The rise of the fundamentalist right in America

[MrWookie]

Enrique,

Questions of whether to believe in any god at all are not ones I'm going to deal with. It's an issue of faith, and I agree it's not the reasoning part of my brain that's responsible for my faith. It's the illogical portion of me that deals with the basic question of faith, but I don't think that anything illogical is necessarily bad. If you maintain that the only issues in this world are the ones that are either observable or rational, then I don't have a logical argument that can refute this.

On the subject of multiple religions, I have a few more offerings, though. Now, the following is not scripturally based at all, so bear in mind that I'm just a man speculating, but I still think I have something worth considering. One idea I've toyed with is the idea that the same God came to different people of different nations, they each called Him by a different name, and each did their best to transcribe His message. We're all only human, though, so what each got written down differs from nation to nation somewhat, but there is still a great deal of commonality between all of the major religions. After that, though, the demagogues got a hold of the teachings and attacked the other groups as a means to rise to power rather than teaching what was first taught by God. That idea's a little out-there, but it's one answer I can offer for you to think about.

The more important thing I want for people reading here to take to heart is that Christians making a big deal of condemning people of other or no religions to hell are not really doing their jobs as Christians. As I mentioned to Dave, it is not our place to determine who goes where. What I know is that I have found a clear way to a relationship with God, and that's what really matters.

I'm well aware of scripture that is somewhat problematic for my interpretation here, notably John 6:53-54 and John 14:6. The former reads, "Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Many read this quite literally, thinking only those people who take communion can have salvation. They forget, though, that Jesus has not yet done the communion thing yet, so clearly what Jesus means by his body and blood at this point is not yet clear. My personal interpretation is that the references to His body and blood are metaphors for Jesus' teachings and love, respectively, but that's certainly up for debate. If you actually keep reading in John chapter 6, you'll see that these words actually caused many people to stop following Jesus.

And finally, on the subject of doing good versus having a relationship with God being more important, I know I'm not going to convince you, but Christians will (or should) disagree. It is written, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." We can do good sometimes, and it's important, but under our own power, we continually fall short. Thankfully, God fills in the gaps.

[MrWookie]

Brad, all,

Yes, the Gospels have many images and stories about both Heaven and Hell, although I'm not sure of the tally of stories of each. Revelation, though, was written by a guy named John who almost certainly wasn't the same John who wrote the Gospel. It shouldn't really be counted in Jesus' words about Heaven and Hell.

[Brad1970]

[ QUOTE ]
Brad, all,

Yes, the Gospels have many images and stories about both Heaven and Hell, although I'm not sure of the tally of stories of each. Revelation, though, was written by a guy named John who almost certainly wasn't the same John who wrote the Gospel. It shouldn't really be counted in Jesus' words about Heaven and Hell.

[/ QUOTE ]

Technically maybe not but it has alot about hell in it which reinforces my point. I added it as an afterthought.

[Enrique]

Wookie,
Your idea of how different people interpreted the truth in a different way is something I've heard before. I see a glimpse of understanding of other points of view as long as they are theistic. What about Buddhists or atheism? I guess the question means more with respect to Buddhism, I am ignorant on the subject, but Buddhism doesn't sound like a religion with a God. I can see Judaism, Islam and Christianity jumped together as similar and with different interpretations of the truth, but what about the others? Anyway, even if you consider that they are different interpretations of the truth, how is Christianity the "true" interpretation of the Truth? Why can only Western societies see it as the truth (and many of these societies see it as the truth after years of being tortured and killed to believe it).

With respect to doing good versus the relationship with God, you are correct that you are not going to convince me. I find doing good to be much more important than belief in God. I actually don't understand thinking otherwise. I don't like the phrase you quote and it doesn't seem like a good argument. It seems that the phrase tries to convince people to be humble and not boast about their actions, which is a poor reason to stop doing good.

The thing I agree with you, is not judging. I think it is a very important thing to stop conflicts. Not judging others for believing in different things.