In an empirical sense, humanism is false, and since all atheists are humanists, all atheists are wrong. I know this line of reasoning is sound because I have taken the time to evaluate the evidence surrounding life after death; anyone else could do the same

OK, let me rephrase my understanding of your argument:

Human knowledge is founded by humans.
Knowledge of God is human knowledge.
God is created by humans.

I don't think it follows. If one has knowledge of God, then one has discovered it, not created it.

I think you are assuming humanism, the idea that man is the founder and guarantor of knowledge; you use that idea as your first premise, but that idea (humanism) has been discredited by scientific evidence.
It seems to me that your argument goes like this:

You can only know something that you created.
You can know God since His kingdom is within you, i.e. a part of you.
Therefore, if you know Him, then you have created Him.

However, if Man's reason is not the end-all and be-all of knowledge (since there is strong evidence to suggest that knowledge does not cease at the moment that Man's life ceases), then the first premise is wrong, and in that case you can know something that your Creator has revealed.
We are God's creation, His children. A part of him dwells within us.

It does not humanize God at all because when we take Jesus literally, we are faced with the impossible. How can we truly "love thy neighbor as thyself"? But when we see the exhortations of jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane, his words suddenly make sense.

God was not created by man, but the Churches and social order were created by man as a means of control, as you can read in Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You.

BADecker speaks for the corrupt churches when he denies reason and the teachings of his own book, he wants us to submit our minds to false stories and authority. He thinks he has a monopoly on truth and refuses to look at what jesus said, namely "god is within you, not here (in jesus) or there (in the bible)". Sorry brother, you have to be responsible for what you do in this world, that means that you use reason to realize that the Bible was written by men and that Jesus was also a man so if you worship and kneel before man, you do not honor god, god works through you and speaks to your heart, you have to get up off of your knees if you want to get somewhere worth going.

We sure do have different perspectives; let me summarize them:
I believe 1) "don't judge" and 2) "follow the example of Jesus".
You believe 1) "judge against those who doubt/deny that Jesus has 'saved' mankind since they will 'go to hell'" and 2) "follow the Bible and ignore the protests of reason".

You claim to "follow Jesus" and to have genuine faith? Then tell us how many mountains you have moved. Let this be your lesson in non-judgment, BADecker for Matt. 21:21 is the "nail in your coffin". Take a look within before you hypocritically judge another; ask What Would Jesus DO? Would he submit to a worldly authority? Would he submit his reason to any authority that is not Heavenly Father? Would he idly discard a teaching before reading it? Or would he use the mind given by God to judge a teacher based on the FRUITS? God requires spiritual FRUIT, NOT religious nuts; YOU HAVE ALREADY JUDGED YOURSELF BY ATTEMPTING TO JUDGE ME WHEN YOU HAVE NOT "PASSED THE TEST" YOURSELF; LET'S SEE YOU MOVE A MOUNTAIN BEFORE YOU TRY AND TELL US THAT YOU HAVE GENUINE FAITH.

By the way, if your "faith" in "Jesus of the Bible" has "saved you", there is a very simple "test" that Jesus gives you in Matthew 21:21:

"If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done."

So I suggest that you do not hypocritically judge me for "not having faith" since Matt. 21:21 is the standard by which YOU will be judged!

You can read more about Jesus's miracles here in Phoenix Journal #12:
http://www.phoenixsourcedistributors.com/html/j012/

I will simply not believe a false thing. If this doctrine of "savior or hell" is so important to you, there should be plenty of support for it, and it should USE THOSE WORDS BECAUSE THE MEANING OF WORDS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MATTER. You are wrong to say that I am deceiving others; I am attempting a reasoned discussion and I am not a false prophet by any definition. I perceive that you speak falsely. Why do you judge falsely and not take back what you have said?

Jesus says to follow his example, not to dump your wicked actions upon a man for that is pure selfishness and it is not "taking up your cross" at all. BELIEVE IT.

What you mean to say is that "my beliefs" about what it means to "follow Jesus" contradict "your interpretation" of "the Bible"!
I have found those parts of the Bible that state the truth; you have determined that ALL of "the Bible" is the truth. Well, HERE IS SOME TRUTH FOR YOU:

JESUS SAID THAT GOD'S KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU, not "here, God's Kingdom is here in the flesh in me, Jesus" or "there", for God's Kingdom does not come with observation (of history or events). He is telling you to join him on a higher level of consciousness.

