Entry 2,169 - Entry 2,184
Entry 2,169 - May 24, 2024
Spirituality has been institutionalized by religion. How you can see this is that power grows up the hierarchy chains of the institution and the particular religion. Bishops only hold so much power, archbishops hold even more power, and then the bishop of Catholicism holds the most power. Changes have to happen at the top. It's very unlikely that will happen at the peasant level.
Entry 2,170 - May 25, 2024
Have you ever met someone who was so perfect that they were boring? Now really think about that. How on earth would Jesus be perfect? He would be the most boring person ever.
Also, on top of that, notice how so many Christians say that Jesus was fully human but then also say he had no sin. They don't understand their own humanity, and they can't grasp the fact that to be human is to make mistakes. Jesus 100% made mistakes in his life because that's what constitutes being human—the good and the bad.
If they truly knew their own humanity, they would understand that the idea of sin, mistakes, or "missing the mark" is part of being 100% human. Now, if he were 50% human and 50% divine, then that might have been a different story. But you can't be something that you always are unless you aren't, and it's an illusion to believe otherwise.
I am realizing that Christians have such an elementary understanding of humanity because of their fear of diving into their own darkness. They don’t even understand what they mean when they say Jesus was fully human. Because if they did, they would stop denying his humanity and stop invalidating it.
What does it mean to be human? It means to make mistakes, to do things that aren’t great all the time. Humanity is messy—that’s part of being human.
Entry 2,171 - May 25, 2024
Real love is free. Fake love is possessive.
Entry 2,172 - May 25, 2024
Many Christians would call it New Age to craft your life specifically with intention, but I just call it someone who understands that everything is constantly being crafted, either consciously or unconsciously. Those who take conscious control are merely having conscious awareness that it is so.
Entry 2,173 - May 25, 2024
In mainstream Christianity, people are trained to run from their humanity.
In true spirituality, you embrace all of your humanity.
Entry 2,174 - May 27, 2024
I don't fear death anymore. Death fears me.
Entry 2,175 - May 29, 2024
Many people think the destroyed city of Atlantis was part of our past, but no. Destroyed Atlantis is part of our future. We are already part of it.
Entry 2,176 - May 30, 2024
Why do you flood my mind
When I’m trying to leave you behind?
I find it invasive and frustrating.
I am trying to break free, but you keep on making it so I see.
I am trying to love a new one,
But your image arrives late at night
To remind me of that connection,
Even though there was no partnership.
The potential thought of it still runs through my mind from time to time.
Entry 2,177 - May 31, 2024
Today, while I was driving for Uber, I was dwelling on the idea of what it meant to switch to another pro-universe, and I saw myself at the center and around me were circles. Every time I moved, I dissolved part of the circle, and it was replaced with me walking as I was a dark speck moving through the circles.
Overall, switching parallel universes showed me the congruency and how the timeline is maintained—that as I move forward, that road through the red circles stays intact so I can draw on it. But every time I move, I transition into another circle, or probably universe, that is connected to all universes in an infinite concentric pattern of circles.
Entry 2,178 - May 31, 2024
Have you ever looked at a spider with love and felt it looked back at you with love?
Entry 2,179 - May 31, 2024
Title: A Case Against Christianity
Everything is relative.
Even the idea of simply up and down is relative to the position of where you are on Earth. If you are at the North Pole, you have a different "up" than those at the South Pole. They're reversed. The idea of heaven being up and hell being down is so fallacious and elementarily wrong that it is laughable.
All the gospels were written by anonymous writers 20–30 years after Jesus existed.
When people realize that other alien species exist outside of Earth, it will dismantle many who believe in Christianity because they'll realize how ridiculously one-dimensional the story is. Sin on every planet? Making Jesus have to die a billion times on each planet is inefficient and stupid. Only an idiot god would set up such an inefficient system for sin. Also, what god would use such an outdated system to "fix" the problem of sin?
Another problem with Christianity is that it gives the Creator an ego.
What does it mean when something has an ego? It has limitations.
Favoritism is a limitation.
Jealousy is a limitation.
Anger is a limitation.
Limitations are not necessarily bad because they give us a very localized experience while we explore different forms and worlds.
