Originally Posted by
shadowofwind
Man of Shred:
I agree with everything you say there, with one big qualification. If you were to ask me "Do you believe that God came here in the Flesh as Jesus Christ", I'd say that there are too many implied assumptions about the nature of God and reality packed into that for me to be able to give a meaningful answer. On balance I'd have to go with "no". Does this mean I'm less trustworthy than people who would answer yes, or that my thoughts about Jesus Christ are due to my being under the sway of the devil? My thoughts about Jesus are a matter of sincere devotion to God, as I experience and understand God, and I would be sinning against the Holy Spirit to answer "yes" to your question. I can't imagine that makes any sense to you though, within your set of assumptions and definitions.
I think I was clear that I wasn't suggesting that you shouldn't judge people's spirit guides if they are causing people pain. Yes, spirit guides do lie, and yes, looking for signs and messages in everything is chasing oneself around in circles. Those things deserve criticism, and you and I are in almost complete agreement about those things. I'll bet we agree about drugs too. Like I said, I'm not doubting your experience or that the path you're taking is right for you. I was just asking for a little bit of tolerance, to not assume that your present ideal and understanding is the best possible for everyone else. If you categorically judge angels as 'good' vs 'fallen', you judge people also, whether you see it that way or not, because we're not entirely separate. If you must condemn me for speaking as who I am, even when I'm not primarily identified as my human personality, because you think I'm possessed by an evil spirit, that's OK. I want you to have that freedom of your own honest perceptions, and to thrive in your relationship with Jesus Christ. But if you can relax your black and white categories a little bit, and accept that you don't always understand what things are for other people, because their experience and understanding is different from yours, that can make things a lot easier. In other words, I'm asking for you to criticize me honestly but please don't persecute me, it has caused far more damage than you know.
The division into categories of 'good' and 'fallen' always results in a kind of persecution, just as it does with categories of people. Its good and necessary to criticize, and even necessary to criticize categories of people, but its a further step to demonize what you don't fully understand. If you call me evil I'm even OK with that, there's an element of truth to it, as shocking as that might sound from someone else's perspective. It reminds of when I was working in the drone warfare industry, and my Christian colleagues working on corrupt, revolving-door contracts were all shocked and offended at my suggestion that we were thieves and killers. But it was true. When I say I'm evil I'm not justifying it, saying I'm content with it, or arguing that I shouldn't be accountable for who I am and what I do. But if you were to draw a contrast between me and other people or spirits, and call them good and me bad because I'm not afraid to admit my own shortcomings, then I would say you don't know what you're talking about. In my mind, honesty is a critical step towards redemption, I can't be redeemed if I can't admit what I am. (I typed omit instead of admit, that's probably true to an extent also.)
It doesn't seem that you understood what I mean when I said that you have a relationship with an individual and collective thought about Jesus Christ as much as with Jesus Christ. If you did, I don't think you'd make the distinction you make about angels. The 'thought' has real power, and almost something like an identity. But maybe that's not a point I'm going to get across.
This goes off topic, so if you want to continue, I think we should start another thread or send private messages. Or we can leave it alone, I'm not asking you to agree with me, just to hear something of what I have to say one time.
You are a Vivaldi fan? His music hasn't clicked with me, but I might like Bach as much as all other music put together.