Brother problem

[xxhealinghandxx]

I have a little brother trouble. I've been telling my twin brother about stuff I do like N.E.W and we are both christians and as you know with christians most of them are offended by this kind of stuff. But I decided (since we're non denominational anyways, but go to a baptist church) that I wasn't going to be like that but that I'd try it out myself. And I prayed ernestly that I wouldn't get "possesed" or do anything that displeases the Lord and so far everything is going great.

On the other hand my brother is always saying that it's crap and that its all "demon power" and that there isn't energy, but the only power you can get is either from God or the Devil. Is anyone else a Christian and has their own view on this? I myself have figured out by different experiences that it isn't wrong to do energy work but I'd like another persons opinion - for my brother that is.

[chakra74]

When speaking to Christians, what I often bring to their attention is the experience of the holy spirit. Often Christians in church will feel the power of spirit and be bathed in its presence. I believe it's this spiritual connection that actually drives the faith of many Christians.

While sitting there in church they feel that pure energy moving inside them and it makes them feel pure and it helps to validate their experiences for them. For most Christians this isn't a regular experience, but it's hard to find a Christian that hasn't experienced this before. I explain how this energy is the energy that a spiritual person works with and it's a universal energy that they call the holy spirit.

Tell him that you are just learning how to develop your ability to feel the holy spirit or the positive energy that exists when you need it.

When they have a personal experience that validates what you are saying, they begin to understand the situation you are dealing with. I often recreate the moment so they can understand that you understand. You can say, "You know that feeling when you're at church and you feel like you're bathed in pure goodness and in that perfect moment you feel at peace and only have positive loving feelings? It feels like love is moving through you like a wave and it's very positive and gives you peace. What I do is try to recreate that situation so I can use it as a positive stepping stone to become a better person and directly feel the love of spirit when I need that help to get past difficult times."

You can change the wording to fit your particular situation but I think you get the idea. You have to explain to the Christian that you are not their enemy but someone who understands their love and why they feel the way they do. Most religion uses the things that we do for a foundation, but most people don't even realize it. It's the presence of spirit and energy that binds these religions together and gives them the hook of absolute faith.

Most born again Christians are actually people who stopped and asked God for help and were flooded with energy and it became the glue of absolute faith in that particular religion. When we understand this glue, we begin to understand the absolute faith in almost all religions, since the Muslim sitting in Iraq is receiving the same validation when he prays to Allah.

[CFTraveler]

How old is your brother, and what kind of school does he go to? Because 'energy' is a scientifically accepted description of what everything is made of, as Einstein discovered back in the 1940's. I think that it can be debated whether that's what we talk about in these forums when we speak of 'energy', but it is my contention that it is the same. The difference is that we use our conscious awareness to manipulate it vs. flexing muscles, etc.

As to everything being of the devil, I would say that he has very little faith in God and has given the world to the 'other guy', if that's how he sees it. But I realize now we're talking religion, and I'll stay out of that for now.

[xxhealinghandxx]

He's the same age as me - 15. We're both identical twins :P.

Thanks for the posts, I'm gonna have him read them though the topic is still open for discussion for whoever wants to.

[Rayson]

I have had this debate before with others as well. I often try and steer it away from a perfectly Christian arguement- God didn't ever say EVERYTHING was in the Bible, so I feel free to think that I can experience the world without necessarily looking up a Bible passage or consulting with a priest about it. That said, if someone is very Christian, and their belief system is set up around Christianity and Christian values, that certainly does not preclude spirituality and energy working.

The passage I do like to use in this arguement is Mathew 21: 18-21 >>
Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he hungered.
And seeing a fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and he saith unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.
And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How did the fig tree immediately wither away?
And Jesus in answer said to them, Truly I say to you, If you have faith, without doubting, not only may you do what has been done to the fig-tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and put into the sea, it will be done.
<<
I honestly believe Jesus is refering to energy work (I would call that branch magic, but that word is so charged that maybe it's a bad idea) here. And he says that YOU do it, not persay that God will make it happen per your faith. But- I do leave that specific interpretation up to you. A sidenote on thisis that many "magicians"- people like Bardon who have been able to do miraculous things with their energy- have a strong belief in God, and do believe that it is through God that we can do these things. They just have a different perspective on our personal relationship to God, and what that means to them, and what it empowers the to do.

