiyya were walking on the road. While they were walking, night fell; they sat down. While they were sitting, morning began to shine; they rose and walked on. Rabbi Hiyya said, 'See, the face of the East, how it shines! Now all the children of the East [in India], who dwell in the mountains of light [the Himalayas], are bowing down to this light, which shines on behalf of the sun before it comes forth, and they are worshipping it....Now you might say: 'This worship is in vain!' but since ancient, primordial days they have discovered wisdom through it."

2006-06-28 14:31:21 · 9 answers · asked by sun rays 1

2006-06-28 14:30:04 · 31 answers · asked by zcilinks 1

Does anyone else agree that many Catholics (possibly even more than half) have less understanding of their faith than the average sports fan does of the history of football? I have this crazy idea that if one truly believes in this omnipotent, omniscient, and all-caring god then he/she should devote more than just half an hour on sunday? I think even fervent Catholics, whom I am not attacking, would agree. Catholic myself, i am appalled by those who fornicate and sin all week and then go to church on sunday. I am criticized enough for my faith as it is without the absolute lack devotion demonstrated by most Catholics. Isn't wrong for one to attend catholic church without so much as understanding the conditions for mortal sin? Shouldn't luke warm people stick to less important movements? If all humans behaved like Christ, wouldn't we actually be capable of making a change rather than "praying in church on sundays?" I belive jesus was social reformist who dreamed of change.

2006-06-28 14:27:41 · 19 answers · asked by kmm4864990 1

is this a term to describe the period of time that you are alive?

2006-06-28 14:26:19 · 2 answers · asked by rescue me 1

I am here as one of the guardians of democracy, defending our beloved Constitution against the religious bigots who would erode our Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms who would erode them at every opportunity in some false guise with the real agenda of transfoming the United States into a theocratic totalitarian state that will kill folks like Galileo for saying the world is not the center of the universe or that the universe evolved. I am but one of the guardians of freedom. WHAT DO OTHER NON THEISTS SAY? WHY ARE YOU HERE?

2006-06-28 14:25:18 · 16 answers · asked by valcus43 6

I am Christian but I do not preach to people because it is annoying. I hate being preached by mormons. I am outside in peace and then these two business-looking guys come to me on bikes and they have helmets on and they start preaching about mormonism. Atheists need to stop telling negative things about our religion but that won't happen because there are also Christians who preach to Atheists. Everyone stop PREACHING! If someone wants to follow a religion then THEY will come to YOU. Preaching about your beliefs makes everyone who shares your beliefs look bad. I want you to tell me what group of people have been preaching to you the most? Also, have YOU ever preached to anyone, if yes explain your reasons for doing it? If you preach, what makes you think you will be successful in converting people into believing what you believe?

2006-06-28 14:24:55 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous

Did they really just need to get plastered or what?

2006-06-28 14:20:25 · 23 answers · asked by BuckFush 5

2006-06-28 14:18:39 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous

My leader is Cheif Dances with Pandas.Who your leader?

2006-06-28 14:17:50 · 16 answers · asked by I China 1

2006-06-28 14:16:31 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-06-28 14:15:59 · 35 answers · asked by Anonymous

How many people know how old is their church? here's a list:


Church/Year Established/ Founder

Catholic 33 Jesus Christ

Orthodox 1054 Schismatic CatholicBishops

Lutheran 1517 Martin Luther

Anglican 1534 Henry VII

Calvinist 1555 John Calvin

Presbyterian 1560 John Knox

Baptist 1609 John Smyth

Congregationalist 1648 Pilgrims and Puritans

Methodist 1739 John & CharlesWesley

Episcopalian 1789 Samuel Seabury

Mormon1830 Joseph Smith

Seventh Day Adventist 1844 Ellen Whit

Jehovah's Witnesses 1874 Charles Taze Russelle

Pentecostal 1901 Charles F. Parkham

Calvary Chapel1965Chuck Smith

Born-againc. 1970sVarious religious bodies

Non-denominationalc. 1990svarious

2006-06-28 14:13:36 · 10 answers · asked by enigma21 3

Would you travel to the Future (and what year?) and Why???
Or would you travel to the Past (and what year?) and Why???

Or Both!!??? and Why!!?? :)

Thanks for the input. :)

2006-06-28 14:13:03 · 47 answers · asked by Zorro 3

2006-06-28 14:11:06 · 21 answers · asked by rapturefuture 7