Popeyesays said:
I accept Jesus as the Son of God. I accept that His Message was of love and forgiveness. However, calling Him God Almighty is a bit blasphemous to me.
No. God sometimes speaks through people today, but the corner church nearest where I live posts billboards calling for the destruction of Islam. Is THAT PASTOR speaking God's words?
There are less than a dozen recognizably different groups of Muslims. At last count there were 30,000 different groups of Christians.
Jesus said the Spirit of Truth" would be sent - not the "Spirit". He also says that when He comes He will speak with a man's mouth - He says the SPirit of Truth will speak as God bids Him speak, and guide us unto all things.
I see no reason not to accept an Arabic man (Muhammad) as the Spirit of Truth. After all a cause NOT from God will not prosper.
Regards,
Scott
Maybe I had the wrong impression about the Baha'i faith. My understanding was that you don't view yourselves as Christian. To me, your posts seem more Muslim-aligned than Christian-aligned.
I would agree with your second statement. Just because God speaks through people, doesn't mean that everything that comes out of a person's mouth is "of God." But I believe that, generally, the religious councils spoke truth.
About the different denominations: So what? For centuries there were less than a dozen Christian sects, too. Would you like to return to the days of the Inquisition and the purchase of indulgences? Perhaps more viewpoints alloow us to envision a broader spectrum of who God is -- perhaps our theology is now less myopic than it once was.
Jesus also referred to the "Counselor." The generaly-accepted Christian viewpoint is that Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit -- not to a certain person, or persons who ar recognized. if
that's the criterion you're using, then we could rationally appoint any of a number of historic figures: Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Mortin Luther King, Jr., etc. etc. No, I don't buy that. Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who would come to counsel and comfort
all of us.
Maybe Mohammed had the spirit of truth, (maybe he even had the Holy Spirit -- who knows for sure?) But, being a Christian, I don't believe that he was equal to Jesus -- Jesus was fully human and fully divine -- Mohammed was not. That's why I'm a Christian and not a Muslim. (If the Muslims want to believe something other than that, they may -- and I'm OK with that. It's just not for me.)