But endowing the ultimate Creator with the biggest ego means we are all doomed.
Entry 2,180 - June 1, 2024
I know I come from something—I just don't know what it is in its entirety. I can't tell you its dimensions, its breadth, its depth, its wisdom. I couldn't even fully explain its impact on me.
But I don't think the purpose of this life is to understand infinity, to grasp eternity, to know the limitlessness within a limited body. I think we were purposefully created to not be able to grasp such concepts.
But I will recognize and accept there is something more to me than just me. There is something more than just the part of me I see as me, or humanity, or animals, or of this Earth, or of planets, galaxies, wormholes, and black holes. Some call it God. Others call it Source.
I would hate to limit the unlimited in your mind with these preconceived ideas already attached to these words, so I'll call it All That Is and leave it at That.
Entry 2,181 - June 1, 2024
My way is superior to others only for myself. It might not be the superior way for you. And that's valid. Your way might be the superior way to finding yourself, but it might not be the superior way for me to find myself.
Entry 2,181.5 - June 1, 2024
Quotes about the Council of Nicaea
In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea was convened. The council was attended by about 300 bishops from across the Roman Empire, especially from the eastern provinces. Interestingly, the pope at that time, Pope Sylvester I, was not present at the council, though he had two representatives.
Although Constantine was also present at the council, and presided over it as an honorary president, he left the direction of the theological debates to the ecclesiastical leaders.
One of the most important outcomes of the Council of Nicaea was the Nicene Creed, which defined orthodox, or “correct”, Christian belief.
At the end of the council, Arianism was left with only three supporters, Arius himself, Theonas of Marmarica, and Secundus of Ptolemais. Arius’ teachings were declared as heretical, and his books burned. Arius himself was exiled by the emperor to Illyria.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/council-nicaea-0010969
It was the first council in the history of the Christian church that was intended to address the entire body of believers of the Christian faith.
Controversial views such as did the ‘Son’ have no beginning or was he created, dominated the theological debate.
This history-making assembly was the first occasion where technical aspects of the Christian faith were discussed and debated and led to the beginning of the first seven ecumenical councils in the history of Christianity.
Before the Council of Nicaea, the ‘Trinity’ doctrine at the time of the New Testament (the second division of the Christian biblical canon) was formulated as an attempt to understand the relationship between Jesus and God.
From the 1st to the 4th centuries various church leaders argued over the doctrine, the most significant developments being articulated by Christian sects that questioned the established view of the Trinity which defined God as a ‘trinity of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ but that they were three distinct persons, yet are all the one, God.
Some leaders of Christian sects did not believe in the Trinity at all and it was this myriad of differing beliefs, threatening to undermine the Christian Church and unify believers that concerned Constantine I.
Before the council of Nicaea, the Christian world knew several competing Christological ideas such as Adoptionism (the belief that Jesus was an ordinary man), Sabellianism (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three different aspects of God) and Arianism (Son of God is not co-eternal with God the Father and is therefore subordinate) while other sects didn’t believe in Trinitarianism at all.
There is debate about how many priests and delegates attended the council meeting with some numbers ranging from a conservative estimate of 300 to a more ambitious figure of 1000. Most came from every region of the Roman Empire including Britain.
The bishops were given free travel and board, paid through public funds, and could also bring ‘guests’ usually from a variety of religious orders. With such generous hospitality offered by Constantine, it is not surprising that attendees could have surpassed over 1800.
The two principal players on opposite sides of the theological tracks at were arch-rivals Arius and Athanasius, both priests of Alexandria in Egypt. The two Christian theologians held passionately differing views and beliefs surrounding the relationship between God and Jesus, relating to God the Father and God the Son.
These opposing factions had been at loggerheads with each other for 55 years and were now seen as a threat to a Christian Church striving for unity.
During the debate and analysis of passages written by Arius some bishops believed the writings were blasphemous leading to what was considered to be the ‘Arian controversy’.
The debate became so heated and volatile that it is alleged that Arius was struck in the face as the main bone of contention continued to be hinged on the difference between Jesus being ‘born’ or ‘created’ and in the case of Arianism, seen as a finite being.
