[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Antipas

I believe that religion in general is a divine revelation that is filtered through the veil of human perception in each individual culture. Each culture attaches the cultural and ethnocentric interests to the faith. They rewrite their history to show their "exceptional" divine favor.

For the initiates of spirituality, there is religion and dogma. A near idolatrous fascination with the "word for word" divine revelation of texts that have been translated and retranslated, modified, corrected, and sometimes outright changed, over and over again. Yet in their spiritual immaturity, they will deny this reality and fundamentally cling to their texts. This causes the divide between all faiths. This is the root of all religious wars. The fruit of this approach is historically rotten to the core.

While the initiates are focused on fundamental "word for word" interpretations, the masters often graduate and are elevated in their reasoning as it relates to religion and spirituality. These individuals are discerning and become quickly aware of the common spiritual threads that are found throughout all faiths. They can also recognize associations that connect what might be considered alien ideas. These individuals see God, not a text. These individuals move beyond merely knowing a text into the realm of literally, knowing GOD.

So, how do I know what is an eternal truth and what is not? I don't. It requires continuous study and searching. What might not have appeared as an eternal truth in a given text today might prove itself to be of eternal value tomorrow. It's a constant searching, seeking, finding. And it isn't limited to the Bible. One can study the texts of many other religions and glean divine understanding from them also.

I disagree. The Bible is the only authentic word that fulfills itself with prophecies in the OT, being fulfilled in the NT. The collection of writings that we call the Bible has been proven through time to be the only authentic trustworthy pieces of writing that help us understand God. All other religions are simply offerings of man's understanding, but the collection of scriptures we call the Bible is the only authentic, verified writings that are God's words to us.