Those who preach the ONENESS OF GOD and the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity, These ones are blessed and true "prophets", the Peacemakers--whose guidance you must seek in your spiritual quest. Never the person--always the WORD!

In all of that, I never once saw Jesus say "believe that I have come to save mankind" or anything like that. If I missed it, would you please quote one sentence that has Jesus saying he is your savior.

Also, JESUS SAID THAT GOD'S KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU, not "here, within Jesus".

YOU WANT TO QUOTE ACTS AND DENY THE WORDS OF JESUS?

I don't practice any religion because Jesus never started a religious sect. That is where YOU are confused, BADecker. He said "follow me", NOT "believe that I have come to save mankind".

Do not reject all of what I have written just like that, BADecker; the truth is that there is ONE GOD, HIS KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU, not "here, within Jesus".
Jesus never ONCE suggested that he was your "savior", so how can that doctrine be GOD'S TRUTH if it was not stated explicitly again and again? GOD'S TRUTH IS REVEALED LIKE SO: BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM; Jesus says to follow his example, not to dump your wicked actions upon a man for that is pure selfishness and it is not "taking up your cross" at all.

The Bible is tampered,
You choose to surrender all discernment and reason to the dogma that the Bible is purely of God. It is totally unreasonable and false and you use that book to reject all truth whatsoever while admitting that I have indeed posted some true things. You have no valid reason for thinking this way, all you have is "my dogma, my story", as told in "my book"; I have news for you, BADecker: YOUR WAY AND WISDOM HAS NOT WORKED; AND FURTHERMORE, THE WHOLE OF THE EDUCATED WORLD REJECTS THE INTEGRITY OF THE BIBLE.

Wrong, BADecker; your book has been modified by man throughout the ages. Look at how you twist logic to say that God didn't do his job right the first time around:


Wow, how convenient! No need to think, just believe that all of history aligns to your worldview and your magical thinking.

All have freedom, but WITH FREEDOM COMES RESPONSIBILITY. The truth is that you cannot call yourself good if you disclaim responsibility for your evil actions by believing that you are "saved" by "faith". GOD'S TRUTH IS THAT YOU HAVE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR FOLLOWING THE LAWS AND NO ONE CAN DO IT FOR ANOTHER; EACH MUST CARRY HIS OWN AND IT MATTERS NOT ONE IOTA WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR "PERFECT" BIBLE.

Not true, it says there will be "false prophets who will deceive many", not "reasonable humans discussing back and forth with a religious nuts on a remote corner of the internet".

By the way, Jesus said that God's Kingdom is WITHIN YOU, not "here, within Jesus"... Contrary to "popular belief", he never ONCE suggested that he was your "savior".

http://www.bible-researcher.com/luke17.21.html

To follow Jesus means to follow his example, as set out in the New Commandment. It does not mean to dump your wicked actions upon a "savior" or any man for that matter for that is pure selfishness and it is not "taking up your cross" at all.

He said that God was within him, but that God was also within YOU!
He said that God is not "here", "in Jesus", and that God will NOT be "there", "in Jesus"... God is within YOU!

You can also see from the Gospel of Thomas that he did not believe he was our master.

There were over 28 full gospels written and known. A scholar from South Germany chose the four which were placed into your New Testament--need I say more? How can you continue to be so narrow?
Your churches and church self-appointed priests keep the masses imprisoned. They do not dare even look upon other material than that which is sanctioned by the particular doctrine. Heaven might surely strike ones if they stumbled upon truth. These are the reasons that no Avatars begin or keep religious sects---they are only of God---sects are of man!

If one is a true believer in God then one would find that there is no place where the house of God does not exist!

Jesus allowed His body to be crucified in an effort to again show you the body is so temporary that one should not become attached to it. Then he showed that he could utilize it or cast it aside; or appear as anything he chose. Men continually miss of the lesson's point. Ones must seek out and attach oneself to that which is permanent--the soul or spirit within. You must come to know that the aura or light that is seen around the physical body, even in Kirlian photography, is unaffected by physical pain or death and remains perfect even after the body is cut away or dropped. Note in the picturing of a leaf--cut a portion away and the energy light remains whole.

