Is Bible about enlightenment?

[Monkey-man]

Anyone from christian background? I see metaphors of enlightenment, from going to duality (tree of good and evil) and towards enlightenment (Jesus)

But is enlightenment a central theme of bible? 

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by Monkey-man

[Nahm]

@Monkey-man yeah it is, imo.

[Joseph Maynor]

In a way it is.  Religion is a step in the right direction towards enlightenment.  I went through atheism, theism, to finally enlightenment.  Religion puts you in touch with the mind of the cosmos.  The problem with it is that it is too ideological, just as Science is as well.  I’ve read the Bible and the Qur'an.  I enjoyed both, especially when I believed in the theology that I had constructed.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Hsinav]

@Monkey-man

Jesus was enlightened for sure, the Bible was written and translated by many poeple, some understood the message better than others.

[Joseph Maynor]

20 minutes ago, Hsinav said:

@Monkey-man

Jesus was enlightened for sure, the Bible was written and translated by many poeple, some understood the message better than others.

How do you know for sure Jesus was enlightened?  What does it mean to be enlightened?  What is Jesus? 

[Dodo]

The bible is filled with Trojan horses of Truth 

[Faceless]

I would say the opposite here. To me the negation of everything that man has invented would be getting closer to this “enlightened state”. To me by the negation of what has been put together by thought in the psychological realm allows for this state of liberation. A centerless state. 

First there’s freedom then one goes from there. It’s not freedom at the end of the tunnel. Like this motive in reward and punishment, where there is freedom at the end or “Heaven” 

I don’t know though. I’ve never read the Bible. I try to keep a simple mind. I would say from what I gather from the organized religions is there is a misunderstanding of the nature of thought and the self, “the center”

 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Faceless

[Adam M]

be selfless = heaven

be selfish = hell

 

 

see?

[Privet]

I read a part of Leo Tolstoy's translation of original texts into russian and I can say that yes, it is about enlightenment. He studied two ancient languages to translate it without distortion that religions created through translation of translitions of interpretation of interpretations.

[Hsinav]

7 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

How do you know for sure Jesus was enlightened?

From what I've read and heard about him, he was enlightened like the Buddha (the funny thing is that nothing of this came to me under the 15+ years I grew up in a Christian community, most Christians communities don´t have a clue about enlightenment or who Jesus was. One of the reason his message got so "high jacket" by dogmatic, ego driven people/communities throughout the history is probably that almost no-one understood him at the time. 

8 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

What does it mean to be enlightened?

Realizing that you are infinite.

8 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

What is Jesus? 

The essence of him was not different from the essence of any object, the person Jesus was just a temporary appearance.

[lmfao]

The Bible does not teach non-duality. In fact it emphasises duality. It teaches that there is a greater good you must orient yourself towards, and a despicable evil which you must defeat. The Bible dichotimises reality in its fundamental teachings of metaphysics. There is good and there is evil. Even if such a man called Jesus Christ existed, and was enlightened himself, that does not mean the Bible points you towards enlightenment. Jesus Christ did not write the Bible. Take a look at the most hardcore Christians, and then take a look at the most hardcore Buddhists. Which group do you think is more enlightened? 

The idea that there is a greater good you must orient yourself towards is a good teaching in the sense that it motivates you to get off your ass, and to change yourself and then the world. You can say the Bible is inspirational in telling you to sort yourself out and do what you need to do, even if the process is painful (you can look at the amount of suffering old testament prophets went through to see this). But none of this ultimately points towards enlightenment, in my opinion. 

Jordon Peterson is a person I recommend you listen to if you want to get an idea of what some of the metaphorical messages in the Bible are. He has a series of Bible lectures which is called "Bible Series".  

 

[Faceless]

We can’t know for sure anything of the Bible or Jesus. Especially with the obvious hidden messages in the Bible. And the fact that the writings have been influenced and altered  biasly so many times lol

[Dodo]

16 minutes ago, lmfao said:

The Bible does not teach non-duality. In fact it emphasises duality. It teaches that there is a greater good you must orient yourself towards, and a despicable evil which you must defeat. The Bible dichotimises reality in its fundamental teachings of metaphysics. There is good and there is evil. Even if such a man called Jesus Christ existed, and was enlightened himself, that does not mean the Bible points you towards enlightenment. Jesus Christ did not write the Bible. Take a look at the most hardcore Christians, and then take a look at the most hardcore Buddhists. Which group do you think is more enlightened? 

The idea that there is a greater good you must orient yourself towards is a good teaching in the sense that it motivates you to get off your ass, and to change yourself and then the world. You can say the Bible is inspirational in telling you to sort yourself out and do what you need to do, even if the process is painful (you can look at the amount of suffering old testament prophets went through to see this). But none of this ultimately points towards enlightenment, in my opinion. 

Jordon Peterson is a person I recommend you listen to if you want to get an idea of what some of the metaphorical messages in the Bible are. He has a series of Bible lectures which is called "Bible Series".  

 

It doesn't matter that it teaches about greater good and greater bad. For all I know this COULD be true or untrue. We can't know just because the ULTIMATE is not the greater good or the greater bad that those forces do not exist too.

Those dualities of greater good and greater bad are already inside nonduality. The story about the apple that teaches that all our suffering began with eating the apple that started the duality of good and evil itself. Perhaps the apple represents identification with the body. It's sweet, but it's temporary. 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Dodo

[Monkey-man]

@lmfao we can say that because people already in duality and already familiar with good and evil (born in sin), they now have to undertake purification or choose good as an essential part to enlightenment, therefore it makes sense to differentiate between two and make duality so ppl can know for sure what makes u closer to it and what doesn't. but heaven (enlightenment)  is described as all good place without evil.

I like Peterson's description, listened to him many times. However he interprets Bible as a survival guide for human, which is one way of looking, but he doesn't talk how it all has to do with enlightenment and what is god really. He mentions enlightenment but doesn't really dig into it.

[David_eh]

Just my opinion but there's too much violence and perversion in the Bible to even come close to enlightenment. Heck, the godhead isn't even enlightening.

Jesus is another matter in my eyes.

[Faceless]

Inquiry into thought and the self is the only guide one needs lol 

Anything else is second hand. Second hand knowledge implies imitation, conformity, and contradiction. A duality between what is and what should be. Where there is division there is conflict, and when there is conflict, there is suffering. When there is suffering there is no compassion or love. 

Only when the center is not can beauty, compassion, and love bloom. An enlightened state implies no center, no me and becoming. No attatchmnet to become psychologically secure. Only then is there a centerless state, or “enlightenment” 

I really don’t like to use this word enlightenment but...

lololol

Edited January 3, 2018 by Faceless

[Nahm]

Bible wise...I think this is interesting....

“So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them”

Image:   a reproduction or imitation of the form of a person or thing;  especially  : an imitation in solid form.

 

 

[Forestluv]

On 1/2/2018 at 6:54 PM, Monkey-man said:

But is enlightenment a central theme of bible? 

Depends on how you define "enlightenment"

[Nahm]

[phoenix666]

I also think that Jesus was enlightened. the problem is, that like in every religion, his followers misinterpreted his words, way of living and actions. his insights got distorted in the process of trying to write down the uncommunicable Truth