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Lucy107
Guest
Could you explain this?
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Lucy107
Guest
And chances are that you will continue in this search and uncertainty as long as you try to justify yourself to people.
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Kliska
Guest
That’s not what you asked, nor what I answered. You asked why you should be a Christian, I replied either you believe that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are fact, or you don’t. If you DO believe that, that is why you should be a Christian, if you don’t , then you should not be.
Are you asking for Apologetics on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Your religion is more correct because Jesus was real, He was crucified, and rose 3 days later. Is it that you feel there is no evidence for that fact? In essence, what I’m asking/saying is that if say a Muslim comes to you and asks why they should convert to Christianity are you saying you don’t know what to tell them?
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JRKH
Guest
I can only tell you what works for me.
I know that the Christian faith - and specifically Catholicism is correct, because it is founded on the most correct principle - Agape - Love. In fact it worships the God who IS Love.
If one contemplates on this idea of Love one will begin to realize that all of creation, everything good and creative, everything that builds up, is supportive and everything that is light and bright is wrapped up in that one word.
God - who is Love - creates. He does not destroy. He creates. He Loves. He builds up. He guides. He entices and draws us toward him, with, by, and through Love.
There is nothing negative in Love - and the Love that God demonstrated to us through Christ - and in the gift of the altar- is without parallel.
So in the end, if we wish to be with God in eternity, then we need to embrace Love as fully as we are able…To Love God and Love neighbor for in so doing we can only build up.
That is why I believe that I am in the right faith. It is love that leads me here.
Peace
James
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Thorolfr
Guest
My question is not so much about Jesus Christ or his life, death and resurrection, but how anyone can solve the philosophical conundrum of knowing that their own faith (whatever it is) is more correct than anyone else’s. It seems to me that much of what we each believe including our religious beliefs depends mostly on the family’s we belong to and often the parts of the world we were born in. But is that a good reason to believe those things?
As someone born in the USA, I probably believe to some extent that my country is better than other countries. As someone born and raised Christian, I might believe that my religion is better than other religions. But is that a good reason to believe those things? Maybe France is really a better country than mine. Maybe, despite what I believe as a Christian, Buddhism is really closer to the truth than Christianity. I would probably believe that Buddhism is better if I had been born in Thailand just because I was born in a country where Buddhism is the dominant religion and that was the faith I was raised in. But would that be a good reason to be a Buddhist?
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Trekker47
Guest
Well as it stands we’ve piles of evidence that the universe wasn’t made in 7 literal days, but a fair number of people believe that. Christianity being the ‘correct’ religion can be determined by rational thought, yet for any number of reasons people can’t see it - they may be unwilling or unable to examine the evidence for one reason or another, prejudice for example often gets in the way.
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Lucy107
Guest
By addressing the context in which this cunundrum appears.
A standard way for resolving binds is to look at the context.
It seems thatt depens on whom you are tryin g to please, whom you are trying to convince.
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Kliska
Guest
Let me try to use an example; The Titanic sank. Now, that claim is a factual claim. I’m saying there was an actual passenger liner called “Titanic” that ran into an iceberg and sank. If you want to know if that is true, you have to look at the evidence. Then, when you review the evidence you will come to a conclusion as to whether or not it was real, and if it sank. The resurrection of Jesus is the same thing. Do you see? It’s not a matter of amorphous philosophical thought, it is a matter of whether or not the resurrection actually happened. And that is a question anyone from anywhere can look into and draw their own conclusion.
Further, it doesn’t matter one whit whether or not my mom and dad believed that, it matters if I believe it. It’s not good enough if they believe it, I need to delve into it to see if I believe it. Christianity hinges on the fact of Jesus, and His resurrection. That’s the key. If you are doubting the resurrection or even the existence of Jesus, I and others here can direct you to the appropriate research material so that you can look into it. In essence, we should all be concerned with what is actual factual truth.
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JuanFlorencio
Guest
The grass of the neighbor is always greener.My Muslim friends feel that they are blessed to be Muslims. So are we all blessed to be the religions we are?
Had you been born Muslim, you would probably be asking yourself now: “why I am not a Christian or a Buddhist or…?”
Do your Muslim friends ask themselves why they are not Christians?
Do you want to decide what to believe based on a philosophical argumentation? But philosophy had its origin in the western cultures! You wouldn’t be less “biased”! Would you?
