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Can't imagine another religion being better than complete forgiveness for sin by a gracious and loving God.
Except, of course, for those he sends to burn in hell for an eternity.
Except for those he allows to starve.
Except for those he allows to suffer and die of HIV or cancer.
As a non believer I find the music is some very appealing, the chanting at synagogues, some of the ceremony of the Catholic Church and as a kid I liked the steep roof of the Lutheran Church was fun to play on.
Growing up I used to love the doughnuts at the end of mass
As a non-Christian now, I believe that Jesus paying the ultimate price to try to help others was an act of ultimate selflessness.
In another thread I spoke about a theological study group I participated in. Each week an assigned person brought an opening and closing prayer or song or poem or reading. I brought this one one week.
You know, it really doesn't take anything away from your religion to acknowledge that which is good in other religions.
I'm not sure how many here are familiar with Krister Stendahl. He was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm, and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School. In a 1985 press conference in Stockholm, he described three rules of religious understanding.
Here they are:
1. When you are trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.
2. Don't compare your best to their worst.
3. Leave room for "holy envy."
#3 meant that you should be willing to recognize elements in other people's faith traditions that you admire and would like to see reflected in your own religion. That's what this thread is all about, even if the OP didn't realize it.
I am quite sure that Stendahl, as a very devout Christian, didn't think that his religion was second-rate. He was simply secure enough in his own faith that he was able to look for that which is admirable in faiths other than his own.
In another thread I spoke about a theological study group I participated in. Each week an assigned person brought an opening and closing prayer or song or poem or reading. I brought this one one week.
Growing up I used to love the doughnuts at the end of mass
As a non-Christian now, I believe that Jesus paying the ultimate price to try to help others was an act of ultimate selflessness.
As an atheist, I see it more as a convenient loophole for for an elite privilege. You don't have to be a good person by being good, you just have to be a card -carrying Christian.
And I woder at how quickly a thread on parts of Other religions that are found appealing became (the usual) reasons to become Christian.
He died (just for a few hours) for your siins, therefore you ow him.
God arranged for us to all be designated sinners by default, thus everything he does becomes our fault.
Yes. My first reaction to it was that the best way to get an assessment of a religion was ask the opponents about it. The believers are of course going to make it look as good as possible. How often the Admirable parts of a religion are not to the credit of the religion but the religion having to adapt to social preference and norms or risk losing credibility.
I have come see a possible case for religion, but you have to watch these people all the time. Whenever they play the 'You need us because we do this or that' card, you need to ask: Could we do this without religion? There is a difference beween needing religion for social benefits and using social benefits as an excuse to keep religion.
I find the basic concepts of Buddhism appealing and largely true --
that life is difficult, all things impermanent, and we spend way too much time living in the past
or the future rather than the present.
I do, too. I think of it as a way of thinking and observing ...rather than a religion...but that's just me.
Who doesn't love the story of the Buddhist monk hanging onto a little root over a 1000 ft drop...
And saying, "Ah, a strawberry!"
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