Do Christians believe that Christianity is the only true religion?

[Kenny'sID]

But I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to @Aussie Pete , who said that he didn't think a family should have "coded rules and regulations that must be slavishly obeyed."

So? I was talking to you because you said something I disagree with, happpens all the time around here, but if you'd rather not answer the questions, that's fine.

 

[Kenny'sID]

You may think this sounds like a perfectly normal family, in which the father tells his children he loves them and sends them to a dungeon to be beaten if they won't obey Him. But apparently Aussie Pete thinks that rules and regulations don't feel like a family.

Is God doing that now? As I said he has one expectation of us since Christ, and there is no punishment by him at all until the end. We only need fear the very reasonable/normal laws of the land.

 

[Aussie Pete]

You know, you have a good point, and yet it makes me go the opposite way from you.

No, I wouldn't say a family relationship is a religion, nor a marriage. But the thing is, there are rules in Christianity. Quite a lot of them, actually. And the penalty for disobeying the rules is severe.

I don't know what your take is on the character of God and on the existence of hell. Maybe you believe that there is no hell, and that all people go to heaven? Or maybe that the question isn't important? But surely you're aware that there is a long tradition of fearing God as well as loving Him; that there is a long tradition of God commanding people to do things and punishing them if they don't; and that there is a widespread view among Christians that hell exists, and that people who disobey or reject God get sent there.

That doesn't sound much like a family to me.

Well, you'd be wrong. Children should be disciplined. I tried to give my kids as much freedom as possible without putting them in danger. I was raised like that myself. For a Christian, the consequences are not arbitrary. There is a principle of sowing and reaping. For example, I was not happy at one job I had and made a remark that got back to the boss. I ended up retrenched. I was married with 4 kids to care for. I lost the company car and a good salary. God did not get me the sack. I did that all by myself. A friend warned me that I was headed for trouble but I ignored him.

The reverse can happen. I'm reluctantly reformed leadfoot. A few years ago, I went back to my old way and I was pulled over. The cop was the head of Victoria's traffic operations. I recognised the name from news reports and such. He was no 3 in the hierarchy. I was sure I was gone. He asked my reason, asked my when I was booked last and went back to his car. To my amazement, he gave me a warning.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

So? I was talking to you because you said something I disagree with, happpens all the time around here, but if you'd rather not answer the questions, that's fine.

True enough. I guess I was a bit abrupt. Sorry.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

Is God doing that now? As I said he has one expectation of us since Christ, and there is no punishment by him at all until the end. We only need fear the very reasonable/normal laws of the land.

I'd say that if you're comparing Christianity to a family, with God as the father, then a good analogy for help would be the father locking his children up in a cellar to be beaten would be a pretty good analogy. Would you do it any differently? Let us not forget, it was God who created hell, and who created and maintains the process by which people go there.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

Well, you'd be wrong. Children should be disciplined. I tried to give my kids as much freedom as possible without putting them in danger. I was raised like that myself. For a Christian, the consequences are not arbitrary. There is a principle of sowing and reaping. For example, I was not happy at one job I had and made a remark that got back to the boss. I ended up retrenched. I was married with 4 kids to care for. I lost the company car and a good salary. God did not get me the sack. I did that all by myself. A friend warned me that I was headed for trouble but I ignored him.

The reverse can happen. I'm reluctantly reformed leadfoot. A few years ago, I went back to my old way and I was pulled over. The cop was the head of Victoria's traffic operations. I recognised the name from news reports and such. He was no 3 in the hierarchy. I was sure I was gone. He asked my reason, asked my when I was booked last and went back to his car. To my amazement, he gave me a warning.

You say Christianity should not be about rules but say children need discipline? Your views seem inconsistent.

 

[coffee4u]

I voted for one, but the wording is off for me. I don't see faith and trust in Christ as a religion, but as a relationship with God. While to me religion is something man made. Man aware of the spirit world, comes up with a system of beliefs. It is man striving for God but looking in the wrong place.

Would you say that the Ancient Greeks (Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, etc.) were also worshipping the same God as the Christians do, just in a different form?

I would say as above that they were very aware of the spirit world but being aware of it and understanding and knowing God are two different things. They mixed up the spirit and the physical as did all ancient cultures. Which is why they would make an idol and pray to it, or see a volcano and make a sacrifice to it believing they were gods or might be gods. These days people are still very aware of the spirit world but like the ancients they look in the wrong places, but now it is crystals or a Ouija board.

