Posted by Mrs. Isis Fabulous at 207.127.233.246 on August 22, 2003 at 12:53:18:
In Reply to: PC crap... posted by turningintoJerry on August 22, 2003 at 12:17:53:
"Not all my sheep are of this flock."
: We have the same right to believe what we want to with out being persecuted, don’t we?
I'm with you so far.
: Well it just so happens, that in our religion we believe that there is one true way to get to heaven, JUST ONE: Faith in Jesus Christ as our lord and savior.
Still okay with it.
: With out that faith, we believe, you spend an eternity apart from God in a place called hell.
Replace "you" with "we" and I'm still with it. *I* haven't got anything to do with it.
: That is what we believe and is what we have a constitutional right to believe. So, that being the case, you tell me how it's possible for there to be any room for, in our believe system, other possibilities, religions, etc.
I guess it's not. I'm simply asking why you would expect anyone else to offer you what you don't offer them.
If you have the right to believe *I'm* going to hell, then I have the right to believe you're deluded.
: That's part of our Faith! Yes, Buddha is wrong! Yes modern day Judaism is wrong! Yes other "valid" religions are wrong - in the Christian belief system.
Is this Mel Gibson, Sr.?
: That's the nature of religion. If your a Buddhist, then Christians and everyone else is wrong!
This statement indicates you know nothing of Buddhism, but I guess I shouldn't expect you to.
Just to clarify, Buddhism actually teaches the OPPOSITE of "Christians and everyone else is wrong". What it does teach is the metaphor of "Many Spokes on One Wheel", i.e., that there are many paths to the same truth.
MY religion, which is a pagan one, teaches that humans MUST have many spiritual expressions, for the universe is full of infinite forms, and to properly worship it we must do so in infinite ways. We are therefore specifically instructed NOT to seek the conversion of others to our way.
So it's not "the nature of religion" at all. It's not even the nature of Christianity, for Jesus himself taught acceptance of ALL people, particularly the outcast, especially those who might be considered enemies.
I wasn't put on this earth to deny you of your beliefs; they are yours and yours alone. But I will point out it's easier to make friends when one accepts the possibility that one does not have an exclusive hotline to God and therefore cannot know everything about Everything.