WHY ALL THESE EXAMPLES FROM SO MANY--
YOU ONLY WANT TO BELIEVE ONE?
So be it, not to allow it, brothers, for that is the purpose of this whole lesson---THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD and you cannot change of it for he has come in many ways and you must become one in God or this is going to be one miser-able time in front of you.

Let us speak of organized religion and how it often misleads humanity and puts forth ridiculous doctrines and meaningless rituals, spinning a web of confusion and fear, thereby clouding and perverting the word of God, in order to maintain control and power over the people.

True religion is spiritual religion and is a seeking after God. There are many aids and props which may be of help in the "focusing" of attention but they should only be offered to man and certainly not imposed upon him.

It is essential to seek the Truth of the One God, to learn of His true laws and to serve His Creation. But in order to learn and understand more about the Lord, most of you need guides or spiritual leaders for you cannot accept your own perfection. Therefore, the problem is to distinguish between the good teachers and the bad teachers, the true prophets and the false, I suppose you might say. How does one make this distinction? You ask this more than just about any other question---that is, unless you are already trapped into deafness.

Emmanuel gave you the exact answer---"YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS."

In other words, one must look to the actions, the fruits of those who would be teachers or guides. Those who preach the ONENESS OF GOD and the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity, who, like the American Indians, "respect all worship of Him by others and show respect to such things as are held sacred by others", who bring peace and unity to the world by sowing the seeds of love and compassion, patience and tolerance, and who practice what they preach by helping all in need, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, nationality---all “relations”, which, of course, is ALL. These ones are blessed and true "prophets", the Peacemakers--whose guidance you must seek in your spiritual quest. Never the person--always the WORD!

Those who say that "their way" is the "only way", who sow the seeds of hatred and violence, division and disharmony, who point out the differences rather than the similarities between you all, and even those who may preach love, but who practice otherwise, who fail to serve all equally or give to those in need: know them to be the false prophets of whom Jesus warned, the wolves in sheep's clothing, the dividers of humanity and disrupters of the natural flow of Oneness, Unity and Harmony.

Ones of truth will always "allow" and "bless" but will never change of the pro-nouncements of the Laws of God or the Laws of The Creation as to truth. Ones of truth will never say they are the "only one" but will never vary from the truth that the Christed path is the only way unto the Oneness with God. He will not judge but neither will he bend from those truths which have been sent forth from God to guide his path. He will never take the credit of perfection or performance upon self but always act in the name of God Creator.

Only he has a right to call himself worthy, who lives in the light of God's word brought to earth by prophets of all religions for only by being in the truth of God's light and truth is one a prophet. Religions and associations are set up by man who then sets himself up as the decider of truth instead of leaving God's word whole. Ignorance is the cause of religious conflicts from one doctrine to another if they claim their source is God. People talk and yet fail to realize the oneness in All. There is no difference between Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Baha'i or Native Indian. All are from the same mold. Only the veil of ignorance separates them. Ignorance has its roots in the ego, it does not see Him in all things but on a most petty and shallow level.

What is the best name, then, for God? ANYTHING YOU CAN USE TO REMEMBER HIM BY IS BEST: Jehovah, Om, Allah, Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka---whatever, for he knows thy heart-call, not the noise upon thy lips and lungs for those are of earth flesh. The heart soul is that which is of God and to that he always responds--for the call always compels the answer!

You must stop of the separating out of the divisions of the various doctrines and see that that which is wondrous and truth is within all. You must gather the essence of the great perfection from all truth for truth is always truth--always and 100 percent. Man can err and come unto God--man cannot turn from the truth of God and come unto God. If you turn away from the Laws of God and the Laws of The Creation and practice in the ways of Satan and evil, ye shall be left to thy evil and it shall consume of you for evil shall always consume of itself. You may, 100% of mankind, rewrite of the laws and vote upon them by democratic vote---it will change not a hair for changing of them does not make them changed. It only sinks you deeper into the lie for once knowing the truth of it you can never "unknow" of the truth. For another man to tell you a thing which is wrong is right, only makes you the fool if you follow in his stupidity.

