I'd like to share an experience

[Stacey]

That thong is cool


As for the incongruency of those holy books, that further exemplifies the mess people get into with the bible, which is no more or less random. Their are striking incongruencies and philisophical differences from book to book, But when you see them for what they are and what they are not, it doesn't matter.

These books and others give us wisdom and our bodies know them the way we can feel better after a archetypal dream. Jonah was swallowed by a big fish, Fin mac Cumail also recieved wisdom from a fish in the deep, the wisdom from the subcontious. All of these stories are good, whether your wisdom comes from an apple in eden or the golden apples in Asgard, it is the same,

The tree of life wasn't in Persia, its here, now. Eat of it, its Taoist endorsed, Life or knowlege of good an evil? When you let go of good and evil....yin/yang, you arrive at Tai Chi which is a blissfull nirvanic paradise. To get caught up in good and evil is to be expelled from paradise and to know shame.

Smoking Mirror means not seeing clearly.

[dezhen2001]

rogue: im truly sorry if u thought i would be so low as to laugh at something like that but i agree we do need some humor now...

american ninja: how did u know i watched them all back to back?
also the numchuk guy looks like one of my uni lecturers! kinda scary!

As for what attracted me: i was protestant as a kid, until i started to really think about things and realise that none of my RE (religious education) teachers were really teaching us anything about how to live our life and be good people. When i started MA at age 8, as i grew up i began to read more about the history and philosophy etc. That lead me to kinda Chan and Taoism i guess... as much as i could get from books anyway.

Then when i came ot university these last 2 years i made a good friend from saudi arabia. Hes a very intelligent guy (now doing a phd in biomedical science in oxford!) and we spent many late nights just talking baout what we think and believe. i found some of what he thinks is very similar with what i already think, and of course he is talking from the Islam perspective... so slowly i began to look more in to this. After 9/11 i decided to find out more about islam as i knew that it's definately NOT what the media showed or what the terrorists followed, as i had 5 or so good friends who were Muslim.

then came one miss tae li in to the picture She basically kicked me up the arse and we talked a lot about what we think and believe. Our 'friendship' developed form there.

Really after i had one of the hardest 6 months of my life, things just clicked in to place, and i understood that Islam (the belief in the oneness of God as the creator of all things) was basically what i believed... also that islam includes all the other prophets as well as Muhammad, and the old testament etc. SO it was just a logical step.

thats it really

But i respect all things and all points of view, even if i dont neccessarily agree with them. Even what everyone says here, it makes me look to islam and find out the truth or how to apply it to my life in a better way..

hey if u can get thru a firewall, some of us are in wens chatroom now...

http://pub7.ezboard.com/bshaolinnorthwestforum

if you have an ezboard login anyway, and its at the top left of the page...

thanks rogue,
dawood

[eulerfan]

Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to actually offend. I figured it was over the top enough not to.

dezhen hit the nail on the head. It was the timing that was meant to be funny. I've been saving that for when the thread got its heaviest possible.

Do you see what I mean? Posting something that overly tactless at such a heavy moment? It's funny, don't you think?

I'm the brunt of that joke. Not Jesus.

That's how I meant it, anyway.

[dezhen2001]

eulerfan: don't worry, these things happen... i often put my foot in my mouth

but yup, things definately needed to lighten up lol

dawood

[Stacey]

There was nothing inapropriate about that. It was perfect. Perfectly timed, a great gift. I think I'm gonna buy it as a present. Well, first I need to screw her, then I'll give her a pair.

Besides, Jesus was always ****ing off religious nuts. He was quite the Heyoka.

Heyoka is a Lakota clown. They used humor as spiritual medecine to help people lose their attatchments.

[eulerfan]

Originally posted by rogue
What else could I expect from someone who watched all the American Ninja movies back to back.

Hey, I can give you WAAAAY more embarassing reason to ignore me than that.

Here's a good one:

And, this isn't something that I did once in an especially distracted moment. I do this on a regular basis. I'll be in my car and I'll start feeling cold. So I turn down the radio. Then, I kid you not, minutes will pass before I realize that what I did didn't work.

I'm still cold and, NOW, I can't hear the music.

[Ryu]

Hey Stace,
I'm usually pretty interested and open-minded to religions of the world, and I'm thoroughly interested in the philosophies and moralities behind them.

Usually I'm like that.

Your "religion" blows......


Ryu

[cha kuen]

Great story Ryu.

-cha kuen
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sort=3&rows=25

[Ryu]

Glad it could be an inspiration.

[eulerfan]

Originally posted by Stacey
Smoking Mirror means not seeing clearly.

Like when a magician uses smoke and mirrors to obfuscate his true actions?

[Tae Li]

Just dropping in a smile for all u boys, especially Ewallace

And a special wink for Dawood lol

Tae Li

[Stacey]

Its a Mayan phrase. It mean that looking in a mirror we see clearly, but with smoke in the way or milky/smokey class, our view is distorted.

Our thoughts are said to be the smokey mirror inhibiting us from seeing the tao.

[straight blast]

Congratulations brother! I will keep you in my prayers. It's always an inspiration for me when I see people speak with love for the Lord. These days I see too much love for the LAW...

e.g.

I am however absolutly, with no hestation and absolute conviction telling them how to be a Christian in the first place. There is no other way and anything else is Blasphemy.

as opposed to love for the Lord. Beware the modern-day Pharisees and walk in the light of love.

Peace!

P.s. Hope it all works out marriage wise...if it doesn't, keep trusting in the Lord. He does indeed have a plan!

[Serpent]

Azure
I read someone mentioning the Gospel of Thomas, To give a full account would be giving a history of the bible. So i'll be brief: There were a lot of Manuscripts and letters written during the time of Jesus and reletivly shortly thereafter. Basically people wanted to be able to sort out genuine teaching from forgeries (there were people writting letters in Pauls name for example). After much Pray, the letters and other written documents that make up our New Testimate were revealed by God to be cannon (the word of God). The Gosple of Thomas was not.

“Religion is the opiate of the masses.”

dezhen
also - why does religion have to be a crutch? why can't it be a strength?

Because you lean on it. It also tends (read can, not always) to preclude your exposure to the remarkable teachings of people from other denominations, thereby narrowing your world view.

Azure
I am not trying to tell how to generally live there life as a Christian. I am however absolutly, with no hestation and absolute conviction telling them how to be a Christian in the first place. There is no other way and anything else is Blasphemy.

Egotistical, fundamentalist bollocks.

Ryu
Hey Stace,
I'm usually pretty interested and open-minded to religions of the world, and I'm thoroughly interested in the philosophies and moralities behind them.

Usually I'm like that.

Your "religion" blows......

Why? It’s the least blinded and passive so far.


There's more indoctrinated ignorance and blind following of faith on this thread than I thought possible. People should think for themselves. That doesn't mean read up on all the religions and choose one. It means think for yourself. You don't need anybody else's flawed human logic to further cloud your own mind. Dogma itself is a smoky mirror.

[rogue]

There's more indoctrinated ignorance and blind following of faith on this thread than I thought possible. People should think for themselves. That doesn't mean read up on all the religions and choose one. It means think for yourself. You don't need anybody else's flawed human logic to further cloud your own mind. Dogma itself is a smoky mirror.

So you're saying that we should follow what you say? But if I do as you say then I'm not thinking for myself, but if I decide to follow what I believe to be the right path then I am. But according to you I'm not, but if I ... Ohh my head hurts and things are so smokey.

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Even the atheist has faith and dogma that is no different than someone who believes in God.

"Have you ever seen the wind? I've never seen the wind, but I've seen the effects of the wind." Billy Graham