SSFSX17
12-18-2001, 09:01 PM
I have some very good friends who believe that Jesus is not the only way, but is simply *A* way.
I have argued that, considering that pretty much every single religion in the world, including Logic and Science, contradict each other in fairly fundamental ways. I have also told them that:
- Jesus is the only one that is supposed to have been raised from the dead. Few other religions try to claim that their own leaders had ever been risen from the dead.
- Christianity is not cult-ish, because they have accepted the Old Testament as true, and the New Testament is merely an addition to it to create a complete work called the Bible. Almost all other cults disregard selected portions of holy texts.
- Christianity is the only religion in which you do not get your own salvation in any way save the initial act of believing. Almost every single other religion believes either that there is no such thing as salvation, or that your salvation is gained through something you do in addition to confessing and believing.
- Christianity is not human-centered. It does not claim that humans have any kind of amazing power within them. It does, however, claim that humans were used to demonstrate the powers of God.
They have asked me about the veracity of the Bible, and I have told them this:
- People have gone to great lengths in order to copy the manuscripts word-for-word. In addition, there are repeated messages to not abridge the Bible, nor add any words.
- The Bible has the most readily available ancient manuscripts for it. No other historical document of that era in existence is backed by such ancient and numerous copies.
They have asked me about whether or not some of the Bible was ever corrupted, and I have told them this :
- If it was ever corrupted, it would have been made to obey human interests.
- The Bible repeatedly decries the basic human sinful nature.
- The Bible does not give anyone else the authority to "solve" anything or "save" anyone save God and Jesus.
- If the Bible had been corrupted by people, it would have definitely allowed for the works of humans to gain some kind of footing in Heaven.
They have asked me about whether or not Jesus had really said all those exclusivistic things in addition to the messages about love. They ask me why I don't think that love was his bottom line.
- The Gospels make special provision to show Jesus as beyond human, and as the fulfillment of Old-Testament prophecies.
- Luke indicates that he had undertaken some painstaking research in order to provide as accurate an account as possible to Theophilus. If Luke had made up any of that stuff, then surely someone checking his sources could have easily proven him wrong. Yet, there exists no source that we presently possess that attempts such a feat.
- The Gospels cover his death and resurrection heavily. If these were not the bottom line, they may not have even bothered, but rather focused on how Jesus was pleasing to everyone. But, rather, they focused on how his ideas were radical and got him crucified. Jesus was definitely not a people pleaser.
- Jesus repeatedly made references to a before time, and an after time. His parables were rife with references to the preparation, and then the coming. In addition, he had never used loving each other as the bottom line of very many of his parables.
- He got angry, and even damaged some property. In addition, he protested to many things without being tolerant of those things.
They often blame Paul's writings for haven perverted the original message of Jesus.
- If Paul had not truly been converted, he would have found a way to integrate his personal beliefs into the guise of Christianity. Yet, he openly proclaimed and wrote of ideas that were directly contradictory to everything that the usual persecutor of Christianity may have ever believed.
- All the other Christians that had been there since the beginning had trusted him and cooperated with him.
However, my friends still do not believe that Christianity is mutually exclusive with other religions. They still believe that one can pick and choose aspects of Christianity and dump the rest.
I have argued that, considering that pretty much every single religion in the world, including Logic and Science, contradict each other in fairly fundamental ways. I have also told them that:
- Jesus is the only one that is supposed to have been raised from the dead. Few other religions try to claim that their own leaders had ever been risen from the dead.
- Christianity is not cult-ish, because they have accepted the Old Testament as true, and the New Testament is merely an addition to it to create a complete work called the Bible. Almost all other cults disregard selected portions of holy texts.
- Christianity is the only religion in which you do not get your own salvation in any way save the initial act of believing. Almost every single other religion believes either that there is no such thing as salvation, or that your salvation is gained through something you do in addition to confessing and believing.
- Christianity is not human-centered. It does not claim that humans have any kind of amazing power within them. It does, however, claim that humans were used to demonstrate the powers of God.
They have asked me about the veracity of the Bible, and I have told them this:
- People have gone to great lengths in order to copy the manuscripts word-for-word. In addition, there are repeated messages to not abridge the Bible, nor add any words.
- The Bible has the most readily available ancient manuscripts for it. No other historical document of that era in existence is backed by such ancient and numerous copies.
They have asked me about whether or not some of the Bible was ever corrupted, and I have told them this :
- If it was ever corrupted, it would have been made to obey human interests.
- The Bible repeatedly decries the basic human sinful nature.
- The Bible does not give anyone else the authority to "solve" anything or "save" anyone save God and Jesus.
- If the Bible had been corrupted by people, it would have definitely allowed for the works of humans to gain some kind of footing in Heaven.
They have asked me about whether or not Jesus had really said all those exclusivistic things in addition to the messages about love. They ask me why I don't think that love was his bottom line.
- The Gospels make special provision to show Jesus as beyond human, and as the fulfillment of Old-Testament prophecies.
- Luke indicates that he had undertaken some painstaking research in order to provide as accurate an account as possible to Theophilus. If Luke had made up any of that stuff, then surely someone checking his sources could have easily proven him wrong. Yet, there exists no source that we presently possess that attempts such a feat.
- The Gospels cover his death and resurrection heavily. If these were not the bottom line, they may not have even bothered, but rather focused on how Jesus was pleasing to everyone. But, rather, they focused on how his ideas were radical and got him crucified. Jesus was definitely not a people pleaser.
- Jesus repeatedly made references to a before time, and an after time. His parables were rife with references to the preparation, and then the coming. In addition, he had never used loving each other as the bottom line of very many of his parables.
- He got angry, and even damaged some property. In addition, he protested to many things without being tolerant of those things.
They often blame Paul's writings for haven perverted the original message of Jesus.
- If Paul had not truly been converted, he would have found a way to integrate his personal beliefs into the guise of Christianity. Yet, he openly proclaimed and wrote of ideas that were directly contradictory to everything that the usual persecutor of Christianity may have ever believed.
- All the other Christians that had been there since the beginning had trusted him and cooperated with him.
However, my friends still do not believe that Christianity is mutually exclusive with other religions. They still believe that one can pick and choose aspects of Christianity and dump the rest.