Namaste Gatekeeper,
thank you for the post.
Thank you as well .... Of course - All my views are based on opinion, Vajradhara. BUT, according to biblical scripture Jesus lived a perfect life - that is what I am basing my views on.
i, naturally, presume that everyone is offering their views, informed by a wide variety of means except for the rare online prophet which you have thus far exhibited no traits of
it is, of course, a religious paradigm other than my own and thus in the final analysis i cannot but assent to any particular religious proposition that someone sets forth as a tenet of their faith. i may not agree with it, of course, but i accept its validity within the paradigm.
with regards to the life of Jesus the Bible, by which i mean the Christian New Testament, generally presents a bookend view i.e. we get the beginning.. born in a manger, dad a carpenter, going to the temple and expounding his views etc. we get the end.. died on a Roman execution device as a convicted criminal, expounded his teachings, returned to life etc. what we lack is the intervening period of time, that which comprises the bulk of Jesus life on earth. it may indeed be that the middle years of his life were spent as the last but that is a matter of conjecture and, ultimately, faith.
Love was kinda His thing, no?
that is an interesting question, perhaps one that cuts to the very core of many Protestant Christian traditions though i would hesitate to apply too broad a brush to the entirety of Christianity as that paradigm is possessed of seemingly very disparate schools of practice
of course, my tradition is as well so please don't misconstrue my comment
that said, let us discuss this idea. i take it that you mean that Jesus exposition of Love and his embodiment of it, so to speak, is something worth emulating even if one may not believe in doctrinal claims regarding Jesus, is that correct? i'll proceed as if it were but reserve the right to change my response if i'm wrong!
i often have the impression that the great majority of Christians that i meet so highly esteem Jesus' exposition of love simply due to a lack of knowledge of other highly influential religious leaders. leaving aside questions of doctrine and theology which, as it turns out, a great many Christians cannot, beings are struck by the altruism, compassion, love, equanimity and universalist view of a great many religious leaders and, in some cases, non-religious leaders in a manner in which Christians perceive Jesus. we have examples in our recent history which we can draw upon, the Mahatma Gandhi comes to mind as does the Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu.
/begin tangent
there was a fantastic interfaith conference in Vancouver a few years ago...2006 iirc... which included His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Arch-Bishop Tutu a wonderfully erudite Rabbi..though the name escapes me now.. which i could link to and we could discuss on another thread at some other time.
/end tangent
perhaps it would be helpful to our conversation to pick one particular example and discuss it as the Christian teachings are repleat with examples of Jesus' demonstration of compassion
i find that i'm more able to explore a particular thought when it is focused rather than just broadly and lightly touching on a variety of thoughts.
I don't think when scripture talks about 'light' in the passages that I referred you to, that it was talking about 'literal' light.
/chagrin!
my apologies! after spending so many years in online dialog i like to establish some operating guidelines when i engage in a conversation with someone new (unless we've spoken before and, if so, i apologize for forgetting!!) one of which is gleaned by such a base process is, i'm embarrassed to admit, an understanding of a persons understanding of the intersubjective reality we all experience. online chat forums are, in my view, not the place that most beings come to learn about intersubjective reality especially if it is the case that a fundamental piece of their personal gestalt is incorrect.
i would agree that the Bible is speaking of a metaphorical light. i would suggest that the Bibles writers make use of the metaphor in a variety of ways which can, at times, be rather different than how the metaphor is used by another. in any case the use of the light metaphor is a common one found in every religious tradition that i've had a chance to study though, naturally, that to which the metaphor applies varies pretty significantly
I'm simply suggesting that it is not necessary to believe in His literal name, and/or His person, but rather the necessity is to embrace the spirit behind the man.
the spirit of love and compassion, correct?
is it your view that a being of any religious paradigm or lack thereof embraced a spirit of love and compassion that this would, in and of itself, be sufficient to assure a being salvation and thus gain entry into Heaven rather than Hell upon their demise?
metta,
~v