The council was divided into three groups. Arius was in attendance, at the command of the Emperor, along with a
few supporters.
Most notable of these were two Egyptian bishops, Theonas and Secundus, as well as Eusebius of
Nicomedia. This group represented the viewpoint that Christ was of a different substance (Greek: heteroousios) than
the Father, that is, that He is a creature.
The "orthodox" group was led primarily by Hosius of Cordova and Alexander of Alexandria (accompanied by his
brilliant young deacon, and later champion of the Nicene position, Athanasius6).
They represented the view that
Christ was of the same substance (Greek: homo-ousios7) as the Father, that is, that He has eternally shared in the one
essence that is God and in full deity.
The middle group, led by Eusebius of Caesarea (and hence often called the "Eusebian" party), distrusted the term
homoousios, primarily because it had been used in the previous century by the modalistic8 heretic Sabellius and
others who wished to teach the error that the Father and the Son were one person.
This middle group agreed with the orthodox party that Jesus was fully God, but they were concerned that the term homoousios could be misunderstood to support the false idea that the Father and Son are one person. The middle group therefore presented the idea that
the Son was of a similar substance (Greek: homoiousios) as the Father. By this means they hoped to avoid both the
error of Arius as well as the perceived danger of Sabellianism found in the term homoousios.
https://www.equip.org/PDF/DN206.pdf
Phrased that way, it might seem like Arianism would be shocking to most Christians. And yet, Arianism was incredibly popular in both the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicaea wasn't even the first attempt to stop Arius.
In 321, the bishop of Alexandria convoked a council of 100 bishops to denounce Arius and his doctrine, but he continued to gain followers until he was driven out of Egypt. Then he just went and recruited more followers in Palestine. It was at this point that Constantine made like Gary Oldman in The Professional and shouted, "Bring me everyone!"
As Pastor Marc Minter explains, the Greek word used in the original statement of belief from Nicaea was homoousious, literally "of the same substance," which is the word that gets translated as "consubstantial" in the English version of the Nicene Creed.
The idea that "there was once when Christ was not" and that Jesus was somehow changed from his coeternal being were deemed heretical and anathema, and all the bishops had to sign their names agreeing to the statement that Christ was consubstantial to the Father or else be not only excommunicated from the church but exiled from the empire.
According to OverviewBible, not only were Arius and the only two bishops who didn't flip on him (he had started the council with 22 bishops in his corner — they didn't hold up to the pressure) exiled to Illyria in the Balkan Peninsula, but Constantine ordered that all of Arius' writings be burned and that anyone found with copies of his writings on their person be put to death. Such steps may seem severe (they were)
One of the long-lasting consequences of the council, however, is that it set a precedent for the emperor using his authority to establish and enforce church rulings. If Constantine can say, "Believe this specific thing about the nature of God or die," then that has startling implications. It also marks the full swing of the pendulum for Christianity:
In a handful of years, it had gone from a religion forbidden and persecuted by the empire to one inextricably intermingled with it, where the emperor himself was ruling on theology. This tangling of church and state would subsequently be at the heart of European history for centuries, where popes and kings would struggle against each other for primacy.
The commonly repeated factoid is that Constantine the Great was the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire. To paraphrase the God of Thunder in Thor: Ragnarok, "Was he, though?" As Ancient Origins says, Constantine is certainly well-known for his dream-inspired conversion in which a Christian symbol led him to victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the Edict of Milan making Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and the building of some of the most famous churches in the world, including St. Peter's Basilica and the Hagia Sophia.
He also, of course, convened and oversaw the First Council of Nicaea, a pivotal moment in church history. However, by the time of the Council of Nicaea, Constantine hadn't even been baptized yet, despite his professed conversion following his prophetic dream having occurred some 13 years before. Constantine would not, in fact, be baptized until he lay on his deathbed in 337, believing it was best to be forgiven of all his sins as emperor at once.
In fact, there is much evidence to suggest that for most of his life, Constantine worshiped the sun. The Arch of Constantine, a triumphal monument that stands to this day, built after Constantine's official conversion, bears no symbols of Christianity, not even the chi-rho symbol to which he attributed his victory, but rather the god of the sun. Constantine didn't care about the theology of the Council of Nicaea — he just wanted peace.
