But what kind of a Christ do you believe in? It needs to be consistent with the gospels no? He speaks repeatedly of the Father. Who is this Father then?
You have read the gospels, correct?
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Is Christianity only For Christians?
- Thread starter Amani_Bhava
- Start date
You have read the gospels, correct?
Amani_Bhava
Member
I cannot recall Christ ever saying his Father is Creator God. Even if he did or we assume his Father is Creator God .. I can live with that little bit of frown from Buddhism .. I would not be needing samma dithi in this lifetime probably
namaste
A_B
You are free to go with your faith of course. Just thinking of possible stumbling blocks if a rational and consistent syncretic theology is attempted here.
So for example, this from Luke,
16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he
went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He
stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to
him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor."
20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat
down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he
began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing."
Who would this Lord be?
Similarly here,
21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these
things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to
infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have
been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son
is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to
whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
or here,
1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of
his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his
disciples." 2 He said to them,
"When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
Amani_Bhava
Member
The Lord would be God. What we call in Hinduism as Vishnu.
I could not understand the meaning of your query
namaste
A_B
So its not YHWH?
Amani_Bhava
Member
I take all Prophets (e.g. Moses) as avatars of God .. that includes Christ (I do not know much about Mohammed)
Prophet means a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. I take that as God descending to earth (not really but metaphorically)
And no I do not believe in the immaculate conception bit ..
In short, I believe very pure souls may become the voice of God and Christ was one but not the only one
namaste
A_B
Amani_Bhava
Member
Are you asking if God of OT is God of NT .. That gets Christian scholars confused .. I am too small fry to answer it
I do not see any difference between YHWH and God of NT and Vishnu .. He appeared to different civilisations differently ..
namaste
A_B
Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
Interesting you know little about Muhammad but like Jesus, Noah, Job, and all the rest he is very much a part of the spectrum. Don't worry I know people here have some anti-Islamic beliefs which is fine by me but as someone who studies the history of all Abrahamic prophets it would behoove you to at least investigate but okay.
Amani_Bhava
Member
Are you asking me to become interested in Islam? Thanks but no thanks. It does not interest me.
I am an Indian and we have been at the receiving end of Islamic jihad for a thousand years
namaste
A_B
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I do wonder what verses you have in mind because the pre-human Jesus (Revelation 1:5) according to Revelation 3:14 B was the beginning of the creation by God.
God was Not first born, but pre-human Jesus was as per Colossians 1:15.
So, as Psalms 90:2 says God is from everlasting, so only God was before the beginning, thus Jesus was Not before the beginning as God was before the beginning.
Any thoughts about 1 Corinthians 8:6
In Scripture I can't find were there are any ' gods ' which walked the Earth.
I find according to 1 Kings 8:39,49 that God's dwelling place (His home) is in Heaven. Isaiah 57:15 agrees.
Any thoughts about 1 Kings 8:27 because even the 'heavens of heavens' can Not contain the God of the Bible.
I find in the Bible book of Revelation it was given to John by Jesus, and according to what Jesus gave John at Revelation 4:11 is that his God created all things, thus the God of Jesus is also Creator.
Even the resurrected ascended-to-heaven Jesus still thinks he has a God over him according to Revelation 3:12.
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I find that LORD or Lord is a title and Not a name, which is also true of the word God/god being a title.
In the King James English Bible at Psalms 110 we find there are two (2) LORD/Lord's mentioned.
The LORD in all Upper-Case letters stand for the LORD God, the Tetragrammaton name (YHWH)
The Lord in some lower-case letters stands for the Lord Jesus, and the Tetragrammaton does Not apply.
syo
Well-Known Member
For a short period of time the son walked the earth.
syo
Well-Known Member
Son was before creation.
I think a person who does not agree with the tenets of the historical Christian church should not be called a Christian. And having a view of Jesus at odds with the views with those of the historical Christian church is not actually a view of the real Jesus. You may as well call this imagined Jesus another name since it is merely an invented Jesus, not the true Christian Jesus.
I'm curious.
So what's missing in your birth religion that you feel the need to go outside that paradigm? Did you have some experience that needed a prayer, and only Jesus could answer it? Not Ganesha, or Krishna?
Samantha Rinne
Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
Or maybe, you're letting what past teachers have told you about what people did in regards to history color your perception of the world.
The Crusades happened. They had to happen or Europe would be taken over by Islam. Because of that, the continent of Europe was able to develop separately from the Middle East. We developed the printing press, the Magna Carta (the first time in print anyway, that the concept that a king was subject to the people and laws, was mentioned), democracy, and many other advances I can't think of offhand.
So did the unification of Israel, taking it from the various tribes there. If not for that, those of Israel would have been a wandering tribe, who eventually died out or something. The Jews believe in a broken world that is to be restored. As such, they contribute more than any other racial/religious group to science, math, and other disciplines including just the advancement of culture.
If after the Holocaust and countless pogroms against the Jews, you're gonna blame them for taking over one country and supposedly killing Christ, I think that's your hangup not mine.
I do know history. But I apparently know something better than you.
Every now and then, some nutcase calls himself Christian, yet bombs some abortion center. But this is not what Jesus taught to do. Lemme ask you something:
1. If you're gonna say all Christians or Jews are bad, how can you then turn around and say #NotAllMuslims for terrorism that happens? If we can't blame Islam for terrorism, then how can we possibly blame Christians for the Crusades (which only lasted 90 years) or Jews for their supposed evils? You're being unfair.
2. More important a religion's past (and if we want to talk pasts, the Hindu caste system caused some suffering, as did many purely secular wars, should we blame atheists?) is what it offers. What it can teach us. Or, if you are going to declare that history is more important, see #1.
What can Hinduism offer Christianity? A belief that people have specific purpose and that life begins anew (reincarnation). But we don't necessarily need to inherit their flaws. What can Christianity offer Hinduism? I just told you. Forgiveness/grace (a boon under the curse of bad karma) and the concept of a Savior. These are things that do not require conversion, as there ARE Savior-types (like Krishna and many avatars probly) within Hinduism. What does Hinduism probably not want? Christianity, being about forgiven sins, the followers logically are very flawed.
3. The point of Christianity as forgiveness means we also forgive the past (please see that you improve your present actions though). If this is the case, then as long as we forgive others our sins are also forgiven. So, why aren't you doing it? Wouldn't that make you following a weaker standard than the one Christians are supposed to be following? How then, can you act as judge? If so, see #1 and #2.
Jesus judged only two groups. Judgemental people (Matthew 6:14-15) like the Pharisees, and maybe those who were unrepentant or who couldn't forgive themselves. Don't be that person, and you're fine.
His followers may have done what they bloody liked, but if they did follow his rule to forgive others, and you're still judging them... that's on you.
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Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Just sayin'
Samantha Rinne
Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
Why not? Who is anyone to tell someone how to believe?
I'm a Christian Taoist. Many Christians would see me as some kind of heretic. But it's between me and God. If he wants to judge me, I guess I'm judged.