Introduction
Muslims believe the Quran, the holy book of Islam itself is not just a religious book for guidance but also the literal word of god i.e. Allah itself. In everyday conversations, you will hear Muslims call it Kalamullah (Word of God), not in the Christian sense where the Word is Jesus and God but actual sayings, sentences, and words uttered by god himself and compiled into a single book by human hands. While Muslims are proud of their holy book being the literal words of god sent down to all of mankind, there are a few problems with that mainly concerning Islam's doctrinal theology and its core beliefs.
Disclaimer and Notes
Now, before I start, a disclaimer. The issue of the Quran being god's word or not has been one of the most pretentious and divided issues in the Muslim community. Because of this issue, multiple sects (considered deviant and heretical today) popped up in the early years of Islam's history leading to multiple debates, condemnations, and even inquisitions for those that were against the majority-held view in history. So to make it easy considering Islam has tons of historical sects, all of whom held widely different views than modern-day Islam when it comes to the Quran's states as the word of god (or not), this post is aimed at Ashari, Maturidi and Ahlul Hadith/Athari aqeedah sects who make up the majority of Muslims today, collectively considered to be under the umbrella of Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jema'ah (Literally meaning "The People of the Prophet's Tradition and Consensus" or to make it easier to understand "The Followers of the Prophet's Teachings and the Righteous Community"). This term is commonly understood in Islam as those who follow the true and righteous path in Islam which according to the hadiths, out of 73 deviant sects, only 1 (the above I already mention) will be on the correct spiritual path.
Why do I say this problem is akin to the Trinity problem in Christianity? Both are key problems that form the basis of the entire religion, not just for an individual believer but also for the scholars who dabble in religious sciences. Both the Quran and Trinity make up the core fundamental teachings upon which other teachings are established and expanded further. Without these key concepts, the entire premise of both religions (Islam and Christianity) would fall apart within a matter of seconds. Both issues are also hotly debated even to this day. As I mentioned before, the issue of the Quran's creation or non-creation was an important issue that occupied the minds of early-century Muslim scholars and thinkers, to the point schisms and breakaways from the main branch started to emerge. The same thing happened in Christianity with the Trinity which led to excommunication, the Arian controversy, and multiple individual distinct sects, all of whom have a different understanding of what the Trinity is.
Last, I would also like to mention that considering the Trinity has been severely criticized by non-Christians alike as proof of Christianity's falsehood and internal contradictions, then the same should be said with Islam's problem of the Quran's status. However, unlike in Islam, Christianity continued to debate up to the present day and even adopted Greek philosophical concepts to better explain away the Trinity and the relationship between each Divine Person of the Trinity. In Islam, the opposite occurred. Those who used Greek philosophy and rhetoric were condemned as either falling into falsehood or corrupting the religion by introducing pagan concepts. Ironically, the most condemned bunch of the Muslim sects I'll talk about below, the Mutazilites were the ones who most used philosophy which led to their rejection of the Quran's non-createdness.
Due to the decline of the Mutazilite sect, the rise of more conservative movements, and the criticism of Aristotelian philosophical ideas by Al-Ghazali (Note, he wasn't against philosophy, he was against philosophical ideas that went against Islam like the eternity of the world and denying bodily resurrection in the afterlife), theological discussions and debates surrounding the question faded away. Even now, most Muslims consider the issue "solved" and simply adopt one of the three main positions. Unsurprisingly, while the West and Christianity continued adopting new ideas, this means the Muslim positions lacked much substance and arguments seen in Christianity with Greek and Neo-Platonist ideas which in turn, means there are tons of problems with their positions, (which is the whole point of the post)
Now, with that out of the way, let's begin.
How Have Muslims Historically Responded to this Problem?
There are two answers to the question of the Quran's status. One, to affirm that it is the literal word of god from Allah Himself which existed with him since eternity or to affirm it is a created being just like every other creature and human planet earth. The second view doesn't mean that the Quran is simply the work of man, quite the opposite. Rather, it posits that the Quran still holds religious significance as Islam's holy book and is still the Word of God but it was created at a later time by God, not existing eternally with god before the creation of everything. In the second view, the Quran still holds religious significance for praying, guidance, and the basis for Islam, only that it is of a lower status than god himself, being a creation of god that was created at a certain time.
The second view is considered invalid and rejected by all major sects of Islam in the modern era (Ashari, Maturidi, Athari) as a heretical belief that the Mutazilites (The Withdrawers) held. I'm not going to go into who they are, what is their history, or what are their beliefs (you can google it yourself). Just know these are the guys who believe the Quran was a creation of god and were condemned by pretty much every Islamic group and sect from their beginning all the way up to the present modern day. This is one the only issues where every Islamic sect agrees with each other in condemning this belief, be it Ashari, Maturidi, or Athari. Thus, the second option then is 100% of the table for most Muslims, unless they want to affirm holding beliefs of a heretical group that died out 1000 years ago. I don't think any Muslim will dare to affirm Mutazilite beliefs for fear of ridicule and committing major sins, so there's much here to discuss. For the sake of brevity, I will address the second view since the one even Muslims will deny and reject. After that, I'll address the A
The Second View
But for the sake of argument, I'll assume some rare brave Mutazilite Muslim wants to give it a try. Now, here are some of my questions for you. If the Quran is a creation of god and not the literal Word of God before time immemorial, what is the Quran's relationship with god? You believe these are still words from Allah that help mankind to arrive at the truth and Islam yet at the same you also believe that these were created at a time later than god. How can something that is both speech from god and also created by god himself exist simultaneously at the same time? Anything that is created at a later time means it's a creation, a contingent object that depends on an external creator. It can't be part of god because god is eternal, atemporal, necessary, and independent of everything and anything. If it were god or contained some part of god inside of it, then this is no different than Jesus and the Son of God in Christianity where it contains both a human and godly nature, so does that mean you now believe the Quran to be both god and creation? Just like the Christians who you condemn as a false corrupted religion? This is the First Problem you must face, that be affirming it is both from god and not god, you are throwing yourself into the same pit as Christianity with a dual nature which is already a false religion. I like to call people who affirm this stance "Dualists".
The Second Problem "dualists" face is that this nullifies the Quran's honorific status in Islam, which goes against what the majority of the Muslim world believes in. For Dualists, what is the Quran's honorific and spiritual status in Islam now? We've all seen Muslim riots and protests against the burning or stepping on the Quran by non-Muslims around the world. A man burns or rips up the Quran and the entire Muslim world goes into a frenzy. In Islam, simply placing the Quran on the floor is considered disrespectful and sinful. In the majority of sects today, the Quran must be honored and respected 24/7 partly due to the fact Muslims believe it to be the literal Word. But for Dualists, what is your stance and reason for continuing to respect the Quran? Considering you no longer believe the Quran to be the actual Word, can non-Muslims now vandalize, rip apart, step on, or place the Quran on the floor?? Would you have any problem with it? It's no longer the Word itself but a creation of god. Sure, you might ask others to "respect other religions and beliefs" but aside from this, what else do you have?? Is simply putting a religious book on the floor disrespecting other religions? What makes your holy book now any different from the Jewish and Christian perspectives on their religious books? They don't go into a frenzy every time Bibles are burned or disrespected. Will you do the same thing?
The Third Problem since it's a created thing, wouldn't this also mean that at some point in the future, the Quran no longer exists? That the Quran is finite and will at some point cease to exist? Wouldn't this mean at some point, Islam itself becomes useless because the number one source for everything, the Quran no longer exists? The Quran will cease to exist if it were created, when it happens, will the meaning of the verses and Muslim understanding built up over the centuries also cease to exist? Tafsirs, Fiqh, and Tajwid all suddenly become useless and void of any meaning because the backbone of Islam, the Quran no longer exists. What about the Muslim understanding of what Allah is? Isn't that detrimental should the Quran cease to exist? The best outcome is that Muslims still retain the knowledge but Islam becomes spineless without a religious book and the worst outcome is the complete disintegration of Islam as everything built upon the Quran, now becomes useless. It would mean the complete death of Islam as a major Abrahamic religion.
Next, what about during the Hour, when everything in the heavens and on the Earth will be destroyed and no longer exist? Muslims believe that when the Hour arrives, everything will be destroyed. Every human, child, animal, plant, planet, universe, devil, and angel will die inevitably. Only god remains. Due to this, according to Dualists, will the Quran experience the same fate? All of its verses and Surahs destroyed by god himself. Now I know Muslims, even those of other sects believe the Quran will disappear bit by bit before the Hour as a sign of the impending doom and apocalypse. However, other Muslims believe that yes, the Quran will disappear but the verses themselves remain preserved with god i.e. Allah since these are the literal words of god himself. In a sense, the verses suddenly don't exist, they return back to god.
TLDR, the Dualist Mutazilite view implies a contradiction where the Quran is both God and not God at the same time, it nullifies the Quran's holy status and the divine meaning of the verses, and last, it means the Quran is finite and will cease to exist at some point in the future.
Now, onto the Ashari, Maturidi and Athari sects,
The First View (The Majority)
These three are the most prominent and widely held doctrinal sects in the current Muslim population. I will be splitting the next sections into two sections, Ashari-Maturidi (since both are quite similar and considered a single unified school of thought by Muslim scholars) and the Athari school.
Ashari-Maturidi
The Asharis and Maturidis believe the Quran and its verses to be the literal Word of God itself, with Allah since eternity before time however they believe the book form of the Quran (mushaf), the one which every Muslim holds and reads is of man-made origin. In other words, the verses, sentences, letters, and meaning of the text are from god himself while the cover, paper, ink, writing, and publishing are from mankind. The Ash'ari creed makes a point of difference between the content of the Quran and the physical manifestation of it (in speech or as pages in a book).
