Q repeatedly points out that UNITY is our most important weapon against the Cabal. United we win; divided we remain under the thumb of an Evil that is working to replace benevolent forms of Civilization with a permanent global tyranny.
A UNITED MANKIND is Kryptonite to the Cabal because, as Q puts it (in drop #2526 for instance), PEOPLE ARE INHERENTLY GOOD.
If they weren't, unity would do little to improve the world.
Here's the TL:DR on this essay:
- EVERYONE who follows Jesus' commandment to "Love one another" is part of a SINGLE FAMILY that, UNITED, will END the Cabal of Evil -- REGARDLESS of what formal religion, if any, they follow. LOVE and UNITY are far more important here than THEOLOGY, in part because theology is an attempt to describe a reality beyond human comprehension, and there will never be universal agreement on the topic.
Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and leaves, there is one religion -- human religion -- but any number of faiths. -- M. K. Gandhi
I believe that EVERY True Religion (more detail follows) is, at least in part, an attempt to teach and foster emotional health (AKA love) and social harmony -- to, in other words, support the side of Good and to diminish Evil.
Q -- being an American-centric, US-military-aligned, and probably US-military created and run operation (see Drops #3854 and #4438, for instance. 126 drops include the term "military") -- is naturally Christian-centric. The terms "God" (265 drops) and "Christian" (8 drops) are well represented in the Q drops, while "Satanic" or "Satan" -- Satan being the prime Christian adversary -- is mentioned in 14 drops.
"Buddhism" and "Buddhist", on the other hand, are not mentioned at all, anywhere in the Q oeuvre. Nor are "Hinduism", "Jainism", or "Taoism". ("Islam" and "Muslim" are mentioned several times, and often with negative implications. More on this, perhaps, in another essay).
Do other religions than Christianity -- the ones I am calling "True Religions", including several not mentioned above -- make good allies? Are they compatible with the Earthly goals of Christians and do they fit well with the objectives of the Great Awakening?
They do. Judge for yourself:
First, I'll quote Jesus on HIS definition of "Christian" and what He called a new commandment -- which, in my unpopular opinion, encapsulates the essence of His ministry:
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
In HIS OWN WORDS (as reported by John and later translated into English), Jesus told us that "if ye have love one to another", you are His disciple -- WITHOUT ANY FURTHER QUALIFICATIONS. Whether you had ever met Him, or heard of Him, or consciously followed Him, He considered that you and He were both living as God intended.
Encouraging people to have love in their hearts was at the CORE of Jesus' ministry. He elevated LOVE and thus COMPASSION to an important, CORE principle. That makes perfect sense, because love is the foundation of healthy, appropriate behavior. As Romans 13:10 puts it:
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Do practicing Buddhists qualify as "Christian" under THAT definition? That is, under JESUS' OWN DEFINITION?
Yes, absolutely.
Buddhism does not include belief in a creator God, although Buddhism DOES include belief in a type of afterlife (re-incarnation) and other supernatural entities and realities.
Yet practicing Buddhists fit Jesus' own definition of His disciples: they "have love one to another".
There are billions of people who were raised in religions other than Christianity or who have never HEARD of Christianity; some Christians will tell you those people are going to Hell because they "don't believe in Christ."
I do not believe that either Jesus or our Creator is so cruel or senseless.
When Jesus talks about "little ones which believe in me", I am certain He isn't speaking about children who had met or heard about Him and "believed" in Him intellectually but rather Children who had LOVE IN THEIR HEARTS -- who believed and LIVED Jesus' core teaching even if they lived in a faraway land where the name "Jesus" had never been spoken.
Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. [KJV]
Side note: Jesus' clearly expressed concern for the loving, compassionate, and respectful treatment of CHILDREN is a critically important element of His ministry, because proper treatment early in life creates adults who NATURALLY have love for others, while sufficient trauma can mute access to that love or even over-ride it with anger and hatred. I believe Jesus' teachings in this regard have often been ignored or misinterpreted, sometimes widely and destructively (see the Spanish Inqusition, for example). END of side note.
Despite having no belief in a Christian-type creator God or any formal belief in Jesus, Buddhism IS, in my opinion, a worthy ally to Christianity because it teaches -- nay, insists on -- treating others with love and respect. Practicing Buddhists follow the "new commandment" that Jesus gave us, to "love one another."
