My Beliefs

Firstly, I was converted to christianity sometime after March, Spring ‘82. I was lying in a bed in a hotel room in Lake Wales, FL, about to go asleep. (The TV was still on–an episode of The Jeffersons–Mrs. Jefferson and her friend were morally supporting a prostitute to confront her pimp, and leave her life of prostitution, as I recall). The Holy Spirit put two thoughts into my head. First He communicated to me that the well known story of Jesus was essentially right. Then He added “by the way, Mark, you’re a good composer.” Not in so many words, of course–I have never seen God, nor heard His voice (thank Him!). Note: One can blaspheme against Jesus all they want, and be forgiven. And God sends the Holy Spirit to those who need Jesus, telling them about Him. I think “blaspheming against” Him (the Holy Spirit) amounts to not listening.

Who are my favorite Christians?

Christ
Peter, James and John
The other Disciples
Mark (a follower who was definitely in The Garden at the Fateful Time–why else would he write about a guy “wearing only a sheet”, etc.?)
Paul (fails “balance” test (see How do we get there, below)–all the nonsense he wrote, fails 10 Commandments (martyrdom of Stephen, etc), but IS a Christian)
Mohandas K. Ghandi (just joking)

Which of the classic spiritual beings really exist?

All of them. That is, God, Satan, angels (of which I believe I may have encountered four), and demons, or fallen angels, of which I have encountered Shitloads (excuse my bad language–bad habit–getting better). When I returned from Germany in ’81 (see Bits From My Life below) I was chocked full of them, some particularly nasty–I picked those up in Berlin, maybe? Sandy Padilla, my bible teacher, had a couple that she even called “cute”: the “Papi Bipez”, and the “Shoomi”– because he went: “shoom, shoom, shoom, shoom, shoom!–and did a little dance). Now I’m doing better, the Holy Spirit has vanquished most of them–how horrible the battle was originally, though, when the Holy Spirit first entered me in ’82! And of course the Seroquel keeps them at bay (an anti-psychotic med). To be absolutely precise, Satan is “real”, but does not actually “exist”–that’s how evil he is.

What are the most reliable parts of the old testament?

Nothing in the beginning of Genesis is literally true. I think Abram and his family may have been real people. The description of their situation in Ur of the Chaldees is just too good. Thereafter we may have accuracy (although the “red sea” is probably the “reed sea”), except in the conquest of Jericho, and maybe some exaggeration in the descriptions of David’s and Solomon’s kingdoms. Also Goliath’s size, and David’s claims with regard to his killing of lions with his bare hands are probably exaggerated. I think the prophets are valuable, though often set further back historically, and attributed to wrong authors, like Daniel. Some books are apocryphal like Job and Jonah. Some accounts are probably old folk tales like Lot trying to talk angels into sparing Sodom. Also his wife is probably not a pillar of salt…

What are the most reliable parts of the new testament?

Best Gospel is Mark (but not perfect, everything after 16:8 is a later addition, the two accounts of the feeding of the multitude with a few fishes and loaves of bread probably reflect just one event, and there is the curious reference which does not jibe with Jesus’ words recorded immediately after it. Interesting bits: Jesus’ siblings thought him nuts, Women followers cared for his needs. It’s in Luke that we find they had two swords), Matthew is Mark plus propaganda (to increase the power of the church), Luke is Mark plus apocryphal stories (to relate Jesus and John the Baptist physically is ridiculous. What’s more worldly than a person’s genome?). John had all three and added some useful additional miracles, but was a little bit too philosophical, he even makes John the Baptist sound like a philosopher. He has Jesus say “God and I are one” which may have been true at that moment. However I doubt “no one comes to the father except through me” was Jesus’. Jesus’ “Before Abraham was, I AM” is true. Be wary of Paul’s letters, the others are alright. Revelation is a vision, but I think a lot of it is valuable. Figuring out Revelation is as hard as solving Schroedinger’s equation. For this we praise God.