The Main Problem with this argument as said by Atharis and Mutazilites is that this strips the Quran of its spiritual and holy essence in Islam. If the real divine aspect of the Quran that came from god itself are the verses and meaning of it only, then should we burn every last Quran in the world, it wouldn't be a problem. After all, the divine part still exists as it is from and with god himself, only the earthly worldly portions of it get destroyed. Why's that a problem? I mean what is the problem spiritually concerning Islam's doctrinal theology itself? What's the problem with destroying the cover or vandalizing the writing of it? It's not from god, it's man-made. The effect of this would be enormous.
This means now non-Muslims and Islamaphobes can now burn, rip, tear apart, step on, vandalize, and desecrate the Quran because they are only destroying the part that is not divine. Would Asharis or Maturidis agree to this? Is now destroying the Quran not a major sin but actually allowed? The true essence of the Quran i.e. the part that is truly divine remains preserved and exists since humans were created and will continue to exist long after everything has died and withered away. The vandalization and desecration of it does not affect the Quran because the true divine verses and meaning remain preserved. This problem is similar to the Second Problem with the Mutazilite belief, it nullifies and strips away the Quran's holy status and honorific place among the Muslim community. If it isn't truly god's divine word, what's the problem if it gets destroyed, wet, or burned?
Heck, I've heard this same argument from other sects, claiming and accusing the Ashari are just Mutazilites in disguise because their main stance of the Quran's identity revolves back to the Mutazilite position where the Quran is a creation of god. One of the main accusations against the Ashari sect is that it's just a rehash version of Mutazilite or Jahmiyyah theology (I don't have time to explain what this is right now, better if you look it up yourselves) due to similarities in doctrine and also because Imam Ashari, the founder was once a Mutazilite himself (not helping the Ashari case) but Asharis claim he renounced all Mutazilite theology and returned back to the true correct path. In this case, should the objection above against the Ashari-Maturidi position succeed, then it would help critics a lot against Asharism.
The Second Problem with holding the Ashari position is that this resembles the idolatry of Hinduism and Paganism or at least, is slipping into idolatry practice. If they claim the Speech of God is contained within the letters, pages, and ink of the Mushaf (the Quran's Uthmanic standardized codex), then how dare they believe the actions of humans can absorb and physicalize the Sacred Divine Speech of God, for Muslims believe god can never be limited by His creatures. This would also mean they believe the ink written on the Quran's pages is a physical intermediary, designed to encapsulate the Speech of God into a physical form, no different than the idols of Hindus and Pagans who believe their idols to be an intermediary or a worldly representation of the True Divine Nature.
Hindus don't claim they worship idols, rather they believe them to be ways to spiritually connect with the divine as a locus for prayer just like how Muslims consider the Kaaba as the direction for prayer, not an idol for worship or as a reminder for believers of the faith similar to how a photo of a spiritual leader is a sign of respect and a daily reminder every-day when you wake up. How is this different than believing the ink inside the Quran holds the truth or emulates the Divine Nature from the Ashari claim? Ashari Muslims affirm the Quran is still the Word of God just represented through a physical form, so how is this not idolatry? Believing that a physical human-made physical manifestation holds the Divine Speech so that followers of Islam can get closer to god?
This would be even worse than the Mutazilites, for committing idolatry whether intentionally or not is a major grave sin in Islam, to the point those that who commit it and do not repent back are considered as Kafir (infidels). If even they aren't committing idolatry and shirk (polytheism), another major sin in Islam, then at the very least, they believe that a divine part of God can be captured inside the ink and pen of writers as if they the Speech of God and the ink become one and the same, another reference to the Christian belief of God having both a Divine and Human Nature. Of course, Muslims and Ashari Muslims consider this to be heretical and blasphemous, but what's the difference between believing the Quran is both man-made and divine versus the Christological belief of Jesus being both God and Man?
The Third Problem with the Ashari answer that the Quran itself is created while the Speech of God isn't is where is the Speech of God then? Asharis can't answer that it is still in heaven for they also believe the Mushaf or Quran contains the Word and Speech of God. If they believe that it is still in heaven with god and not on earth, then what are they even reading every day? Clearly not the Speech of God if they claim it isn't with us now, perhaps an imperfect human copy of the divine Speech of God but that would mean the Quran is imperfect and the work of man, which would be affirming the Mutazilite position. So they can't claim it is both in the heavens and on the earth nor claim it is either in the heavens only or on the earth with mankind only.
I already explained they also can't say the Speech of God is contained inside the ink and letters of the Quran for that means the Divine Speech has become limited because of it. God in Islam can never be limited, nor can His creatures limit god. So if isn't option A, B, or C, where is the Holy Sacred Speech of God then? The Speech which is supposed to be the principle guiding force for all of mankind especially, Muslims. How can Asharis then claim they believe in the Quran as the revelation and Word of God sent down to Muhammad if they can't tell us where in their holy book, is the Speech of God itself? At worst, this means the Ashari belief entails the Quran isn't holy or divine thus eliminating Islam's entire main source and one of the 6 pillars of Iman (faith), and at best, reading the Quran isn't a holy act nor can be used as a book for guidance, for Muslims aren't reading the Word of God then. They are reading an imperfect fallible man-made copy of the Speech of God, not the true Divine Inspiration from Allah.
TLDR, the Ashari-Maturidi middle path that the Quran was uncreated and eternal, yet its ink and paper, individual letters and words were created strips the Quran has multiple problems, some may even go against what Islam stands for. It strips the Quran of its Divine Sacred Essence as the Word of God, at worse it may lead to shirk and idolatry akin to the Hindus and Pagans, and at best, Asharis can't point to us where the Word and Speech of God is in the Quran.
Athari/Ahlul Hadith
Now for the Atharis, they are strict literalists who believe the Quran and Allah's Speech both are uncreated unlike the Asharis/Maturidis who adopt a middle path, or the Mutazilite who outright claim the Quran was created, the extreme position.
The First Problem with the Athari position is pretty clear, if the Quran is the literal Word of God completely, then does that mean what Muslims are holding is a literal piece of God here on earth in the moral realm? Does that mean god is with us all the time? How can god, who Muslims consider as being transcendent be here on earth with mankind? If the Quran is the literal physical Speech of God and not just metaphorically or analogically, then does this mean the Speech of God exists on Earth? How can god be here on Earth? The Atharis believe literally that the Quran is the Speech of God, so unless they claim the Speech of God suddenly transformed into a physical object (which I'll address below), the Quran would be a god or at least have a piece of the divine essence of Allah.
This is no different than the Christian position where there exists a God in heaven and a God on Earth at the same time. As I already mentioned, Muslims consider the Christian position of a god on earth unacceptable yet when we look at their own views, we find (in the Athari case) a piece of god exists on earth. Allah still exists in the heavens, yet the Speech of God exists here in the Quran. Let's not even get into the issue of a transcendent god existing in the mortal physical realm, where the laws of physics govern meaning god would be limited in some capacity (which most Muslims would see as ridiculous)
The Second Problem is the relationship between the Quran (God's Speech) and God himself. Considering the Quran was revealed to Muhammad and sent down by Gabriel, how should we understand the Speech of God is here now? Do Atharis believe that the Speech of God suddenly separated from the main body when the Quran was revealed and sent down to earth? Or do Atharis believe the Quran is still the undivided Speech of God, in which case a part of god is literally on earth?
Or what about when the Quran was compiled in book form starting with Abu Bakr's reign and ending with Uthman's standardization? Should we take this to mean now not only does the Speech of God literally exist on earth but the Speech of God now has taken shape, molded into letters and words while compiled into a book equipped with paper pages and covers from front to back? If they want to deny these are from god i.e. the physical cover is man-made, then they would be subscribing to the Ashari-Maturidi doctrine of the middle path (which I already showed also has problems). If they want to take the other path and claim the Quran we have now is not the Word of God literally, then they would be subscribing to the heretical Mutazilite position which also, has tons of religious and doctrinal problems.
TLDR, the Athari literalist position invites more harm than good when it comes to answering the question of the Quran's uncreated nature. It would mean god is literally on earth, or a piece of god's divine essence is. Affirming that a piece of the Divine Essence exists here on earth with mankind would be something similar to the Christian belief that god exists both in the heavens and on earth (Father and Son). Other than that, it would also complicate the relationship between the Quran and God even more. If the Quran is the literal Word and Speech of God, how do Atharis explain the Quran's standardization into a single written book with ink, paper, and covers? Does it mean the Speech of God underwent a physical transformation?
Conclusion
All the responses and viewpoints of the major Islamic sects fail to answer the question, of whether the Quran is created or not. They tried to square a circle by trying to find a balance between affirming the Quran is the divine Word of God while at the same time not falling into a literalist interpretation where god is on Earth (as the Atharis do). However, all responses so far have failed to properly find the right solution, all either fall into extremities at both ends of the spectrum (Mutazilite and Athari) or tried to strike a balance, but only managed to kick the can down the road even further.
If Christianity has the Problem of the Trinity, a major fundamental question that still has philosophers and theologians scratching their heads trying to find an answer, then the Problem of the Quran's Nature is the Islamic version of it. The difference is while Christians continue to debate and argue about the Trinity's true nature, Muslim and Islamic scholars have relatively abandoned the debate, choosing to hold either one of the three major schools of thought. My personal opinion is this is an unfortunate situation, ever since the decline of philosophy in Islamic thought, Kalam and Falsafah (Islamic philosophy) have gained a bad reputation amongst Muslims as being a "gateway to blasphemy". Rarely you will find Muslim scholars in the modern era debate about this, let alone teach laymen Muslims about these topics.
At the very least, I hope my post can inspire future Muslims to look into this topic further, creating new fascinating answers and arguments that contribute to the Muslim and non-Muslim understanding of what Allah is in Islam.