The path requires discipline and the opening up unto knowledge and receiving of the truth and the practicing thereof through self-disciplined actions. No more "sitting and waiting" for it to fall over and about thee! None other can do it for you and you cannot do of it for another--each must carry his own.
Highly recommended reading: http://www.phoenixsourcedistributors.com/html/j012/

It should probably be understood as something rhetorical, as explained in Chopra's The Third Jesus.

When we take Jesus literally, we are faced with the impossible. How can we truly "love thy neighbor as thyself"? But when we see the exhortations of Jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane, his words suddenly make sense.

Jesus's teachings speak to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment. When we take Jesus literally, we are faced with the impossible. How can we truly "love thy neighbor as thyself"? But when we see the exhortations of Jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane, his words suddenly make sense.

In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says:
"Many times have you desired to hear the words that I say, and there's no one else you could hear them from. There will be days when you will try and seek me but will not find me."

The four gospels reiterate that Jesus has come to save the world and will always be present. It takes the Gnostics to be realistic and point out that he can also be very elusive, much like the soul.

"I will give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, and what has never been conceived by the mind of man."

The Gnostic tendency was always toward extreme, often cryptic mysticism. Are they simply carried away by the spirit of contradiction? Perhaps they were actually being realistic. Jesus existed for them in a state of consciousness beyond the five senses and the thinking mind. This passage is a statement about God-consciousness, not an attempt to mystify for its own sake.

Higher consciousness saves a person from the illusion of death, and this gift comes to us from a loving God.

When we sift out the elements of Church doctrine, Jesus is saying, "If you have been seeking, seek no further. This is how spirit looks when it has been realized." In other words, he brings God-consciousness down-to-earth by being its living exemplar.

Jesus acts not alone, but as a vehicle of God's will. He isn't a  person in the way that we think of ourselves as persons. He had no individuality. His will and his purpose belong to God. In the Lord's Prayer, he says, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," to underline his own experience. In God-consciousness, the small ego merges into the cosmic ego.

Jesus spoke of humility many times and in different ways. He offers himself as an example. The implication is that spirit exists to serve, and since we are all spirit, life should be dedicated to service. The ego sees this teaching as a threat, since it wants to become self-important. The truth is that nothing exists except spirit interacting with itself. Therefore, when you serve others, you are servant and master to yourself.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Find a comparison with someone and tell me what I am like".
Simon Peter replied, "You are like an angel in righteousness."
Matthew replied, "You are like a philosopher in wisdom."
Thomas replied, "Master, I can't find the words to say whom you are like."
Then Jesus said, "I am not our master. You've been made drunk by drinking from the bubbling spring that flows from me."

Just as the writer of John goes to great lengths to underline Jesus's authority, the Gnostics went in the opposite direction. This passage reflects their doctrine of skepticism toward any authority. It's a bit ironic that Jesus is using his own authority to deny it. But that was the Gnostic riddle, how to follow a teacher who didn't want his disciples to follow anyone.

Quotes from Chopra's The Third Jesus

Schiff's Letter on Money
http://thefederalmafia.homestead.com/letteronmoney.html

 A spirit vastly superior to that of man, believed by MANY eminent researchers, is worthy of consideration by everyone. No religion is implied, just a supreme being, revealed by those who seriously evaluate the evidence, like the evidence of physics as pointed out on the near-Death site (link omitted).

Right, plenty of people; including... Einstein!


https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/eminent_researchers#researchers_einstein

I am looking forward to the day that skeptics and Beliathon will be able to use reason in explaining ALL of the evidence thus far provided.

http://www.near-death.com/evidence.html

According to you, I cannot love because... I do not accept that someone else has taken responsibility for my wicked actions?  


I will not accept a dogma; the Bible is tampered; the books and doctrine therein were approved by the Church of Rome;
I use reason, I do not trust the Roman authorities with the keys to the Kingdom of God (which is within you), lest they attempt to steal my spiritual inheritance. Everyone has their own interpretation of the Bible, but God's Laws need no interpretation; I meditate upon these laws day and night and thus I am blessed (Psalms 1).

Only by knowledge will you be saved; God's people DIE for lack of knowledge. No one DIES for lack of a "SAVIOR" because there are no saviors; God's Kingdom is within you, so YOU have to do the saving.
Also, the command was "love others as yourself", and if you "do this, and [then] you shall live". The command was not "save yourself by believing that I am the son of God"; in fact, Jesus never ONCE suggested that he was your "SAVIOR".