How can Christianity be right and other religions be "wrong?"
and, a bit more detailed...
Religion, for the most part, seems to be geographical. For instance, I sometime wonder if I had been born/grown up in a different country if I would have completely different beliefs. How do we know Christianity is the "right" religion? If God created every single person different, is it realistic to believe that everyone would follow the same religion? It seems that many religions have many of the same core values and I will go as far as to say that I think some other religions do some things more similar to the way that Christ lived than Christians do. How am I to say that my religion is correct over theirs? And along the same lines, is seems like disputes about religion have caused much fighting and grief. Should we be focusing more on a personal relationship with God than choosing the right religion?
Anyone out there what to take a stab at these?
I'd say that all religions are wrong, except of course for that one that says all religions are wrong, but then that one must be wrong as well by the very proposition it stands on. Shoot, what do I do? =]
ReplyDeletePeople make up shit (is that legal in this forum Dave? If not, I'll change it. I'm using it for emphasis, not to be crass). Anyway, this poop is what get's packaged and sold as "the real faith." For example, some dude carrying a heavy wooden cross once told me that I'm going to hell - he had no questions for me, just a fear inducing diatribe while I walked past him on my way to Bible study (I turned around and engaged this man of course). The point is, this dude brought me no closer to desiring God, so what's his game?
If you can assume that the following is a fact, then you may like my argument: IT FEELS SOOO SATISFYING TO BE IN THE KNOW. So fly a kite and catch some wind, you're the anchor of truth holding that line steady. It's scary, uncomfortable, and possibly despairing to be the one without beliefs, nothing attached to the end of your string, nothing to fly in the wind, and nothing for which you might be an anchor in this world.
Religion offers us the opportunity to receive the satisfaction of feeling like we are in the know, among the enlightened, and basically bad ass. Those of us who reject religion do the exact same thing though. We reject it because we think we're enlightened enough to recognize that we're not enlightened regarding the truth of religion. Either way, we settle into a belief that satisfies that feeling of being in the know.
So how does the man with the cross on his back say that his religion is superior to mine? Seriously, he's just satisfying the hunger of being in the know. We all have it. We want to believe the truth. So it's not so important that this man was packaging a bunch of lies (poop) and trying to sell them too me in a fancy box called religion. What was important in my conversation with him was how much I saw myself in his every word.
My guess is this: if I really want to find some sexy "I'm right" beliefs, I should try to find myself in the face and actions of every person that I meet no matter what they're selling. In this way, I might get a shot at loving them the way that I love myself. And if I don't see my messed up self in them, I pray that I'll see Christ in them so that I might learn something. I know that I'm changing gears here, but I have to throw this out there: I am at Fellowship Denver because I can see Christ in the men that I've befriended here. The difference between seeing myself and seeing Christ in another person is evidence for me that something is crazy interesting about this religion. Hopefully it's really not a religion though - all of those are wrong...
Thanks, Brian. You make some very good points here esp. as it relates the human desire to be "in the know"; this desire is indeed manifested just as much in the 'all religions are basically the same' folks as it is in the 'mine is the right religion' folks. In other words, there is no such thing as a neutral position - a non-stance is a position of faith....
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I fear that "all religions are basically the same" position could be guilty of intellectual imperialism (while not meaning to of course!). If one takes the core teaching of what Jesus says about himself and compares that to what Muhammad said about Jesus and then compares that to what Joseph Smith said about Jesus, they all would be, at the deepest level, contradictory. Hence, to force them all to agree would be to change that which made them stand out in the first place. My thoughts are the most intellectually honest thing to do is to examine what each says, weighing the merits of each and then make some decisions based on what they actually taught...
I agree. All the claims that religions make DO NOT boil down to the same substance. I just think that all the religions carry a set of MAN MADE "facts" rather than GOD MADE Truths as a result of their application; they are being carried out by mankind. In that way, all religions have a similar quality: they're not perfect and in other words wrong. Making the case that some religions are more wrong than others should probably be a point to discuss because they certainly have huge differences.
