Former Bible Teacher

OlderWaterBrother · Aug 5, 2013

thedope said:

Is that an answer? In the interest of clarity and correct devotion as you desire. Having relinquished my vain ignorance, insisting I could discern that I and the world at large were unworthy exactly as I had been taught by every man around,
I could then hear and see the immutable judgment of our creator as we are created in his image and likeness and called his work good, very good. God loves his creations it is only we that complain convinced we have good judgment and can see the errors of the world. God wants to be known and becomes apparent when we lay down our vain apprehensions.

The sins of the father are passed on to his sons generation upon generation not through inheritance but through education. To miss the sign is to have not seen the right indicator. For god to be omnipotent is not to be more powerful than any other assorted power, but to be the only power. Only god is good. Can we see god? If not how can we see good if only god be good. And if we be created in god's invisible image, have we seen at all the truth that exists in each other? I can see an apple or an orange and tell the difference between them, but I cannot see the true spirit of a man except through the spirit god gave me and the spirit god gave me knows only what he created, nothing else exists.

I understand the popular position is that man was able to turn away from god will because god had given him a free will of his own. If man is free to choose, then why the penalty or charge for choosing?
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No, it wasn't an answer to your question but then your comment here doesn't seem to reconcile your previous stated beliefs to to your question either but then much of what you say has never made much sense to me.

AmericanTerrorist · Aug 7, 2013

jimmiles said:

I taught Bible classes to high school (and some younger) students attending Seventh-day Adventist academies for almost twenty years.

I had been baptized at age twenty into this particular SDA sect of Christianity, mostly on the strength of their attention to "Sola Scriptura," i.e. teaching "The Bible, The Whole Bible, And Nothing But the Bible." That's kind of the idea of SDAism; it's their self-image, their perceived purpose as one denomination among the rest of them.

I studied history and Bible at one of their colleges, and took my BA in "religion" into my career as a certified SDA Bible teacher. I officially represented Christianity and their unique brand of it to the students sent to their school, from whom I received a steady paycheck, and my wife and I got hefty discounts on tuition which we used to send our two daughters almost all the way through their comprehensive K-12 program, and one daughter through a Bachelor's degree at my alma mater.

I recently retired myself from teaching in their school system. I had already pretty much quit attending their churches. After breaking off employment with them, I was mentally much more free to look back on what I had been doing for the last twenty-odd years.

It's a long story, but I will close this opening post by offering this insight I've gained recently, after doing some study of Buddhism, A Huxley's experiments with psychedelic medicines (his book Island is worth your time, I promise), and Terence McKenna's lectures on the Psychedelic Salon:

The Bible (which I've come to know personally and intimately pretty thoroughly, IMHO) is great as a storybook of how Judaism and Christianity were established on principles of love and altruism. For many, it remains their connection to God. But as a book of teachings and doctrines, it knows nothing of what has come into existence as "modern Christianity." It doesn't command that denominations be created. It doesn't hint that hierarchies of churchmen should have power over ... anything.

The Bible's goal seems to me to be to get people to live out the Golden Rule. An impartial examination of the history of the last two millennia demonstrates that it has largely failed to accomplish that goal. (I say "largely," because I'll admit I've come across good souls whose lives are exceptions to this conclusion, but they are too few to lift up as exemplars of "bible power.")

Why did the Bible fail to make people loving, compassionate, altruistic? I am not sure. I think it has to do with the choices made by the early generations of Christians, the ones who set this religion down the path of greed, corruption, striving for political power, and eventually the splintering of Christianity into the thousands of sects worldwide, most of whom agree with all others on fundamentals but exclude all others from participation in their mission because details are fixed upon which become the basis for each church's isolation from all others.

They all claim to be the True Church. They really do! They have become adept at hiding those claims, now that so many observers have outed them on this built-in toxicity to their dogma. But almost 100% of unique Christian denominations hammer on one deep theme: 'we found the true path to heaven, and if you want in, you need to come with us on the way we found.'

So, having come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a meaningful form of Biblical Christianity to be found in the world anymore, I'm putting it aside, perhaps permanently. I'm very interested in expanding my consciousness of other kinds of spirituality, and in forming friendships with kindred souls.

Thanks for listening.

-Jim
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Hey. Just wanted to say I think that is a great post and I really enjoyed reading it. (I haven't read the rest of the thread yet but will be going to do that next and may or may not have more comments to make then...), but anyways, I just wanted to say the first thing that popped into my brain after reading your OP and that is that I believe Jesus would be happy by the conclusions you've reached...the path you are choosing to follow. Good luck. And remember, the Bible was written by man and is not Jesus, if you know what I mean...(and yes, btw, just a small side note... I take two things mostly from the Bible..and I do also have an interest in Buddism...), that is the Golden Rule and also "the kingdom of heaven is inside of you"

AmericanTerrorist · Aug 7, 2013

and noxious gas... I really wanted to +rep you for your amazingly insightful and truthful post (on page one... haven't read far enough into this thread to know if you have posted any more past then), but yea, your first post in this thread... but I have to spread some around before repping you again. A shame because I found your post brilliant.

thedope · Aug 7, 2013

OlderWaterBrother said:

No, it wasn't an answer to your question but then your comment here doesn't seem to reconcile your previous stated beliefs to to your question either but then much of what you say has never made much sense to me.
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It was a question specifically for you and not one I was trying to answer and without any degree of specificity on your part as to what constitutes any discrepancies you might see, I can't comment on those. I am not judge of any path but as to what I would see in the world I let the holy spirit choose for me.

I ask you specifically the question because of the way I have seen you treat the phrase we know them by their fruit. Many use that saying as justification to judge what seems unbecoming in their eyes but it has better or more consistent use in relation to the statement, if thine eye offends thee then pluck it out! We cannot legitimately judge the fruit of someones life. A growing plant goes through stages of development before even flowering much less setting fruit, but we can discern the effects of own thinking. We are always equal to our own regard and as we judge so we judge ourselves but if we judge ourselves then god's judgment becomes obscure. If our eye be sound, the whole body will be full of light.

If you have a response to this it is welcome and I have even more interest in your answer to the question if we are given free will then why is there a charge for it's use? If our will is free then we are innocent in exercising it and there is no cause to sacrifice an innocent life to restore innocent life.

jimmiles · Nov 21, 2013

Thank you, AmericanTerrorist, for your kind words. My latest writings are at jimmymiles.blogspot.com

jimmiles · Nov 27, 2013

I think most of you here on hipforums will appreciate this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zszxeoa94g0

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Former Bible Teacher

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