This is to anyone who is so fixated on the point if Yasuke was or wasn't an actual Samurai in the past. What if I told you it didn't matter at all? In your pursuit of "historical accuracy" I'd like to highlight several instances where Assassins' creed allegedly followed history to a T. This is to highlight why it's unjustified in the first place. Assassin's creed has always been historical fiction. Anyone arguing against that is either unfamiliar with the series or is intentionally arguing in bad faith.

• Do you all remember that time in history it was recorded there was a civilization before ours?
• That time the civilization before ours created humanity in their advanced technology and created us in their image. Pretty sure that's how the bible depicted it. Also how we were created to be utilized as a working force to make their lives easier.
• That time humanity acquired a magical artifact that allowed us to free ourselves from our would be owners. Was that one in genesis?
• When a solar flare messed up the planet wiping out most of civilization. Causing the former advanced civilization having to mingle with our own race to survive. Also those descendants were gifted with magical, psychic powers, because we all know psychics are real.
• That time a single man toppled the assassin's brotherhood bringing an end to a mad man's tyranny.
• That time when Lorenzo Medici's assassination attempt was thwarted by Ezio, it's so inspiring that a fictional character was able to transcend past his written limitations to alter the course of real history.
• That time the Knights Templars weren't all eradicated in france, became the free masons, and to this day still operate under the guise of a real company known as Abstergo.
• That time a Native American turned Assassin saved George Washington's life, fought alongside the colonies, and helped construct America.
• Forgive me for these examples as they aren't as commonly known in the community unless you're familiar with some of the written work: The time Lyndon B Johnson orchestrated the JFK assassination to stop a coordinated effort with the russians to get to the moon where a piece of eden resided, the fact that MLK was an Assassin, and the many other alterations made to over exaggerate past figures in history to make for better entertainment.
• Let's not forget this synopsis of the very first game. That there's a literal device, that can be found today, that takes DNA strands and make you relive your ancestor's past life in VR Chat. Whose excited for the Meta Verse expansion that just dropped?