A last note... I am often known to try and share my thoughts on energy and spirituality with those in my life. While I have been largely successful- combining personal experiences with energy, which I can help bring about, along with working with and through their pre-existing value set- I sometimes get frustrated by those who just don't seem to want to "get it." What I have been told many times by many spiritualists is that if a person (or thier soul- that's a larger picture, and also belief-based) is not ready for this, they won't get it no matter if you spontaneously levitate in the air, summon down a ball of fire from the heavens, and then turn it into fireworks that say, "God is real inside of you and me." Some people just aren't ready to handle this.
I'm not sure if I totally agree, but if it is true- remember that ours is not to judge, and also that it is through how we live our lives, and through how we compassionately help guide others, that we can help facilitate their growth and change towards a more spiritual way of life.


Rayson

[Rayson]

Oh- one more note. This might be Catholic-specific, but perhaps it applies, or you could bear with it (the Catholic Church is hugely mystical in their rituals, beliefs, and doctrines). The Catholic faith believes that when you receive the Eucharist, you are not just eating bread that is symbolic of the Gift of God, you are actually partaking of Jesus. It's considered one of their Divine Mysteries, I believe. from a mystical point of view, it makes sense that we can actually partake of Jesus' energy, much like a Reiki practitioner can fill people or objects with energy (and the bread is ceremoniously prepared- sort of like an attunement, perhaps?). Regardless of how or why, even if you leave it as a Mystery- consuming Jesus/the energy thereof means you have now eaten of one who is human and god. And because the Eucharist is supposed to nourish your etternal soul (read: something more than carbohydrates to be broken down by your digestive track), and stay with you, it means that you now have within yiou something that is both human and God. The human part was already obvious- as we are human, but it does now mean that we also have God within us. What that means from there could of course become a huge debate in and of itself, but I think at least one theory was already presented above- you are now trying to connect to and explore the God-energy that is present in you (if not by the Holy Spirit, then by the Eucharist).




Sidenote- I'm not a theologian or a historian, so please excuse if any of this is off-base.

[CFTraveler]

I realize that this is open to interpretation, but I'll quote it anyway:
Corintians 2:11-16 (I don't want to type all day)
..."For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth: comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him:neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
The way I read it:
In this missive he speaks to us about the difference between material people and spiritual people. This spiritual stuff has no value to the materially minded person.
But the spiritual person has a duty to study the spiritual things, not just the ability. It is clearly spelled out that it is the gift of God. And in the second bolded phrase, it also indicates that if you are spiritual you don't have to worry about being judged.
But of course, that's how I see it. :wink:

[xxhealinghandxx]

Thanks everyone for all your posts. I was wish I could maybe check on the interpretations of some of that scripture but it looks fine to me, I think I should probably save this somewhere in case anybody asks. I can't tell people whether they are wrong or right about these things in the scripture myself, because I havn't been faithful in my faith, and whenever I would read the word I would just drift into thoughts about something else while reading words - mostly, because my dad forced me to read even though he says he didn't. So even though I've been a christian for 10 years its like I'm starting over again, and I feel as if I should know more about Jesus and am going to get the book The Case for Christ and start to take my faith seriously.

Thanks for all your opinions :D

[CFTraveler]

Well, even though I have two Bibles (one Catholic and one Protestant) I used the King James version on the quotes.

[xxhealinghandxx]

yeah I checked it on my NASB (New American Standard Bible) it basically takes out the thy's and yee's and stuff. I kinda wanted the thee's and thou's and stuff because it adds a bit of power to the words, I personally think. But I'm satisfied in this too because it doesn't have any "lessons" it is an inductive study bible.