Jesus said salvation is personal -- you don't need a church to be saved.

[Guest guest]

> , " Violet " <violetubb@> wrote:

> >

> > Dear Jagbir and All,

> >

> > i am quite taken by Paramahansa Yogananda's description here:

> >

> > " The community religious services of the West are marvelous if

they turn the mind to God and truth, but they are not enough if they

lack meditation and knowledge of the methods of actual communion with

God. On the other hand, the East emphasizes direct, personal

realization of God, but is wanting in organization and philanthropic

social welfare work. (p.93) In order to understand Jesus Christ's

doctrine, it is necessary to combine organizational efficiency and

social welfare philanthropy with personal verification of Christ's

teachings by metaphysical study and the actual contact of God in the

temple of meditation. Then each one can, himself, realize what Jesus

Christ was, and is, through the intuitive self-verification of his

teachings.

> >

> > The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

> > You) Volume 1, Discourse 5, pg. 92-93

> > Paramahansa Yogananda

> > Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

> > ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

> > ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

> >

> > i then envisioned what it would be like to go to a church of

Sahaja Yoga, where there is a 'teacher' who ministers, and where

Western/Eastern songs can be sung together, accompanied by

Western/Eastern musical instruments. And the most important emphasis,

of course, would be Self-realization, Meditation, and Love

for one another.

> >

> > regards to all,

> >

> > violet

> >

>

, " v_koa " <v_koa wrote:

>

> Violet,

>

> Novel Idea and a wonderful -to look forward to event.

>

> Krishna

>

>

 

 

Dear Jagbir, Kyyan and all,

 

It could be called 'The Church of the Holy Spirit'. Such a name would

be easily accepted in a Christian country. Or, it could be called

'The Church of the Holy Spirit, Adi Shakti' - to reflect its fusion

of the 'East' with the 'West'.

 

violet

 

 

" In order to understand Jesus Christ's doctrine, it is necessary to

combine organizational efficiency and social welfare philanthropy

with personal verification of Christ's teachings by metaphysical

study and the actual contact of God in the temple of meditation. Then

each one can, himself, realize what Jesus Christ was, and is, through

the intuitive self-verification of his teachings. "

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 5, pg. 93

 

 

" The Pharisees had a natural or physical interpretation of the

kingdom. Christ was constantly showing them that the nature of the

kingdom was spiritual. The Pharisees asked: " When will the kingdom of

God come. " What was Christ's response? The same as usual: He first

corrected their interpretation of the nature of the kingdom. " The

kingdom of God does not come with observation, neither will they

say*see* here or *see* there, for behold the kingdom of God is within

you. "

 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU

ESCHATOLOGY.COM

 

 

" Jesus's vision was so breathtaking that it inspired a new religion,

but without the lens of higher consciousness, these teachings seem to

be mere fantasy, a distant hope that will be fulfilled, if ever, only

in Heaven. Christians want to feel that their religion is unique,

which is certainly achieved by claiming the one and only Son of God.

But by the same token, they risk being left out of the great human

project, which began centuries before Christ and continues to this

day. This is the project of transcending the physical world to reach

the realm of the soul. "

 

Deepak Chopra, The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore,

pgs. 52

Harmony Books, February 2008

ISBN:9780307338310

 

 

" Now what is typical about these sayings is that in each instance,

these sayings want to say that if you want to understand what Jesus

said, you have to recognize yourself. You have to know yourself, know

who you are. It begins with a saying about the Kingdom of God, " if

you seek the Kingdom of God in the sky then the birds will precede

you. And if you seek it in the sea, then the fish will precede you,

but the Kingdom is in you. And if you know yourself then you know the

Kingdom of God. " (The Kingdom of the Father, in fact, it always says

in the gospel of Thomas. Normally the Kingdom of the Father, not the

Kingdom of God.) " But if you don't know yourself, you live in

poverty. " And poverty is understood as the ignorance of a life in its

physical existence. Knowledge is understood to be the knowledge of

one's divine origin, of the fact that one has come from the Kingdom.

That we are on this earth only in a sojourn. "

 

Helmut Koester:

John H. Morison Professor of New Testament Studies and Winn Professor of

Ecclesiastical History Harvard Divinity School

 

 

" What do you believe is the right interpretation of Luke 17:21: " The

kingdom of God is within you " ?...

 

Paul gives instruction about this, saying, " For the kingdom of God is

not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy

Ghost " (Romans 14:17). Men were to look for the manifestation of His

kingdom among those born of the Spirit.

 

Isn't this the point that the Lord Jesus made when He had a private

interview with Nicodemus? " Jesus answered and said to him, Most

assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the

kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he

is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be

born? Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is

born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of

the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be

born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of

it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is

everyone who is born of the Spirit " (John 3:3-8). "

 

J.B. Nicholson, Jr

www.uplook.org/index

 

 

" The central message of Jesus Christ was the message of " the Kingdom

of God " or " the Kingdom of Heaven " . This message, when understood, is

the most relevant message for the needs of humanity. It is a highly

attractive message, and will produce the greatest results of any

message one could give. This message must once again become the

central theme of preachers and teachers in these last days.

