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Hi Inconceivable --

Thanks for posting. I'm going to be out of town for a couple of days but will be back to the thread as soon as I can.

moksha wrote:

Lucretia MacEvil wrote: What do you like from ACIM?

Firewalking would be right up there.

I like the thought that beyond our perceptions lies the world of reality in which we are the shining children of God.

Firewalking! Is that how they show themselves the world isn't real in your part of the country???? Here, we just sit around and over-analyze, hahaha.

shouldn't it be called A Course in Hedonism?

paulhadik wrote:shouldn't it be called A Course in Hedonism?

Why would you think that?

because the greatest miracle of all is that a holy God (am I allowed to say 'holy') redeemed us from being dead in our sins (ooops, the 's' word) and brought us into a saving relationship with Himself.
Changing our thoughts? No, we must honestly recognize what we are as sinners and understand His holiness.

or are these words anethema in the course?

paulhadik wrote:because the greatest miracle of all is that a holy God (am I allowed to say 'holy') redeemed us from being dead in our sins (ooops, the 's' word) and brought us into a saving relationship with Himself.
Changing our thoughts? No, we must honestly recognize what we are as sinners and understand His holiness.

or are these words anethema in the course?

Those words aren't anethema by any means, but they do carry different connotations. It's helpful to understand our own holiness in order to understand the holiness of Jesus. I'm happy to explain further at any length if you wish to know what the Course says, or if you'd rather continue in your misperceptions and sarcasm, that is perfectly fine as well.

Lucretia, please explain away.

Lucretia:

I am not trying to be sarcastic. Courses like these are not new at all. Their whole point is to teach us that we have no need of salvation at all. When I read sentences like "understand our own holiness" it is a dead giveaway. One is forced to completely mangle the definition of holiness to conclude that man has anything on his own to understand..

paulhadik wrote:because the greatest miracle of all is that a holy God (am I allowed to say 'holy') redeemed us from being dead in our sins (ooops, the 's' word) and brought us into a saving relationship with Himself.
Changing our thoughts? No, we must honestly recognize what we are as sinners and understand His holiness.

or are these words anethema in the course?

If this Holy God knowingly created flawed and awful sinful creations then what does this say about his holiness?

paulhadik wrote:Lucretia:

I am not trying to be sarcastic. Courses like these are not new at all. Their whole point is to teach us that we have no need of salvation at all. When I read sentences like "understand our own holiness" it is a dead giveaway. One is forced to completely mangle the definition of holiness to conclude that man has anything on his own to understand..

I don't know what other courses you mean, but ACIM doesn't claim to be "new." It was given by Jesus in 1965 and published in 1975, but the teachings were Jesus' in his lifetime and I don't know if they were even "new" then. The ideas were certainly new to me, however. It teaches forms of forgiveness, love, atonement, prayer, sin, etc., that go much further than Mormonism or traditional Christianity teach. ACIM doesn't claim to be compatible with Christianity in the least, although it uses common terminology. It teaches that God/Jesus does not offer salavation because he has never condemned us. What Jesus offers in the Course is guidance to the presence of God by remembering our holiness; "salvation" in Jesus' example in that sense.

ACIM simply doesn't address rules of behavior or worldly morals at all, so it follows that it doesn't forbid or encourage any kind of behavior or set rules for diet, dress, form of worship. That is not the same thing as saying we can do anything we want (leading to hedonism). This concept has been impossible for the Mormons in my life to grasp, but there is a distinction and I hope you can see it. I don't remember if you are Catholic or FC, offhand, it doesn't matter, what I would like you to understand is that ACIM is a spiritual path and has as much validity as yours.