Evidence for that includes the Eightfold Path, a central tenet in Buddhism: (from https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/introduction_to_buddhism -- emphasis added below)
The Eightfold Path consists of three categories: moral conduct, concentration, and wisdom:
Moral conduct consists of:
1 right speech (refraining from falsehood, malicious talk, and abusive language)
2 right action (refraining from stealing, killing, and unchastity)
3 right livelihood (earning a living through proper means, not killing living beings, making astrological forecasts, or practicing fortune-telling)5
Concentration consists of:
4 right effort (energetic will to prevent or get rid of evil and promote goodness)
5 right mindfulness (to be diligently aware, mindful, and attentive)
6 right concentration (to rid oneself of unwholesome thoughts and achieve pure equanimity and awareness)6
Wisdom consists of:
7 right thought (selflessness and detachment, universal thoughts of love and nonviolence)
8 right understanding (understanding of things as they are, a full understanding of the Four Noble Truths)
There are similar teachings in many other religions. For instance (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism, emphasis added below),
The worldly concern of Confucianism rests upon the belief that human beings are fundamentally good, and teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue in a morally organised world.[13] Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include ren, yi, li, and zhi. Ren is the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion. It is the virtue-form of Heaven.[14] Yi is the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good. Li is a system of ritual norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life in harmony with the law of Heaven. Zhi (智; zhì) is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, in the behaviors exhibited by others. Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of ren and yi.
Traditionally, cultures and countries in the Chinese cultural sphere are strongly influenced by Confucianism, including China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, as well as various territories settled predominantly by Han Chinese people, such as Singapore.
Any self-described religion that does NOT unreservedly support emotional health (AKA love), social harmony, and, in general, The Good, is a fraud and a danger to mankind. Certainly, any religion that advocates human sacrifice or forcible domination or mass-murder of "non-believers" is not a True Religion.
Of course, many groups and social movements that don't claim to be religions (e.g., Communism) are also dangers to mankind.
Likewise, any non-religious group that supports emotional health (AKA love), social harmony, and The Good is a positive element in the world.
Anything from a single person to a two-person friendship, to a family, to a global movement with millions of people can be a force for good.
Q qualifies in spades. Here's hoping that never changes ("Trust, but verify" -- that is a necessary on-going function, not just a saying from Ronald Reagan).
EARTHLY elements vs. OTHER elements
I am deliberating drawing a line between what I call the positive, Earthly elements of a religion and any other elements it may contain, typically including what I will call the supernatural, or rather the specific supernatural schema that members of the religion often consider the main and defining element.
Note that I am not taking a position on the correctness of any of these schemas; it's just that I don't consider them important in terms of fostering the unity of mankind that we need if we are to overcome the Cabal and to set the world right. -- which is exactly what we are trying to do. Without a high level of UNITY the job will never get done.
BEYOND HUMAN COMPREHENSION (and hence not amenable to universal agreement)
I believe ALL the supernatural schemas in the True Religions -- God, the Great Spirit, the various pantheons of gods and spirits, the Tao, etc. -- are attempts to describe a reality beyond human comprehension which can only be grasped partially and metaphorically. Different cultures will have honestly created different schemas and metaphors attempting to describe the same truths, and many of those elements are described symbolically (for example: how long is a "day" in Genesis? Perhaps it is "24 hours" but many believe the term is used as a symbol for much longer periods of time).
EARTHLY CONCERNS MATTER (more than supernatural schemas and creation myths)
Regardless of the schema used for supernatural and world-creation myths, many religions (and other organizations) teach and support emotional health (AKA love), social harmony, and The Good generally -- they foster love for others, as Jesus taught His disciples -- despite differing elements in other areas.
Does it REALLY matter (to the state of the world) whether someone believes one world-creation story or another? Whether their view of the afterlife (or no afterlife) is the same as yours?
Because while most of us might want every person on Earth to have the same religion or paradigm we embrace, that's not going to happen -- nor should it. We aren't social insects, and where universally agreed upon facts are not available, differences in opinion are inevitable. (Even when facts ARE available and agreed upon, interpretation of what those facts MEAN can be all over the map: consider the absolute circus of quantum physics, for example. Multiple universes, or everything just probabilistic unless and until observed? etc.)
https://search.brave.com/search?q=multiple+universe+theories&source=web
https://search.brave.com/search?q=Probabilistic+Universe+Theories&source=web
The particular paradigm or religion someone embraces as a guide to life and an understanding of the world is far less important than whether that paradigm or religion strongly fosters emotional health, clear thinking, honest behavior, and love and respect for the rights of all.
And THAT is the essence of why UNITY is both possible and highly desirable, even aside from it being necessary in our fight to clean the Satanic and other Evil from this world.
FINIS
The most anti religious man that ever walked the earth was Jesus. Whatever one professes, there is only One Way to God and that is through Jesus. We can worship God without a priest or a pastor. We have direct fellowship with God through Jesus.
I agree with you that organized religion has serious downsides, although I believe that without organized Christianity, Christ's message would have been lost forever. I also believe that the supernatural elements, which I've never been able to embrace, were a major draw, bringing people to the Church, although at the same time those portions of Christian dogma overshadowed and somewhat minimized the importance of and adherence to the MORE important (in my opinion) Earthly teachings that Jesus bequeathed to us.
