In light of the above, this article may be of interest:

http://thetyee.ca/Books/2008/02/14/LoveAndHunger/

Below are some excerpts:

“She concluded that Jesus did not promote religious convention and did not exclude anyone, but rather offered love and compassion to all, without conditions.”

“Jesus’s message isn’t just about feeding the hungry, though that imperative echoes throughout the Gospels. Jesus is also talking about eating with strangers, and especially the ritually unclean, the outcast, and the despised. In other words, not only does Jesus fulfill the prophets by feeding the hungry, he overturns the established order by insisting that there’s no difference between family, neighbors and strangers. He makes a point of eating with the wrong people, thus erasing the distinctions between humans.”

“Gregory of Nyssa, the church father who is the patron saint of my home church, says that we are most like God in our desire. I believe that our curiosity and our desire to know more lead us toward God in a continuing process. I don’t think faith means figuring out a formula. I think it means remaining open to questions, and accepting that you don’t know everything. The God I found was a God who lived on earth, who knew what it was like to walk around in a body, fight with religious authorities, hurt his mother’s feelings.”

“All religions try to codify and manage God, usually to justify and shore up existing human power systems. And most religions at some point are complicit with the powers of the world against the weak. And of course women and others who wind up on the wrong side of the religious authorities will and should try to change things. But it’s also true that you don’t need a whole new religion in order to make space in Christianity for a just relationship with women: you just need to follow the commandment to love God, and love your neighbor. That sounds simple, but practicing it without exception is a life’s work, and utterly radical.”

“At a moment when right-wing American Christianity is ascendant, when religion worldwide is rife with fundamentalism and exclusionary ideological crusades, I stumbled into a radically inclusive faith centered on sacraments and action.”

“Some Christians think the kingdom is about an afterlife, but I believe it is this world. Some think it’s about judgment, but I believe that in the Kingdom there’s no separation of sinners from the saved.”

Let those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to know read by transparence the evidence of grace and listen to what the Spirit is saying.

For the benefit of everyone here who cannot read this script, could you provide a translation of what it says?

Craig

سلام .
از آشنایی با وبلاگ شما خوشحالم . خیلی خیلی خوشحال میشم که با هم تبادل لینک داشته باشیم .
به منم سر بزن و اگه مایل به تبادل لینک بودی منو به اسم ایران سهراب لینک کن و بعدش به من خبر بده تا لینکت رو سریع بزارم توی سایتم .
منتظرت دیدنت هستم دوست عزیز

The buildings & gardens teach — they are silent teachers — is that it?

Well sorry but so could great works of charity. Mother Teresa became famous and was a symbol of charity, spirit and religion to the world.

The Master helped the Palestinians to the extent that he was knighted for it. What drives charity? What drives marble edifices on a hill? Which is more evidence of selfless, ego-less behavior?

And BTW — please do not assume you know the answers. You and/or I might not know as much as we think. Bahaullah taught that we do not know our own station or spiritual condition. We might easily loose it all at the end of our life.

Sorry if this offends –just a suggestion that you sound just a mite smug.

Take Care (of the soul)

Frank

P.S. Yeah, I know I sound smug too — that’s the problem in discussing religion and how to live your life. I just feel we mostly don’t know stuff so I try to help others see that. If its annoying you can just ignore me! ;>)

Thanks for your comment. Please explain to us exactly what it means to “live beyond ego”? I want to hear your teaching.

Thanks!

Best regards,

Craig

But I suppose if God Himself could descend to earth, you would find fault with Him too. The ego is so powerful, it convinces us we don’t need anyone else to assist and guide us. Thank God for those who have learned to live beyond ego and spiritually grow up.

I suggest you move away from mere words and switch to film in trying to understand how the Universe works. You can start with the marvelous esoteric Cosmic Understanding contained in this wonderful film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifdgrfr0Bkk

Here are some clues:

On March 11, 2004 the Spirit rover on Mars took the first picture of Earth ever made from the surface of another planet:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA05547_modest.jpg

First meditate on this photograph to try to begin to change your consciousness from all of the endless bullshit you have been taught.

Then start reading really good stuff to learn about both the human evolution of consciousness and how the Universe really works.

We have all been born onto a tiny planet of people who are at the present time a danger to themselves and each other. But from this tiny dot of light in the above photo, we are now going to go to this consciousness of our place in the Cosmos:

http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/and2disk.jpg

It is a long road, but the invention of the Internet will now change everything.

I suggest starting with these books to prepare for the ascent of the human race:

Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth
by Giorgio De Santillana and Hertha Von Dechend
http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/santillana.htm

The Temple of Man
by R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz
http://www.robertschoch.net/The%20Temple%20of%20Man.htm

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View
by Richard Tarnas
http://www.cosmosandpsyche.com/

The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
by Richard Tarnas
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n21_v43/ai_11597179

It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science
by Graham Farmelo (Editor)
http://www.ams.org/notices/200303/rev-faris.pdf

While you’re at it, I just love this guy’s insights on the wonders of the Dirac Sea:
http://openseti.org/Docs/HotsonPart1.pdf
http://openseti.org/Docs/HotsonPart2.pdf

The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe
by Roger Penrose
http://tinyurl.com/yquc84

The Conference of the Birds
by Farid al-Din Attar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conference_of_the_Birds

The Masnavi
by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masnavi

Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus
by Neil Douglas-Klotz
http://tinyurl.com/yqwlfz

I also include Baha’u'llah’s Kitab-I-Iqan which I meditate upon every single day and still love very, very much. There is light upon light in it. It is right out of the deep structure message of the Soggy Bottom Boys and their tune in the wonderful “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”

Soar in these above rare refined works of human intellectual and spiritual exploration and realize that all of us have currently been born onto a planet of total complete talentless idiots and morons in both vast electorates and in high places of unchecked power in our time on Earth.

Try to make the best of it.

Perhaps This Great Day will yet come for All Mankind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

Stay safe, healthy and happy!