 

When the message of the Kingdom of God is given correctly, the

results will be dramatic, just as they were for our Lord and for the

apostles of our Lord. For with the proclamation of the Kingdom comes

the power of the Kingdom. Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 4:20 " for

the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power " . Anyone who dares to

produce theological tones on the subject of the Kingdom of God

without demonstrating something of the reality the power of the

Kingdom has missed the mark and does not know as they ought to know.

The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power. "

 

www.christian-faith.com/

 

 

" The verses repeatedly stress that " the Kingdom " is within us — and

not, as the Church has insisted, in the heavens barred to

the " sinner " by Saint Peter. One reason for the Church's vehement

opposition to the Thomas gospel was the inclusion of Jesus' repeated

warning to us not to entrust our spiritual development and well-being

to others, be they priests, politicians or prophets. "

 

Paul Roland, Revelation: Wisdom of the Ages,

Ulysses Press, 1995, p. 51.

 

 

" Tolstoy argues, very persuasively, that the core teachings of Jesus

have been lost to the modern Christian. Man is too comfortable with

the way things are to really adopt Jesus approach to life.

 

Most of what passes for Christianity today is nothing of the sort. A

great deal of it is self-serving. Jesus said salvation is personal --

you don't need a " church " to be saved. As Tolstoy explains, church's

are largely the invention of men, who crave a hierarchy and order.

 

This book is a revelation, and can make Christians feel rebuked by

Tolstoy's words. "

 

Wikipedia Article: The Kingdom of God is Within You

http://www.knowledgerush.com/

 

 

" If you have to move a single step in any direction to seek the

Divine, you are definitely going the wrong way. " - jagbir

 

 

" The Gospel of Thomas also suggests that Jesus is aware of, and

criticizing the views of the Kingdom of God as a time or a place that

appear in the other gospels. Here Jesus says, " If those who lead you

say to you, " look, the Kingdom is in the sky, " then the birds will

get there first. If they say " it's in the ocean, " then the fish will

get there first. But the Kingdom of God is within you and outside of

you. Once you come to know yourselves, you will become known. And you

will know that it is you who are the children of the living father. "

 

In this gospel, and this is also the case in the Gospel of Luke, the

Kingdom of God is not an event that's going to be catastrophically

shattering the world as we know it and ushering in a new millennium.

Here, as in Luke 17:20, the Kingdom of God is said to be an interior

state; " It's within you, " Luke says. And here it says, " It's inside

you but it's also outside of you. " It's like a state of

consciousness. It's hard to describe. But the Kingdom of God here is

something that you can enter when you attain gnosis, which means

knowledge. But it doesn't mean intellectual knowledge. The Greeks had

two words for knowledge. One is intellectual knowledge, like the

knowledge of physics or something like that. But this gnosis is

personal, like " I know that person, or do you know so and so. " So

this gnosis is self- knowledge; you could call it insight. It's a

question of knowing who you really are, not at the ordinary level of

your name and your social class or your position. But knowing

yourself at a deep level. The secret of gnosis is that when you know

yourself at that level you will also come to know God, because you

will discover that the divine is within you. "

 

Elaine H. Pagels, PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE, 1998

 

 

" Jesus' kingdom was not like the popular expectation. He used the

phrase " kingdom of God " with a different meaning. His kingdom was not

of this world (John 18:36). It was not like the kingdoms of this

world. It was the kingdom of God, a supernatural kingdom. It was

invisible to most people (John 3:3)—it could not be understood or

experienced without the Holy Spirit (v. 6). God is Spirit, and the

kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. "

 

Tom Harpur, Life after Death,

McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1991, p.114-16

 

 

" Today we are celebrating the opening of the Sahasrara (Kingdom of

God). On this day I must say it was a great happening that took place

on all the humanity. It was such an achievement, which I never

realized before. Now I can see that without Self-Realization it would

have been impossible to talk to people. Then this happened! I thought

that how I will talk to people about it because no one would

understand Me and it would be a big mistake on My part to say

something about Sahasrara because even about Sahasrara (Kingdom of

God) nowhere in the scriptures something was described. It was

absolutely an ambiguous description I would say where people could

not even have thought there is a Realm beyond Sahasrara, and one has

to enter that Realm where is the Reality. That time what I saw around

Me was darkness and unless and until there are many Lights, people

will never realize that how important it is to have Light. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Cabella, Italy - June 9, 1996

 

 

" You have to take a stand in your family, in your surroundings, with

your friends, and you have to tell them, " You better all get

realized. " The reason for that is that the Christ who crucified

Himself is going to come back with his Eleven Forces of Destruction.

And when He starts He is not going to ask you to take any

Realization. No one is going to be bothered whether you are going to

hell. He will just sort out. But those who have got Realization will

enter into the Kingdom of God. You have to enter into the Kingdom of

God here, as I say, in the Seventh Chakra. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

The New Age Has Started, Houston, USA — Oct. 6, 1981