Christians: No One Path to Salvation (Buddhists, Buddha, Muslim, reincarnation)
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Our Creator gave us free will, and over the years, some of the people use their free will and chose to become different. Some became too busy to pray and did not want to live the way the Creator had given them. Some use their free will and chose to pray and live in a different way. Many of them travel beyond a given home.
And now we have many new peoples and many ways to pray and live. From the different cultures that evolved in the different lands come different religions in different forms of spirituality. And they seem so different. And we wonder why, if there is one God, are there so many religions?
For many people spirituality is troublesome. They don't know what to believe in because there are so many different beliefs. They don't know what religion is best because there are so many. And many people who want to turn their lives around struggle with spiritual concepts because they have an aversion to religion.
Let me offer this concept: Spirituality is not the same as religion. Religion is not spirituality. You do not have to be religious to be spiritual. And being religious does not make you spiritual. Going to church every Sunday in donating a portion of your income does not make you spiritual. It makes you a religious follower.... not necessarily a religious person.
How can that be? Let me offer some ideas that religion and spirituality are two completely different and separate things.
Spirituality is natural. We all have it, whether we know it or practice it, it is in us. And it really is a rather simple thing. We want to be happy and live a good life. To have friends and be social and have a special someone. We want to be good and do the right things. But we have some very deep questions. What happens when I die? Is there a God and who is it? How should I pray to this God? How did we get here?
These questions are usually overwhelming for many people. And human nature is to turn to an authority to tell us the answers. And that is the purpose of and the origin of religion.
Religion is a man-made, culture based doctrine to guide its people in the practice of spirituality. Religion is a good thing that in some cases has had bad consequences on some individuals spirituality. Not because religion is bad, but because it was applied in a bad way.
Because religion is man-made and culture based, it naturally has some of the rules and taboos of that particular culture built into it. Unfortunately for some, many cultures have chosen to use the fear of God to enforce the man-made rules of that culture.
And some wonder, how can there be a loving God when so many terrible things happen to some people. The Creator gave us free will. No one,no thing, can totally control that which has free will. Although the Creator has a great plan for us to be happy, healthy, and good people, He has no control over it. If we choose to follow this great plan, our lives can be wonderful. But there can be sadness or pain or misfortune even if we follow a good spiritual plan. Because that is the flow of life. Things happen in life that are not always good. Many people choose not to follow a spiritual path and do things as they wish. And while those people walk through life, they cause an imbalance that affects the web of life and all living things.
It does not mean they are bad people. Though some of them choose to be dead and no better, many don't know any better. Many don't even have a true understanding of goodness and spirituality. Many were never taught. Many had reason to doubt what they were taught.
You can be a spiritual person without being religious. You only need to have faith that there is some Higher Power out there. Prey to that Higher Power for guidance and strength, faith and protection, help and wisdom. Eating a pray in some specific way. Only quite your thoughts and focus on praying. Maybe you will think your prayers. Maybe you will say them out loud. Maybe you'll read them from a book or collection. Try to be humble and focus more on prayer of goodness and for other people. Don't pray for great things for yourself... only for guidance and living in a good way. Pray for yourself for protection and strength.
Last edited by june 7th; 06-26-2008 at 02:50 AM..
Reason: Edited at member's request
I wonder if a Buddhist or a Jew would find an after-life full of Christians "Heaven"? I have a strange feeling that that person might find it just the opposite especially a Jew.
You made that statement with a little frown icon at the end as though it was disappointing but for people around the world who have various religious beliefs wouldn't it be a good thing from a religious perspective if muslims, buddists and others could also find their path to salvation instead of being damned while only Christians were saved?
Well if they all found their path to salvation through someone other than Jesus Christ, it would mean that the authors of our faiths were all liars. Because each faith pretty much counterdicts the other. I hate the thought of spending eternal life with a bunch of devine liars.
It's bad enought being around so many liars in this earthly existance.
Well, I think that we already signed ourselves up for hell when we as a human race signed up for it - Adam and Eve chose the wrong path. God has been showing us signposts to the right one for so long, in the end he sent his son Jesus into the world - to clearly show the way to get off the path to hell that we were all on.
We were all born into sin. We needed a redeemer to buy us back. Jesus is the way to be redeemed. He died in our place.
The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. So some fear of God would be wise for you.
If you are sure of your eternal destination then fine. But you are either on the road to hell, or you have been redeemed back by Jesus and are on the road to heaven. God wants you on the right road but he won't force you. We have a mind of our own and our own free will.
I was fully involved in the Southern Baptist Church for thirty-five years, and I've heard the same tired song-and-dance parroted, over and over, so I'm sorry to say that I'm not impressed. I think I'll just continue on in my "misfit" way, and believe that God actually has a better plan than to roast the majority of mankind for eternity, (but, it is a heck of a plan, isn't it? I'll bet Hitler would be impressed). I choose to give my Creator more credit than that. And, rather than fear him, I have an appreciation, a respect, wonder, and awe, which has served me much better the last few years. It's not fun being scared witless of our Creator. It brought me no comfort, no joy, no satisfaction, and certainly no peace. But, as I said before, believe as you choose.
Is this really true? have you studied thoroughly other faiths?
don't all faiths tell you that God is love? that God is righteousness? etc
even buddhism which lacks the concept of a deity, has love, compassion and self control as it's ideals
Most faiths will tell you something about God, yet most will tell you of the errors of the other faiths. If Gods Words are true, and God has established all other faiths, then there should be no errors. Only in the Christian faith do we see that Christ alone brings salvation. Yet in most of the other world faiths they tell you to work your way to heaven by doing good works. So which God is not telling us the truth? Which God is not being righteous?