Now that isn't to say that there is no one who ever lived, who searched diligently for God and had the Holy Spirit come to them. If they had no other means of finding God because of when and where they lived I believe that is possible, but only God would know of such persons.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

I voted for one, but the wording is off for me. I don't see faith and trust in Christ as a religion, but as a relationship with God. While to me religion is something man made. Man aware of the spirit world, comes up with a system of beliefs. It is man striving for God but looking in the wrong place.

How would you feel about saying that there are many religions in the world, and that if you classify religion as "a particular system of faith and worship" then Christianity is one of them, but that Christianity is the only religion that allows a person to have a living relationship with God?

I would say as above that they were very aware of the spirit world but being aware of it and understanding and knowing God are two different things. They mixed up the spirit and the physical as did all ancient cultures. Which is why they would make an idol and pray to it, or see a volcano and make a sacrifice to it believing they were gods or might be gods. These days people are still very aware of the spirit world but like the ancients they look in the wrong places, but now it is crystals or a Ouija board.

I would say that is a very good way of putting it.

 

[Ceallaigh]

Would you say that the Ancient Greeks (Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, etc.) were also worshipping the same God as the Christians do, just in a different form?

Paul addressed that while in Athens.

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:29-31

 

[Ceallaigh]

To the question, yes. Because the Bible is so rich in history and geography going back thousands of years. I've heard it said that archaeologist have used the Bible as a chief reference source. It's comprised of 66 books written by 40 different people over thousands of years, and all those books by all those different people manage to intermesh and cross reference each other. It has the most substancial documentation of any ancient work. And so on. And Christianity itself is so unique compared to other religions. I can go into that in more detail later, but right now I'm on my phone.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

To the question, yes. Because the Bible is so rich in history and geography going back thousands of years. I've heard it said that archaeologist have used the Bible as a chief reference source. It's comprised of 66 books written by 40 different people over thousands of years, and all those books by all those different people manage to intermesh and cross reference each other. It has the most substancial documentation of any ancient work. And so on. And Christianity itself is so unique compared to other religions. I can go into that in more detail later, but right now I'm on my phone.

Thank you for your answer, MMXX!

 

[SkyWriting]

Would you say that the Ancient Greeks (Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, etc.) were also worshipping the same God as the Christians do, just in a different form?

They were attempting to worship the True God, yes. But people are highly influenced by peers and leaders and stories. You must admit that the Greek Gods provided more engaging stories.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/ba/d1/fcbad16c2e75eab815e2010532bf5b50.jpg

 

[SkyWriting]

If your answer is that yes, Christianity is the one, true religion, could you tell us why you think that? What do you mean by saying it is the "true" or "correct" religion?

The Jews and Jesus all followed the True God. But by the nature of sin we are not connected in Spirit except by Faith. Even Jesus had to endure the difficulties of living a life of faith.

But people have created their own versions of the One True God. Those are the other religions you see.

 

[InterestedAtheist]

One hates to quibble with options listed in another person's poll. That would seem to be bad form because it isn't my poll. I know this, and yet I feel compelled to question the underlying assumptions of the poll.

Not at all! Quibble away. It's your right to do so.

I think it would be helpful to define what is meant by "the one true/correct religion." What would it mean for a religion to be true or correct? Would we mean that every proposition asserted by the religion is true (assuming we could even codify a list of said propositions)? Would we mean that the general thrust and message of the religion is true, even if not every little particular claim were entirely accurate? Would we mean that the religion has great utility in that it fosters an overall increase in goodness and fraternity in the world? I could go on... So, could you specify what might be meant by a true/correct religion?

Would it really be helpful? I have a feeling that the Christians on this forum have a pretty good idea of what they mean when they say that Christianity is the one true religion. They mean that it is the only religion created by God, the only one with God's approval, the only one that has origins in divinity, and the one that gives one the best guidance in pleasing and serving God.

I'd also like to note that there was an equally viable option that was not listed--one could say that she believes that Christianity is the best of the religions while simultaneously believing all other major world religions possess substantial truths and increase the human family's overall goodness and charity.

