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I don’t know if there is one, but an ‘ask a baha’i’ might be a good thread.This is the Baha’i view, that “All the Prophets proclaim the same Faith”
I’d love to go back and forth, but don’t want to hijack the thread.
I don’t know if there is one, but an ‘ask a baha’i’ might be a good thread.This is the Baha’i view, that “All the Prophets proclaim the same Faith”
=daler;10831855]
My dear friend in Christ;Consider your search for God from this persepective.Truth is logically; theologically and Morally singular per defined issue.Truth is GoodGod is one [the First Cause]God as the First cause Created the Universe.WHY? God didn’t have to do it.“And every one that calleth upon my name,** I have created him for my glory**, I have formed him, and made him & This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise”Isaiah 43: 7 & 21
Isaiah 55: 6, 8 "Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “
God did not have to create man. But he did it for the possibility of being Glorified by man, who alone can choose to do so.
There is only One God: “Good and Perfect”
One God can only hold One set of Faith beliefs on long defined issues
God has always [historically abd biblically provable] had for reasons He alone fully understands; One chosen people in the Old testament and Only One Church [todays CC] in the New Testament times.
So the truth you seek is:
One God
His One Faith
In His One church
ONLY the CC fully meets this criteria.
God Bless you,
Pat/PJM
=daler;10831855]
=daler;10835575]
Pat, I thank you for your insights. I once wrote a song which begins:
"There’s One Great Spirit in the whole universe,
One Religion to praise Him,
One Mankind, its the whole human race;
One God, One Religion, One Mankind…
=daler;10835575]
Daler, first a quick aside, for a bizarre study thing. I looked across several languages, with words for Black Elk. Oddly, I took it to Hebrew, oh my, now to take it to what those hebrew letters were, then the sound of them as hebrew is phonetic…ah, into the Greek from the sound of it…So, if someone had been listening to it in hebrew, a greek might have mistaken it (or vice versa) to something close to “hand of God”.-Also hints of being from the tribe of Judah more specifically of Joshua (much like the Powhattan in their circular arrangements of things, and I believe, the Sioux). I am still researching much of this-as I am curious about a supposed 17th generation grandmother of mine, Amonute Powhattan-thinking they might be from Tuscany wayyyyyyyyyy back.
I believe that there were many who spoke of good things, taught good messages, working towards what most organized positive religions do. Do you believe in strength in ‘solidarity’, singlemindedness of purpose? The words of Abraham Lincoln, a house divided against itself cannot stand. This is in agreement with what you said that we must become united. Christ has God’s presence living so much in his spirit, that he does not understand his mother’s concern and not knowing where he was at age 12. He is working throughout his life to unite the tribes separated from overwork and oversemanticism of the law used to separate, for power and control. He further states that that alone should be God’s (in the Lord’'s prayer). We are all children of God in the sense that He is our creator. Out of love for this God, we see a responsibility to live good, fruitful, lives that help others. In Mark 3:25, is where Lincoln got his quote…yes, he was giving a sermon, but needn’t have cited his reference as it was common knowledge of his time as that was the school textbook known to most. So with this unity of spirit alone, why is it that you will not accept Christ solely, to give more strength to the unity to ‘commune’ with God and all believers in the positive? It is through Faith that we know these things, it is with Hope that we work for a united future, it is with Love, we can feel and know that a truth must exist to unite us, It is the Spirit that gives the breath of Life to that Love. The beauty of the poetry of B’hai is undeniable, moving…let that not separate us from a Truth that can unite us. How big of a leap of Faith, can you make?
May God bless you and keep you, may His countenance shine upon you.
I believe the tribes got separated at different points in the journey…for even through mythology, certain truths shine through, legends more truths shine through, but of ancient history, it is the ‘jewish’ record keeping that has kept the most factual accounts of the histories…but not of those as they got separated, for which we now look at bits and pieces of archaeology and anthropology.
How far back in history do you want to go for your study of this? What proofs / truths in other religions do you expect to find?I’ve been haunted by a question with which I expect to be faced: How do I know that my religion is the correct one? Why not Islam? Why not Mormonism? I admittedly have not studied other religions as much as I should; I’ve read Catholic (and, in general, Christian) apologetics, but I haven’t read other apologetics of other faiths.
Medical advances today, have all but eliminated that risk to mother.Here’s an example: the Church teaches that we must never kill an unborn child directly, even to save a mother’s life; an innocent baby has done nothing wrong, by definition, so it cannot be punished with death. Many people believe this is a violent worldview that unjustly targets women, but nonetheless it is the moral outlook we hold to be true (and I have given a crudely brief explanation as to why that is).
We know who started Islam and when it started. They claim they descended from Abraham through Ishmael. That geneology concerning Abraham and Ishmael can be seen [Gen 17:20…]In comparison, many Catholics believe the majority of Muslims are out to spread Islam by force and violence, and they find this worldview barbaric and contrary to the nature of God; yet militant Muslims would say that it is in perfect correlation with God’s will, and is thus justified (undoubtedly, they would have their own theological arguments as to why it’s true).
We are Christians because of Jesus, bad Christians aside.My point is that we tend to close ourselves to other religions because we find them violent or illogical (among other reasons), but people do just the same thing to us. And no, I am NOT saying that Christianity is violent in nature; I am simply saying that things in the past (witch burning, crusades, Inquisition, etc.), as well as (perceived) violence in the present (my abortion example above), are used by others to claim that Christianity is “bad” and should therefore be done away with.
