Is Christianity the only possibility for a true religion?
Ah, dear readers, how I have been neglecting this little blog.
For those that have posed questions, I am truly sorry. I honestly ponder each of your questions every day, so my lack of response does not mean I haven't been thinking about them. With being away several days last week, the previous few days were too busy with packing/cleaning/prepping the house for sale to be able to sit and luxoriate over my answers, and I really didn't want to shortcut them.
Anonymous had asked (way too long ago):
I am still not sure though why your "way" is the right one? Dont get me wrong, I totally respect your beliefes, as I do anyone's, even if I do not agree with them. The thing is I believe we create our own God/Goddess (the reason I also say Goddess is because the Goddess is a major part of my faith.), so if someone is already follolwing a "religion" or spirituality that they are completely faithful of, why are they wrong? If you met somebody like this would you try to "convert" them?
I do hope I'm making sense. And I would like you to know that I mean no offence!
First of all, don't worry about offending me - I'm not easily offended and am always open to rational discussion about any of my beliefs. I hope you don't mind if I ask you some questions about your own beliefs for clarification, and I hope that you know that I, too, am asking these respectfully, out of genuine curiosity.
It's interesting that you believe that we create our own God/Goddess. Can you explain more about that? I've never met anyone with that belief. How does one create a God/Goddess?
I'm really curious about this, since - from my experience - the Creator is always greater than the Creation. Anything I would make would seem that it would, by nature, have to be less than me. I can't imagine worshipping something that I made, since it would be less than I am. In that light, it would make more sense to worship myself, but that, too - to me - seems unfathomable, because knowing everything I've done in my life, I don't consider myself anywhere near worthy of worship.
You ask if I met someone with different beliefs than me, if I'd then try to convert them. My answer is yes and no. I believe that God is the One who calls us to salvation in Christ. I also believe that He calls everyone to that salvation. However, we are all at different points in our lives, and sometimes, we aren't at the point where we are ready to respond to that call. For ages, there has been a debate among Christians about free will versus predestination - for instance, are we all puppets of God's, moved around by His will (presdestination), or do we make our own choices, even though God knows what they are ahead of time (free will)? Personally, I don't believe that we could possibly be God's puppets, because if that were so, we wouldn't mess up as often as we do. Therefore, the free will that we have interferes with God's call to salvation.
I know this answer is getting long-winded, but I'm getting to my point. I don't think any person has ever been argued into faith with Christ. I could sit with a person and counter-argue every point that they make, but unless their heart is ready to accept Christ and both the rewards and the ramifications (for a Christian life is one that is held to a higher standard) of that commitment, the arguing will get us nowhere.
I don't believe that *I* have the power to convert a person. It depends on the point that their heart is at. That's why I don't believe in some Christian evangelical programs that teach Christians how to "witness" - to go through a list of steps that a person needs to go through to get "saved." I think that we do evangelism a disservice if we launch into a pre-rehearsed script when speaking with someone who doesn't believe in Christ. Instead, I think my responsibility is to listen to that person's unique and individual concerns, to respond to those to the best of my knowledge and then to demonstrate the love of Christ to that person and to pray for that person. Do I hope a person will get converted? Absolutely, because - like I wrote in my last response - I believe that Jesus is the only way to God (John 14). But you also won't find me on street corners going up to random people teaching them the Romans Road.
I know I still haven't answered the main question that you asked: I am still not sure though why your "way" is the right one. I have been trying to think of another way to explain this in the two weeks since my last communication with you, and I find myself going in circles. I can explain my answer in terms of what the Bible says, but this is futile if you do not believe the Bible to be an Inspired text. For clarification, it is impossible to believe that both Christianity and another religion are both right, because one of the premises of Christianity is that it is the only true way to God, so you would be contradicting Christianity if you believed in both it and another faith. To prove to you that Christianity is true is an impossible metaphysical argument; I simply cannot prove it on a purely intellectual level. Do I have intellectual reasons for believing in Christ and Christianity? Absolutely. I am an intelligent person - I simply could not accept a faith on intuition alone. But to present fool-proof evidence that Christianity is it is beyond me, and perhaps even beyond the purpose of Christianity, which requires faith - "the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
If you are interested in some of the intellectual "evidence" that I have used to establish my faith in Christianity, I encourage you to read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (a deeply philosophical book) or A Case for Christ by Lee Stroebel. Stroebel was the legal-affairs editor for a major U.S. newspaper when his wife became a Christian. An established atheist, Stroebel set out on an intellectual pursuit of historical evidence that would prove to his wife that Christianity was wrong and historically inaccurate. Instead, to his skeptical dismay, he found the opposite and ended up becoming a believer in Christ. His writing, while very smart, is also very conversational and is anything but dry.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
For those that have posed questions, I am truly sorry. I honestly ponder each of your questions every day, so my lack of response does not mean I haven't been thinking about them. With being away several days last week, the previous few days were too busy with packing/cleaning/prepping the house for sale to be able to sit and luxoriate over my answers, and I really didn't want to shortcut them.
Anonymous had asked (way too long ago):
I am still not sure though why your "way" is the right one? Dont get me wrong, I totally respect your beliefes, as I do anyone's, even if I do not agree with them. The thing is I believe we create our own God/Goddess (the reason I also say Goddess is because the Goddess is a major part of my faith.), so if someone is already follolwing a "religion" or spirituality that they are completely faithful of, why are they wrong? If you met somebody like this would you try to "convert" them?
I do hope I'm making sense. And I would like you to know that I mean no offence!