The point of all of that is to highlight a simple truth. The Assassin's creed franchise has ALWAYS deviated from historical accuracy for better storytelling, even fabricating things that simply didn't happen at all, and seemingly before this event no one cared. Because of the mantra, history is written by the winners; the Assassins' are an underground society whose tenant is "hidden in plain sight." Meaning the "truth" in AC is under the ruse that history had been interpreted incorrectly. That there are things we in modern civilization, what we've been told, doesn't necessarily mean it's the real truth. Why do you think the synopsis of the first game is to use the genetic material, to use your ancestor's past lives, to find out said "truths."
All of that is fine because it's HISTORICAL FICTION. By demanding only historical accuracy you take the fiction out and are left with only history.
So who cares if Yasuke was or wasn't an official samurai? When they can just easily masquerade it as his impact was minimized in recorded history because the nature of the plot, hiding in plain sight. As for the complaint about not having an Asian male playing the lead part maybe there is some merit to the claim; however, real fans of the series knew we had waited a long time for a game in Japan, when we first learned of a female Japanese assassin years back. Now it's somehow a problem that it's a female woman of japanese origin playing one of two protagonist of this story? We also had examples of other characters taking the lead role, even if momentarily, like DLC in black flag I believe; where we took the role of a man fighting against slavers during the slave trade.
Now Asmon is completely right to criticize the price point of this title. I completely agree with that stance and should other gamers, but let's not rally behind a lie that Assassin's creed has always "prided itself on historical accuracy" or any deviations of such is somehow a new foreign concept to the IP. It's not genuine, it's stupid, and highlights an even bigger issue that critics of those critiquing the game are going to latch onto. How the AC fandom had no quarrels with history being altered in the past, up until it was time for history to deviate to favor a black man.
I know we are tired of AAA titles doing these bait and switches. However, attacking this franchise for doing it isn't the win you think it is especially with all I've highlighted. Please, if you want to fight back do so on the context of the pricing and leave the insignificant changes to history, in an IP based off of Historical fiction, alone. Also fun fact, before it's said, yes I WAS an AC fanboy back in the day. Loved the games because I adore historical fiction and it was nice to see interpretations of what if's or what could have been. That's the enjoyment i got from the title, what I imagine a lot of people got out of it, and the writing quality seriously dropped in later titles. I hadn't played an AC title sense Syndicate. (Heard some of them actually got good, i'll take your word for it.)
But thanks for coming to my ted talk. I'm not expecting any real conversations about this or the points I made. Mostly because you all are so wrapped up in being angry to even attempt to reason too. Maybe in a few months people will come back, see this, and realize that maybe it wasn't the end of the world like they suspected. At least let the game come out, see for yourself, then make a choice if it's good story telling or not.

My husband (33M) and I (32F) gathered our friends and family together at our new house we are building before the drywall went up. We even flew out a couple people. We had everyone sign well wishes, prayers, or Bible verses on the beams.
There is one of my husbands friends (his best friends wife) that I’ve had a strained relationship with ever since my husband and I got engaged. My husband and I dated well less than a year before he proposed. We’ve been friends since we were in high school but always had other relationships going on at different stages in our lives.
His best friend and now wife, who we will call Zilla, had been dating nearly a decade with no ring. When we announced our engagement, she was horrible to me and at one friend gathering, other friends in our circle were congratulating us and wanted to see my ring and Zilla huffed really loud, threw her hand up and stormed off, grabbing her then boyfriend and left without saying goodbye (he did say bye).
Any time we were asked about our wedding, she had a disgusting look on her face and acted upset. She finally bullied and hissy fitted her way into a ring a month later because my husband’s best friends life was miserable any time we or our pending wedding got brought up. THEN all she wanted to do was talk about her wedding and complain how stressful it was and just wanted it to be over. Also to add, she planned her wedding less than a month after ours and we both were asked in be in the bridal party. She even had her mother call my then fiancé to ask why I didn’t have a bridesmaid dress 6 months before her wedding - mind you, I didn’t have my wedding dress yet. Zilla essentially made the year of our wedding hell and made everything about her. She and her now husband even went as far as to threaten not to come to our wedding if we did certain things for our wedding that they wanted to do for theirs, which genuinely hurt because if you truly love us, why withhold your company on one of the most important days of our lives.? Especially over details on someone else’s day??
Fast forward back to now, and my husband and I asked everyone over to our building to sign the beams and pop open the bottle I bought a couple years before, just for this occasion. All of our friends have children that are walking and talking. We haven’t had any children. My husband is over the moon that I’m pregnant, which I was worried about because we didn’t plan on having children. He was excited to announce at our gathering that we were expecting because everyone that was closest to us would be there.
Everyone showed up, took a tour of the layout, congratulated us and showed a lot of excitement for something we’ve wanted for a long time, a perfect and custom home of our own. Everyone signed beams - I’m truly in love with this idea and it’s so comforting to know we have love and prayers, verses and well wishes on the very bones of our home behind the now erected walls. A part of me wants to be resentful that Zilla signed anything but she did a Bible verse so, I can’t really be upset at that.
We popped open the bottle of champagne and made sure everyone had a glass and my husband made a toast and added our exciting baby news. Everyone was hooping and yelling “WHAT” “ARE YOU SERIOUS”. And Zilla said, “NO WAY! ME! TOO!” I couldn’t fix my face when she said this. I went from smiling and laughing hugely to not at all and just looking at her.
I know other people in their friend groups would be thrilled but I felt like she stole our moment. She had her moment when she was first pregnant. Which she also stole another friends moment and mistreated them when they got pregnant before her, until she finally got pregnant. Also, the last time Zilla was pregnant, that’s all she could talk about and she was miserable to be around if it wasn’t about her. And now I feel like I’m back to the year of our wedding where I’m sharing in a life event and I couldn’t just have a friend be happy for my husband and I. She couldn’t even congratulate us. She made it about her.
I was looking at Zilla and my husbands best friend and heard myself say, “Congrats!” And then I walked away. My husband and husband’s adopted parents (My MIL & FIL is what I refer to them as) followed me and I got in our car. My MIL climbed in the passenger seat and I was crying and upset. My husband opened my car door, hugged me and was trying to soothe me. He teased me that we should’ve seen that coming, she never lets anyone have their moment. I didn’t tell them bye and left with my MIL and my husband and FIL stayed behind until they left.
I wanted to flip out and tell her about herself. I’m still debating doing so but I’m afraid I’m not thinking clearly because of all the hormones. AITHA?

