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Pastimes : Understanding Islam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IN_GOD_I_TRUST who wrote (206)	10/23/2001 9:16:46 PM
From: James Calladine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2926

I have no trouble answering that, as long as you understand that these are my observations, and are not meant to represent anything other than that. Neither are they meant to be disparaging to someone who sees things differently than me. I was raised as a Christian, and from the time I was a fairly young child had a great curiosity to understand: "what is this life all about?" After a number of years of investigation of the Old and New Testaments I had a number of summary conclusions. The Old Testament struck me as a remarkable HISTORICAL document, interspersed with genuinely ecstatic and inspirational messages. But many parts of it seemed to be totally reflective of cultures of another time and place and I had real difficulty finding its relationship to my life in the present time. The New Testament was an entirely different matter because it described the life of an extraordinary individual in the form of Jesus whose Teaching and Life have had a profound effect on the life of others (both at the time of His Life, and after). So I found a great deal in the New Testament of inspiration and value. My favorite Gospel was that of John. HOWEVER, I sensed that what I was reading in the New Testament was only a brief glimpse of Jesus' Teaching and I felt there had to be more complete statements. So I found many alternative Gospels that gave added insights. The Urantia Book for example (on the Internet) contains a 1200 page Life of Jesus that was significantly consistent with the New Testament but inclusive of FAR more detail. My appreciation of Jesus was hugely advanced by that book. I was raised as an Episcopalian, but checked out many other Christian churches, also. Generally my feeling was that all of the churches were a pale shadow of what Jesus seemed to be offering. From my vantage point they were a mass-market watered-down version of what the core Faith was all about. It did not seem logical to me that God would have only ONE Teacher, ever, when obviously many other religions had arisen, based on the Teachings of others. So I investigated those other paths and found: -- a vastly more complete and comprehensive Path in the form of Buddhism -- another vast and comprehensive Path in the form of what could be called Advaita Vedanta -- such jewels as "God Speaks" by Meher Baba, a book about the evolution of Consciousness through form -- the incredible Yoga Sutras of Shankara -- the exquisite heart-communications of Kabir and Rumi and so on, and so on and so on (for about 20 years of search) Along the way I became convinced that yes, Jesus had much to say that was STILL VALID, but I did not want to have to work with a partial record, and what I also felt was a distorted record, when it was clear that there had been, in addition, MANY great Teachers, some of whom had lived in relatively recent times! Which led me to Adi Da. Part of his Teaching is a description of the 7 stages of life. A summary of it is at: adidam.org Adi Da has described each of these stages thoroughly and has related various Teachings to these stages. New Testament Christianity he sees as a 4th Stage Teaching, Esoteric Christianity as a 4th to 5th Stage Teaching. So to return to your question, Jesus as found in the New Testament and later in the Urantia Book was a great inspiration to me. But He simply pointed me on another path to the present time. I hope this answers your question. Namaste! Jim