Quote Originally Posted by sunofmysoul View Post
i agree. I just believe that God has used the various cultures and religions all over the world to do so. Having occasionally to manifest Himself in deeper ways. I would be interested in how you believe this happens though.
(for instance Native americans...before christ , back jungles..., etc.)
when viewing the "ONE and only Version of the TRUTH" with such a scope of elitism..i fear that we are faced with an arrogance, when we readily claim all others "truth"...,holy books, prayers, etc...to be worthless, and evil....
I see Christians say that you must open your heart, be open minded...
(to get away from all the "false" religions and cults...)
but...we ourselves would never be so...."openminded" with their holy books,
and beliefs and prayers, and customs.
Soms,
I do not believe that you are agreeing with me. What I stated is that "all will have be presented with an opportunity to either accept or reject Christ. Then I quoted where the scripture says that He (Christ) went and preached to the spirits of all those who have ever lived and died on this earth and gave each one a chance to accept or reject Him. Not some form of Him. He either has or will "as Jesus Christ" appear to every soul who ever lives.

God's truth is not based on what some other "Christians" may say or even do, for there are many who will come in that day and say, "Lord, Lord" to Jesus. He will say, "depart from Me I never knew You."

God's word says there is One mediator between man and God.

1 Timothy 2

3 For such [praying] is good and right, and [it is] pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior,

4 Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth.

5 For there [is only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

6 Who gave Himself as a ransom for all [people, a fact that was] attested to at the right and proper time.

And He didn't indicate that He would appear in many forms through many types of religion.

Quote Originally Posted by sunofmysoul View Post
i don't just not feel good about it...it is unacceptable.
by all means we must shine a light of love so all may be drawn to the flame...
YES....but what if we see this love...coming from someone of another faith?
what does that mean? how can they have it?
in order to believe that it is christianity ONLY that gives us peace that p***es understanding, the ability to walk in sacrificial love, (God's love)
and be filled with the fruit of the spirit.....
one must walk in cognitive dissonance. one must blind oneself to others.
(the truth) imho.

not my imagination...my understanding of the exclusitivity (and elitism) of christianity
Our own feelings are not a good way to enter into a contract or agreement. And that is exactly what our acceptance or rejection of God and His Word is. God made a covenant and sealed with His own blood. We are never told to follow our own feelings. Many of our feelings lead us to seek out our own desires and p***ions. I can not use my feelings to decide whether or not I will love and serve God. I can not make my own judgments of God as to whether or not He is being fair.

Your words which I made red above are a misunderstanding of what I believe. Christianity never saved anyone. Christianity never changed anyone. Christianity never gave anyone peace that p***es all understanding or the ability to walk in sacrificial love.

It is GOD through JESUS Who saves and changes people. It is GOD through Christ dwelling in our hearts Who gives the peace that p***es all understanding. And it is GOD through Jesus empowering us by the Holy Spirit so that we might walk in His ways and not our own.

NO RELIGION, even CHRISTIANITY can do that. I believe, adhere to, cling to, and follow Christ to the laying down of my own life. The early followers of Christ were called Christians. That is why the world has named "The Church" Christianity. I know no other than God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I am a follower of Him not religion. There are many who are believers in Christianity instead of the True God but I am not one of them.

There may be many following other religions who follow after their own beliefs in the same way I follow Christ. But they are not following after Christ under another name or in another form. That is my point.

Quote Originally Posted by sunofmysoul View Post
i will say the beginning of my questioning began with verse 1 john 4:7-8

and the question of how good fruit can grow on a rotten tree...or vice versa.


with love,
soms
I think there may be a big difference in what God considers good fruit and bad fruit and what you and I might consider good fruit.

But in either case even if these people are producing good fruit that brings up the teaching of salvation through "grace" alone. No one has ever been saved through Christ by good works. So perhaps that is just one more difference between a follower of Christ and another who believes they are in agreement with the Gospel of Christ under a different religion. Others get to God by their good works, followers of Christ are saved by faith through grace.