PE:I mean, just a cursory glance through different cultures of the world would show that seeking after God is something that people from around the world engages in quite a lot, in fact. I mean, how many world religions can you think of: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism (yes, has simple philosophical roots but it is basically a world religion now), Shinto, Bahai, Zoroastrianism (I know there are a few still out there) just to count a few major world religions. Then, from there, we could count the myriad of more localized tribal or natural religions.
Now, before I go further I of course need to make the disclaimer that I do not believe that any of these religions will lead a person directly to Jesus Christ and a saving faith in Him. However, these are, in and of themselves, faiths in some form of a god (small g). If you were right, and no man truly seeketh after God (in the way that you are using this verse), then the world should be void of temples, mosques, churches, alters, rings or whatever people would use to seek out answers from a divine, otherworldly source. But the world is not void of these; in fact, the world is brimming with these. People around the world, and throughout time, have sought to find some answers about the meaning and purpose of their lives here on earth, and while some have looked inwardly, most have looked outwardly (upwardly) to seek, desperately seek, God.
Now, if you want to say that most people don't want to know Jesus specifically, but want their own version of God, well I would tend to agree with you on that. I would probably go one step further and say that most of those who call themselves Christians don't want to really know Jesus specifically, which, by the way, is really what Barna's research is showing and showing quite well. But to use that quote so somehow suggest that all people are one small step away from eating each others raw flesh (which, I think, you alluded to in one post somewhere), I think you are wrong. Someone said that we have a God-sized hole in us, and I believe that completely. We were created to be relational beings and, ultimately, be in relationship with our Creator, and no amount of corruption from the Fall can take that most elemental purpose of our nature out of us.
Yes, exactly. Thank you for the good points. When I first read this I knew that what you were saying would be misunderstood and seen as an affront to certain folks carefully constructed beliefs.
JS:I'll stop back later to see if pe has figured out the differences of the God of the Bible from the Jaguar god of southern Mexico. Or maybe those demons that the Santera cult of Northern Mexico and the southern US likes to kill animals and people to. Unbelievable.
Jesse, what you say is a wild mischaracterization of what PE said. But it is a whole lot easier to see the world in black and white.
SD
You would think that by now I would have known that what I said would be misunderstood, lol! However, thank you for your words of encouragement. God never desired for us to have a relationship with Him only within the confines of humanly constructed beliefs, but if you try telling that to some people, well, you might as well be burned at the stake for such heresy.