Interfaith

[danny ski]

Jews push Romans to kill Him.
Jews wanted to stone Him to death.
You do not have to deny. As a Jew, you SHOULD do that. Otherwise, you are not a Jew.

Yes, and the man who ordered his death was relieved of his duties for excessive brutality. Does that sounds like a person who can be pushed around by the people he ruled? Jesus, like thousands other Jews, was crucified for real or perceived threats to the Roman rule in Judea. We got the blame because it was easier to sell Jewish guilt in the Roman World.

 

[juvenissun]

Are you willing to present your case for how true religion must be exclusive or not?

If you don't put the logic on the table I'm going to have to assume that there isn't one.

Sure, I am only afraid that you won't stay long in this topic:

First, and it must be the first, we need to define God. A systematic thought without a god is not a religion.
If agreed, then what is your definition of God?

 

[juvenissun]

Yes, and the man who ordered his death was relieved of his duties for excessive brutality. Does that sounds like a person who can be pushed around by the people he ruled? Jesus, like thousands other Jews, was crucified for real or perceived threats to the Roman rule in Judea. We got the blame because it was easier to sell Jewish guilt in the Roman World.

Without the Romans, would Jews kill Jesus? If I were a Jew, I say that Jesus must die.

 

[dlamberth]

A doctrine describes and explains the god.
A god without a doctrine is an unknown god.

Just because a person gets a manual on how to fly an airplane, they still need to get into the plane and fly it to actually know how to fly it. It's the same with knowing God.

 

[dlamberth]

If you don't think an unfaithful woman is wrong, then you may have your own way.

I look at the Lovers of God within the various spiritual traditions to see what I see if I want to see how alive God is in those traditions.

 

[Jack of Spades]

Sure, I am only afraid that you won't stay long in this topic:

First, and it must be the first, we need to define God. A systematic thought without a god is not a religion.
If agreed, then what is your definition of God?

I made a new thread for this, to attract more people to participate on the topic and to avoid derailing this thread:

http://www.christianforums.com/threads/does-religion-need-to-be-exclusive.7977251/

 

[danny ski]

Without the Romans, would Jews kill Jesus? If I were a Jew, I say that Jesus must die.

Well, it's good that you're not . Contrary to what people think, the death penalty was very difficult to impose beside the fact that under the Roman rule we had no authority to impose it. Jesus was executed by the Romans, under their laws and by their methods.

 

[juvenissun]

Just because a person gets a manual on how to fly an airplane, they still need to get into the plane and fly it to actually know how to fly it. It's the same with knowing God.

Yes. But the manual is still the essential part. You can not fly without it.
Where is the manual of your god?

 

[dlamberth]

Yes. But the manual is still the essential part. You can not fly without it.
Where is the manual of your god?

I find that nature is a manual that is directly written by the hand of God and signed off with His own signature. With that manual, God can being found and experienced with in Life itSelf.

 

[juvenissun]

I find that nature is a manual that is directly written by the hand of God and signed off with His own signature. With that manual, God can being found and experienced with in Life itSelf.

It won't work. Script is black and white. Nature is gray.

 

[juvenissun]

I'm curious, because this is a fairly strong statement. Is there any conflict with your statement of exclusivity with your use of the yin/yang? From my (admittedly limited) understanding, that symbolizes an understanding of nature as duality that exists outside of Christian thought. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's closely tied with Daoism.

I'd love to get your thoughts.

Daoism is a very exclusive religion. It converts any other deities into its doctrine. The yin/yang symbol shows a global concept, everything is included. It is an inclusive way of exclusivity.

 

[dlamberth]

It won't work. Script is black and white. Nature is gray.

I understand how it might not work for you. For myself though, God is a reality, and in that reality my Beloved God is life itSelf. And where you see grayness in nature, I see the Divine Source of all there is.

 

[dlamberth]

Daoism is a very exclusive religion. It converts any other deities into its doctrine. The yin/yang symbol shows a global concept, everything is included. It is an inclusive way of exclusivity.

Sorry Juve...if you knew anything about Daoism, you would know that there is absolutely no doctrine in Daoism.

 

[Jack of Spades]

Daoism is a very exclusive religion. It converts any other deities into its doctrine. The yin/yang symbol shows a global concept, everything is included. It is an inclusive way of exclusivity.

There are more shades of grey than absolute inclusiveness or absolute exclusiveness.

 

[juvenissun]

There are more shades of grey than absolute inclusiveness or absolute exclusiveness.

So what? Existence does not mean right.

 

[Jack of Spades]

So what? Existence does not mean right.

Ok, so if anything other than absolutes are banned I have a question:

If a religion calls themselves exclusive and yet accepts to live on the same planet with members of another religion, are they being logical?

To put it other way around: If a religion is inclusive enough to accept the presence of another religion on the same planet, is the religion inclusive or exclusive?

 

[juvenissun]

Ok, so if anything other than absolutes are banned I have a question:

If a religion calls themselves exclusive and yet accepts to live on the same planet with members of another religion, are they being logical?

To put it other way around: If a religion is inclusive enough to accept the presence of another religion on the same planet, is the religion inclusive or exclusive?

Christianity does NOT accept any other religions. Yet Christianity and other religions do coexist on the earth.

 

[dlamberth]

Christianity does NOT accept any other religions. Yet Christianity and other religions do coexist on the earth.

Maybe not Christianity, but I'm absolutely convinced that Jesus DOES accept other religions. For one example, Jesus was a Jew. He was not a Christian.

 

[Jack of Spades]

Christianity does NOT accept any other religions.

"Does not accept" can mean many things, for hypothetical examples:

- does not accept any interaction with members of other religions
- does not accept the existence of other religions and tries to destroy them
- does not accept (confess) other religions doctrines as a truth
- does not accept shared practice with other religions
- does not accept the presence of members of other religions in the same physical space with Christians (a building, a planet etc.)

These are all different levels of exclusiveness, as I pointed out earlier. Exclusiveness is not just a one absolute, there are shades of grey between how exclusive and how inclusive a religion can be.

You are using your very own, very specifically defined definition of "inclusiveness" and "exclusiveness" and assuming that those definitions are some sort of "ON/OFF" - absolutes for the words "inclusiveness" and "exclusiveness" that everybody else must use. Again, there are shades of grey.

Yet Christianity and other religions do coexist on the earth.

As you said yourself "Existence doesn't mean right". Right?

 

[Jane_Doe]

Christianity does NOT accept any other religions. Yet Christianity and other religions do coexist on the earth.

It is a fact that a Christian must only believe in Christianity, as part of the requirements of that faith.
It is also a fact that their a non-Christians out there and that they are Christian's neighbors.
Part of being a Christian is loving non-Christians and working with them in the world. These are the goals of inter-faith meetings: to love each other and work together. It's not to dissolve anyone's faith.