ReplyDeleteDid Jesus come to earth to establish the one RIGHT religion?
Good question. He came to establish the only way to God but he did so in a way that was explicitly 'anti' religious. That is, if we understand religion as humanity's attempts to reach the divine in some way, then, Christ crucified is God's statement that our attempts will always come up short...this is why, in the NT, Paul's confidence was never in his own good deeds/religiosity but, as he wrote, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified..." (1 Cor. 2:2).
ReplyDeleteI understand religion as man's attempt to understand God. Good luck, eh?
ReplyDeleteJesus was anti religious in the fact that he represents God coming to understand man. Yet even after his undue compassion for us, even after his necessary messages about loving others as we love ourselves (guided by the primary target of loving God above all else), even after he brought us a means to find unity through universal recognition of imperfection (sin), we broke apart into Catholics and Protestants and further into reformed this or thats along with becoming Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, ect. We took Jesus and turned him into a religion that we could dress up and sell with logic. Do you think that we've shown that we've really learned much about him and his message since we're clearly still practicing religion (both Christian and non-Christian alike)?
Doesn't Jesus' whole platform rest on our inability to pick a right religion? Isn't that why he came to die? Jesus died for our sins...including the sin of stupidity. At least I hope he did because I've got a lot of it (particularly when it comes to choosing the "RIGHT" religion). I feel a smile creeping up here =] Hi Dave. Hi others. Hello fellow readers of religion for dummies. I think my untenable and rather religious claim that all religions are wrong finds support in Jesus when we consider that for which he died.
I love the internet, that I can peek in on my old friend Brian Lehman and my newer friend Dave refusing to turn off the brain and heart, but instead as the Lord has invited us to "Come now and let us reason together..." (Isaiah 1:18)...and so this group continues to do so, just as you did a couple years ago when I came out to visit. I love this fellowship of believers and I appreciate seeing and hearing Jesus in both of you...and Pastor Hunter too. As I read the rest of Isaiah 1:18 "...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..." The promise from our Lord to all who humble themselves and "come now" to him with our heart, mind, and soul, which will bring forgiveness, freedom, and eternal life. A timely and personal invitation that is irresistible to all of us who seek, hunger, and thirst for truth and can be found no where else but amongst Jesus and his followers. Peace of Christ to Denver!
ReplyDeleteBrian Waltz -Hamilton, OH
Hey Brian L. - love how you think. Hey Brain W. - thanks for your encouragement.
ReplyDeleteBrian L, ultimately our salvation rests not in perfect understanding but on Jesus' life, death and resurrection. The problem you point out with the history of Christianity is that we don't really think that is true most of the time. Instead of trusting in Jesus' radical gospel, we are seduced by the comfortable walls of religion. It is much easier to simply have a list of rules to follow and judge your relationship with God based on how you may be following those rules, than it is to really trust in Jesus' performance alone and be undeserving recipients of his grace..
Is Jesus the only way? Admittedly, Jesus was reported as saying something like "No one comes to the father but by me," which meant what? (Insert a BIG PAUSE because this is a discussion topic that I really really want to tease out) ---> My claim: any additive response to the previous question will change Jesus's message from good news into religious bs (the Christian's Christianity).
ReplyDeleteI am of the mindset that Jesus' message, when left alone and not added to, showers us with undeserved love that will hunt us down no matter what God we kill (Nitche reference) or glorify. This statement DOES NOT imply that all religions are the same, but rather that receiving God's love does not hinge on the religious bs that we make up. In summary, I'm suggesting that our stupidity (including whatever selection of faith we repute to choose) is covered by Jesus's insurance policy. We're on his family plan. Radical gospel for sure!
[Things to think about: what the heck is an additive response? And didn't I just provide one?]
At Dave - your quote is certainly worth repeating: "Instead of trusting in Jesus' radical gospel, we are seduced by the comfortable walls of religion."
ReplyDelete