DreamOn,
I suggest you try living by the teachings and life of Christ and see if is has merit of itself. Wether there was a historical person of Jesus is not as important as living his attitudes. Truly seeking the fulfilment of others lives. Try living in forgivness, generosity of spirit and genuinely loving an enemy; with an endeavour to improve their life.

I think there is little doubt that Jesus existed. Josphus mentions him.

I draw on the work “Trial of Jesus of Nazareth” by Professor S.G.F. Brandon, a Christian. His work is well researched and impeccably documented. Brandon’s qualifications in Comparative Religion are impressive, also presenting Wilde lectures at Oxford, Forwood lectures at Liverpool; and a member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the Society for Old Testaments Study; and the International Society for the Study of Time.

Brandon states that two Christian groups existed. Those of the Church of Jerusalem which comprised of Jesus’ original apostles and desciples, which included Mary, (Jesus’ mother), James (his brother), Peter and John; the other the Pauline community.

The Jerusalem community taught a “Christianity” at such variance with Paul’s, that Paul himself referred to their teachings as “another gospel” ... “another Jesus” - particularly in “reporting” Jesus’ trial and death.

The Jerusalem community denied that Paul had been an apostle. Indeed Paul had never met Jesus. Paul’s intention was to establish that his teachings were divine in origin, which was at complete variance with that taught by the original apostles. Paul distances himself from the Jerusalem group in a letter to the Galatians:

“I would have you know, bretheren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man ... but came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

In Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he defends himself from the Jerusalem group, which regarded him of unsound mind, of being delusional. The Jerusalem community recognised Jesus’ death as a ‘human event’; Paul, on the other hand, claimed it as a ‘mystical event. Paul:

“... even though we once regarded (oidamen) Christ from a human point of view, we regard (ginoskomen) him thus no longer ...

The Jerusalem community perished in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD.

Jesus’ teachings were a synthesis of prevailing Jewish thought; he adhered to the Jewish Torah without deviation. In all likelihood Jesus was either a rabbi or Jewish teacher, Interestingly, he taught predominantly in one specific geographical region. A region where, some believe, people had been coerced to convert to Judaism - a singularly rare occurrence

from him..in most abject terror,..but neither..he..nor they seemed able to perceive us.

"Are these beings..soulless?"..I asked,pointing to..the poor frightened spirits.

"Were..they ever..on earth?"
"Yes,.most certainly,..but..of a very low..type of savages,..scarcely above..the/wild beasts,..and quite as cruel,..hence..the reason they are here.

In all probability..their means of progression will..come from being..reincarnated..in a slightly higher-form..of earth-life,..and their experience*here,..which will be short,..will give them..the sense*..that there is retributive justice..somewhere,

although they will be apt..to form..their ideas of..a..God
from their dim recollections..of the powerful beings..who reign..in this place."

[does this not explain...how some..got/god..all wrong?]
clearly we can only do..that..we see others..do

"Do you,..then,..hold the doctrine of reincarnation?"

"Not..as an absolute law..under which..all spirits must pass,
but..I do believe..that..in the experiences..of many spirits reincarnation..is a law of..their progression.

[personally..i hold the vieuw..we all had to evolve[spiritually]..till we reached..this..highest..material*incarnation]..

from here..we can only accend..further..into..the realms of light...
or retard..back..into the darkness[freewill]..[till we each become..suns of god/good]..in our own time/way

[..suns of the light]..suns of the son...each..with our own..'let there be light'..moment]..[ye..shall be..as gods]

simply by looking..in the heavens..we see many..have succeeded,..in the life's..mission/..pure-pose

Each spirit..or soul retaining..bodies..born into planetary-life has..spiritual guardians,..who..from the celestial spheres..superintend its welfare..

and educate the soul..by which means..as seem best to them..in their wisdom...[some of life missions..seem very adverse...but we do learn its lessons..in time]

These spiritual guardians,..or,as some term them,..angels,..differ..in their methods..and their schools of thought,for there is no..sameness anywhere,

[noting..our relation-ship...is built..like a spiritual marrage...[life mission seems aimed..at finding..this symbiology..of simultude..
with at least..one other]


I am taught,..and know thus that..there is no/absolute path..upon which all must walk alike...Each school of thought..which has its counterpart,..its dim-imperfect reflection on earth,..has the perfected system..of that..specific.. school..

and its highest teachers in the celestial-spheres,..and from these higher spheres..their doctrines are handed..down to earth through spirits..in the intermediate spheres.

The end..all have in view..is the same,..but each maps out..a different path..by which the pilgrim souls..shall reach it.

The guardian angels..watch over the soul germ..during all of what may be termed its childhood..and youth,..which lasts from the moment..it first sees the light..of individual consciousness..

till..

haha... look what i found first search hit with google:

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/catholic_church_is_a_big_hoax.htm

i would so love to see how your debate this...

BLUE: if you think it answers my question, it should answer your as well. Making your statement on : "not everything is explainable" ? right or wrong?
personally, you did not answer my question.

who is the gate keeper according to your believes

driver dan: there are many... we just have to be aware enough to notice them. i had one prominent one today. a Saviour then another one. I am blessed.

"Ask and Thou shall receive" works for me real good, even though I never like asking and don't really have to ask.

it's jinny by the way, no capitals, as i do not see the importance to that

Why do people feel the need to have an afterlife? What do they think they will experience?

I suppose many people have had inexplicable experiences ... coincidences ... synchronicity. Rupert Sheldrake has studied such events and has arrived at interesting hypotheses. One observation was based on the 'question' of how dogs know their owners are coming home.

Animals are an interesting barometer of human emotions, and events of life and death. I suspect that many have read of the case where a cat in a nursing home always knew when someone was about to die. It would snuggle up to the dying (the nurses maintained, comforting them). One particular event was paticularly significant. A doctor's prognosis was that a patient would be dead within a few hours ... lividity already occurring in the legs. The cat was nowhere around; it was two days later that the cat actually took its position of 'comfort' by the dying, who left this world within a short space of hours.

One imagines that the other inmates of the home would be fending the cat off with their zimmer frames ...

Perhaps others saw the documentary about a Jewish survivor of a death camp. He had lost his entire family. Emotionally damaged beyond other's comprehension, he went to England. It was here that he said that his first experience of comfort, indeed of another's "understanding/empathy" occurred. It wasn't by another human being. Sitting by a lake, a swan came up, and rested its head a neck over his shoulder. This Jewish man said that he wept for the first time ...

I wonder how many others have experienced the comfort and seeming understanding of an animal ... and where no human intervention has been able to provide this.