Look at Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, or any other, and then, if you are to follow someone, make your decision. It is not a matter of pure reason, but of something superior to it: Faith!
Once you make your decision, don’t look behind you again! Go ahead with all the strength of your body, your heart, your mind, your spirit…!
Regards
JuanFlorencio
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Trekker47
Guest
Also, sorry to double post, but if I were asked why I believed Christianity above all the other religions, I’d have to compare them to Christianity.
Pagan religions:
The thing with these is that as far as I can see, they don’t have any foundation. They’re man’s attempt to make reason of the world, and as far as that goes, they’re only a search. Compared with Christianity which, from the Old Testament right to the present, is more like God’s search for us. In fact, I’m not entirely sure they even took their religions as seriously as we take ours, considering how offhandedly they could write new literature to invent further tales of their gods. My real problem though is that their gods are just as bad as people; they have all our flaws and mess about on a cosmic scale. If we can see that they do wrong, there must be some /other/ absolute morality around, ie. our God.
Hinduism:
Well to be honest I don’t know much about Hinduism really, I think the same logic applies as above?
Buddhism:
Ok the real problem here is they don’t believe in a god at all, for further refutation, see St Augustine’s 5 ways.
Islam:
Islam differs from Christianity in a few ways, firstly in its founder. Whereas Jesus is the best example of ‘practice what you preach’, I don’t know can we say the same for Muhammad. It’s a religion of peace, but he spread it quite violently by the sword (against the will of the subjugated peoples), and in his ‘revelations’ he gives the total number of wives a person may have, then exceeds it, and receives another ‘revelation’ that it’s ok for him to do so, I believe. Besides, he has no real claim to legitimacy, nobody was present at the time, he worked no miracles (unlike Jesus), and apparently believed at first that his visions were from the devil until others convinced him otherwise.
I also feel other religions are lacking in their disbelief in the Trinity; as Lewis points out, if God is love, and God was there before all other things, then He must have had someone to love (since love can never be self-contained), hence the Son, and if two perfect persons love each other perfectly then presumably that love is ‘real’ enough to be the third person of the Trinity. (Lewis’ interpretation of the Holy Spirit).
Anyway, when in any doubt, I tend to look up to the doctors of the Church. They were pretty clever people! There’s plenty of other reasons but…I don’t want to be writing an essay.
Pagan religions:
The thing with these is that as far as I can see, they don’t have any foundation. They’re man’s attempt to make reason of the world, and as far as that goes, they’re only a search. Compared with Christianity which, from the Old Testament right to the present, is more like God’s search for us. In fact, I’m not entirely sure they even took their religions as seriously as we take ours, considering how offhandedly they could write new literature to invent further tales of their gods. My real problem though is that their gods are just as bad as people; they have all our flaws and mess about on a cosmic scale. If we can see that they do wrong, there must be some /other/ absolute morality around, ie. our God.
Hinduism:
Well to be honest I don’t know much about Hinduism really, I think the same logic applies as above?
Buddhism:
Ok the real problem here is they don’t believe in a god at all, for further refutation, see St Augustine’s 5 ways.
Islam:
Islam differs from Christianity in a few ways, firstly in its founder. Whereas Jesus is the best example of ‘practice what you preach’, I don’t know can we say the same for Muhammad. It’s a religion of peace, but he spread it quite violently by the sword (against the will of the subjugated peoples), and in his ‘revelations’ he gives the total number of wives a person may have, then exceeds it, and receives another ‘revelation’ that it’s ok for him to do so, I believe. Besides, he has no real claim to legitimacy, nobody was present at the time, he worked no miracles (unlike Jesus), and apparently believed at first that his visions were from the devil until others convinced him otherwise.
I also feel other religions are lacking in their disbelief in the Trinity; as Lewis points out, if God is love, and God was there before all other things, then He must have had someone to love (since love can never be self-contained), hence the Son, and if two perfect persons love each other perfectly then presumably that love is ‘real’ enough to be the third person of the Trinity. (Lewis’ interpretation of the Holy Spirit).
Anyway, when in any doubt, I tend to look up to the doctors of the Church. They were pretty clever people! There’s plenty of other reasons but…I don’t want to be writing an essay.
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Lucy107
Guest
Chances are they aren’t asking themselves that. Many Muslims seem to be beyond any doubt that their religion is the right one.
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tonyrey
Guest
All religions have the same fundamental moral and spiritual truths:
Aldous Huxley* - The Perennial Philosophy
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Bahman
Guest
That means that you have never studied Islam.
