only one correct religion with the truth?

[Matthew_Light]

tony,

until someone tells me about a mystery of reality that i have not already learned of or heard of from Jesus Christ, i think i will continue to believe that all i need is Jesus.

I agree with you Eddie. All we need is to truly heed and follow Christ’s message and it will indeed provide us all things.

As Abdu’l-Baha, center of the Baha’i Covenant wrote (in the early 1900s):

“O would that all were truly Christian! It is easy to be a Christian on the tongue, but hard to be a true one. Today some five hundred million souls are Christian, but the real Christian is very rare: he is that soul from whose comely face there shineth the splendour of Christ, and who showeth forth the perfections of the Kingdom; this is a matter of great moment, for to be a Christian is to embody every excellence there is.”

And elsewhere here is what he wrote of the Christian Bible:

“THIS book is the Holy Book of God, of celestial Inspiration. It is the Bible of Salvation, the Noble Gospel. It is the mystery of the Kingdom and its light. It is the Divine Bounty, the sign of the guidance of God.”

 

[tonyfish58]

tony,

until someone tells me about a mystery of reality that i have not already learned of or heard of from Jesus Christ, i think i will continue to believe that all i need is Jesus.

you obviously believe that there is more to the story than Jesus can provide. i wish i knew what convinces you of this.

Eddie - God Bless your Faith

There is no one on earth but you that can make the choice and do the search. God guides us all and it is to God we turn for Faith! You have great Faith

I have heard it said that if one is happy and content with Life and Faith, then it may be possible that we have stopped moving forward towards the Knowledge and Love of God.

After all the Men that suffer most on this earth have always been the Messengers who tell us about God! If they suffered all their earthly life who are we to be at ease!

God Bless you Eddie and Regards Tony

 

[hasantas]

?

I want to reply this question with a question. Do it must be one true religion?

True Religions are ways to God. God is one. God sent thousands prophets so there may be several religions. Adam was a prophet that humanbeing knows religions. Even some totaly false religion source from revelations to prophets but by time they moved away from fact.

So everyone can say that my religion is true but have not a right to say that my religion is the only true one. There is one true Creator(God, Allah, …) but there are many ways which goes to Him. Even there are many sects in a true religion that all can go God.

Some part of one religion may seem conflict with others but that does not must be matter in fact. But religions must agree on only one same God. That is a mean course for all of us. Otherwise it will take a long debates.

 

[daler]

I want to reply this question with a question. Do it must be one true religion?

True Religions are ways to God. God is one. God sent thousands prophets so there may be several religions. Adam was a prophet that humanbeing knows religions. Even some totaly false religion source from revelations to prophets but by time they moved away from fact.

So everyone can say that my religion is true but have not a right to say that my religion is the only true one. There is one true Creator(God, Allah, …) but there are many ways which goes to Him. Even there are many sects in a true religion that all can go God.

Some part of one religion may seem conflict with others but that does not must be matter in fact. But religions must agree on only one same God. That is a mean course for all of us. Otherwise it will take a long debates.

hasantas,
The spirit of your words is of God, Allah. Bless you for your understanding and sharing it. Muhammad (PBUH) said, in the Holy Quran: “We make no distinction between any of them (His Messengers), and to Him (Allah) we have submitted…”
When a tree gives its fruit each year, those who accept the fruit are nourished. When the Tree of God’s Revelation offers to mankind its fruit, whether from the ancient branch of Moses, or the branch of Jesus which followed, or later from the branch of the Apostle, humanity greatly benefits from partaking of the fruit of His Holy Verses.

Salaam!

 

[Tzimisce]

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. If any one religion claims to be the only truth, then they must surely be a lie? What do you think?

You’re asking a bunch of Catholics if they think its wrong to say there is only one religion?

What do you expect them to say?

 

[McCartney]

Very recommended video:
youtube.com/watch?v=MZ5tEzXxSvs

fabulous video. Thanks for posting.

 

[McCartney]

Well, if for example, God established the Christian religion as well as the Muslim religion, then God is behaving in a contradictory way - right? Why would God tell Christians that Jesus is God (second divine Person) and is the only way to the Father, and at the same time tell Muslims that Jesus is not God, but a mere prophet? Only one can be true, logically speaking. Your thoughts?

Either one of these religions is from God, or neither of these religions are from God…

Correct

 

[McCartney]

Benny Hinn has the truth. (Just kidding!)

The Catholic Church was set up by Christ as the one true holy and apostolic Church. All other religions are therefore false.

For a good laugh on youtube type in " Benny hinn let the bodies hit the floor".

I’m sure Bruce Lee could have done that.

