Is Jesus The Only Way To Know God?

[bhuvana-mohan dasa]

Originally Posted by sayso

What would be your argument, bmd against the possibility of God wanting to reconcile the world He created to Himself, and doing it in His Own Way? And those who accept His way, truth, and life are reconciled to Him.

Of course Paul wrote with Hebrew understanding. It is the Jews to whom salvation was first offered, and then to the gentiles. There is no conflict concerning Jesus' being the only way to God and Paul being Jewish. Jesus is the Messiah. Everyone who is "in" Christ understands that The God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is the same "I AM" that came to earth and dwelt among men, Jesus.

The only difference here is whether or not one believes (not in) God and believes that the Bible is His word spoken to us. One either believes that or does not. I believe that God allows all men to believe Him or not. It's been going on since the garden of Eden, some believing Him and some not.

God spoke to Adam and Eve, then along came the serpent and said, "did God say....?" and immediately they chose to believe something else other than what God said.

i have no argument, sayso, against your personal election (as well as that of many other fundamentalists) to view poetry on the same platform as established historical fact. In fact, all the world's great religions seem to claim that as a common theme (though clothed in different figures, and varying according to different times, places and circumstances): that Love of which all mundane expressions serve as but dim reflections, and is Personal,insatiable, and without beginning of days or end of years...........


ys,
bmd.

[sayso]

Originally Posted by bhuvana-mohan dasa

i have no argument, sayso, against your personal election (as well as that of many other fundamentalists) to view poetry on the same platform as established historical fact. In fact, all the world's great religions seem to claim that as a common theme (though clothed in different figures, and varying according to different times, places and circumstances): that Love of which all mundane expressions serve as but dim reflections, and is Personal,insatiable, and without beginning of days or end of years...........


ys,
bmd.

Other religions may claim to serve the only God and may teach love, but Christianity is different in at least this one point; Through Christ God reaches out to mankind and provides the sacrifice once for all who will accept it and believe God. That means that if you live your whole life as a godless sinner and at the hour before your death see the error of your own ways and are sincerely sorry, repent and ask forgiveness, you will get it. No being sent back to try harder next time. You get one try in this life

Other religions teach that if you live a good life and do well enough to please God you'll be accepted. Some teach that if you mess up this time then you'll come back again and have more chances until you finally get it right. Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ laid down His life so that we might live and become what God intended for us when He created mankind; that we might know God and the One He sent and be like Him.

You may not see the Bible as historical or truth but it is. That is why I say that it is a matter of believing God and not believing in God. The demons believe in God and shudder.

And the truth is that Jesus (Who is God) loves you no matter whether you believe what He said or not. It is not a matter of whether He loves you, it is a matter of Him offering the gift of life to you and whether or not you choose to receive that gift.

[bhuvana-mohan dasa]

Originally Posted by sayso

Other religions may claim to serve the only God and may teach love, but Christianity is different in at least this one point; Through Christ God reaches out to mankind and provides the sacrifice once for all who will accept it and believe God. That means that if you live your whole life as a godless sinner and at the hour before your death see the error of your own ways and are sincerely sorry, repent and ask forgiveness, you will get it. No being sent back to try harder next time. You get one try in this life

You're speaking of a conditional love here, sayso: "Get your heart right with God in this life, and if you don't, you'll burn in hell forever."

i submit to you as my opinion, that there is a Higher Love, that Forgives as often as the sinner will repent and appeal to God's Mercy to place him back on the track, and also offers limitless opportunities for this repentance. Every imaginable sin an individual can commit covers an expression of the basic human need for Love, manifesting itself in multifaceted degrees of distortion. A "god" who arbitrarily limits himself" to the fulfillment of a certain "allotment of grace" to each individual is too whimsical to warrant much attention from any.

ys,
bmd.

[sayso]

Originally Posted by bhuvana-mohan dasa

You're speaking of a conditional love here, sayso: "Get your heart right with God in this life, and if you don't, you'll burn in hell forever."

No, not conditional love. His love for us is unconditional, and He loves even those who will not listen and receive Him. It is not He who decides but each person who chooses. You ***ume that because a person reaps the consequences of his own actions that God does not love him unconditionally.

Here is an example: There is a child who is loved by his father with all of his heart. The child has been kidnapped by an evil man taken to a far away land, and forced into slavery. The father then sends his son to make payment so that his child may be bought and freed from slavery so that he may come home. The son who bought the child back from slavery says to him, "follow me, I will get you home." Now the child is free to go home, but he doesn't know the way home or how to get there on his own. There are many now telling him this is the way or that is the way. But there is only one road that goes home and if he doesn't follow his brother he will not get there, no matter how much his father loves him.

Originally Posted by bhuvana-mohan dasa

i submit to you as my opinion, that there is a Higher Love, that Forgives as often as the sinner will repent and appeal to God's Mercy to place him back on the track, and also offers limitless opportunities for this repentance. Every imaginable sin an individual can commit covers an expression of the basic human need for Love, manifesting itself in multifaceted degrees of distortion. A "god" who arbitrarily limits himself" to the fulfillment of a certain "allotment of grace" to each individual is too whimsical to warrant much attention from any.

ys,
bmd.

I submit to you as my opinion, that God is that Higher Love, that forgives as many times as the sinner repents and He also cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

It is not God who limits Himself but man who limits Him. Because God is love. We make gods for ourselves when we try to determine what love truly is. Is it unloving to allow a child the freedom to chose his own road after you have warned him that if he goes the wrong way he will wind up in the wrong place?