Posted on 08/27/2003 6:18:43 PM PDT by joesnuffy
IIRC, with the Last Temptation of Christ the same folks who are applauding now were protesting then.
No, they are 100% correct -- IF that is what they believe. It is just that they are not the ONLY ones who are right.
Once you believe in Christianity as the True and Proper Way, you can't un-cork the bottle. If in your heart of hearts, you honestly believe this is The Way, then God will (I believe) hold you to this.
I accept it as a fact that God sent His Son to save me. I openly share this view with others. I do not arrogantly believe this is the only correct view. I just believe that has relevance to those to whom His vision has been shared.
I also believe that most of Liberal America also know the truth and defy it, through immorality, as an extended adolescence of "I can do what I want to do so nyaah."
In this they are wrong, since they know the Christian Truth and purposely turn a blind eye.
I judge these to the extent they are destroying America through the constant substitution of license for freedom (or freedumb) and to the extent they keep conservatism from accomplishing the good works that can only come from abundance, which comes from solid fiscal conservatism (witness California).
Do you see and understand the difference?
I knew a redneck once who didn't believe in the law of gravity for one particular stunt he was about to do. He is a posthumas Darwin Award recipient.
I think people are hesitant to say, "I don't know." We read the Bible and it says we need Christ to be redeemed. What about people who've never heard of Christ? I assume, since God is merciful, that he will not hold people responsible for what they cannot know. But I don't KNOW that. I can state what I hope, I can state what seems fair to me, but I cannot with any certainty say for sure what God will ultimately do.
Ah. I see. One time, UBL was asked by a Western Journalist "how can I not have you hate me?" His answer "convert to Islam."
You are in good company.
Who is more likely to slice your throat if you don't convert to his belief, UBL or Billy Graham?
This obviously is a trick question. The correct answer by OBL should have been-
"If the Americans kill me first".
CINO's who say that theirs is the only True Religion are members of the Christian Taliban.
Well, I for one could care less about the idol of Moses and the 10 commandments that everyone is stupidly fighting over. But as far as the other point, it isn't Christians who came up with the idea of Jesus being the ONLY way. He said he was the only way to GOD because he was God. Now you no doubt have your opinion of who or what Jesus was. I think it can be pretty well established apart from faith that he was a historical figure. I have frineds who were against the war in Iraq because they reminded me that Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers. . ." But in the same discourse Jesus said "Blessed are you when men shall hate you and revile you for MY NAMESAKE." And they will admit they hate Bush because he is a Christian.
So, one cannot quote the Jesus they like and ignore the words of him they do not like. He claimed divinty, so if anyone wants to quote him they have to ponder this; They are quoting a man who claimed to be God. Either he was, or he wasn't. If he was, then he spoke the truth. If he wasn't who he said he was then he was something else; either a humongous liar, a very delued man (extremely crazy), or someone with an evil purpose.
I appreciate the honesty of your post, but it raises a particularly obvious observation. If God did indeed allow his Son to come to redeem you, then it was a foolish thing to do. Why did he do it if it wasn't necessary. I am also wondering how you choose what part of the scriptures are true and which are not. Is it something you have figured out, or been enlightened to, or is it what some one has told you. Was Jesus kidding when he said that he was the only way? Or was that a part of what of what he said that you reject.
I do not arrogantly believe I am so wise as to know when he didn't really mean what he said or claimed.
I know you won't like this one..but did you see him arise?
His disciples and others saw and talked with Him on more than one occasion after His resurrection. It is the miracle that transformed a terrified group which should've quietly faded away into a dynamic and continuing testimony to what they heard and saw, despite great sacrifice and danger.
Thank you. I'll accept all the help I can get.
This is a by-product of Christianity. The point of Christianity is something different.
1st Reality of how Biz: Anyone can make a movie. That's the easy part. If there's no distributor, there's no show.
No, they are 100% correct -- IF that is what they believe. It is just that they are not the ONLY ones who are right.
Different faiths believe different things. That's fundamental. Complete agreement.
Here's where we differ: as a Christian, I have to believe that God's word - as recorded in both the Old and New Testaments - is 100% correct. To believe less than that would be, well, not Christian. Since He says that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ, I have to believe that as well. And I do.
So when someone asks how Jews (or Muslims, or Wiccans, or Vegans, or whomever) can be saved if they do not believe in Christ, I have to answer, as a Christian, that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, what's the point of being a Christian?
Note the poster didn't ask the Jewish (or Hindu, or Rastafarian, or whatever) viewpoint on salvation. If he had, I wouldn't have answered, because I don't know. He asked specifically about Christ.
But according to you, when I state what I believe, it puts me on a level with Osama bin Laden.
So to summarize your viewpoint, it is all well and good for me to call myself a Christian as long as I don't actually believe it. Or maybe that it is ok for me to believe it, as long as I don't take it too seriously.
It's an honest answer, not intended to be clever.
How pithy. I'm in awe of your intellect. It ranks right up there with the clymer who started this by stating that jews couldn't be saved unless they believed in christ.
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