Right when she's about to get to the point, the video cuts off and she moves on. Fucking typical.

Since tattoos/piercings weren’t as common back when the Bible was written I assume there isn’t a verse directly condemning it, the closest thing I am aware of is the “your body is a temple”. If you have any answers please lmk

I tend to gravitate towards Psalm 32, Psalm 51, and Romans 8.

Hello everyone. I have been lurking on this reddit for a few months and I really want to share my experience with a cult called Shincheonji. I really want to raise awareness of how this cult works and tries to get Catholic believers.
How I got recruited: I started going to mass after a long time being away from the church. I didn't really know where to find fellowship groups for people my age. The parish by my house did not have a young adult Bible study group at the time. I went to confession and poured my heart out. I really prayed to God for help. The next day I met someone in a public area and she was offering Bible study one on one lessons. I really thought this person was someone God guided me to because she told me she was Catholic. Later I found out she was acting like she was Catholic to gain my trust. I did like the lessons she gave me so I agreed to attend the larger Bible study group to learn about parables. There were lessons that I had no problems with but there was many lessons that really rubbed me the wrong way but I continued in the class because my "faith friend" who was assigned to me was encouraging me and love bombing me a lot. Later I realized she was reporting everything I disagreed with in a telegram group chat and any secrets I told her about my life she probably also reported them in the group chat too. They went over the Holy Trinity and called it a mans teaching. Unfortunately I didn't really know how to explain or defend it so I blindly believe them 😞 years later I realized they totally misrepresented it. I continued the course because I liked the fellowship and I was pretty lonely during the pandemic. Unfortunately I didn't see the red flags and I trusted my faith friends a lot.
After the Bible study course: I became a member of the church and worked to bring other people to this place which is supposed to be heaven on earth. They believe everyone needs to be part of the 12 tribes prophesied in Revelation 7 to be saved. For a long time I believed this too. This cult will make fellowship events to invite people to, but these events do not show the real name of the church. But I had big doubts! The leader called COVID 19 pandemic the great tribulation but this "great tribulation" was not supposed to happen until the 144,000 are sealed. To this day the 144,000 are not named. The leader MHL claims to have seen and heard all the events of Revelation but he was wrong about this prophecy.
Waking up: After I realized that the leader is a false prophet, I had a strong desire to learn the truth. One of the Bible verses I read that really helped me was Matthew 28:19. I thought to myself maybe there really is good reason to believe in the Holy Trinity. I was pretty happy to go back to mass. I felt awkward at first but i felt a sense of relief that I don't have to serve a false prophet anymore.
Today I can't wait to go through confirmation classes. I am doing my best to spread awareness because I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through. Also it can happen to anyone! During my time in shincheonji, I saw a lot of young adults, middle aged people, and even elderly people. So if someone offers you a Bible study but won't tell you what church it belongs to this is a red flag that it is a cult. If someone approaches you asking for help with a survey that includes faith questions, don't give them your phone number! Lastly if a Catholic you don't know offers you a Bible study, make sure you can verify what parish the Bible study belongs to. Shincheonji will have bible study lessons on Zoom but they will also use conference rooms.
God bless you all 🙏

Time and time and time again I swear that most Christians have never read the bible to completion or really even part of it. Over and over and over again people utilize Paradise Lost or as their rhetoric over scripture itself, or other non-canonical texts and fictions. Why?
It's seriously to the point of people outrightly denying scripture verse in preference of their own external information and interpretations over it.

Hello everyone. I'm going into college soon, and I'm just a bit confused on what major to pick and what job to strive for.
Ultimately, I know what my main purpose in life is: to serve and follow God, and I will always do that.
Still, I don't know what career to pursue. My main goal with a career is a career that helps the world in a positive way - whether it is being a doctor, a lawyer, or something that helps people in need.
Here are some of my passions: I love traveling and spending time in nature. I would like to travel across the world one day, to as many places as I can, as often as I can. I also love soccer a lot. I enjoy photography, videography, and content creation. I would like to own and run a business one day, whether it is a side job or a full-time job.
As of now, I am leaning towards the law/business/finance field. I just want a job that can be used as a vessel for serving Jesus Christ. It is a hard moment for me now, as I feel a bit lost about where to go. However, I know that I'm not lost. God has a plan, and I know that. I am struggling to relax and trust God's plan, but I am praying about it and getting better.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Proverbs 16:9
"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."
Bible verses have helped me a lot.
Ultimately, I just want a job/career that I am passionate about, enjoy, able to make a good amount of money for traveling and supporting myself and a family in the future, and I want a job that positively contributes to the world.
Most importantly, I want my job to be a vessel for serving the Lord.
Whatever happens, I know that I am fulfilling my main purpose in life: to serve and follow God.
That's what God wants from all of us, above anything else.
Thank you for reading this! Any advice, wisdom, and insight would be greatly appreciated! :)

I want biblical answers, not, “Oh you could perceive this thing that way.” No, I want to know, am I screwed if I’m hardening my heart?
I continually see signs and things that I know are trying to pull me back into the Bible, and I am constantly wrestling with myself as to what to do. It’s tiring, maddening, and depressing. And I know that I need to search for the Lord.
And yet every chance that pops up, if I can avoid it without looking bad or anyone knowing, I don’t even hesitate. And it takes a crapload of fear to prick my heart and make me want to search and even pick up my Bible.
And yet I’m torn between things like the idea of there possibly being people that could not get raptured up with the rest of the believers(like they just couldn’t believe in something they couldn’t see) in the end times and still making it through to the 1,000 years of peace on earth with Jesus reigning as king. Though I don’t actively remember the verses that talk about this, if there are any, it’s one of those things that has cemented itself in the back of my mind as a scapegoat.
And I know I’m at a point where I could break at any moment, so… I’m more or less looking for some fear(I don’t know, to maybe knock some sense into me), some facts, and some hope.

