God revealed His message through Jesus Christ and the prophets before Him and there is no god like Him. I didn’t make it that way, He did.
If that is your version of the Divine, Jesus Christ, then that is wonderful!
You do not have to study other religions, but just realize that you aren’t entirely right in all of your beliefs just as others aren’t entirely right/wrong either. This realization brings a lot of peace towards two seemingly opposing religious groups.
The ECF’s equated pagan gods with demons and from my experience this is true. I just have to disagree from Scripture, Tradition and experience that pagan gods are not an aspect of Divine Power. God commanded His people to have no other gods before Him. That implies separation. Separate from Him there is no Divinity.
I interpret the First Commandment when it says “other gods” as in becoming detached from the material world so money and power don’t become your god. However, that is just my interpretation.
From my experience pagan gods and demons are two very opposite things. If they are not part of the Divine Power then why do they exist? And if they don’t exist, then why does the Church give so many warnings about being possessed by pagan gods or demons? I’d like to keep this debate a peaceful discussion and keep it from turning into a heated argument, so please don’t take those questions in a negative light.
Of course I do or I would be a Buddhist. Separation happened before I was born. I have many non-Christian friends. I love them, but I cannot agree with them.
You don’t have to agree with them, just accept them for who they are. And I’m guessing you’ve done that if they are your friends
. There is difference in opinions, but no real separation between each other as humans on a mental level.
Face a demon or two and you will see that there really is a battle between light and darkness, goodness and evil.
Sorry, I had a little trouble expressing my thoughts on that last post. There is war and battles going on right now, but they only continue because of the insane mindset some humans have. The war mindset is not reality, it is illusory and dysfunctional thinking. So while your inner state does reflect your reality, war happens. When we recognize the warlike way of thinking as illusionary, it disintegrates the peace that has always been there, the peace of God, emerges. So I meant that the thinking that goes behind the battle between good vs. evil is an illusion, not that it doesn’t exist at the moment.
Another interesting thing to think about is what exactly is evil. Things in this world are more a shade of grey than black or white. The forest fire the may kill many things also releases seeds from trees that could not have grown otherwise and clears the way for new life. That is what destruction, which is usually viewed as evil, does. Death is just new life. It is what forces us to live, it is what makes life worth living! These are just a few examples of how seemingly evil situations can actually be quite good. It all depends on your viewpoint. Suffering is one of our greatest spiritual awakeners. Think of a few moments in your life where you have suffered. It has probably taught you much about yourself and you may have learned quite a few things about life in general. Suffering is said to come from the Devil. But suffering can awaken us to the life around us! In this sense, the Devil is one of our greatest teachers. So what really is entirely evil? Is not everything in God’s Divine Plan?
Brightest Blessings!
How do you know it is a “fact of life” that no one can possibly know the truth, or the way to the truth? Isn’t that, in itself, a claim of knowledge of a truth that others don’t have? Plus, if you believe all religions have some truth in them, how are you determining which teachings are truth and which are not?