 

[Nabooru]

For a long time I tried to be the kind of universalist I though would make me look smart. But I just couldn’t back it up.

Religions are too different for all of them to be true. It’s that simple.

 

[rinnie]

So to answer the OP’s question, I would say that there is only one Book of God, with several chapters.

There is only one Religion of God, with several Human Identities given the responsibility to teach it to mankind…

I don’t think of the Church as a religion, It is Christ here on earth.

There are many religions that teach the One Truth of Christ. But the CC is the only Church that has the fullness of the truth.

I believe if someone truly seeks Christ they will find him. Although he promised us he works through his Church, he never said it can ONLY work through his RCC.

When you seek truth you will find Christ. Look for Love you look for Christ.

We all take different roads to find him, and I believe no matter what road you take, if you truly seek him you will find him.

God has many doors for us, all we must do is open.

Especially in this lent season we must all remember Jesus died for ALL MANS sins, He wants us all to enter heaven.

When judgement comes he is not going to look at what your religion is, its how you lived out the grace that was given to you. Did you use it or throw it away.

What so ever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. WOW!! What strong words huh!

Did I have love for you servant, although you are not Catholic? I really truly do. Do you love me because I am Catholic?:hug3:

Its truly about what truth has God given you and what did you do with it. I think thats how its all going to come to when it all goes down.

I think for a Catholic its going to be I gave you the test, and the answers what happened? At least I think thats what I’m getting:blush:

This life is about love, helping everyone, and just doing the best we can. It reminds me of a show roseann. It went something like this.

The kid DJ asked what religion they were because the neighbors took him to church.

The dad said well my family was Pentecostal I think and rosie I believe yours were Jews. We are just not practicing Jews and Pentecostals.

So he said what does that make me. They were like uh uh. Dad said just dam good people D.J then rosie said just not practicing!

 

[daler]

I don’t think of the Church as a religion, It is Christ here on earth.

There are many religions that teach the One Truth of Christ. But the CC is the only Church that has the fullness of the truth.

I believe if someone truly seeks Christ they will find him. Although he promised us he works through his Church, he never said it can ONLY work through his RCC.

When you seek truth you will find Christ. Look for Love you look for Christ.

We all take different roads to find him, and I believe no matter what road you take, if you truly seek him you will find him.

God has many doors for us, all we must do is open.

Especially in this lent season we must all remember Jesus died for ALL MANS sins, He wants us all to enter heaven.

When judgement comes he is not going to look at what your religion is, its how you lived out the grace that was given to you. Did you use it or throw it away.

What so ever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. WOW!! What strong words huh!

Did I have love for you servant, although you are not Catholic? I really truly do. Do you love me because I am Catholic?:hug3:

Its truly about what truth has God given you and what did you do with it. I think thats how its all going to come to when it all goes down.

I think for a Catholic its going to be I gave you the test, and the answers what happened? At least I think thats what I’m getting:blush:

This life is about love, helping everyone, and just doing the best we can. It reminds me of a show roseann. It went something like this.

The kid DJ asked what religion they were because the neighbors took him to church.

The dad said well my family was Pentecostal I think and rosie I believe yours were Jews. We are just not practicing Jews and Pentecostals.

So he said what does that make me. They were like uh uh. Dad said just dam good people D.J then rosie said just not practicing!

Rinnie,
Thank you for your thoughtful and cheery post, which lifted my spirits. We too often project upon God what He looks for in ourselves and others and think we know what He prefers in us, as though it is some exact specific ritual or religious path dictated to us at the exclusion of so many other paths which we as humans with free will choose to follow. As you say, when one is truly, truly seeking God, with all one’s heart and soul, longing to serve His will, surely God will be with us and guide us along our path or show us another, or another as we progress in the direction He favors.

God bless your cheerful and loving spirit of tolerance and understanding for so many who find peace and confirmation in the various paths they follow from so many cultures and religions, often the only ones they have any exposure to. Again, as you say, if they truly seek God, He will guide them.

Praise be to God that we may all live according to His will and good-pleasure!

 

[Samuel_Maynes]

If you are interested in some new ideas on religious pluralism and the Trinity, please check out my website at www.religiouspluralism.ca, and give me your thoughts on improving content and presentation.

My thesis is that an abstract version of the Trinity could be Christianity’s answer to the world need for a framework of pluralistic theology.

In a constructive worldview: east, west, and far-east religions present a threefold understanding of One God manifest primarily in Muslim and Hebrew intuition of the Deity Absolute, Christian and Krishnan Hindu conception of the Universal Absolute Supreme Being; and Shaivite Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist apprehension of the Destroyer (meaning also Consummator), Unconditioned Absolute, or Spirit of All That Is and is not. Together with their variations and combinations in other major religions, these religious ideas reflect and express our collective understanding of God, in an expanded concept of the Holy Trinity.

