IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A TRIA-LOGUE GOING ON HERE; OR, WITH SAM INVOLVED, NOW AND THEN, PERHAPS IT IS A QUADRA-LOGUE?
BY THE WAY, WHAT DO WE CALL IT IF WE GET THIRTEEN?--A TRISKADIKA-LOGUE? IMO, THIS MEANS THAT JESUS AND HIS TWELVE DISCIPLES (STUDENTS) CONSTITUTED A TRISKADIKA-LOGUE.
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BY WAY OF HISTORIC BACKGROUND:
If my understanding of church history is correct, the first Christians were under the leadership of Matthew, Mark, Luke--the author of The Acts of the Apostles, as well as the Gospel which bear his name--and John, Paul, Peter, James and Jude--the last both brothers of Jesus.
Following the death, "resurrection?" and "ascension?" of Jesus into heaven?--See Acts 1:9-11--it was generally accepted, and prophesied, by all the members of the early churches, that Jesus would return from heaven and restore the kingdom of Israel. It never happened.
What actually happened was the modern Israel, which was founded in 1948. It chose to be a republic, not a theocratic monarchy. I wonder why.
No one predicted, or even guessed, what actually did happen after the first century.
Christians, from the time of the disciples and the Apostle Paul suffered dreadful persecution until the Edict of Milan.
Definition: The Edict of Milan was granted by Emperor Constantine the Great(? The great what.) in the West and Licinius Augustus in the East in 313 granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire. In addition, the Edict of Milan ordered the restitution of property confiscated from Christians.
Very interesting!
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/constantine/g/edictofmilan.htmFollowing this, in 325 CE (common era), the spiritual seeds sowed by Jesus in his short ministry, watered by his blood and that of the martyrs (witnesses) took root.
As a result Christianity became an accepted religion within the mighty Roman Empire. This led to the bishops of the Church of Rome, under the leadership of the Pope, to go on to rival power of the power of the Emperor of Rome. [More on this, later.]
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Back to the present theme. As I said in my last post, "One is free to stay on the mind/body (psyche/soma) level " and let me add here: We are free to do this for as long as we wish to do so. IMO, this relative freedom of the will is what makes us truly human beings.
BTW, could we agree that there are certain human-like beings--some of whom actually admit to having little, or no, freedom of the Will (note the W)--who are not truly human?
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As TT puts it: "God is being as if patiently waiting to connect with the soul should it decide to come around to its true nature to take its rightful position as creator instead of victim to nature.
Such is the nature of things.
Natural law of free will allows for one to make the choice for ignorance or enlightenment."
We are not just caterpillars, forced by the power of evolution to become butterflies, unconscious of the process; IMO, we can actually play an active and conscious role in the whole process of becoming more and more humane.
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let the quadra-logue evolve.
