JESUS WAS "VOTED" A GOD IN 325CE.
Like in most of Christianity; a bunch of old Roman politicians took votes to determine the course of the new religion. Yeshua was voted a God, rather than a prophet at the council of Nicea in 325C.E. he was de-deified and re-deified twice and was a god permanently in 380, this was about politics. Yeshua never thought he was God.



The council of Nicea was not 'a bunch of old roman polititians taking votes to determine the course of the new religion'.

The council of Nicea WAS convened by Emperor Constantine who had converted to christianity and once in command of the Roman world summoned all the leading figures of the Christian Church from all corners of the Empire to Nicea to hammer out with each other the finished, official 'be all and end all' doctrine of the Christian Church, which up until that time had differed in certain ways depending on where it was based.
Constantine hoped that the new religion would prove to be a powerful tool to unify the Empire and in that he was right, but the uniformity of doctrine he hoped would come out of the Council of Nicea was never completely realised and doctrinal divisions continued to rock the new Church for centuries, and still continue to this day.
The Council of Nicea was one of the most significant moments in European history and helped shape its culture and politics, paving the way for the medieval world of the future.

It is true that bishops resolved issues through the vote but this has always been the case with the Church. After all, it is a human organisation like any other, however the voters were bishops and many were the early Church Fathers whose doctrines laid the foundations of the Christian religion.

Doug

Very nice Selski shot of you there Selski, very nice!

Nay_
The American Civil War stuff looks great, I would go to that if I ever had the chance. Have you ever been involved in it or are you just a spectator?

I understand there are quite a few Roman groups in the US too, you ever been to see them?

Doug

As I am a member of a Roman Imperial re-enactment society, here is me dressed as legionary Gaius Fortunatus:

Onwards the glorious VI Legion!

http://www.douglas.eckhart.btinternet.co.uk/Dougroman.jpeg


http://www.douglas.eckhart.btinternet.co.uk/Img_2328.jpg

Nick_

Yes, you may be right. I need to check Monroe again!

Doug

PS but hopefully people get the idea!

Abyss_

You are one whacked-out individual!

Doug

It's the new 'focus level' terminology, pioneered by Robert Monroe and further developed more recently by Bruce Moen and Frank Kepple.

It's very useful as it helps describe states without the usual mystical terminology and although there is nothing wrong with mystical terminology if you like to use it, others find that it can be distorting due to all the baggage that goes along with it.

On the other hand, the focus level approach describes the same things but in a clear non-mystical manner which some people find refreshing.

There are plenty of articles on it here if you care to do a search.

Frank's approach is simply to condense Monroe's lables somewhat.

So Monroe's F22-23 now becomes Frank's F2.
Monroe's belief system zones of F25-26 and his free-thinking F27 are all combined as part of Frank's F3. with F27 being the upper end of F3 and the belief system areas of F25-26 being somewhere below that in terms of F3 awareness.

Just stick with what you want to use, they are all just lables after all. Although I now tend to prefer the simplified combo approach of Frank's model, I sometimes still make use of Monroe's lables, esp the belief system areas and the term F27.

Doug

Buddha is not that old...

Astralborn_

Once again, you have made a historical statement without any basis in fact.

Actually Buddha or to be exact 'Buddhism' DOES originate around 500bc and like the story of jesus, probably emerges out of a mixed bag of universal mythology and some historical reality albeit on a distorted scale.

The religion split around 300-200 bce to form a second branch of buddhism which is popular in china, japan and tibet, with the later developing into its own unique brand.

As for the rest of the 'miracles', the reason they are so similar to jesus' ones is not very suprising for any student of mythology, as all these features are common elements of universal mythology (cf Leyla's post). Once you actually open your eyes to world myth, it is much easier to see jesus, buddha etc in proper perspective and I find it impossible to ever accept that somehow the miracles and divine events of jesus or buddha, heracles or anybody else were the 'true' story... that kind of thinking I leave to the believers of those particlular religions... at the end of the day faith cannot be reasoned with. Some people will accept it and others won't and that's that.



Doug

Yup, things actually get MORE solid and stable the 'higher' or more exactly, the WIDER you go. So the upper levels of the astral, Monroe's belief system areas at focus 24/25/26 and up to f27 are very stable (these areas all equate to Frank's upper focus 3).  It is your 'lower' f2 level or what is more usually called the dreamworld, that is far more fluid.

