Jesus

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: : I thought Christianity was the only way to the Father. : Jesus said HE was the only way to the Father. Christianity is not Jesus. : : The reason I'm concerned is not because they may all call on the God of Abraham, which Muslims do not (they call on Allah which is actually a moon god)... : Allah is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew Eloah and the Aramaic Elahh, and represents the one true God of both the Hebrews and the Muslims. (Eloah and Elahh are used 131 times in the Bible to refer to our God.) Muhammad rebelled against the polytheism of ancient Mecca and founded a monotheistic religion to serve the one true God. How does this endorse the serving of the moon god as a Muslim concept, no matter how semantics may have interchanged the words Allah and Ilah? : : but because our Scripture says that unless people believe in Jesus Christ, they cannot be saved. : This means that whoever does not will not find their way to the Father which means the god they worshiped was not the true God. : Which means that every thing true and beautiful and moral that was ever revealed to anyone from another nation or faith throughout the millennia was just an elaborate deception of Satan. How powerful and ever-present is this Satan! How small and weak and unfair is this God! (I speak now to this exclusionist viewpoint, not to you specifically.) : You tell the Buddhist or the Hindu that to be a Christian he must believe in the American fundamentalist exclusionist view and confess that all the truth and beauty he ever knew was really Satan, that all his family and friends are roasting in hell, and that he must deny all he has ever considered good and moral and pure to embrace your God. Then you can control him and judge him the way he sees you do your own people. No wonder he doesn't want your Christ. No wonder the world is gradually rejecting your Christ. Your God does not reveal Himself to the vast majority of the world's people and yet happily sends them to hell for their ignorance, which he has predetermined. He lets them have morals and principles and honorable examples to follow, and then those who try to do the best they know, he sends to hell, and tells them that in all these good things they did, they were really serving Satan. (This is not what Jesus taught.) The only Jesus they know is YOUR Jesus--the Jesus that shows no mercy and wants the majority of humanity to be destroyed, except your little corner of reality, of course. These multitudes of people you despise have not rejected God's mercy, nor what Jesus represented (the mercy and grace and salvation of God), nor the person of Jesus. They have rejected YOUR interpretation and oppression in God's name. They have not not stumbled at the offense of the cross; they have been offended at you. It is your religion they have rejected, not God. How many Buddhists have you led to Christ? How many Hindus? How many Daoists? None? I wonder why. Your God is a small and unrighteous God. Your Jesus isn't merciful. Reread the gospels, and relearn who Jesus is. Jesus, if He is indeed the ultimate revelation of God, should be extremely relevant to ALL people in all nations of all faiths. And indeed he is. But if your Jesus isn't, what does that tell you? : Back to you, my friend... : Let's examine the man who is justified in the parable that Jesus himself taught below. What did this man do to be justified? What did he believe? What did he confess? Did he know Jesus and confess him? If that was critical, why is it left out? : Luke 18 (NKJV) : 10* "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. : 11* "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, `God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. : 12* `I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' : 13* "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, `God, be merciful to me a sinner!' : 14* "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." : This brief prayer embodies a few obvious and important elements of faith: : The person acknowledges God. (one God) : The person believes that God hears Him. (personal and attentive God; omniscient & omnipresent) : The person acknowledges that God shows mercy. (merciful God) : The person believes God may be willing to show HIM mercy. (God is not willing that HE should perish) : The person acknowledges that he is is need of God's mercy. (salvation by faith, not works) : The person acknowledges that he is a sinner. (none are righteous) : In this, the person also acknowledges that God is holy and above sin. (righteous God) : In this understanding of God, the person humbles himself to seek God's mercy. : Now remember--JESUS said this man was justified. No semantic escapes will do here; justified means judged righteous, reconciled, made righteous, atoned for, "saved." This is the Son of God pronouncing someone acceptable, someone who did not call on HIS name nor recognize Him as the mercy and ultimate revelation of God in human form. But Jesus also said that only through HIM do people come to the Father. : Now spend a few years thinking and praying about this one. Go study the revelation of God throughout the world, throughout the centuries, all of the sacred stories, and all of the professions of faith. Some things will begin to stand out--specifically related to the elements noted above. Here are a few unorganized examples of these observations: : Some believe in one God; some believe in many. : Some believe in a personal God, from whom we derive our being; others believe in an