Do we have a spirit and, if so, what role does it play in our relationship with God?

[muhammad_isa]

No judge follows that rule....... the good deeds does not veto the bad..

Wrong .. a judge will take previously good character into consideration for minor sins.
Major sins, such as murder or adultery, carry severe punishment regardless.

However, I think you'll find that a Catholic priest will seek repentance from their
subjects on death row. G-d forgives whomsoever He wills, and punishes whomsoever He wills.

What do you believe, what is the eternal fate for a sinner?

See above..

How many times do you have to sin to become a sinner? (I am pretty sure you can't do anything to lose the title of a sinner)

We are ALL sinners .. and even major sins can be forgiven with sincere repentance and not repeating the sin.

 

[Thomas]

On the other hand, if a person is serious about growing spiritually, wouldn’t he or she seek a deeper and fuller understanding of spirituality? If, in fact, he/she has a spirit that is assigned to them with such consistency as to be considered his/her own spirit, wouldn’t it behoove him/her to learn about it and use it? Failure to do so might at some point be considered willful ignorance.

How would they do that?

Then again, why have leaders of religion not emphasized the concept and experience of an individual’s spirit?

Are you sufficiently au fait with the teachings to make this statement?

I only comment because to my knowledge the 'leaders of religion' do.

Was it considered too difficult for the congregants? Too dangerous, as in “don’t try this at home?”

Christ taught prayer, and that's about it. Love of neighbour. Self-denial. What particular message do you see missing?

I have decried the failure of mystagogy as a living practice within my own church, but then I have not seen much of an appetite for it.

Then again, 'do your own thing' is exemplified in the US, resulting in 1,000s of denominations where each one thinks it has the golden ticket.

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It may well be that those who are serious in the pursuit of spiritual growth do so, but not in the public eye, and nor do they seek it.

 

[Thomas]

But I do agree with you that my being arises out of the Ground of Being ... and there is a continuity there, a commonality between myself as this particular self-referent instance of being and Being/Mind.

I think previously I have argued a kind of mind-being dichotomy – my being v your mind – and that was my mistake. I tend to regard them now as synonyms.

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Also wanted to add that the spiritual search has no end, as it's end in in the hidden-ness of God, a God who lies beyond Mind, that is beyond all categories and intellections.

It is here, in this 'divine darkness' that we arise and in it we have our lives and our being, and the full, spiritual expression of that is in the simple and the everyday acts of warmth and generosity towards oneself and others, and the life of prayer which is the communion with that darkness.

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