First of all, don't worry about offending me - I'm not easily offended and am always open to rational discussion about any of my beliefs. I hope you don't mind if I ask you some questions about your own beliefs for clarification, and I hope that you know that I, too, am asking these respectfully, out of genuine curiosity.
It's interesting that you believe that we create our own God/Goddess. Can you explain more about that? I've never met anyone with that belief. How does one create a God/Goddess?
I'm really curious about this, since - from my experience - the Creator is always greater than the Creation. Anything I would make would seem that it would, by nature, have to be less than me. I can't imagine worshipping something that I made, since it would be less than I am. In that light, it would make more sense to worship myself, but that, too - to me - seems unfathomable, because knowing everything I've done in my life, I don't consider myself anywhere near worthy of worship.
You ask if I met someone with different beliefs than me, if I'd then try to convert them. My answer is yes and no. I believe that God is the One who calls us to salvation in Christ. I also believe that He calls everyone to that salvation. However, we are all at different points in our lives, and sometimes, we aren't at the point where we are ready to respond to that call. For ages, there has been a debate among Christians about free will versus predestination - for instance, are we all puppets of God's, moved around by His will (presdestination), or do we make our own choices, even though God knows what they are ahead of time (free will)? Personally, I don't believe that we could possibly be God's puppets, because if that were so, we wouldn't mess up as often as we do. Therefore, the free will that we have interferes with God's call to salvation.
I know this answer is getting long-winded, but I'm getting to my point. I don't think any person has ever been argued into faith with Christ. I could sit with a person and counter-argue every point that they make, but unless their heart is ready to accept Christ and both the rewards and the ramifications (for a Christian life is one that is held to a higher standard) of that commitment, the arguing will get us nowhere.
I don't believe that *I* have the power to convert a person. It depends on the point that their heart is at. That's why I don't believe in some Christian evangelical programs that teach Christians how to "witness" - to go through a list of steps that a person needs to go through to get "saved." I think that we do evangelism a disservice if we launch into a pre-rehearsed script when speaking with someone who doesn't believe in Christ. Instead, I think my responsibility is to listen to that person's unique and individual concerns, to respond to those to the best of my knowledge and then to demonstrate the love of Christ to that person and to pray for that person. Do I hope a person will get converted? Absolutely, because - like I wrote in my last response - I believe that Jesus is the only way to God (John 14). But you also won't find me on street corners going up to random people teaching them the Romans Road.
I know I still haven't answered the main question that you asked: I am still not sure though why your "way" is the right one. I have been trying to think of another way to explain this in the two weeks since my last communication with you, and I find myself going in circles. I can explain my answer in terms of what the Bible says, but this is futile if you do not believe the Bible to be an Inspired text. For clarification, it is impossible to believe that both Christianity and another religion are both right, because one of the premises of Christianity is that it is the only true way to God, so you would be contradicting Christianity if you believed in both it and another faith. To prove to you that Christianity is true is an impossible metaphysical argument; I simply cannot prove it on a purely intellectual level. Do I have intellectual reasons for believing in Christ and Christianity? Absolutely. I am an intelligent person - I simply could not accept a faith on intuition alone. But to present fool-proof evidence that Christianity is it is beyond me, and perhaps even beyond the purpose of Christianity, which requires faith - "the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
If you are interested in some of the intellectual "evidence" that I have used to establish my faith in Christianity, I encourage you to read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (a deeply philosophical book) or A Case for Christ by Lee Stroebel. Stroebel was the legal-affairs editor for a major U.S. newspaper when his wife became a Christian. An established atheist, Stroebel set out on an intellectual pursuit of historical evidence that would prove to his wife that Christianity was wrong and historically inaccurate. Instead, to his skeptical dismay, he found the opposite and ended up becoming a believer in Christ. His writing, while very smart, is also very conversational and is anything but dry.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
posted by Heather at 10:30 AM
2 Comments:
Just a little note regarding "creating your own God". I don't know if this is what anonymous meant, but that's at least how I understand her/his words.
To me, "creating" your own God has nothing to do with physically creating something. As in, it's not Creation as you know it from the bible. But to most people, God or the Divine is something we "make up", we have our ideas of what this entity is like, what it does and what it looks like etc. So in that sense, you would have also created your own God, with the help of the bible and other people's teachings. I would assume that most devout christians have pretty much the same idea of their God (since they all get their inspiration from the same book), but a lot of people who consider themselves spiritual rather than religious have an idea of how they picture God, which they've made up themselves (with various influences). So "creating your own God" does not put you above the real Creation and its Creator, it just means you used your imagination :-)
And in case you haven't figured that out anyway, that's pretty much my way of thinking of God, too :-) I believe there is something out there, but what it's like, I don't know. I can imagine it, but it's my own idea I'm picturing.
How miika explained "creating your own God" is partly what I meant. I also think that if you have faith in something, if your God/Goddess is real in your mind and your life, then that's what makes it real. Make sense?
To me, I'm not sure that the creator is greater than the creation. Definatly more wise, but when I think of my divinities I do not fell like they are above me. My God/Goddess is not so much a leader, but more a guide.
After reading your entry I know that you are a totally respectable person. I have a problem with people who do think they have the power to convert me to whatever they believe in. And I think it is very admirable that (from how it sounds) you are there completely to help people when they come to you.
Isn't that great that by trying to prove someone wrong Lee Stroebel found what he beleived in?
This is what I think...that faith is beautiful, whatever it is you have faith in. I do beleive that some people/groups take faith to far. I think that if you believe in something/someone, then that is enough...for just you to believe in it, noone else has to. You are enough to make it real, and if it is real to you then it is real.
PS I wish you did think yourself worthy of worship! You can still recognize your faults/mistakes and love yourself.
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