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ChurchSoldier
Guest
Why become a Christian?
Not to sound too simplistic: because by God’s grace he brought you to life in a time and place you could hear the Gospel and chose to be with Him forever.
Not to sound too simplistic: because by God’s grace he brought you to life in a time and place you could hear the Gospel and chose to be with Him forever.
meltzerboy
New member
I don’t really want to digress from the topic of the thread, but I was struck reading your statement that “Jesus paid our debt through his death and all we have to do is agree to follow and believe in him,” because it sounds more Protestant to me in its theology than Catholic. So I wonder whether you were raised Protestant?
As to the OP’s question, I don’t really have a dog in this fight, since this is a non-issue for
Judaism, which believes that any religion with sound moral values is the correct path for finding G-d.
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Thorolfr
Guest
I didn’t realize that Judaism was so non-exclusive in its viewpoint on this issue.
I sometimes wonder if many different faiths have some of the truth and none of them have all of the truth. Perhaps people of different faiths can all get to God but by different paths. I’ve seen quotes from the Dalai Lama where he actually seems to discourage non-Buddhists from becoming Buddhists and tells them instead to adopt aspects of Buddhism to their current faith.
http://collectivelyconscious.net/wp...t-to-be-a-better-whatever-you-already-are.jpg
meltzerboy
New member
Yes, Judaism does not claim that it is for everyone. My advice to you is to be the best Christian you can be, especially if Christianity is where your faith and heart are.
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Bob_Crowley
Guest
Well, for one thing Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Which means that anything else will draw you away from Christ.
However your comments about cultural Christianity, cultural Lutheranism, cultural Islam, cultural Hinduism etc are correct. Had you been born in the Middle East, you probably would be Moslem.
But one of the reasons God’s given us a brain is to work out the truth - not force other people to believe our dogma just because we say so.
It therefore behooves Moslems, Hindus, Atheists and Buddhists to also seek out the truth, just as much as it is an obligation on Christians to justify their own faith.
Although God is still the prime mover. My own background was basically non-religious, in that my Catholic father had lost his faith and had me baptised Presbyterian as an act of rebellion. My mother was Anglican but never went to church.
So I didn’t have that strong cultural background that you have. When I did become Christian in the real sense, God started by getting me to go back to the Presbyterian Church where I’d had some Sunday School years earlier, when the tail end of the worst time of my life had forced a sort of spiritual crisis on me.
Later he used spiritual prompting, and continuing dissatisfaction with the protestant churches I’d been attending, to move me towards the Catholic Church. I didn’t go because of some long, careful consideration of Theology or Apologetics.
So in one sense I’m contradicting my own advice about using our intelligence.
I’m reading Thomas Merton’s “The Seven Storey Mountain”, and he also seems to have been given an abnormal push towards the Catholic Church and the Trappist Order in due course. He’d gone from a decent, but non-religious family, to having the good fortune of a generous grand-father when both his parents died when he was still quite young, to being a typical frat boy (if my understanding of the term is correct), and yet God somehow got him into the Catholic Church.
Now he certainly did more intellectual research than I did when he was getting interested, and was quite well educated, with a flair for languages it would seem.
But frankly, I think most young blokes who had Merton’s personal history would have gone right on being frat boys, and middle aged frat men in the long run. Somehow God called him out of his self destructive path, and He used more than just intellectual prompting.
I think God foresaw Merton’s writing as being influential on many people down the track.
So to answer your original question, I think that God has given us a brain, and expects us to use it. On the other hand, He definitely selects people. There were probably a couple of hundred Jewish fishermen on the shores of Lake Galilee, but Christ chose Peter. Peter didn’t choose Him, as Christ made clear.
So as to why you’re Lutheran, and some other young blokes are fighting with ISIS, it’s a mystery.
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Thorolfr
Guest
Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain is actually one of my favorite books. He was an amazing man. I’ve also got his The Sign of Jonas, No Man is an Island, and New Seeds of Contemplation as well as a collection of his letters, Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters. He was very interested in Sufism (i.e. Islamic mysticism) and I’ve got a book called Merton and Sufism: The Untold Story.
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Dorothy
Guest
The only religions that have as their foundation divine revelation are the Jews and the Christians.
All the others are either deceptions of the evil one, or made up in the minds of men.
Granted, there is a bit of truth in some of them, such as the golden rule.
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