I was fully involved in the Southern Baptist Church for thirty-five years, and I've heard the same tired song-and-dance parroted, over and over, so I'm sorry to say that I'm not impressed. I think I'll just continue on in my "misfit" way, and believe that God actually has a better plan than to roast the majority of mankind for eternity, (but, it is a heck of a plan, isn't it? I'll bet Hitler would be impressed). I choose to give my Creator more credit than that. And, rather than fear him, I have an appreciation, a respect, wonder, and awe, which has served me much better the last few years. It's not fun being scared witless of our Creator. It brought me no comfort, no joy, no satisfaction, and certainly no peace. But, as I said before, believe as you choose.
Well that sounds good, but what do you base your belief on?
I was fully involved in the Southern Baptist Church for thirty-five years, and I've heard the same tired song-and-dance parroted, over and over, so I'm sorry to say that I'm not impressed. I think I'll just continue on in my "misfit" way, and believe that God actually has a better plan than to roast the majority of mankind for eternity, (but, it is a heck of a plan, isn't it? I'll bet Hitler would be impressed). I choose to give my Creator more credit than that. And, rather than fear him, I have an appreciation, a respect, wonder, and awe, which has served me much better the last few years. It's not fun being scared witless of our Creator. It brought me no comfort, no joy, no satisfaction, and certainly no peace. But, as I said before, believe as you choose.
I was raised the same way, and got saved at age 5 out of pure fear. Even after that, I was still afraid I would burn in hell. Very sad that a religion would do that to a little kid.
Well that sounds good, but what do you base your belief on?
In a nutshell, I believe some overzealous folks really did a number on the Bible, that they horribly mistranslated, and sadly misinterpreted it, (and in some cases, deliberately twisted it, for their own power, lust, and greed). I didn't come to this point overnight, or on a whim. For the first time, I took a good long, hard look at the traditional Christian teachings on hell. I read up on the history of the early Christian church, etc. I made comparisons of Christian teachings, and Judaism, which is the root of Christianity. I compared scripture for scripture, and even here I found disagreement. I was finally willing to think outside of the box, (probably because I had always had niggling questions in the back of my brain, even as a kid, 'though I tried valiantly to ignore them. I was constantly beating them down, and shoving them into the farthest, darkest recesses of my mind. Which I strongly suspect is the case with many fundamentalist/evangelical Christians, 'though they would never admit it, because it would take them out of their comfort zone).
As I researched, studied, thought, (and yes, prayed), I finally came to believe that folks have been sold a bill of goods. I find it totally nonsensical to think that our Creator, of all beings, would act in a manner that would be roundly condemned, were he a human being. I'm not going to go into a long discourse, complete with Bible verses, (I'm hell-on-wheels when it comes to my own private researching and studying, but I'm just simply not that good at expository discourse. Nor, I might add, am I interested in doing someone else's legwork for them), but suffice it to say that I am satisfied with my conclusions. Obviously, they are my own, and I certainly don't expect someone else to take my word for it, or agree with me. As I told JennaFlorrie, believe as you choose.
Location: The world, where will fate take me this time?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Campbell34
Most faiths will tell you something about God, yet most will tell you of the errors of the other faiths. If Gods Words are true, and God has established all other faiths, then there should be no errors. Only in the Christian faith do we see that Christ alone brings salvation. Yet in most of the other world faiths they tell you to work your way to heaven by doing good works. So which God is not telling us the truth? Which God is not being righteous?
Not all faiths tell you that other faiths are wrong or with errors, some faiths believe in this phillosophy: One destination, many roads.
God loves diversity, and he gave us free will to worship and understand him in the way we please, as long as this leads us to virtue
For Christians, Christ is their savior, but do you really believe that just by accepting him you earned your place in heaven? or that you have to try your hardest to become like Christ to get there?
Actually, all religions believe in Christ, but it's given different names and not all religions see him as a human being, but rather an state of consciousness of pure and perfect love towards everything created by God, even Buddhism, which lacks the concept of a deity bases it's beliefs on this ideal of perfect love, once this state of consciousness is reached, we become one with our father, or truly awakened sons of God, all religions strive to this ideal so no one is wrong, if your religion can make you a better person, more patient, compassive, loving and happy, then there is no mistake or lack of righteousness.
so God is telling us the truth, we just make different interpretations of that truth, but we are all trying to reach the same goal, even atheists, most of them strive to be good fellas, just like us, how can this be if they don't believe in a deity? because there is an inner part of our beings, our very essence that strives for this state of consciousness, that's why I believe that even an atheist or agnostic that doubts or denies the existence of a deity, but works really hard and with a pure and sincere heart to be a good person will reach God.
Now let me ask you a question, to all of you, what keeps us arguing who's right or wrong, instead of working for world unity? and perfect love and harmony among human beings, regardless of their race, religion, nationality, etc?
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). I choose to give my Creator more credit than that. And, rather than fear him, I have an appreciation, a respect, wonder, and awe, which has served me much better the last few years. It's not fun being scared witless of our Creator. It brought me no comfort, no joy, no satisfaction, and certainly no peace. But, as I said before, believe as you choose.
), but suffice it to say that I am satisfied with my conclusions. Obviously, they are my own, and I certainly don't expect someone else to take my word for it, or agree with me. As I told JennaFlorrie, believe as you choose.
