Posted on 01/03/2002 11:19:13 AM PST by ArGee
A very rich man decided that he wanted to show kindness to the people of the fair city where he lived. Since he was very rich indeed, he decided to throw a banquet for the entire city. He rented the largest sports arena in the city and began his plans. He planned for huge amounts of the best food possible, making allowances for every religious and medical diet. He advertised the banquet in every possible manner - television, radio, billboard, door-to-door canvassing. Considering that there might be some who could not travel, he arranged for free bus transportation to and from the event, and some special-needs vehicles for all who could not ride busses. He even scheduled the banquet to run for 24 hours a day for several days so that everyone could be sure of being served.
He planned long and hard and finally the big day came. The rich man ate quickly and then went about wishing all his guests well and personally making sure that all had every need met. After a while he went outside to tour the grounds and talk with those who had not yet gone in, and those who had already left. Everyone was happy. Many were profusely thankful. It was a glorious occasion.
At one point the rich man noticed a group of people sitting outside a locked door with most unpleasant looks on their faces. Sensing they were not happy, he went over to them. He did not introduce himself but simply asked them if he could be of service.
"We want to go in through this door," one of them replied.
The rich man explained to them that the hall was arranged to feed a large number of people as quickly and effortlessly as possible. This required order inside, and the entrances and exits had been carefully planned to be as efficient as possible. He then offered to go call one of the golf carts that were avaialbe to help people who could not walk far to take them to the entrance. But the man replied, "We do not want to go in the entrance. We want to go in this door. We don't understand why we can't go in any door we wish. We think the man who set this banquet up is mean and hateful for insisting we go in through the entrance. He has tried to bill himself as a very kind man by offering this banquet, but he is not kind at all if he will not indulge us and let us go through this door.
The rich man was distressed at these words, but still attempted to please these people. He tried once more to explain to them what was behind this particular door, and how if they went in this door they would disrupt the meal service being offered inside. He offered to drive them himself, not only to the door, but inside the hall to their tables if they would only go through the entrance to enjoy the meal. Again the man said, "No, but only a hateful man would keep us from going through the door of our choosing. And we will sit here and tell anyone who will listen to us what an awful man he is until he lets us in."
At that the rich man was enraged and he shouted, "Enough." Then he called a police officer to have them thrown off of the property and ordered that they not be allowed to return until the banquet was over and all the scraps had been hauled away. Then, mourning for their loss, he turned to visit with other guests.
Several centuries ago, the Pope decided that all the Jews had to leave Rome. Naturally, there was a big uproar from the Jewish community, so the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community. If the Jew won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope won, they would have to leave.
The Jews realized they had no choice, so they selected a middle-aged man named "Moishe" to represent them. Moishe asked for one addition to the debate. To make it more interesting, neither side would be allowed to talk, and the Pope agreed.
The day of the great debate came. They sat opposite one another for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed 3 fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised 1 finger.
The Pope then waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat.
The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine.
Moishe pulled out an apple.
The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Jews can stay."
An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said, "First I held up 3 fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up 1 finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was right here with us. I pulled out the wafer and wine to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. "What could I do?"
Meanwhile, the Jewish Community had crowded around Moishe.
"What happened?" they asked.
"Well," said Moishe. "First he said to me that the jews had 3 days to get out of here. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Jews. I told him that we were staying right here.
"And then?" asked a woman.
"I don't know," said Moishe. "He took out his lunch, so I took out mine."
There is no Hell except in people's minds.
There is nothing we can do to offend the Creator because we are too small.
Do not judge others because everyone's spiritual experiences are different.
You will reap what you sow. God will always forgive you for your sins but you will have to ask forgiveness of those you have offended. That will hurt because you will experience how you looked to that person as you did what you did. However, you will experience how others reacted when you did good and loving things.
Scriptures were written by fallible men. If you want to experience the Creator go to your Heart and follow the Golden Rule.
The Kingdom of Heaven will manifest on Earth when everyone sees the Creator in others.
The Truth does not need to be defended. It will always out eventually.
Amen Brother..Too many do not understand the bondage they are in!
Definitely. I'm just saying that someone who looks into his heart and finds that he believes in Hinduism cannot be logically rejected as wrong, at least on the example you gave.
It's a minor point and I'm given to pilpul at times.
Sure, 'cuz either you will go to hell, or not...
As far as Him carrying me to the door, it is still not as easy as walking through the door directly in front of me (the very door that He's most likely poking his head out of to tell me to use the other door!).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to deny God or the "feast" which He has prepared. I'm just trying to point out what seem to me to be flaws in the analogy.
Cool! I'm straight outta Hell!
You inadvertently hit the nail on the head. This is the core difference between the believer (regardless of belief) and the non-believer. To me it's all about "what if" because the "what if" is the entire question. With all those sect of all those religions if only one is right my chances of picking the right one by chance are negligable, so I've got to study the situation and pick the right one through knowledge and understanding. Because according to most of the religions the what if that happens if I pick wrong is some form of eternal torment, what I still haven't figured out is exactly which eternal torment I'm trying to avoid, once I figure that one out I'll be most of the way to actually figuring which religion really is the one true religion.
It's the servants entrance. Only servants of God are allowed through.
And that's the problem -- if you are trying to convince someone to accept Jesus, who has not yet accepted Jesus, you cannot use logic that is axiomatic on belief in Jesus to achieve that.
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