New Age Spirituality

Written by Elaine Murray


New Age Spirituality is all about getting back your power. Not that you ever lost it. Sometimes you gave your power away, misplaced it, or forgot you had power inrepparttar first place.

And why doesrepparttar 126826 term: "New Age Spirituality"... seem to bother some religious leaders, especially leaders ofrepparttar 126827 Christian faith? After all, we are in a new age: The Age of Aquarius. The concept of an Age exists within ancient spiritual traditions, and lasts 2000 years. It denotes a change process, occurring during those 2000 years, forrepparttar 126828 evolution of consciousness, forrepparttar 126829 good of all. The energy which entered this plane over 2000 years ago, atrepparttar 126830 beginning of what astrology callsrepparttar 126831 Piscean Age...was Agape (brotherly and sisterly love) - love of one human being for another, simply because each is worthy of love and part ofrepparttar 126832 same human family. That energy is only now being accepted in any general manner. It has taken usrepparttar 126833 entire Age for us to "get it."

Christ brought this love-energy to our world over 2000 years ago, and we humans have been working on it ever since. We are just beginning to open, to sisters and brothers everywhere. And now that The Age of Aquarius is finally here...maybe we have developed that critical mass of love-energy that is needed for this New Age Spirituality. This time,repparttar 126834 message expands to, "not only are we brothers and sisters...we are one." The Piscean Age taught us, we are all connected; we must love one another as ourselves. The "other" is an illusion. You and I are one consciousness, reflected in an infinite rainbow of seeming difference. All is one.

The Age of Aquarius is referred to asrepparttar 126835 "New Age," but there is nothing new about it. It is simply an evolution in human thinking. "New Age" thinking, asks that each person take responsibility for everything that happens in life...because everything in life is connected. We must learn to love ourselves; for out of love for one’s self, comes love for others. The person who is bound by a negative image, wallowing in self-doubt, does not permit time or energy to really care about anyone else. When we confront ourselves, and understandrepparttar 126836 causes for our feelings of hatred and anger, we can changerepparttar 126837 feelings...or even let them go. This involves taking responsibility for what we feel; becoming more consciously aware of why we feel what we do. In doing so, we are expanding our conscious awareness. To use a New Age term- we are "raising our consciousness" about our unconscious perceptions of who we are, and how we are behaving. Peace forrepparttar 126838 world begins with peace within ourselves. The biggest hurdle is learning how to create that inner peace and balance.

The Passion of the Christ: Who Really Killed Jesus?

Written by Arthur Zulu


Imagine that a very kind father has a beloved son—his firstborn. Now, some criminals in a far away land have committed an offence deserving of death. This good man purposely sends his son to die for these criminals so that they would be saved. When his beloved son arrives, one of his friends takes money from some of these condemned criminals who had trumped up charges againstrepparttar son. They takerepparttar 126825 son to their king, who instead of freeing him, hand him over torepparttar 126826 hangman to be executed.

Now, who really causedrepparttar 126827 death of this son? Isrepparttar 126828 father not guilty of first-degree murder or at lest manslaughter? Canrepparttar 126829 son not be charged for second-degree suicide? Isrepparttar 126830 son's friend who betrayed him to blame. What aboutrepparttar 126831 criminals who framed uprepparttar 126832 charges againstrepparttar 126833 son? Or isrepparttar 126834 king who played safe to be held accountable? Or do we blamerepparttar 126835 executioner who finishedrepparttar 126836 dastardly act?

The kind man in this illustration is God,repparttar 126837 son is Jesus Christ, while his friend who betrayed him is Judas Ischariot. The criminals who framed uprepparttar 126838 charges against him arerepparttar 126839 Jewish leaders,repparttar 126840 cowardly king is Pontius Pilate andrepparttar 126841 executioner representsrepparttar 126842 Roman soldiers.

Passion stories of Christ,repparttar 126843 greatest man, who ever lived, have always generated interest. But Mel Gibson's recent movie, "The Passion ofrepparttar 126844 Christ," has ignited a controversy. Not only because of allrepparttar 126845 brutality but because it has resurrectedrepparttar 126846 old question: Who really killed Jesus?

First, could it be that God killed him? Adam and Eve had sinned by eating ofrepparttar 126847 tree ofrepparttar 126848 knowledge of good and bad inrepparttar 126849 Garden of Eden. Their sin constituted a rebellion against God and condemned their offspring to death. But God in his infinite mercy sent an equivalent of Adam, Jesus Christ, to redeemrepparttar 126850 world of mankind from death. So is God guilty of murder, manslaughter or conspiracy?

Next is Jesus Christ. He himself had admitted that he came to give his soul as a ransom for many. So he knew that he was sent to die, yet he acceptedrepparttar 126851 assignment. He even personally chose Judas Ischariot and dismissed him to go and get his job done just before he institutedrepparttar 126852 commemoration ofrepparttar 126853 Last Supper. So is Jesus to blame?

But what about this apostle, Judas Ischariot, who betrayed his master torepparttar 126854 wicked Jewish leaders for thirty pieces of silver? Ought he to have done so? If he had to sell his master for us to be free, then did he do wrong?

Next arerepparttar 126855 Jewish religious leaders? They framed up charges, which includedrepparttar 126856 serious charge of lese-majesty against Jesus. Could Jesus have died if they had not cooked up these charges? If these charges led to his death, arerepparttar 126857 Jews therefore culpable for his death?

And then comes Pontius Pilate who instead of freeing Jesus pardoned a criminal. Why did he give in torepparttar 126858 demand ofrepparttar 126859 Jews to impale Jesus? Could it be that he is not to blame asrepparttar 126860 washing of his hands suggests?

Finally,repparttar 126861 merciless Roman soldiers who inflicted unimaginable wound on Jesus before nailing him onrepparttar 126862 torture stake. Wasrepparttar 126863 treatment given to Jesus deserving? Or is everyone to be forgiven because they did not know what they were doing according to Jesus? Or are we to further proberepparttar 126864 question: Who really killed Jesus?

To begin with, God is not to blame. The Scripture says that he sent his son to die because ofrepparttar 126865 love that he has for mankind. (John 3:16) And Jesus obeyed his father and came to die because he too lovedrepparttar 126866 world.—John 15:13.

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