That is just some lame excuse to make the brethren attend the worshi* service which in reality, is not really a worship service but a propaganda service for Eduardo VILlanueva MANalo.
There is no specific verse in the bible that supports their narrative.
No brainwashed worshippers, then no offerings. No offerings, then no money for the cult. No money in the cult, then the Manalo will not thrive. As simple as that!

Hello everyone. I'm going into college soon, and I'm just a bit confused on what major to pick and what job to strive for.
Ultimately, I know what my main purpose in life is: to serve and follow God, and I will always do that.
Still, I don't know what career to pursue. My main goal with a career is a career that helps the world in a positive way - whether it is being a doctor, a lawyer, or something that helps people in need.
Here are some of my passions: I love traveling and spending time in nature. I would like to travel across the world one day, to as many places as I can, as often as I can. I also love soccer a lot. I enjoy photography, videography, and content creation. I would like to own and run a business one day, whether it is a side job or a full-time job.
As of now, I am leaning towards the law/business/finance field. I just want a job that can be used as a vessel for serving Jesus Christ. It is a hard moment for me now, as I feel a bit lost about where to go. However, I know that I'm not lost. God has a plan, and I know that. I am struggling to relax and trust God's plan, but I am praying about it and getting better.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Proverbs 16:9
"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."
Bible verses have helped me a lot.
Ultimately, I just want a job/career that I am passionate about, enjoy, able to make a good amount of money for traveling and supporting myself and a family in the future, and I want a job that positively contributes to the world.
Most importantly, I want my job to be a vessel for serving the Lord.
Whatever happens, I know that I am fulfilling my main purpose in life: to serve and follow God.
That's what God wants from all of us, above anything else.
Thank you for reading this! Any advice, wisdom, and insight would be greatly appreciated! :)

Who is Gary Renard:
Gary is a famous ACIM author. He has written “The Disappearance of the Universe”. He claims to be the reincarnation of the disciple Thomas and he claims his book came to him by inflesh ascended masters. He calls these Arten and Pursah. Purshah is supposedly a future incarnation of Thomas, and Arten a future incarnation of Saint Thaddeus.
Who is Bruce MacDonald:
Following a NDE, Bruce had some mystical experiences. He claims after this he was able to talk to God, Jesus, and in a past life he was the disciple Thomas. He wrote two books about this including “The Thomas Book Near Death, a Quest and a New Gospel by the Twin Brother of Jesus”. There he recounts his adventures as a disciple in Jesus’s inner circle and relays supposedly new teachings about Jesus.
Tragically it appears he died somewhat recently and his website went offline. That had a ton of interesting information about Gary Renard, Thomas, and even the Course in Miracles. But…the good news is much of it is still available from archive.org. Here is an archived sitemap.
The Thomas Conflict:
They both claim to be Thomas! This is extra funny when you consider the original meaning of the word Thomas means twin.
Let’s start with Gary Renard’s claims:

• Supposedly there is a famous past life channeler “Kevin Ryserson”. He was able to interview the incorporeal entity known as Ahtun Re. And Ahtun Re in turn provides many detailed and interesting celebrity past life details. You can read them here (some are jaw dropping…eg Trump = Nero, Putin = Caesar, Biden = Emperor Theodosius). He was friends with Gary and claimed publicly that Gary Renard is the reincarnation of Thomas.
• Gary claims that Pursah is the reincarnation of Saint Thomas and Arten is the reincarnation of St. Thaddaeus…but per Bruce Thaddeaeus is an alias for Didymos Judas Thomas the disciple, so are Arten and Pursah (and Gary) the same person?

Let’s go now to Bruce’s side:

• Kevin Ryserson/Ahtun Re publicly proclaimed that Bruce was not the disciple Thomas, but rather a later scribe who wrote down the Gospel of Thomas.
• But Bruce claimed that Kevin privately told him he was indeed the reincarnation of Thomas, but didn’t want to go public to jeopardize his friendship with Gary.
• Bruce also proclaims his private guides and and Ahtun Re himself confirmed he was the real Thomas
• Bruce claims that Gary is unaware that St. Thomas and Didymos Judas Thomas were separate people, yet impossibly Gary claims to be both. Bruce says a separate person wrote the gospel of Thomas (not Thomas himself) which he claims Gary doesn’t realize.

Did Gary Renard Plagiarize Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer
In 1945 the Gospel of Thomas was discovered. Scholars Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer translated this into English (http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html).
Renard claimed the ascended master Pursah (future Thomas from the past) dictated to him a new and corrected version of the Gospel of Thomas. This was put into the book “Pursah’s Gospel of Thomas”.
However it appears Bruce did differential analysis on this and the Patterson/Meyer version and discovered they often were identical.
That can’t be. The Gospel of Thomas was written in coptic, but was likely seeded from Greek or Aramic sources. An ascended master like Pursah should be able to go straight to the source to explain what these teachings meant. Yet these are too similar to existing English translations. For translation work this is just too coincidental. Anybody familiar with language translations knows there is a fair degree of subjectivity that happens in the process. A lack of variance between two translations is suspicious.
Now there are differences…but many are minor and perhaps “token”. What’s even stranger is the location of the “token differences”. They are mostly placed in the early verses and gradually tapered off. As if Gary (or a source for Gary) got tired of “improving” the verses and got lazy in the end and just copy/pasted.
Greg Mackie Chimes in:
https://circleofa.org/library/gary-renard/
Some of Greg’s claims are unfair (like his criticism of the ascended master concept)...but some of his critiques are well done and raise legit questions about the audacity of Gary’s “ascended masters”. Examples:

• Arten: An issue of Time Magazine in the 1970s had the words “God is dead” on the cover (121). (He doesn’t say “on the cover,” but it is clear that he is referring to the famous Time Magazine cover.) Actually, the issue came out in 1966 and had “Is God dead?” on the cover.
• Arten: The Jefferson Bible “will be made available soon for those who want to see it” (218). It has been available at least since 1904 (some sources say 1903), when it was first published.
• Pursah: Pursah implies that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan occurs around the same time as Christmas (297). Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar and therefore can occur any time of year.
• Pursah: “Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire…by law any other religions or spiritual ideas were outlawed” (50). Constantine legalized and supported Christianity, but he did not make it the only legal religion of the Roman Empire. This was done by a later emperor, Theodosius (who reigned from 379 to 395 C.E.).
• Arten: “The United States…has much more of a responsibility when it comes to diffusing situations than anybody else does” (337). This one is worthy of George W. Bush; the correct word is not “diffusing” but “defusing.”

Robert Perry Chimes in:
https://circleofa.org/library/why-dont-the-masters-have-an-original-thought/
Robert observes that many of Purah’s channeled teachings sound coincidentally VERY similar to the teachings of Wapnick and use Ken’s unique language. He goes into great detail on this. An example:

Pursah: “You romanticize the South American rainforest by thinking it’s one of the holiest spots on earth. If you could observe in accelerated motion what goes on underneath the ground there, you would see that the roots of trees actually compete with each other for the water”
Wapnick: “We admire the beauties and wondrous delicacies of nature. Yet within this same world we perceive competition and destructiveness….Trees’ roots strangle neighboring roots seeking their rightful soil.”