impersonal force. : Some believe in an all-knowing and ever-present God; some believe God created and is now absent. : Some believe that humans are flawed and sinners; some believe there is no absolute concept of sin. : Some believe God is holy and righteous; some believe God (the gods) subject to passions like humans. : Some believe that we are in need of mercy; some believe we can be righteous through our works. : Some believe that God will show mercy to the humble, and make a way for them, and trust in Him... : How many people throughout history have acknowledged the perfection of God and their own unworthiness, prayed to the one true God who hears them, asked for His mercy, and trusted in it? Answer: Millions--most who never literally heard the Hebrew name Yeshua. Yet they trusted in the revealed mercy and righteousness of God--everything we believe Jesus to be. The name Yeshua (Yah=I AM + shua=salvation) means "Yah salvation," or "I AM salvation." Yeshua is the salvation of God for all who receive it. Now ask yourself: if a person who trusted in the God of mercy and loved Him, died and went to heaven, and Jesus appeared before him/her and announced Himself as the Salvation of God in whom they had trusted, who of these believers in God's mercy would not fall down and worship Him? None would abstain. The only ones who would reject Yeshua are the ones who rejected God's mercy in this life--who rejected the One true, personal, merciful, and righteous God in this life, who would not humble themselves or confess themselves as sinners, who would not trust in the mercy of God for salvation, who would not show mercy to others as they hoped to receive. Of course, regarding those who would gladly receive Jesus as the One in whom they believed, one might also ask what kind of a Lord would reject such a person who had trusted in everything He is and stood for, but mispronounced his name? Not the Jesus I see in the Gospels. : Now if you really want to learn (and are not afraid to find out that the Christianity you have been taught bears little resemblance to Jesus), look at other faiths through the lens of Jesus' parable for a while. : Next, examine the works of Jesus--those things He commanded his followers to do. Look at those from other faiths who have made such the ideals of their lives' work, and look at those in Christianity throughout the centuries who have, in the name of God, violated every one of these principles of Christ. Who is Christian now? Those who claim to follow Jesus, but have changed everything He taught as it pleases them and serves their purposes? Or those who really do His will? : Whose teaching was Augustine drawing from when he devised the principles of "just war?" Not Jesus', I assure you. And when the church used this concept to murder millions of innocents throughout the centuries who did not follow its authority, which Jesus were they serving? Which Jesus was glorified in the inquisitions? In the various crusades? Which Jesus was glorified in our murder of the native Americans from whom we stole this country? Which Jesus was glorified in the "accursed" Africans they kidnapped and enslaved to serve the "Christians?" This is our heritage--we cannot ignore it--and we do well to question EVERYTHING that is built on this foundation. : Which Jesus was being served when the British oppressed the people of India? But Mohandes Ghandi, who opposed them by non-violent means, and was willing to suffer and die for his people's deliverance, was inspired by Jesusā Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, and by the example of Jesus' willing suffering, as he followed his quest to free the oppressed people. Who is really following Jesus here? Those who claimed to have faith in Him, but did not follow his word, or the Hindu who believed HIS teachings and DID WHAT HE SAID. "You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you." Again, reread the gospels, my friend. "They will know that you are my disciples by the love you have one for another." "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." "If a man strikes you on one cheek, give him the other." And many more... : Our entire Christian church history is a merging of Hellenistic philosophy, pagan religions, and political organization into what became Christianity. This religion has come far from its origins in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who had compassion on the multitudes, who healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, and calmed nature with a word. It has come far from the teachings of the man who rose bodily from the dead, after being executed by political powers in the interest of unity. This same kind of political power was later wielded by the church for over over 1200 years, and many were murdered in the name of God to preserve the unity. A good SECULAR course in church history would serve you well, as would a new look at the Jesus of the Gospels--APART from your church's doctrines about him. You cannot help but see everything through the lenses you have been given. : This is but an introduction to a deep and troubling subject, and I rarely go this in-depth on the bbs. The exclusionist smugness and pat answers the average Christians get from their pastors on Sunday do not promote any real examination of these tough issues, nor do they acknowledge the reasons our faith is traditionally seen as cruel and oppressive to the majority of the world. We see our little corner of faith, and are convinced that everyone must see it our way to be saved.

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