Originally posted by teacher-learner: Muslims, Jews, and Christians admittedly worship the same God, so there we do not disagree. The nature of our God is not so very different, only the manner or form of worship.
I see where you are coming from, but that statement can use a bit of clarification. If you think of organised religion as something created by society, in various cultures and different parts of the world throughout history, to work out man's relationship to God and the infinite---then yes, it makes sense that the same God is at the root of all faiths. However, if you look at the sacred writings of the various religions, and accept them as truth, it quickly becomes apparent that the half-dozen or so major world religions are all fundamentally incompatible with one another.
Posts: 232 | Location: The Land of Trees and Heroes | Registered: 10 June 2007
Originally posted by Phil Knox: Oh, then this must be what you all want: a nice safe bowl of oatmeal
Hmmm, that makes no sense, in light of what I or anyone else was saying. What I want is for people to back up their viewpoints using logic and common sense. Over-emotional name-calling and shouting certainly is not going to make me inclined to take a poster seriously; quite the opposite, in fact.
Posts: 232 | Location: The Land of Trees and Heroes | Registered: 10 June 2007
Posting truth on this forum will only cause an avalanche of others asking what is truth. Convincing someone on such a forum as this of anything aside from their own personal beliefs is next to impossible, as I see it. It all becomes sort of a wrestling match of egos and self, blindness and desperation, all intertwined in some sort of gory dance. There were times Christ didn't mess around. In Matthew 21, he went into the temple with straps and threw out the moneychangers and likely called them a few names to boot. He didn't sit around explaining to them in logic terms. Why? Because they knew better and didn't act accordingly. He was fed up with them. Other times, he looked at people like sheep without a place to go. And compassion rang thru the scene.
I do not think this forum is in anyway going to convince anyone of anything they don't already hold onto. Like a bad relationship that you think you can save, others will not agree with me and try to make their convictions, good, bad or indifferent, real in the lives of others thru this forum no matter what.
No thanks!
I said what I had to say and I see that it comes a point where you say, if people want to go on this endless road trip of their mind, so be it. But count me out here.
Posts: 3954 | Location: South Orange County, CA USA | Registered: 28 June 2002
Originally posted by Nard Kordell: Posting truth on this forum will only cause an avalanche of others asking what is truth. Convincing someone on such a forum as this of anything aside from their own personal beliefs is next to impossible
Discovering God is all right there in scripture. So I agree. People either want to believe it or they go off on their own trip. I tend to agree people like oatmeal-theology instead. I've said all I can say as well here.
Posts: 624 | Location: San Francisco | Registered: 27 October 2006
Wars between religious groups will go on to the end of time. It's the Christian's individual's response to Christ, that gives him to outlook of peace. If sin gets in, that person will not see straight. If a moral collapse comes in, that person's agenda gets tweak into twisted and convoluted passages of the mind and soul. I am a firm believer that the moral compass must be true in a person's life for them to truly be a follower of Christ. If one fails, then one has recourse, Jesus Christ. Reject Christ, reject a recourse. And so when I see that the latest slaughter of people in a religious war is escalating each day, I say they can call themselves Christian but they cannot truly be exercising the love of Christ.
Take for instance the latest body count in the mob clashes of burning churches and mosques this passed Saturday. The body count is now way over 300 and counting. I'm not talking about Mumbie, the former Bombay, India city. I'm talking about Jos, Nigeria, where Christians are being slaughtered, as well as Muslims . You don't read much in the news about this. Then you don't read about other killings thru-out the Christian communities where missionaries are murdered or kidnapped and tortured.
I agree there is a futile attempt to get across truth here. Truth is God inspired and God given. Truth explains God to a person. Truth is intuitive. It's deep within the soul. It is inherently written on people's souls and hearts before they are born. It's written across and thru the created things of this planet and the glory of the stars. You bury it, you ignore its promptings, you turn to 'other gods' in the soul, and you become hard and mean. You no longer listen to truth when you see it, feel it, or hear it.
Wow, looks like everyone is bailing on this thread at once. I would say "It's just as well"---if I thought that the main purpose of message-board discussions is forcing one's own beliefs on others. And we all know that simply does not work: I had said previously that I very much doubt that any forum discussion is likely to change the way people think.
For me (and a good many others, I would suppose) that's not really the goal. I simply think it's interesting to hear about other people's systems of belief, and getting to the root of why they believe as they do. Once understanding is reached, I can examine any espoused doctrine and think "Does this make sense to me? If so, why---if not, why not?"
I don't think the comparison of Jesus in the temple to forum discussion is particularly apt. I certainly can't see any harm in an exchange of ideas, or a discussion as to the merits of any particular interpretation of scripture. Any belief that is worth its salt can certainly stand up to a little scrutiny.
I doubt that this thread will die off entirely, if it's lasted this long, however! If anyone at all has a reply to the specific OT/NT question I was wondering about earlier, I'd be most curious to hear it! cheers----This message has been edited. Last edited by: theoctobercountry,
Posts: 232 | Location: The Land of Trees and Heroes | Registered: 10 June 2007
The XXX Xmas parody has no place here. Truth be told? Lots of good priests are ashamed to even wear the collar in public. Father Corapi, popular Catholic theologian, has talked about how he has been ridiculed on buses and trains while wearing a Roman collar. This is not a parody. It's an insult to the Roman Catholics online here.
Posts: 439 | Location: Oak Park, IL | Registered: 19 July 2006
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