What is heaven?

A very nice situation. May be like almost anything, could be a “house with many mansions”, a party, whatever God wants (and you?).

How do we get there?

People who have in the balance heavier good deeds than bad get there. Those who keep the 10 commandments get there. Those, like me, who develop a good relationship with Jesus (God), and try to serve him by doing what I call “mitzvahs”, get there. Incidentally, it gets harder as you go down the list, the 10 Commandments require belief in God, and the last way requires faith in Jesus. And in any case, He is the judge (Jesus). Note: redemption is possible in all three systems–until death.

What is a “mitzvah”?

Forgive me Hebrew speakers, when I use this word I don’t mean “commandment”, but I mean something involving God, not just “good deed”. A mitzvah in my usage is something God makes known to us as something He would like us to do. God never Makes anyone do anything–He only profits when someone Chooses to do a mitzvah, or good deed. Any wise person always does them though they can be very hard and scary, knowing God has only our best interest in mind (and everyone else’s too. You may notice at this point that not only is God not constrained at all by space or time, but not even by logic. There is a clever way to prove this using logic itself.). God will go WAY out of His way to help us in our attempts to do these, and will bless us afterwards.

Why was Jesus crucified?

Several billion reasons. He was a sacrifice to God for us, “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Also, if he had not done that we wouldn’t know about him, and most people wouldn’t know about God.

What do I know about the future?

Nothing–I am not a prophet, but I do have a lot of discoveries/theories which I’d love to put here, but God seems to be against it (when the end will come?–or, at least, when it will not come before? the Beasts? the Candlestick/Olive Trees?, the third Temple?, the Abomination of Desolation?, the probable “jobs” of the Beasts?, who WAS the Beast from the Land, the Beast from the Sea? (kind of like they will be “second comings” too?), the Number of the Beast?, the symbol on the forehead?, who’s likely to be doing at least much of the murdering of God’s people just before the end?–the answer may surprise you–yes, I think I know all these things, but God knows, l may be wrong, and the explanations would make this website divisive, which He objects to, for now at least.

What happens to those who don’t make it to heaven?

Using Mark, Isaiah, and perhaps a good bible commentary, I think Jesus taught that those go to some kind of hell, where they suffer for a while and upon purification cease to exist (there’s literally nothing left. Those who are purified in This life exist forever–there’s always some of us left. As almost always with Jesus’ style of teaching, in this case (the purification in this life) “fire” doesn’t mean exactly what He is meaning, could be physical, or emotional pain, great fear, anxiety, etc.). I admit, perhaps being a little vindictive—I’m getting better– the idea of A. Hitler burning in the lake of fire as described in Revelation, for—what shall we give him—a 1000 years?–appeals to me.

Can I Get Some Help: Mark 15: 2

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.—–?

On God’s punishments:

In 1981 I received two punishments. For 10 years I could not compose music, and for 40 years I could not–well that’s personal. Fortunately I was allowed to serve them concurrently. The two sins: fornication, and attempted suicide. The latter only bought me 10 years, because there was an extenuating circumstance. Or was it the other way around?–10 years for fornicating, and 40 years for attempting suicide? who can say? What you gonna do…

Spoiler Alert—————-God is now apparently open to divisiveness here.

In response to a recent post: Fascinating. I will use the text (beginning of Genesis) as moral metaphor, not believing in it literally. I can’t grasp the whole discourse yet, but can say, God was heartbroken to destroy most of mankind in the flood, that part of Him being Jesus, who is capable of development, maturation. A very real destruction of the earth is coming soon (I think approx. 40 years). At that time mankind will be totally divided, some people (God’s) will be being murdered, right up until the return of Jesus anyway. The others, (Satan’s) will be doing the murdering. You may note this division is already occurring now in this country. To identify which group is leading towards the saved (by God, that is, murdered by Satan), and the condemned (by God, that is, the murderers), ask yourself which current group hates the other the more.