The Trinity Absolute is portrayed in the logic of world religions, as follows:

1. Muslims and Jews may be said to worship only the first person of the Trinity, i.e. the existential Deity Absolute Creator, known as Allah or Yhwh, Abba or Father (as Jesus called him), Brahma, and other names; represented by Gabriel (Executive Archangel), Muhammad and Moses (mighty messenger prophets), and others.
2. Christians and Krishnan Hindus may be said to worship the first person through a second person, i.e. the experiential Universe or "Universal” Absolute Supreme Being (Allsoul or Supersoul), called Son/Christ or Vishnu/Krishna; represented by Michael (Supreme Archangel), Jesus (teacher and savior of souls), and others. The Allsoul is that gestalt of personal human consciousness, which we expect will be the “body of Christ” (Mahdi, Messiah, Kalki or Maitreya) in the second coming – personified in history by Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha (9th incarnation of Vishnu), and others.
3. Shaivite Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucian-Taoists seem to venerate the synthesis of the first and second persons in a third person or appearance, ie. the Destiny Consummator of ultimate reality – unqualified Nirvana consciousness – associative Tao of All That Is – the absonite* Unconditioned Absolute Spirit “Synthesis of Source and Synthesis,”** who/which is logically expected to be Allah/Abba/Brahma glorified in and by union with the Supreme Being – represented in religions by Gabriel, Michael, and other Archangels, Mahadevas, Spiritpersons, etc., who may be included within the mysterious Holy Ghost.

Other strains of religion seem to be psychological variations on the third person, or possibly combinations and permutations of the members of the Trinity – all just different personality perspectives on the Same God. Taken together, the world’s major religions give us at least two insights into the first person of this thrice-personal One God, two perceptions of the second person, and at least three glimpses of the third.

• The ever-mysterious Holy Ghost or Unconditioned Spirit is neither absolutely infinite, nor absolutely finite, but absonite; meaning neither existential nor experiential, but their ultimate consummation; neither fully ideal nor totally real, but a middle path and grand synthesis of the superconscious and the conscious, in consciousness of the unconscious.

** This conception is so strong because somewhat as the Absonite Spirit is a synthesis of the spirit of the Absolute and the spirit of the Supreme, so it would seem that the evolving Supreme Being may himself also be a synthesis or “gestalt” of humanity with itself, in an Almighty Universe Allperson or Supersoul. Thus ultimately, the Absonite is their Unconditioned Absolute Coordinate Identity – the Spirit Synthesis of Source and Synthesis – the metaphysical Destiny Consummator of All That Is.

After the Hindu and Buddhist conceptions, perhaps the most subtle expression and comprehensive symbol of the 3rd person of the Trinity is the Tao (see book cover); involving the harmonization of “yin and yang” (great opposing ideas indentified in positive and negative, or otherwise contrasting terms). In the Taoist icon of yin and yang, the s-shaped line separating the black and white spaces may be interpreted as the Unconditioned “Middle Path” between condition and conditioned opposites, while the circle that encompasses them both suggests their synthesis in the Spirit of the “Great Way” or Tao of All That Is.

If the small black and white circles or “eyes” are taken to represent a nucleus of truth in both yin and yang, then the metaphysics of this symbolism fits nicely with the paradoxical mystery of the Christian Holy Ghost; who is neither the spirit of the one nor the spirit of the other, but the Glorified Spirit proceeding from both, taken altogether – as one entity – personally distinct from his co-equal, co-eternal and fully coordinate co-sponsors, who differentiate from him, as well as mingle and meld in him.

For more details, please see: www.religiouspluralism.ca

Samuel Stuart Maynes

 

[Matthew_Light]

If you are interested in some new ideas on religious pluralism and the Trinity, please check out my website at www.religiouspluralism.ca, and give me your thoughts on improving content and presentation.

I agree, all religions are seeing and worshipping aspects of One Unity. Depending on where their focus is, the Unity appears to be different, but in fact is not (as mystics of all faiths see and experience).

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

Why belong to any religion if you do not believe yours has the fullest expression of faith? If all of them are equally true or equally false then what is the point?

 

[Matthew_Light]

Why belong to any religion if you do not believe yours has the fullest expression of faith? If all of them are equally true or equally false then what is the point?

I see the religion of Moses as a continuation of the religion of Abraham and Noah.

I see the religion of Jesus as a continuation of the religion of Moses and Abraham and Noah.

