Hi to my Forum Friends,
In the discussion "Do You Care Whether The Religious Ideas You Believe In Are True Or Not?" begun by Nobluedog, our Forum Friend, Nagel, tells us, "See.. that's the interesting part. I have not, nor will I ever say another person's belief is wrong. I don't see any problem with Christianity being true -- as well as Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, and pretty much any other faith you can think of."
Basically what we have here is an extreme example of what I have described before as Liberal Theology. i.e., "I'm Christian -- but, I'm not sure what I believe about God; I don't believe the Bible to be the Word of God; I'm not really sure what I believe about Jesus Christ -- but, I'm a Christian. The Bible is just a book of allegories, a good guidebook; but, definitely not the literal Word of God."
When one decides to ignore the Bible or to rewrite the Bible to fit his own personal world views, his own worldly desires and worldly religions, i.e, allegorizes the Bible -- we have what Nagel has described. In Nagel's world he tells us that he has FAITH. However, the question remains: Faith in what or who? Nagel says he is seeking -- seeking what, a world view designed around his own desires and pleasures?
Nagel says that God has revealed Himself to be the different gods of the many world religions.
Yet, in Isaiah 45:21, God declares through the prophet Isaiah, "Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me."
And, in Isaiah 45:22, God tells us, "Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other."
In Exodus 20:1-6 we read, "Then God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Has God shown Himself to be Allah, Krishna, or any of the millions of gods in the world religions? Absolutely not!
Who is right -- Nagel or God?
Nagel tells us, "So.. Shiva... Vishnu.. Krishna.. Allah.. Jehovah.. Yahweh.. it's all the same entity, different aspects of the One God. To me, for me, God sent his son, Jesus, to earth. For Ahmed, in Mecca, He sent Mohammed to be his prophet."
Maybe in a New Age religion. But, even in most Liberal Christian Religions they will dispute this claim. Or they should.
And, when Nagel refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, as "Jebus" -- once again I have to ask him -- is this where your FAITH lies -- in someone you refer to as "Jebus."
And, of course, our good old resident atheist, Deep, will always cheer on anyone who claims to be Christian -- yet, describes his faith in this manner. What more could a Dawkins atheist ask -- than a person who will put on a Christian hat and then defame God?
And, when VP jumps on Nagel's bandwagon with, "That was possibly the best post I've ever read. I never really thought about God revealing Himself to people in different ways (Allah, Yahweh), etc." -- I do have to wonder what they are teaching in the Roman Catholic churches these days.
In the twenty years I spent attending the Roman Catholic church I never heard any teachings which would support the statement, "So.. Shiva... Vishnu.. Krishna.. Allah.. Jehovah.. Yahweh.. it's all the same entity, different aspects of the One God. To me, for me, God sent his son, Jesus, to earth. for Ahmed in Mecca, He sent Mohammed to be his prophet."
VP, has the Roman Catholic church changed that much? Or, are you getting your catechism lessons and theology lessons from a different source?
My Friends, anyone can say, "Yes, I'm a Christian!" Until I was fifty years old, when asked the question, I would quickly affirm, "Yes, I am a Christian!" Why? Because I wanted to fit in. And, after all, I did attend the Nazarene, Baptist, and Methodist churches while growing up in Sheffield.
I have attended Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Crystal Cathedral (a Reform Church), and a few others over the years, including a couple of non-denominational churches. Yes, before I was a Christian, I was in and out of more churches than you have flies at a Sunday picnic.
I believed in God and Jesus Christ. I believed the Bible was the Word of God. I was born and raised in the "belt buckle" of the Bible Belt -- North Alabama. How could anyone be more Christian than me?
No, the better question would have been: How could anyone have been less of a Christian than I was then? For, I had been given the Gospel -- but, I obviously had not listened. I listened just enough to believe in God. But, hey, I was young; I still had time AFTER I had my fun first. That is the sad mistake so many lost souls have made -- believing, "I will have time later." But, so often -- "later" happens before we know it. Past your next breath, you have no guarantees.
But, even as a young man -- as a back up, just in case I was wrong -- I felt a strong need to find a church which would tell me that hell does not exist. And, I found a chaplain at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas -- a chaplain from a large denominational church -- who assured me, guaranteed me, that hell is only a myth. Oh, praise the Lord! Now, I could live as I liked and not have to worry about any consequences. Time for wine, women, and song -- let's party!
And, this is what so many folks are looking for -- a Christian life, a Christian church, which will not hold them accountable to God.
That is the reason for the phenomenal growth of the "Feel Good" churches. These are the churches which will NEVER teach about hell, seldom mention Satan -- and will tell you that if you live a "good life" and do "good deeds" -- that will earn you a ticket into heaven.
That is why there are churches like the one in the Mid-West who did not have their Biblical Beliefs posted on their web site. And, when I sent an e-mail asking why they do not post their Biblical Beliefs -- they replied, "We do not post our Biblical Beliefs because we do not want to offend anyone."
Can you really believe a Christian church will not post its Biblical Beliefs -- for fear of offending someone? What do they teach in their sermons -- that God is love and everyone will be saved? That is Universalism -- and is a sure ticket on the Express Train to hell.
My Friends, anyone or any church who will tell you this -- is only greasing the slippery slope into hell for many, many misled souls.
There is only ONE GOD (Isaiah 45:22); and He is the God of the Bible; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is ONLY ONE WAY to God and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:6). We are saved, by the grace of God, through FAITH in Jesus Christ (not Jebus) -- plus NOTHING else (Ephesians 2:8-9).
And, when we do become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ -- we are indwelt, sealed, by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). He takes up residence in us -- and can never be evicted and will never sublet to any other spirits.
My Friends, when this happens for us -- we do not hide it out of fear of offending someone. No! We shout it from the roof tops.
We do as He tells us in Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, and Acts 1:8 -- We Go, be His witnesses -- in all the world. We do not hide under the bed. We take His Gospel to the world!
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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