What is this mythical second count that they fail on? Is it believing that all other religions are right? If so, that sounds more like a personal opinion, not a standard that religions should be held to.
count 2 - refusal to accept that other faiths are constructed in the same way and that they might too be a valid interpretation of the concept of divine creation.
its not my personal opinion, these are fundamental tennants of the organised religions
You say that as if theology is entirely subjective. Maybe it's not entirely subjective. If in fact there are some objective criteria, then only a fool would accept faiths that violate those objective criteria. That's something worth pondering.
not sure i understand...i meant to imply that, objectively, all faiths work to serve the same needs within the faithful, regardles of what the specific forms of worship are or what the specific details of the religion entail, thus the inability of say, a follower of Islam to recognise the common bond he/she has with a follower of Judaism is what seems to cause alot of the problems (and these problems go back way before our modern age)
That is your personal opinion - that all faith can equally do whatever, blah blah.
The point Aikimak and I are trying to make is that there are objective elements to religion and can be either right or wrong. For example, either God exists or he doesn't. If God does exist, either he acts one way or another way. These are objective facts that are not dependant on the observer.
The assumption that God exists and that he wants people to come to know and love him is the major tennent of Christianity. It claims that the objective truth is that there is a God who wants us to love him. That is a requirement of the religion. To claim that we must accept that other religions are correct if they say this is not true is just plain stupid.
Being tollerant is one thing. It means that I can be around people of other religions and accept that having that religion is their choice. It doesn't mean that I have to say that their religion is just as right as mine.
You are right. If you believe Christianity you believe that your non-Christian friends are ultimately going towards destruction. I cannot understand why you'd want to dress it up nicer. It is not something that makes Christians say "Ha! I'm right and you're wrong. Nah, Nah, Nah!" It is something that is so saddening and motivating that they would risk public ridicule or worse to tell their friends about. A christian should believe that what Jesus said is right, right? Jesus said he was the only right way to God. A Christian should believe that. If they don't believe it, they shouldn't call themselves Christians. If you belive that Jesus is God's way, like he stated, you will believe that your mates are going to hell if they don't get it sorted out.
You might feel "Who are these Christians to tell me that my way isn't right?!". And if it was just another bloke's idea, I'd feel the same. No-one likes to be told they are wrong. But if it's God telling me I'm wrong I better sit up and take notice, because He won't strive with me forever.
You wrote "And even if you are a Christian, you probably think that everyone who isn't in your particular denomination is damned too."
This is such a generalisation and reveals your intolerance and biases.
You want to say how you came up with that?
The ARE NOT contradictions in the Bible. If you would take the time to sit down with someone far more educated on this topic then me, you would see that the Bible does not contradict itself. I have been studying the Bible for six years and I have yet to find a contradiction. Give us a specific contradiction that you want addressed and I am sure we could clear it up for you.
Maybe we are thinking outside of the box and your not. I believe Moses existed and that he indeed parted the Red sea. Isn't that more outside the box then your view. Listen, God can part the Red sea, Moses can't, but God can.
honest curiosity here...isn't it implied that in a religion there is a two-way flow of love and respect between the worshipper and the worshipped? i was not aware Christianity had a monopoly on love...
Korg, i totally agree. I am a Christian, I believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father in Heaven. I believe that if you do not accept Christ then you will not enter heaven. It is extremely motivating for me to get the word out to others. I do not claim anything else. It is not hypocritical to be a humanitarian and a Christian. As a Christian I desire to see people find the love and acceptance that only Christ can bring. I don't start the conversation with "your going to hell cause you don't believe" I start the conversation with "I finally turned around and saw Jesus, he is awsome and he wants you to see how awsome he is." The Gospel is what I preach. The Gospel is what Jesus wants Christians to preach. I don't apologize for it and I am more then willing to take all the heat that I can for it.
Actually, I think that post by AZeitung is pretty much valid.
He's simply stating that he has his beliefs, but although he accepts that other people have their own beliefs, he doesn't accept those beliefs personally.
Same way that other people have beliefs that I can tolerate but won't accept.
What I find annoying is when they won't even accept that you've got other beliefs and do anything they can to "save you" using an kind of emotional blackmail, threats of hell etc...
Not that people shouldn't share their beliefs, but insisting that everyone should think your way is kind of arrogant and narrowminded. It also doesn't help your cause either, infact it's more likely to drive people away than convert them.
I bet we're all a little guilty of that in some ways.
OK if I am correct you are suggesting that Christians believe that they have a monopoly on love. Well I don't totally agree with your charge i do agree to a certain extent. I believe as humans we have to ability to love eachother only because God gave us that ability. So in a sense I don't believe Christians have a monopoly on that kind of love. However there is a deeper Love called 'agape' love. True unconditional love. Only God can offer this love, and inturn give us the ability to return it.
1 John 4:19 We love because He (God) first loved us.
John 15:13 (Jesus' words) "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Actually the whole first portion of John 15 is all about Gods love.
John 15:9-10 "As the Father has loved me, so have i loved you. Now remain in my Love. If you obey my coofftopicnds, you will remain in my love, just as i have obeyed my fathers coofftopicnds and remain in his love."
One of Jesus' comands is to believe in him and accept his sacrifice for us.
He does not give us another option to recieve this agape love. So in a sense...yes, Christians have a monopoly on this kind of love. The beauty is that everyone can have it because anyone no matter what place you are in can accept Christ. There are no rules or regulations so to speak. It really is just about acknowledging his sacrifice for us.
I cant help but notice (im not just referring to the threads)that every christian I meet spends most of theyre time rubbing theyre religion into my face, also if theyre religion was so perfect and right why do they send old woman around stalking you trying to convert you, this is just a pain in the(SNORT)
Believe in Jesus, do good deed to others and you go to heaven...believe in other Gods, do good deeds to others you go to hell...don't believe in any gods, do good deed to others and you go to hell...minding your own business, do good deeds to others you still go to hell?
Christians out there believe that unless you're "saved", forget about entering heaven. Isn't this the message the bible is telling us. Am I way off left field here about Christianity and their interpretation of the bible?
I need some educamacation here.
Oh, by the way, in case your wondering I am a Christian, but not very religious and not a big church goer either. Now with that said...do you think I'm doomed