I see one religion from God.

 

[openmind77]

Why belong to any religion if you do not believe yours has the fullest expression of faith? If all of them are equally true or equally false then what is the point?

The different religions are not equally true. Some religions have more truth than others. But all them have some flaws - none is completely true,

So in most cases there is no point in changing your religion, you are just trading one set of truths (and some mistakes) for another set of truths (with maybe some other mistakes).

For instance, it is a mistake for Muslims not to believe in the Trinity, but it is also a mistake for Catholics to believe in eternal damnation for many so-called mortal sins (without repentance etc, etc).

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

I see the religion of Moses as a continuation of the religion of Abraham and Noah.

I see the religion of Jesus as a continuation of the religion of Moses and Abraham and Noah.

I see one religion from God.

No you don’t. As you said in another thread you believe we Christians have received a corrupted form of Christianity (a claim you cannot prove). But You as a bahai do not believe your religion superior to mine or any other’s religion. Greek paganism to the bahai is equal to Christian monotheism as it is equal to the Bahai faith.

My initial point has not been denounced or proved untrue. If all of these religions are equally true and equally one. Whats the point of converting or shifting to a religion? I could go with the hip new bahai faith and then in fifty years shift to the next new thing as well. I won’t suffer or loose anything in the process.

 

[openmind77]

No you don’t. As you said in another thread you believe we Christians have received a corrupted form of Christianity (a claim you cannot prove). But You as a bahai do not believe your religion superior to mine or any other’s religion. Greek paganism to the bahai is equal to Christian monotheism as it is equal to the Bahai faith.

My initial point has not been denounced or proved untrue. If all of these religions are equally true and equally one. Whats the point of converting or shifting to a religion? I could go with the hip new bahai faith and then in fifty years shift to the next new thing as well. I won’t suffer or loose anything in the process.

As I said, all religions are not the same or equal, but each religion is appropriate for certain type of people according to their temperament as well as cultural upbringing.

If you switch to the Bahai faith, you will lose the special relationship that you have with Jesus - maybe you value that too much to change your religion, but that does not mean that the Bahai faith is less valid than yours,

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

As I said, all religions are not the same or equal, but each religion is appropriate for certain type of people according to their temperament as well as cultural upbringing.

If you switch to the Bahai faith, you will lose the special relationship that you have with Jesus - maybe you value that too much to change your religion, but that does not mean that the Bahai faith is less valid than yours,

So do we live in the world of DnD where we choose the God that most appeals to us and our subjective needs? Can we choose the God of evil and decay? Or perhaps the Goddess of the moon? Or how about high and mighty Tempus, the God of battle!?

No, reality does not work that way. The Christian faith makes an exclusive claim. He who denies the son, denies the father. The Apostles chided the pagans and called their God’s false, they said to the Jew their practices are no longer necessary.

God does not grant us eternal life based on our arbitrary whims. But yes, I would maintain the bahai faith is less valid than mine own because its central claims about Christianity are false. Its philosophy regarding the world are inadequate and at worst celebrate evil.

But here’s the irony, in your claim that all religions are equally valid, all are paths to God, you have denied the central claim of Christianity. You have thus invalidated your own belief concerning the truth of all religions. Christianity can’t possibly be true if you are correct.

 

[openmind77]

So do we live in the world of DnD where we choose the God that most appeals to us and our subjective needs? Can we choose the God of evil and decay? Or perhaps the Goddess of the moon? Or how about high and mighty Tempus, the God of battle!?

No, reality does not work that way. The Christian faith makes an exclusive claim. He who denies the son, denies the father. The Apostles chided the pagans and called their God’s false, they said to the Jew their practices are no longer necessary.

God does not grant us eternal life based on our arbitrary whims. But yes, I would maintain the bahai faith is less valid than mine own because its central claims about Christianity are false. Its philosophy regarding the world are inadequate and at worst celebrate evil.

But here’s the irony, in your claim that all religions are equally valid, all are paths to God, you have denied the central claim of Christianity. You have thus invalidated your own belief concerning the truth of all religions. Christianity can’t possibly be true if you are correct.

Religions may be different, but the Gods are all the same. Nobody claims a God of evil, at least among the major religions. (I don’t know who is the Goddess of the moon or Tempus).

I don’t see why the Bahai faith is less valid than yours - they do not deny the Son as far I know.

However religions are not all equal. Some religions are indeed more appropriate for some people than others. I would say Christianity is probably better for most people compared to Islam, but that does not make Islam invalid (in fact for simple, uneducated people Islam maybe best).

God is far more tolerant and kinder than you believe.