If Gary were using ascended masters as a literary device this would make sense. Gary was a HUGE fan of Ken’s. It would be logical if some of his mannerisms rubbed off on Gary. But for an ascended master to plagiarize Ken seems a bit odd.
Gary Reacts to Robert Perry and Bruce MacDonald:
https://www.garyrenard.com/FraudAccusations.html
Gary very angrily defends himself against both complaints. Examples:

This latest, ludicrous controversy is being championed and promoted by Robert Perry and the so-called "Circle of Atonement." Robert has a long track record of attacking other A Course in Miracles teachers, including Ken Wapnick and myself. For 15 years, Robert has been the most divisive force in the A Course in Miracles community. His actions over this long period of time are an insult to everything that A Course in Miracles stands for.
…
As for Robert Perry, his jealousy of me is so severe I think at this point the only thing that would stop him from trying to attack me would be if someone drove a wooden stake through his heart.
…
Robert Perry will try to tell you this isn't personal with him. Don't believe him. He'll try to tell you that he's a "scholar." A scholar? That's odd. I don't see a PhD next to his name. How honest is that?

Jesus Twin Theory
Bruce MacDonald believes that Jesus had relatives who were his disciples…and this included his twin brother Didymos Judas Thomas. The words Didymos and Thomas actually mean twin. Judas was a common name and note this wasn’t the same Judas that sold Jesus. All that said though, I don’t believe this part of the story. Twin is more likely to be symbolic (more on this below).
Kim MIchaels Chimes In:
Jesus (per Kim) explains that the disciples did not write any of the gospels directly. Also he didn’t dictate them, but there was some inspiration: https://ascendedmasteranswers.com/gospel-of-thomas/
Jesus (per Kim) when asked if any disciples (specifically Thomas) were fallen beings, admits some were. On Thomas he says he has moved on and made his ascension: https://ascendedmasteranswers.com/gospel-of-thomas/
Jesus (per Kim) is asked if Judas Thomas is the biological twin brother of Jesus. Jesus indicates no. Rather family terms were used for spirit ranks. First there was brother, then bride, then twin (these were figurative not literal terms). Thomas reached twin status, which allowed Jesus to communicate with him more effectively. This seems to contradict Bruce’s testimony. https://ascendedmasteranswers.com/judas-thomas/ & https://ascendedmasteranswers.com/becoming-a-twin-of-jesus/
Mother Mary (per Kim) responds to a question about the “The Disappearance of the Universe”. She claims this is not a legit book. Masters don’t travel back in time to teach to themselves. The true messagers for DU are actually coming from a lower mental realm and not the ascended realm. She is generally dismissive of DU: https://ascendedmasteranswers.com/ideas-from-the-disappearance-of-the-universe-by-gary-renard/
Gary’s Weird Connections:
Gary claims he found a girl who was the reincarnation of Helen Schucman. Apparently Ken agreed. Gary even posted a picture of him and the girl on Facebook.
Included in the photo is his wife Cindy who Gary claims is the reincarnation of Thaddeus. Bruce MacDonald claims that Thaddeus was not a separate person in the bible but was actually an alias for Thomas. So did Gary marry himself?
Even more confusing….on top of this there is actually a woman on this Reddit forum (I won’t dox her) who claims David Hoffmeister said she was the incarnation of Helen. But when David told Gary this, Gary said he already found his reincarnated Helen.
Reddit User Predicts Content for Gary’s 3rd Book
https://www.reddit.com/ACIM/comments/ecxr3b/comment/fbgc40k/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
This is odd…how could a Reddit user predict what content an ascended master would dictate to Gary for a future yet unwritten book?
Simon Magus Connection
https://web.archive.org/web/20210411093059/http://thomastwin.com/20%20A%20ACIM,%20Simon%20and%20Trinity.html
Simon per the bible was a magician and trickster. He’s considered a somewhat malevolent entity. Bruce MacDonald claims he was shown a vision in which it was revealed that th Gary was the reincarnation of Simon Magus and he is tricking people now as he did previously.

I have heard of at least two people who have had the experience of Simon Magus trying to “possess” their bodies since they were children, even trying to push them out of the body to take over. It would seem that, instead of withdrawing into the spiritual realms between lives, Simon Magus has remained as a “ghost,” a kind of psychic vampire who maintains his life in the astral realms by feeding on the lives of the living through the centuries. The people I have communicated with or heard of have had the strong sense of a negative male presence trying to take over their lives, draining their energy, alienating other people and claiming to be Simon Magus. In one case, this Simon actually insisted that the person who was the victim of this kind of “psychic vampirism” should read A Course in Miracles, in order to make the person more aware of the philosophy of Simon Magus and the Simonians. There was also a female presence which seemed to be Helen. I heard this from someone who was so traumatized by the disembodied Simon Magus since childhood that they searched on Google for anything to do with Simon and found my website, which confirmed for them all they had been experiencing. Fortunately, I have been able to help through The Prayer of Silence and The Thomas Book.

Thomas Book per Bruce MacDonald
Bruce claims this was dictated to him from Thomas…but it was also an experiential event. He believes he was there as Thomas in a previous life.
The contents of the book are interesting. This includes some unique takes. Eg He goes into detail on the background of Mary Magdalene and Jesus and how they were married early, but he left her early on to focus on his spiritual work.
The most extraordinary claim is of the crucifixion. Thomas claims that the disciples knew that Jesus would be executed. But they didn’t have photographs back then and knew the Romans could have difficulty identifying Jesus. So they hatched a plan to have “Saul” impersonate Jesus. He would be executed in the place of Jesus. The three ring leaders of this plan were Judas, Thomas and Peter (the three hot heads). They actually kidnapped Jesus and hid him away during the trial. Thomas believed a fake Jesus was crucified (hence the doubting Thomas meme), but Peter is irate and claims the real Jesus ended up on the cross which Thomas doesn’t believe because he was in charge of guarding the kidnapped Jesus. It is possible Jesus bi-located (masters can do this) to throw off this plan. Certainly both Mary’s saw Jesus on the cross…they would have recognized a fake Jesus.
What’s also interesting is the contempt that Thomas has for Peter in much of this book. To Thomas Peter is very dogmatic and overly critical of sex. Thomas was also not a fan of the essenes (which Peter was among), and was upset that apparently Joseph and Mary were kicked out of the essene community for minor rule violations.
Bruce MacDonald on the dictation of ACIM
https://web.archive.org/web/20210411093059/http://thomastwin.com/20%20A%20ACIM,%20Simon%20and%20Trinity.html