Even if someone believes the afterlife is more important than THIS life, Christ is clear that the road TO heaven instead of hell involves following His "new commandment" to love one another.
When you follow the two commandments of the New Covenant, one is clearly put before the other:
Matthew 22:37-39 : Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
When you follow these two commandments, you cannot break any of the original 10 in the Old Covenant. Jesus did not abolish the law but came to fulfill it. This is clearly stated in Matthew 5:17-18:
When Christians make Jesus the Lord of their life, they are to deny themselves and their flesh, pick up their cross, and follow Him daily. The Holy Spirit should have transformed their minds and hearts towards Christ. (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23-24) As Jesus lived a sin-free life, we should aspire for the same knowing full well we can, and will, NEVER do it. (Romans 6:1-2) Faith and belief in Him, and our love of Him, are shown through reverence, obedience, and selfless, unconditional love.
There is no life for those outside the body of Christ; only death and eternal separation from God. Nobody gets to the Father but through Christ. It's more than just being nice to strangers, which we should all be doing anyway. Jesus Christ is King; the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6
You and I have different interpretations of what that means.
Your interpretation (correct me if I'm wrong) means that EVERY single soul who lived and died in the many centuries before Jesus is writhing in Hell, now and forever.
Every person who lived in a place where the name and teachings of Jesus was unknown, is also suffering eternally in Hell.
Every skeptic and person born into a different religion than Christianity is likewise doomed to an eternity in Hell.
My idea of a "loving God" does not include anything like that.
More on this another time.
My God is a jealous God.
Exodus 34:14 - “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
Deuteronomy 4:24 - “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Deuteronomy 6:15 - “(For the Lord your God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.”
If you're not with God, you're against Him, regardless of your personal virtues and good deeds.
Nahum 1:2 - “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies.”
Paul spoke of this divine jealousy in his writing to the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 11:2 - “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
God’s jealousy is not human envy but divine zeal for exclusive love, faithfulness, and holiness. It reflects His passionate commitment to His people and His intolerance of idolatry or spiritual unfaithfulness.
I can't speak for before Christ and how God will or will not judge them. The law was the law and there's written and physical evidence of hellfire in the Middle East. God's judgment is as just as the wrath it can bring. Such wrath can be expected without Christ being the Lord of their life.
There's even self-proclaimed Christians that open themselves up for judgment, falling victim to false teachings:
Hebrews 10:26-27 - “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
Jesus laid it down on the Mount for His followers:
Matthew 7:13-14 - “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 7:17-21 - “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Believe in Him and His sacrifice of His life on the cross, atoning for all sin. If you confess your sin, repent, and believe in Him, carrying your cross daily, and spreading the Good News of Salvation through Him, you will have eternal life and not have to face eternity separated from Him.
Free will. You can choose life with Him or without Him. He loves you and wants you to choose Him. He loves you so much, He makes it your choice. But, if you don't choose him, you oppose Him. You're His enemy. And His enemies have been warned of their pending righteous destruction.
Deuteronomy 32:39 - “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.”
Luke 13:3 - “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
What do you have against the supernatural? Many people accept it and understand it despite the inability to measure and bottle it, or to document it on a spreadsheet.
One reason Jesus spoke in parables seems to be an effort to make unseen spiritual phenomena understandable to all of us who share this common material experience.
Love itself is indefinable without the concept of existence beyond the material. I see the supernatural in the bible, and in other religions, as necessary deeper explanation for why love is important to begin with. If you think self-interested altruism is an end in itself, I suggest opening yourself to the possibility of spirit and the supernatural being both true and useful in our life's path.
With regard to Buddhism, to my knowledge it does not preclude a belief in God, although most Buddhists I know strive to be content without worrying about God's existence.
Nothing at all.
I just have a different view of it. A different paradigm, if you will. As I say in the post, I don't believe "the supernatural" -- the basic truth of what the universe IS -- can be comprehended by human brains, any more than I think we (or at least I) can visualize a 5-dimensional object. I agree with you that Jesus used parables to help people understand what he was saying, and the reason for that is because some of what he was talking about could only be perceived implicitly, not explicitly, because, again, human brains are not adequate for some perceptions and understandings.
I started to write about what my view IS but it'll take an essay about as long as this one, I think (and I doubt that most people would care about it). I've got other things I need to do now, so maybe later.
I really like your note about the unknowable being less important than the core message of Love.
There are SOOOO many divisions and backbitings in the church over theological things, many of which can’t be proven. Is some of it important? Yes!! Some theological issues are salvific! Just don’t neglect the roots to work solely on the fruits.
Even if someone is on the wrong salvific side, just like, don’t send your children or friends to that place’s service.
👍 Sounded like you were advocating for stripping all supernatural references from the bible, because it detracted from the utility of God's instruction manual for life. Glad to hear I read it wrong. Blessings,
His name Is JESUS the name Above all other Names. Jesus is Lord. Folk running around with this Christ is King mantra are suspect.
