You are my brethren

[larrylyates]

Originally Posted by Antipas

I do not doubt that God calls mankind through the person of Jesus Christ. And I realize that Jesus did say that no man comes to the Father, but by himself. And I do believe in repenting from self, ignorance, and hatred; and turning to God and being filled with surrender, illumination, and love.

I do believe that the person of Jesus was a human being, albeit with God inside. I believe that God was inside many other religious figures from every religion. Yet each, including Jesus, spoke from their illuminated humanity. So each message contains the cultural perspective of the men who were the messengers. If several "messiahs" claim exclusivity we can either become confused wondering which is telling the truth... or ask ourselves who is this God that is speaking through all of them? He is the one beckoning to us, not necessarily the human vessel.



Remember, every holy scripture (of every religion) was written by men. None of them are perfect. We can't put any scripture on an altar and worship it as being absolutely "perfect". We should be critical of it and very introspective with regards to the principles being taught in the text. Always remembering their historic and cultural contexts.

Out of all the people who have ever lived, the vast majority of people haven't read the Bible or heard the message of the Gospel. Let alone the Gospel of the Oneness Pentecostal movements. One cannot "refuse" what they have never heard. So according to you, countless numbers of souls are going to burn in everlasting torments... simply because they were never in the right place at the right time to hear the right message. And this all powerful, all knowing, all seeing God who is so exclusive chooses to do nothing to save them. Instead... he rejoices in those living in 21st century America who just happen to be in the right place at the right time. That makes little sense to me. Why would any all powerful and all knowing being of infinite power and love reject people who never even had a chance??? I think this position is a leap of logic to justify a religious bias. It's an effort to convince one's self of a "wishful fantasy".



Amen. Yet, I believe the one speaking through the man Jesus Christ is the very same God who has spoken in various ways to all of humanity.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. Any study of comparative religion demonstrates vast differences between the world's religions. The difference with Christianity is that Jesus was not "just a man" filled with God. He was God manifest in flesh for the purpose of redeeming mankind from their sins. Christianity is the only world religion based upon the bodily resurrection of it's founder. The founders of all other religions are dead in their graves. It is a significant and fundamental difference.