An equally viable option? You're lucky to be living in the twenty-first century. In point of fact, what you are discussing is pure heresy.

Put more succinctly, even if you were to somehow establish that all the truth-claims of Christianity were accurate, you would not thereby establish that the truth-claims of other religions were inaccurate. The latter does not follow from the former. Not all truth-claims of the particular religions are mutually exclusive. In fact, many of them are not.

Well, exactly. This is precisely the point I made in the thread about religion being a cosmic shell game. It would indeed be an impossible task to assess all of the truth claims of every religion.

Logically, all of these options are possible:
1. All religions contain much truth within them, though more or less equally.
2. All religions contain much truth within them, but one of them contains quite a bit more truth than the others.
3. The project of religions is not so much concerned with truth as it is with goodness, so asking which one is true/correct is a category mistake. Religions are primarily concerned with increasing goodness, charity and mindfulness in the world, and are only secondarily concerned with ensuring that the practitioners know the truth.

I can see that these issues are important to you personally, but you are very much mistaken if you think that numbers 1 and 3 are agreed on by the vast proportion of any religion, or by the religions themselves, via their various holy books.
Put simply, most religions (most definitely including yours, Catholicism) go for option 2, and say that it is their religion that contains (to give an extreme understatement) "quite a bit more religion than the others."

I hope you'll forgive me if this seems like quibbling. But, I think these concerns are important.

Forgiven, of course! But yes, it does seem to me that you are quibbling about unimportant things. And if you think that Christianity says that all other religions are equally valid, then you seem to know very little of the history or current state of your own religion. May I suggest you do a little research?

 

[InterestedAtheist]

The Jews and Jesus all followed the True God. But by the nature of sin we are not connected in Spirit except by Faith. Even Jesus had to endure the difficulties of living a life of faith.

But people have created their own versions of the One True God. Those are the other religions you see.

I see. Thank you!

 

[Norbert L]

(Edited to add)
If your answer is that yes, Christianity is the one, true religion, could you tell us why you think that? What do you mean by saying it is the "true" or "correct" religion? And if you vote for one of the no options, please could you let us know why? I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

Thank you!

I was disappointed with your poll at first because you imposed the condition that the results can only be viewed after a person voted . The reason being that there's some nuance as to how Christ works in our kingdoms/governments here on Earth as read through events found in the Bible.

For instance the events just after Jesus read the Isaiah scroll in the synagogue and why did that group get so angry at him so that they were wanting throw him off a cliff?

I have heard an assertion made by a Christian scholar that the dominate consensus at that time in Israel was unless other nations didn't likewise see their 2nd Temple as the center of worship for the whole world, then there is no hope for that people from another nation in the afterlife. Which is strikingly similar to our modern concerns.

Then there's the stories of Balaam or Melchizedek, of which also are relevant in my view but I have no wish to start writing an exposition about. I'm not particularly gifted in the area of communication and it has taken me a full hour to write this down.

Good poll and question in my view, I believe it was worthwhile to spend this time.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I'd say that if you're comparing Christianity to a family, with God as the father, then a good analogy for help would be the father locking his children up in a cellar to be beaten would be a pretty good analogy.

Why is that a goods analogy. I asked you before what exactly was hell, and as I recall, I didnt get much of a reply. It may be no worse, if even as bad, as prison.

God wants us to go to heave very badly, so, I personally don't mind the threat of hell, but I can see how you would.

 

[SkyWriting]

James 1:27 says >

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27)

Reading this I would have to say visiting orphans and widows and not being in a church or circulating in society is the purest religion possible.



.

 

[SkyWriting]

I was disappointed with your poll at first because you imposed the condition that the results can only be viewed after a person voted .

That's pretty normal for any poll. (It encourages participation.)

 

[InterestedAtheist]

Why is that a goods analogy. I asked you before what exactly was hell, and as I recall, I didnt get much of a reply. It may be no worse, if even as bad, as prison.

God wants us to go to heave very badly, so, I personally don't mind the threat of hell, but I can see how you would.

There is huge disagreement on the subject of hell among Christians. Some think it's a literal burning fire, some think it's eternal and some temporary, some don't believe it exists at all. Don't blame me for that!

But for those who believe that there is a literal hell in which souls are punished, then how would you put that into an analogy in which God is a father to His children?