That's True Narg. The Kingdom of Heaven is open to all that will believe. Why settle for less? In all your getting, get understanding. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Christians are called to share this liberty with all who will receive it that they will be saved in the last days of evil. It is written, We are the head not the tail. ALL of creation knows this even Lucifer. Fear not.
Thank you for opening the door for this discussion Narg.
Ummm no, God is sovereign over everything including (actually especially) carrying his word through history.
Do you think loving each other his Christ's / Gods only commandment? Christ told us that all of the law hangs on loving God and loving neighbor. What that means is God's law is HOW we are supposed to love one another. It's the blueprint. Because of jesus's sacrifice we're no longer justified by the law but under the covenant of grace but God's law is still good and perfect and should be our model.
Our founding fathers understood this so well that Our Constitution and Bill of Rights was drawn directly out of the general equity of God's law in Scripture. And not just any scripture or any religion, the Bible.
Listen bud I know you mean well but the nature of truth is either all religions or false or one is true. Those are the only two possibilities since
Let me suggest a little thought experiment....
If you're a liar and a cheat and you want to counterfeit something to fool people do you counterfeit something that's worth something or something that's worthless?
Obviously you would only counterfeit something of value.
Now with that in mind.... Which major religion has the most "counterfeits" if you will?
Christianity by far. There's no contest. And all of the cults and offshoots of it always differ on one or more salvific issue that are essential to the faith.
I'll also remind you that Q hasn't quoted any other religion besides the Bible.
This isn't a difficult puzzle to work out.
Repent and believe the Gospels.
I do, for the most part, "believe the Gospels", but I don't interpret them as you do. For that matter, there are many interpretations in "official" forms of Christianity, thus all the differing denominations. And what, for instance, does Jesus mean in Luke: 17:21 --
I'm pretty sure I have a different interpretation of that than you do.
And I'm fine with that -- I'm not trying to change the way you interpret the Gospels at all. For that matter, it doesn't bother me that you think I'm "damned to hell" (if indeed that's what you think). Think of me what you will.
The whole POINT of my essay is that people with (some) different religions can be ALLIES AGAINST THE CABAL.
Russia isn't America and doesn't have completely similar traditions and beliefs as America (although it IS a mostly Christian nation) -- but we allied with Russia to take down the Axis nations in WWII.
Allies don't have to share identical belief systems: they just have to have compatible Earthly goals.
That's either a strawman fallacy or ignorance. That part completely depends on your level of understanding. But if you're speaking on the subject you should have a grasp of this.
There's not an "official“ denomination of Christianity. There are Lots of non salvific differences like styles of worship, infant baptism, how communions done, and none essential differences like that. There are many other churches and sects of Christianity that I would fully consider my brothers and sisters in Christ even though we have some slight differences. (I'll list some of the core beliefs towards the end of this comment that are essential and anyone that disagrees with those I would not consider them Christians.)
I was specifically bringing up the counterfeits of Christianity with salvific issues. Things that make you not a Christian like denying the Trinity, denying salvation through faith apart from works, denying that Jesus is God or eternal, and other core foundational Christian beliefs. Some examples of these distortions would be Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses, oneness Pentecostals, Christian science, Unitarians, & the NAR to name a few.
Biblical Christianity is defined by essential doctrines such as:
One eternal, triune God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19).
Jesus as fully God and fully man (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9).
Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Jesus' bodily resurrection (Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The sufficiency and authority of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Groups that alter the nature of God, Jesus, salvation, or Scripture have departed from biblical Christianity and preach a different gospel (Galatians 1:8-9).
As for your question on that verse, why didn't you include the context? (That's very intellectually dishonest to take a single sentence out of context) What was asked of Jesus and who was asking? Who is the audience? That matters. Instead you plucked a single verse out of context in order to support your position.
But I'll explain what it means. It's quite simple.
Jesus is responding to the Pharisees, who had asked when the Kingdom of God would come. They were expecting a political or military kingdom that would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel’s earthly power. However, Jesus corrects their understanding by teaching that God's kingdom is not something that arrives with visible signs or physical boundaries.
With the phrase "the kingdom of God is within you" (Greek: ἐντὸς ὑμῶν, entos humōn) Jesus is saying the kingdom is already present because He, the King, is in their midst. The kingdom is not a future political event but is present wherever Christ is reigning.
I understand the point of your post, but I was replying to a specific comment and offering you correction.
God doesn't call for strategic or careful men, he calls for faithful men. God gives the victory to the faithful men in ways that show the victory came from God. This happens again and again in the Bible.
The careful and strategic men come later, writing the biographies of the faithful men, lauding them for their courage and obedience to God.
But that's another discussion entirely. I'm not going to rabbit trail into it.