“The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”

I have to agree. The Abrahamic faiths in particular are based on those fears. The teachers and prophets of those religions offered lessons and principles that, for the most part, serve many people well. But, although I'm paraphrasing, I also agree with the statement, "There isn't enough religion in the world to make men love each other, but more than enough to get them to hate." Pursuing rational knowledge is a much healthier path. Although anti-Semites and fundamentalists try very, very hard, I can't think of anyone who has successfully rationalized their hatred.

We are created in God's image and he is the Creater. So shall we be creative.

Cal, I like it. Rational knowledge is a great pursuit but very limited. To the quote, that is like saying, we should strive only in mathematical knowledge so as to be more religiously adept at all sciences. It has been my personal experience that those that have a substantive spirit of love, charity, truth (of organized religion, agnostic, or otherwise) are far different people, in mind and heart, than those that are only capable of making deductions from temporally censorial attributes. Rational knowledge can not measure, or even sense the spirit. To measure a religion on its acts alone, good or bad, just or otherwise, is a limited rational knowledge, not a spiritual understanding.

Far too many people believe preachers and not enough believe the Bible. Put much thought to these 3 verses: Luke 21:22, Mat.24: 34 and don't translate "this" to mean "that" and Revelation 1:3 does not suggest things far in the future. Then too, the world ended and you missed it TWICE with the first time mentioned in 2 Peter 3:6 and the 2nd time He.9:26 KJV neatmail@gmail.com

The god of freemasonry is Lucifer, the religion of Freemasonry is based on unfulfilled prophecy and their goal as published in the New Age, Sep. 1950 is to impose their religion on the world. Their success is shown in the number of people who deny Jesus fulfilled all prophecy which is a great many. see: www.morpix.biz/newage

Dave, I think that is nice, that you believe so vehemently your new spin on what has been translated. Not real accurate or historically sound but if it works for you, great. By way of a terse example: The word "these" that you referenced comes from a Greek translation of the word {houtos} which is a pronoun that was translated into 'this' 157 times, 'these' 59 times, 'he' 39 times, 'the same' 28 times, 'this man' 25 times, 'she' 12 times, 'they' 10 times, and miscellaneous other words (such as 'that' and 'time') 34 times. AND, the term 'days' is from the Greek {hemera} which by contextual use (as is used here) meat: specifically to the believers, a time for abstaining from indulgences, vice, crime and wickedness. The general use of the term was somewhat equivalent to the Hebrew {yowm} which could mean a 24 hour period, a year, time in general, or a dispensation (example, I'm living in the day of our Lord 2011). And, if you go back to verse 8, the term 'draweth near' is translated from the Greek {eggizo} which most accurately means approaches (some times with a time designation near or timeless / spaceless). That which was to be looked for approaching was when the temple was to be destroyed, wars and world instability, and the world's nations rising, one against another, but the time was not yet. After the whole world was in commotion, then there would be great earthquakes, famines, pestilences, fearful sights, Christians being persecuted, and great signs from heavens. Looking back in history, today is the most accurate fulfillment of the sayings and understanding of the translations. Nothing indicates a time except in the future. A more accurate delineation of your chosen Luke reference would be; All that has been stated above, will be the period when a fulfillment of what has been written will occur. (Luke would have originally written in Hebrew - Paul would have been the only one sufficiently fluent in Greek to write his original letters to others. The recipients of the letters may or may not have been able to read Greek) The Greek translations that the bibles are translated from were from letters that were copied in Greek for convince. A lot like translating everything into English first today.

I sincerly agree with Einstein on this. If the "truth shall set you free" what will half-truths, untruths, and downright lies do? Because we have grown up in a world of customs and beliefs, the truth can sometimes be hard to accept -- that is why the second part of spirituality is love and compassion. Love without truth is nice but hardly a substitute for reality. As for studying the Bible, an allegorical understanding will make more sense than a literal one. Unless you are a student of Hebrew, Greek and Latin you will have to take the word of those that have translated the Bible hundreds of years ago and have made many 'corrupting' changes to suit the Church's purpose at the time -- just like the 20th century versions. The truth is always in front of us, it requires no support, and it is eternal -- or else it is not truth. Being honest with oneself is the foundation of spirituality. The truth IS the way not an end.

Archer, excellent ! I have studied ancient Hebrew law at length with an open mind (not a pre-desposed conclusion where I was trying to prove something or, a canned script from some ecclisiastical school) Hebrew and Greek languanges have an entirely different etemalogy. By way of example: no word for 'God' was ever developed in Hebrew. The relationship was always a personal one - Father and child. Not until Egytian and Greek infuences started to incorporate and translate the Hebrew "el" (a political strength or hegemony) into god did the abstract concept of a ? ? ? become the religious norm. Once normalized in society, the term god became part of the culture and the personal relationship turned into a distant awe and admiration of an unkown power. Also, the entire domain of Hebrew equity jurisprudence was replaced with the Roman and Greek terms - having no similarity to one another what so ever. Another of the things I've discoverd is most of the Judeo / Christian scriptures were / are politial in nature (such as the use and discription of hell) and not particularly or directly attributable to an extra human communication. So you are absolutely right about customs and half truths. Dave above, is an excellent example of reading several translations later without trying to find the original source, then putting his own meaning to it to fit his particular circumstances and power base.

Only though knowledge can we all become infinite

We can do so many great things with knowledge and the freedom and tools to apply the knowledge. We can become limitless!