We believe what is true. Jesus is provable as is everything He did and said.So what do you say in this PARTICULAR situation? What can be believed? How can I be honest if I haven’t read a defense of each and every religion? I have no problem with Catholics who have honestly studied other faiths and reject them, but I’m uncomfortable with the notion that some Catholics (ha ha, yes, including myself) accept their faith as true even though they have had little to no exposure to other religions.
Once again, I am not having “personal issues” with my faith. So don’t take this hypothetical situation the wrong way. Por favor.
=daler;10839695]
Patrick, Thank you for your kind reply.
Ah this is a simple one.Alright, a massive disclaimer before I post seems to be in order: I am NOT considering converting to a different religion. This is a purely hypothetical question that I am asking so that I can better understand my own faith. So before you guys all start jumping on the “damnation-risk bandwagon”, please know that I ask this question because I wish to come to a better understanding of the world and why I believe what I believe.
I’ve been haunted by a question with which I expect to be faced: How do I know that my religion is the correct one? Why not Islam? Why not Mormonism? I admittedly have not studied other religions as much as I should; I’ve read Catholic (and, in general, Christian) apologetics, but I haven’t read other apologetics of other faiths. Wouldn’t I have, in the worldview of another religion, the same obligation to study it and be open to it, as we Catholics claim that others have the obligation to be open to our own religion as well? How can I say that I am right, while not being open to something which I’ve barely studied? Isn’t that imposing an unreasonable standard on other people?
I’m not looking for Catholic apologetics here; I just feel like an ignoramus regarding other religions. I want to understand why people believe what they believe, yet I haven’t done the proper research. I guess my question is: what would your advice be for me, given my CURRENT situation, if approached with this question, without undermining my own faith? I don’t find much integrity in claiming that my views are correct while also saying that I know little about what others believe. But as a Catholic, I also find it uncomfortable saying that another religion could perhaps be the correct one instead, not because I have some inherent fear that I’m wrong, but because I would be lacking faith in my own beliefs.
Catholicism has worked out for me, no doubt (not because it is convenient or anything like that; it’s challenging but has made me a much better person). Other people have undoubtedly been made better people as they’ve followed other religions, though; why am I any different? How can Catholics say that, for instance, secular society often paints a terrible image of Catholicism, while many Catholics do a similar thing by painting Islam as a violent worldview?
Here’s an example: the Church teaches that we must never kill an unborn child directly, even to save a mother’s life; an innocent baby has done nothing wrong, by definition, so it cannot be punished with death. Many people believe this is a violent worldview that unjustly targets women, but nonetheless it is the moral outlook we hold to be true (and I have given a crudely brief explanation as to why that is). In comparison, many Catholics believe the majority of Muslims are out to spread Islam by force and violence, and they find this worldview barbaric and contrary to the nature of God; yet militant Muslims would say that it is in perfect correlation with God’s will, and is thus justified (undoubtedly, they would have their own theological arguments as to why it’s true). My point is that we tend to close ourselves to other religions because we find them violent or illogical (among other reasons), but people do just the same thing to us. And no, I am NOT saying that Christianity is violent in nature; I am simply saying that things in the past (witch burning, crusades, Inquisition, etc.), as well as (perceived) violence in the present (my abortion example above), are used by others to claim that Christianity is “bad” and should therefore be done away with.
So what do you say in this PARTICULAR situation? What can be believed? How can I be honest if I haven’t read a defense of each and every religion? I have no problem with Catholics who have honestly studied other faiths and reject them, but I’m uncomfortable with the notion that some Catholics (ha ha, yes, including myself) accept their faith as true even though they have had little to no exposure to other religions.
Once again, I am not having “personal issues” with my faith. So don’t take this hypothetical situation the wrong way. Por favor.
Let me play the part of the curmudgeon: You have no obligation to be open to other religions at all.
There’s a particular depth in the Christian faith that defies anybody to explore it in a single lifetime, and given that our time here is short, let us dive into this good challenge and leave the shallow waters.
Thank you, my friend, and may God bless you ever with His ongoing guidance and loveSometimes cool waters run deep, very deep… I learned much in my studies not only of Jewish and Christian, but or Buddhism, Bhagavad-Gita (Song of God), even the depth of the Quran, once you really get into it, is profound. Most recently, the Holy Writings of the Bab (Gate) circ 1844 to 1850 Revelations, and Baha’u’llah (Glory of God) 1852 through 1892, continuous Revelation. Visit Baha’i.org if interested
I realize this is tangential to the point of the thread itself, but that’s not true, even according to the teaching of the Catholic Church herself. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East all have the same seven sacraments the Catholic Church has.Plus the added goodies. Confession for sins, the most Important the Living bread and body of Christ. Can’t get that outside of the Catholic Church.
What is rightness? What is correct? If someone simply loves God, with all their heart, you would make them feel inferior? inept? why??? You didn’t remember clause 1820 of the Catechism? what do you feel??? do you??? Love is an emotion…love is more than emotion…but we are humans, we cope and deal with this love not as Willie Wonka stating all the problems with prospective winners of the ‘golden ticket’!
“There shall be One Fold, and One Shepherd.”I think it is challenging to us to believe whatever it is that we believe, and that part of that belief is to withstand challenges in order to strengthen our beliefs and grow in them. Sometimes this is evolutionary in nature. God has progressively revealed His religion to us as humans over the course of thousands of years in order for us to grow, and part of that growth requires struggle. It can make us uncomfortable, with ourselves, and with others, as we try to deepen our knowledge of God and grasp the unity He intends for the human race.