The trick is to learn to become more emotionally stable yourself while exploring and you will soon be able to access the 'astral proper' as opposed to crappy dream environments which are prone to all kinds of fluctuations as you will witness during any given nights sleep.

Anything created in the astral proper stays until changed and it is also open to anyone, which is why some people get shocked when they leave their created astral environments for a while only to come back and find strange people hanging around there! This was noticed during the ongoing experiments with the 'astral pulse island' environment for example. People are reporting all kinds of weirdos hanging round there now (and these people are not just the projectors!).


Doug

Good point, and to answer those who say 'but what if you are wrong', I would say, well if I'm wrong then god, if he is really all he is cracked up to be, god of unconditional love etc, he is not going to punish me just because i didnt happen to choose the correct brand of religion.

if they turn round and say 'well god might punish you for that' then i would say that their god is not the sort of god that is worth believing in, he's just a vindictive creten who does not deserve any kind of respect at all: i would rather burn in his hell rather than bow to his dictatorial, despotic demands, all of which stangely enough paint an all too human picture of 'god' and only goes to provide further evidence of us creating god rather than the other way round.

And Saruman that was a really silly thing to do. And I think you regret it.


Well, for a start my user name is *Gandalf*, not Saruman, and no i don't regret it actually. Of course, Mustardseed says it's immature. I say, take a chill pill and learn to love the inner child. I'm just poking fun at the whacked-out concept of satan and how some people take it so seriously. Here's a thing to try sometime: imagine for a moment that there is no such person as satan. Feels quite refreshing doesn't it? Feel free to try this thought experiment again. You may get to like it, then again maybe not, your choice, each to their own I guess.

Doug

um, agnosticism is not actually a religion, its more of a point of view. I think there is some confusion here!

Doug

PS Two other point I find disturbing are: a) that you you had never heard of the point of view known as agnosticism, which to be honest, outside of bible belt areas is pretty much most people's point of view even if they don't always admit it, and b) that your school tried to block it.

DEBUNKER_

I AM SATAN'S LOVE SLAVE!

WORSHIP THE TRUE MASTER THAT IS SATAN.


SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATANSATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN SATAN

um, quite... is that enough?

Doug

Is Iran really going to drop their bomb on us?

um... get real. they have stayed in power long enough to suggest they are not that stupid. Haven't you learned yet from the Iraq nonsense not to fall for the same story yet again? hm maybe not!

I'm guessing you will be a sucker for the next 'Iran is a clear and present danger and planning to launch an all out attack on the US' style headline, just like the one made up for Iraq. Will some people never learn?

Doug

Hey Mrs Murphy!

That is a great idea, I think you should consider writing such a story!

It makes sense to me that as our lives are being lived in a variety of different time periods, it is no wonder that we think of them in a linear sequence, and it may only be recently that people have begun to work out what actually happens.

As our long held linear perception of reinacarnation is so focused on the past, this may be why the vast majority of accounts deal with 'past' lives. maybe once people realise that our lives cover a broad spectrum of time, we will begin to see more 'future' life accounts.

Unfortunately there is a new issue which may complicate matters and that is the theory of parallel universes or timelines.  Frank's latest findings seem to suggest that we ALSO experience lives in a whole multitude of parallel earth timelines as well as our own.  
You can imagine the headache involved in any kind of verification then, as any accounts we have of past events or indeed the future may actually be those of alternate timelines, not our own, so just because someone's account of the past or the future is not quite accurate from our point of view, that may not mean it is not true!

For example, much has been made of Seth's 'historical error' when he claims he was a pope leading armies during the 4th century ad.
Now, popes at that time did not have that kind of power, therefore discrediting Seth in many people's eyes. However, what if this WAS true in Seth's own experience which may have occured in a very close but parallel timeline.

Some timelines may be so close to ours that the difference is minimal, others may be so radically different as to be unrecognisable, ie ones where the Germans won the war, or an industrial revolution occured in the roman empire (which was possible), or indeed that it was the Carthaginian empire that eventially became dominant, not the Roman one etc etc.

It seems to me therefore, that trying to 'verify' past lives (or multiple lives) is always going to be difficult.

Doug





Doug

Stick with Elvish, Noldorin if possible but Sindarin will do



Doug