“Every religion has some garbled fragments of truth mixed in with it -— didn’t Paul speak of this at the Areopagus?”
Indeed he did, something I remember every time I stand there. These truths, however, are usually far more than mere “garbled fragments of truth.” The Fathers called them the “sporoi tou Theou”, the seeds of God.
You are correct, these are “seeds of God.” I only said “garbled fragments” because they are just that, fragmentary, and garbled when deprived of a Judeo-Christian context. When Paul places these in a Judeo-Christian context, they make total sense. In fact, “In Him we live and move and have our being” is, to me, one of the MOST beautiful and true statements of who we are in God.
The times of this ignorance God winked at: BUT NOW COMMANDETH ALL MEN EVERYWHERE TO REPENT: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17:30,31 (KJV)