My Inner Guide tells me that A Course in Miracles was dictated by Simon Magus.
I dreamed I was in a house with many rooms. In them were people who had been turned into wooden statues, struggling to get out of their wooden confines. I knew immediately that they were living under a spell, so I went from room to room removing the spell “in the name of Jesus and of God.” Once the spell was removed, the people jumped up, looked around in a frightened way, realized they had been trapped in this house, and fled.
I then found the area in which the wizard put spells on people, his “workshop,” complete with intricately tangled paraphernalia hanging from the walls and ceiling. I cleansed the area of all psychic power and sealed it “in the name of Jesus and of God” so that the wizard would never again be able to entrap the unwary.
After I had completed this cleansing process, the wizard came into the entrance hallway where I stood. His face seemed familiar. I had thought this wizard would be frightening, but he was very friendly, with a round, smiling, jovial and pink face. He attempted, laughingly and in great good humour, to put a spell on me as well. I looked directly at him and, “in the name of Jesus and of God,” removed his power to cast spells.
That was the end of the dream. I have not met Gary Renard in the flesh but, when I woke, I realized the smiling man looked exactly like the pictures I had seen on his website.
The basic premise of the Course is that the world we experience is an illusion. This is similar to what Simon taught while alive. Simon Magus taught that Helen was an incarnation of the "thought of God," through which the angels were created. However, the angels, not God, then created the world. Since God did not create the world, it is an illusion. Simon taught that, to achieve salvation and union with God, it was necessary to realize that the world was not created by God but was an illusion created by the angels. Once his converts realized that, then the universe would disappear and they would experience oneness with God.

The Bruce MacDonald Jesus provides detailed insight into ACIM
https://web.archive.org/web/20190718234659/http://thomastwin.com/21%20A%20Jesus,%20God%20and%20ACIM.html (scroll all the way down to “Yeshua said it would be best for him to start”)
Robert Perry asks Bruce to ask Jesus about the Course. He does and the answers are very interesting.
It’s too long to repost here, but this Jesus is largely critical of the Course. He states the real author was impersonating him (something other sources have said) and its teachings are mostly incorrect (eg the Course indicates God is very far away when he isn’t). This Jesus also cites some examples of the Course changing between third person, “we”, and “I” when referring to Jesus as evidence something is up. This Jesus also says that Gary was not Thomas, and that Pursah and Arten are not ascended masters. This Jesus also says Simon Magus was the real author of the Course.

This brings us back to the actual authors of ACIM. I have asserted through Bruce MacDonald elsewhere on this website that the book was written by a first century magician by the name of Simon Magus.
That is only partly accurate, of course. In the same way as Judas Thomas was the ego centre of a particular Individuality (Spiritual Centre of Consciousness) in the first century, and Bruce MacDonald is the incarnation of that same Individuality in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, so Simon Magus and Gary Renard are the incarnations of a particular Individuality who is exploring the potential and the limits of the Docetic philosophy.
Individualities, Spirits, those centers of spiritual consciousness which are manifestations of the Divine Source, can choose to explore anything they wish – God has given them freedom to explore what they will.
It is technically this Individuality which is exploring Doceticism. It is this Spirit who developed the philosophy, partly in the incarnate state and partly between lives. The shorthand version of that is to say that Simon Magus developed the philosophy, since a major part of any of these explorations must take place in the body, and then, after developing and refining the philosophy further in the discarnate state, dictated it through Helen Schucman as A Course in Miracles.
Simon Magus was not the only one involved, but he was the primary focus of the Soul Group exploring the philosophy. And Gary Renard is not the only one involved in ACIM now, although he is the direct incarnation of what we can call the "Simon Magus Individuality." Ken Wapnick and a larger group of souls are also involved, although Renard is the present focus who will ultimately lead to its demise.

Robert Perry did write a response to these critiques of the Course. In general he was dismissive: https://circleofa.org/library/response-bruce-macdonalds-views/
Bruce then responds to the response: https://web.archive.org/web/20210618175625/http://thomastwin.com/22%20A%20Reaction%20to%20ACIM.html
Conclusions:
All these crazy stories are enough to make one suspect of ANY divine revelation or channeled source. My personal opinion is that Gary Renard is not consciously deceiving his followers. But, he is getting guidance from incorporeal life forms who are NOT ascended masters and ARE interested in deception. In this sense Gary is more of a victim, but he does he deserves blame for not showing discernment. I’m sure there are many instances by which these “ascended masters” behaved strangely and showed red flags to Gary who I suspect is loath to reveal these publicly.
As for Bruce, I don’t know what to think. He came from a more orthodox christian background and this may have jaded his view on the Course. He does make mistakes. But some of what he says rings true.
I don’t think either was the real Thomas. Although I think the disciple Thomas might have been one of the entities that was communicating to Bruce.

I feel destroyed I was already in a bad state. I was sad. I wasn't listening to conviction. I was letting myself get distracted. I read Ecclesiastes. And it destroyed me. To the core.
I've only been crying. Sometimes I think it's more of a reprimand. Because I wasn't living my life how I'm suppose to. Before I became a convert. Everything was useless. But after. I found meaning to it. It was God
My reasoning at the time. Was to live for God.
But. I got distracted. Maybe that's why I accidently came upon Ecclesiastes. I don't know though. But I'm hurt. I feel worthless. A sinner. Nothing but dust. I feel like everything that I would do, would be useless.
I need help. Some parts did stick out. There was this part were it mentioned that two are better than one. Because if one falls. He has the other to fall on. And the part were it mentioned that: something has to be destroyed to be built. Or rebuilt.
What should I do? Does anyone have any Bible verses? Or thoughts.
After writing that. I feel a bit better though.

I was already in a bad state. I was sad. I wasn't listening to conviction. I was letting myself get distracted. I read Ecclesiastes. And it destroyed me. To the core.
I've only been crying. Sometimes I think it's more of a reprimand. Because I wasn't living my life how I'm suppose to. Before I became a convert. Everything was useless. But after. I found meaning to it. It was God
My reasoning at the time. Was to live for God.
But. I got distracted. Maybe that's why I accidently came upon Ecclesiastes. I don't know though. But I'm hurt. I feel worthless. A sinner. Nothing but dust. I feel like everything that I would do, would be useless.
I need help. Some parts did stick out. There was this part were it mentioned that two are better than one. Because if one falls. He has the other to fall on. And the part were it mentioned that: something has to be destroyed to be built. Or rebuilt.
What should I do? Does anyone have any Bible verses? Or thoughts.
After writing that. I feel a bit better though.

For example, if you want to open a book to page 167, it will open to that page.
You don't have to know the page number to find the page, if you can give a basic description of the page, it will open up to that page. For example, if you need to find a specific verse from the Bible and can remember part of what it said, it will open to that page.