Well, even if the Council of Nicaea established a knotty link between church and state and was overseen by someone who probably didn't even care about the controversies at hand, at least it succeeded in wiping out the Arian heresy and mending the Melitian schism, the two great threats to the church at the time, right? Uhh, well ... no.
According to OverviewBible, as time went on, Arianism crept its way back into popularity to the point that Constantine even started to tolerate the Arians. (Keep in mind that peace and unity were all he cared about.) In fact, the priest who baptized Constantine on his deathbed was Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian. After Constantine, there were a number of Arian emperors, including his son Constantine II and later Constantius II. (These are definitely different people.)
Soon enough, the tide turned, and many of the bishops who had excommunicated Arius were themselves excommunicated, including Athanasius, who had been orthodoxy's most stalwart defender at the council. It took until the end of the fourth century for non-Arian emperors Gratian and Theodosius I to finally quash Arianism within Rome.
That wasn't the end of it, though. As Britannica relates, Arianism was extremely popular among the Germanic tribes that ended up sacking Rome, and it remained so until well into the seventh century. The council failed to suppress the Melitian schism, too: His church lasted for over 100 more years.
Read More: https://www.grunge.com/247323/the-messed-up-truth-of-the-council-of-nicaea/
Entry 2,182 - June 3, 2024
Quotes Showing Christianity Appropriating from Other Religions
"Various influences upon early Christianity are also evidenced in sacred holidays and rituals. The sacred meal of the Last Supper adopts not only aspects of the Jewish Passover meal but also includes connotations of pagan human sacrifice. In the Eucharist, the bread and wine transformed into the blood and body of Christ bear resemblances to Mithraism. This religion was popular with Roman soldiers as early as the 2nd century B.C.E. It included a savior and a sacred bull, which would be sacrificed and consumed at a sacred meal.
Christmas Day, as the birth of Jesus Christ, subsumed the winter solstice observed in various existing pagan religions. Easter, appropriating the name of the pagan goddess Ishtar, was integrated into Christianity as the anniversary of the crucifixion, combining the date of the Jewish Passover with pagan spring festivities.
Christian Gnostics were influenced by pre-existing religions and philosophies, including Judaism, Ancient Greek philosophy, and Egyptian-Hellenic syncretisms.
By the time of early Christianity, the human-born, then crucified, Messiah was a recycled story dating back to the Era of Saviors. According to Oahspe, after the success of Sakaya of India and Ka'yu (Confucius of China) in restoring Faithists who worshiped the All One (around 800 B.C.E.), the Triune Gods set about gaining converts through forty-nine saviors who were set up to be sacrificed to establish the "Trinity" doctrine with mortals.
About the Council
When the Council of Nicaea established Christ and Iesu, they rejected Gnosticism. The Gnostics would not accept the death of the man Jesus as the source of redemption but believed that redemption was in the knowledge that Christ represented.
There were also post-Nicene Christians who continued to believe that Jesus Christ, the Son, was a creation of the Creator and never equal to Him. Such beliefs were considered heretical, leading to continual repression of "heretical" sects—even to the time of the Inquisition, which is said to have begun around 1209 B.C.E.
About the Bible
After the Council of Nicaea instituted the new Christian canon built around "the crucified and resurrected Jesus the Christ, God incarnate," a great cleansing of literary material took place to authenticate it. There was a concerted effort to destroy any evidence contradicting the new gospels and even to fabricate their authenticity by attributing them to earlier times and inserting material (interpolation) into the writings of earlier authors— a technique not unique to Christianity but commonly used to legitimize particular religions.
The Ezra Bible (Old Testament) was compiled by Ezra after the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon, and various parts were pseudoepigraphed. For example, the account of Moses and the Exodus was retrieved from Egyptian records, but authorship was attributed to Moses himself. Errors and falsities inadvertently copied by Ezra and his scribes came to be accepted as Jewish historical legacy.
