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StevenFrancis
Guest
God bless and keep you on your journey. Welcome home. Thank you for your testimony.
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StevenFrancis
Guest
Truth is right. For the Church to say that she was anything other than what she is would be a lie. Each person, then, must discern. Besides their faith, they must also employ reason, and investigate the claims of the Church, and the claims of all other comers with the light of faith and reason. It is not for the Church to stop making her claims, simply because others also make claims. Only one is right.
It is for those who truly seek the truth to investigate those claims for themselves. Prayerfully, and honestly.
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Lynxdk
Guest
Because you mince words like crazy. Say what you mean, and mean what you say, then you shall have the answer you seek. You don’t even need to ask anyone here.You pointed out . . .
Then you say . . .
Then . . .
Confused about the connection.
Now . . .
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Shia_Muslim
Guest
Every Abrahamic religion believes it’s truth.
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Loving_disciple
Guest
That is what Catholics claim and will always claim. Jesus said I am the truth the way and the life. The CC was founded by Jesus so it is the truth making all other religions false or not having the fullness of the truth
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dzheremi
Guest
We might relate questions like this back to early Christian writers like Justin Martyr (c.100-165 AD), who wrote of other religions containing “seeds of the Word” (spermatikos logos) as a way of relating the religions of the past to the truth that is Christ. Of course, this is still a profitable way of looking at things, as no religion has things 100% wrong on every front. Still, it bears repeating that only one religion has things 100% right, and that religion is Christianity (out of respect for where I’m posting, I will cease to define it more narrowly than that, but certainly I would not be Orthodox if I did not believe it to be uniquely true and faithful among Christian confessions…perhaps that’s more what you meant, OP, since you mentioned Pentecostals and others. Even then, I think it is completely fine to say that my Church is right and to the extent that others differ with it, they are wrong. In fact, I would be worried about the true belief of any person who would not be willing to do so, without malice or apology.)
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Randy_Carson
Guest
Cardinal Newman on One Church
…There is such a thing as religious truth, and therefore there is such a thing as religious error. We learn that religious truth is one—and therefore that all views of religion but one are wrong. . . . our religious creeds and professions at this day are many; but Truth is one: therefore they cannot all be right, or rather almost all of them must be wrong. That is, the multitude of men are wrong, so far as they differ; and as they differ, not about trivial points, but about great matters, it follows that the multitude of men, whether by their own fault or not, are wrong even in the greater matters of religion.
…Doubtless if men sought the truth with one tenth part of the zeal with which they seek to acquire wealth or secular knowledge, their differences would diminish year by year. Doubtless if they gave a half or a quarter of the time to prayer for Divine guidance which they give to amusement or recreation, or which they give to dispute and contention, they would ever be approximating to each other. We differ in opinion; therefore we cannot all be right; many must be wrong; many must be turned from the truth; and why is this, but on account of that undeniable fact which we see before us, that we do not pray and seek for the Truth?
…Some men will tell us that this difference of opinion in religious matters which exists, is a proof, not that the Truth is withheld from us on account of our negligence in seeking it, but that religious truth is not worth seeking at all, or that it is not given us. The present confused and perplexed state of things, which is really a proof of God’s anger at our negligence, these men say is a proof that religious truth cannot be obtained; that there is no such thing as religious truth; that there is no right or wrong in religion; that, provided we think ourselves right, one set of opinions is as good as another; that we shall all come right in the end if we do but mean well, or rather if we do not mean ill. That is, we create confusion by our negligence and disobedience, and then excuse our negligence by the existence of that confusion. It is no uncommon thing, I say, for men to say, “that in religious matters God has willed that men should differ,” and to support their opinion by no better argument than the fact that they do differ; and they go on to conclude that therefore we need not perplex ourselves about matters of faith, about which, after all, we cannot be certain.
…How are the sheep of Christ’s flock scattered abroad in the waste world! He came to gather them together in one; but they wander again and faint by the way, as having lost their Shepherd. What religious opinion can be named which some men or other have not at some time held? All are equally confident in the truth of their own doctrines, though the many must be mistaken.
(Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 8, Sermon 13: “Truth Hidden When Not Sought After,” 1843)
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Robyn_p
Guest
I don’t think it’s wrong per se to claim that one religion above others possesses the fullness of truth. Just like it wouldn’t be wrong to say there are many roads up a mountain, and a lot of them take you somewhat of the way there, but there’s one in particular that goes all the way up. That’s not immoral to say, it’s just being honest.
If a religion claimed to be the only one with the whole truth, I wouldn’t say that necessarily proves it false, I’d say that means it deserves me taking a closer look at it’s claims. I don’t want to miss the truth.
However, I do agree it would be morally wrong for a mere human to say his particular religion is the truth and all others are false IF all religions are just man’s search for God. If God’s at the top of the mountain, and we’re all just plowing through half-blind, it would be arrogant for one person to say they’re absolutely right and everyone else is dead wrong.
But if God came down from the mountain and said, “this is the way up”, well, that changes everything. Then I have to determine if that religion that claims to be founded by God himself really is what it says, or if it’s just a hoax. If it really was Him, then saying this religion alone out of all others has the truth is not immoral at all, but honest. If God says “this is the way to know Me”, then who am I to argue?
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drac16
Guest
My life would be easier if I believed that; more people would like me. However, when you start to say, in essence, that everyone is right, you do a disservice to what the truth is. If there are many ways to Heaven, why in the world were the prophets persecuted? (some prophets were even murdered)
Think about it.
Think about it.
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Philomath
Guest
I am in total agreement with this statement.
I believe all religions hold some amount of truth, the amount of truth varying from religion to religion. I do not believe that any one religion is the “only truth”.
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Peter_J
Guest
It would be quite a leap to go from those experiences to “I really don’t think it’s morally right for any one religion to say they are the only true religion and that everyone else is wrong.” Perhaps you mean something more like “People shouldn’t be too quick to decide that they are the only true religion and that everyone else is wrong.”?
In any case, I imagine this thread will attract a large number of comments, so I’m glad to be able to get my comment in early.
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Rasoleil
Guest
My spouse is LCMS Lutheran and they claim to be the one true church; the true Catholic Church. Of course, as a Roman Catholic, I don’t agree, and it sure makes for some interesting discussions!
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concretecamper
Guest
From a RCC position:
The eccumenixal response: all Christian denominations have some truth…that is good enough for me.
The Correct response: Only the RCC contains all Truth, it was founded by Christ, and is the ark of salvation for all.
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Matthew_Light
Guest
I believe in all of the great world religions. I think their origin is from God and they all lead to God.
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Protestor
Guest
This is kind of a trolly thing to say but…
Is it your religious opinion that no religion is “the only true religion”.
If so, is it morally right for you to impose your own religious opinion on everyone who does not agree with you.
I guess I have a problem with your wording. It almost sounds like you are saying that no religion is the only true religion. Is this what you believe about Christianity, that it is not the only true religion? I hope I am misinterpreting your statements
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Shia_Muslim
Guest
Every Abrahamic religion believes it’s the truth.
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aragonjohn1
Guest
if one truly believes more then one religion, idea. theory, paradigm, love, hate, will, gods, etc… as the source and summit of all truth can make someone in danger of believe in something like doubt, semi-relativism, indifferent-ism. So, yes there is and only can be one usefulness of truth one of the very few of these is the Catholic church. so because of this love God gives one has to find His Truth.
God bless
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Contarini
Guest
Everyone believes that their definition of the True Church is the True Church. Not everyone believes that their particular Christian body is the true Church. Protestant denominations are not and do not claim to be the Church, but Protestants believe that their version of the Church is the true one. In some cases that version is small enough as to be very close to coterminous with a given Protestant’s own “denomination” or fellowship of churches, but this is quite rare in my experience. Most Protestants believe that the true Church includes lots of people who belong to other groups, and the majority today believe that it includes Catholics.
Edwin
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Kliska
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This is the thought of me and mine.
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Peter_J
Guest
Good point, Edwin.
As a matter of fact, I’d like to add to the examples already given: I know some Catholics who believe that the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are together the one true church.
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