Caoimhin

@Jodistrict well put. Christianity is a heart posture and a path to the total surrender to the will of God. Through God's grace, Christ's sacrifice, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can be made perfect.

@Santiago Ram beautiful analysis of the sermon on the mount brother.

@Santiago Ram This is very true... Honestly, though I no longer believe psychedelics are useful on the Christian path and only open your mind to corruption and demonic forces(like aliens and "angels"). I would like to see @Leo Gura actually explore wiping the slate clean and accepting Christianity on a trip or attempt to disprove it by actually studying it and praying on it. I know he won't, but If by God's grace he does, that would be an epic conversion and Leo would make a great Orthodox Saint.

@enchanted interesting connection. the issue with making this leap is that the trinity(Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is always referring to Christian theological claims. It's not a metaphor or pointing to something outside of definitive Christian theology. Therefore, the Son is always Jesus and not reffering to anything else. To take it out of context would be disregarding the source material and make a metaphor that sounds nice but is baseless and ill applied. In Platonism there is a similar philosophical idea(the Good, The Intellect, the World Soul), that is a different idea and aligns more with the "trinity" you refer to. The trinity is a complex thing to grasp. I heard an Orthodox priest explain it as, the Father is all Love, the Son is all Sacrifice(we could also say God's Will manifested through Christ's perfect obedience), and the Holy Spirit is all Wisdom through which God's Will moves through His creation.

@meta_male I'm sorry you had that experience. It's difficult to have faith when there is silence. I struggle with that too, a lot. However, it's in the silence that we are called to have trust in God the most. When I struggle I read about Divine Providence, or the truth that everything happens for a reason and for our soul's greatest good. I would challenge that there is no fear in love claim, even Leo points to the intense fear of absolute love... Fear in love in is the fear of being separate from God, whom we love so much and Who loves us so much that He allows us to deny Him and to chose separation from Him. Even without belief in the Christian God, I hope that you still find value in praying for truth and guidance and are open to whatever you might be lead to. If Jesus is the truth He will make that known eventually and in divine providence. If He isn't then, you lost nothing in trying and found truth in that. "God, guide me to truth." "Lord, if you are the true, guide me to you." "God, give me the strength and courage to trust you." are a few simple prayers I said every night before falling asleep. If God can hear it and you are genuine, then He won't deny you it. If not, it was worth a shot and on judgement day you can say you gave it an honest go, and there is peace in that(assuming Christianity was true). feel free to message me.

@Princess Arabia "I challenge anyone to study the saints," is not an assumption, it's an invitation to a challenge... like in my marathon example, if i said, "I challenge anyone to train for a marathon," it's pretty open and people who have trained for a marathon are not offended because they know that the target audience are people who have not.... the second one is an assumption that people here have read spiritual books. Yes, that's an assumption. Should I not assume that people on this forum are well read? The carveout is that most people don't read the entire Bible, even most Christians haven't read the whole Bible, I know that I haven't finished it yet. Again, if i said most people haven't given running a marathon a chance, you wouldn't call this an assumption. now, there is an assumption that we are typing in the same language or if the other person exists.... so if you are going to just call everything i say an assumption, in the most general sense, I'm assuming everything. now, since you are challenging my "assumption" you can stick it to me by saying that you've read the entire Bible and studied the saints. Or you can fall into the category of people that haven't and to whom I'm addressing.

@Aaron p never read it, but nonduality is pretty simple bro.

@Princess Arabia you're assuming that I made that assumption. If someone did give Christianity 100% effort and a genuine chance then i'm not actually talking to that person. If i offered a challenge to train for a marathon for a month to see if you like it, would a person who ran a marathon and didn't like it think i was making that assumption, or would they realize that i was talking to a different audience?

@Sempiternity if your claim is true then nothing is dangerous outside your own opinions and standards. So there is no harm in being Christian for a month or a year then dropping it... also, your own belief is a snake eating it's tail because knowing and not knowing are the same. be skeptical of your own truth claims.

@Leo Gura so surrendering your will for the unknown will of God is arrogance? It is a truth claim so it is "arrogant" in that sense. But we are talking about the implications of that truth claim. The main assumption is that God loves us Perfectly through Christ. Christian mysticism is based on trusting in the unknowing of divine providence. I'm sure you've contemplated what God's love would look like if God was separate and higher than us, it would be Christ. Put the same rigor into studying Christianity and Christian mysticism as a steelman. If you can make a valid steelman argument disproving it, I invite it. I've already did for myself. Truth can't be threatened. If your right than believing anything has not consequences, so believing in anything is pointless, however we will believe in something so it might as well benefit us during this life. if Christianity is right then there is a consequence.

I challenge anyone to study the saints, read devotional books, and the Bible and not become a Christian. For me, I was stuck in new age and new thought for years, however I realized that I grew more and more enslaved to spiritual practices that wouldn't give me long term peace. I grew neurotic, spiritually arrogant and profoundly self centered. If I'm God, then it's what I want and what I manifest that determines reality. It is prideful and arrogant and narcissistic. I selfishly used people and tried to manipulate reality to get what I want and what's worse is I thought I was being "loving". However, returning to Christianity, I realized that it was the only religion of true humility. All other religions are about you saving yourself through works and practices. However in Christianity the idea is total surrender to the will of God. The foundational piece that got me is this: you can't do good unless God does good through you. I recommend studying the Christian mystics and reading the Bible with awareness that it's all about Christ's sacrifice, even the old testament refers to Christ. Ex: The ram stuck in the thorn bush that took Isaac's place as a sacrifice, Jonah being thrown into the ocean to calm God's wrath, Job's trials of faith and surrender, the Passover lamb and the manna in the desert, etc. do it as an experiment, I know a lot of you have read a lot of spiritual books, however, the Bible is one that most people don't give a fighting chance. You consider the Bhagavat Gita and the Tao Te Jing as having truth but discount the truth in scripture. Read books like "the Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence, "Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence", and "the Imitation of Christ" For an added challenge pray and ask God to guide you to truth and to soften your heart... see where it takes you and after a month you can drop it if it doesn't speak to you. At least you gave it a true chance before disregarding it. I believe that if you give Christianity a genuine chance you might come to appreciate the nuance and mystery of Faith or even be on the path to sainthood yourself. I recommend the Catholic or Orthodox traditions and talking to a theologian, because they have the most connection to mysticism and true communion with Christ, not just backyard Bible study. may God bless us and have mercy on us and let His will be done through us. Fell free to reach out if you have questions or just want to chat.

@Ishanga thank you for your response Ishanga. This perspective is helping a lot.

@LoseYourvelf I think what he is pointing to is acceptance

@Ishanga yeah, i need to move more into being rather than be thinking, let that be my guide

@Someone here like a groundless ground