Christians Destroying Other Christian Works That Didn’t Align With Their Beliefs
Oahspe, Book of Eskra; 28/49.22; 21,22
"In the old Egyptian libraries are books, tablets, and manuscripts that will show the perversity of the Constantine Bible. Now, Looeamong, the false Kriste, had previously destroyed, for the most part, the Alexandrian library, having inspired a mortal priest, Coatulius, to do the work.
And Looeamong, now perceiving the triumph of Mohammed, inspired three hundred monks and priests to go throughout Heleste and Arabin’ya and destroy the ancient state records and libraries, which they did, accomplishing the destruction."
Immediately after Constantine founded the Christian religion, Christian emissaries were sent to all the eastern countries to contrive the destruction of ancient records. In the year 390, a large portion of the Alexandrian library was destroyed at the instigation of a Christian priest, Coatulius. It was later rebuilt and restocked, but in 640, it was again destroyed, totally, at the instigation of three Christian monks to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Arabs (Mohammedans). The Caliph was urged to stop the destruction, but he said: "If the writings of the Greeks agree with the Books of God, they are useless and not worth preserving; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed." In this, we see how spirits rule over mortals. —Ed.
Jewish Sects
The ancient Christian historian Epiphanius, in his Panarion, speaks in more detail about the Jewish sects, saying there are seven in total:
- Sadducees
- Scribes
- Pharisees
- Hemerobaptists
- Ossaeans
- Nazareans
- Herodians
(Panarion 1:19)
Epiphanius links the Hemerobaptists with the Scribes and Pharisees and the Ossaeans (Essenes) with the Nazareans.
From this information, we may deduce that the two Essene branches, spoken of by Josephus, were the Ossaeans and Nazareans. The Ossaeans encouraged celibacy, while the Nazareans encouraged marriage.
Ezra Bible
According to Oahspe, the Jewish Ezra Bible was recorded and compiled by Ezra around 494 B.C.E. This is confirmed by biblical scholars who estimate that the language in which the Jewish Ezra Bible was written dates no earlier than 560 B.C.E.
"On the basis of archaeological findings, as well as endings to historical compositions, I understand, along with other scholars, that the 'Hebrew' Bible, more specifically, Genesis–2 Kings, was composed in the [Babylonian] Exile, around 560 B.C.E. The findings of archaeology have revealed that some sites mentioned in the Pentateuch did not come into being until the 8th–7th centuries B.C.E."
(Retrieved Sept. 9, 2007)
The Ezra Bible was compiled from numerous sources. Among other things, it contains Egyptian-derived texts, such as the Book of Genesis and the account of the Exodus of the Hebrews, gathered by Ezra from existing Egyptian records. Previously written Hebrew texts, such as the Levitical laws originally written by Moses, were altered and added to by various priestly writers over time under the auspices of various Israelite and Jewish kings. These were attributed to Moses long before they were compiled and edited by Ezra and his scribes.
Oahspe, Book of the Arc of Bon; 27/20.13; 27/20.16, 17
"And in not many days, Moses wrote the Levitican laws; for the inner temple of Jehovih was in spoken words only; but the outer temple was written. So that it was said: The Hebrews have two laws; one which no other man knows, and one for those who are not eligible by faith, being those who were called Leviticans; but not Leviticans in fact, but hangers-on, who had followed the Israelites out of Egupt and who, for the most part, had no God, little judgment, and no learning.
Of Pharaoh and his hosts who were not destroyed in the sea, be it said, they returned home to their places... The scribes and recorders assembled in Kaona and appointed Feh-ya (an Egyptian) to write the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt... Fey-ya’s record was afterward accepted by Ezra, and is that which is known to this day as the First Book of Exodus. And so far as the records now stand, the spirit of both books was the Egyptian version of the whole subject."
With the gay priests in Catholic churches, it would’ve been better if they were in a monogamous, healthy relationship with another man—which hurts no one—rather than traumatizing all the poor kids for life.
Remember the Republican man from the huge family in Arkansas part of the fundamental Christian church? He was adamantly against LGBTQ people, yet he was secretly cheating on his wife and had child pornography. It’s a huge issue in fundamental mainstream Christianity. They disassociate so hard.
I’m learning that parts of the mainstream Bible come from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Code of Hammurabi, Zoroastrianism, and more.
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