Why do some believe that Christianity is the only true religion, and how do they support this belief in comparison to other world religions in terms of historical evidence, theological consistency, spiritual experience, and moral teachings?
Yeah but when he turned 30 he became a wizard, which is esoteric and based. How do you think he was able to turn water into wine and walk on water and shit?
Because Jesus, as quoted by his followers said so: "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'". -John 14:6
Because Jesus both fulfilled messianic prophecies and rose from the dead, in fact him rising from the dead is probably the one of the only thing Paul, Luke, Matthew, Mark, and John agree on
How do we know he actually did rise from the dead?
Outside of the fact all of his followers agree on it stories even existed from his detractors of him coming back from the grave (though they tried to right these off as incidents of black magic/necromancy).
"Onkelos then went and raised Jesus the Nazarene from the grave through necromancy. Onkelos said to him: Who is most important in that world where you are now?"
Because even secular historians from the era agreed that Jesus's execution caused many supernatural events:
"In the fourth year, however, of Olympiad 202 [33AD], an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea."
"
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied"
Pretty interesting huh? By the way I lied it's actually from the book of Isaiah, written some 700 years before Jesus's time. This is one of many prophecies Jesus's fulfilled. He was also a Jewish male who was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and born in Bethleham (Micah 5:2) among other things
What about people born in Buddhist cultures who aren't exposed to Christianity or any other culture for that matter if I was born in North korea for example I wouldn't be Christian
Not necessarily, while there is fire in hell (Matthew 25:41) it may not be everyone's theres final fate. While they are separated in Hell we do know that ignorance, while not absolving punishment, can reduce it. As Jesus explained: "That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows. But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows."- Luke 12:47-48
Worried about people being separated from God for eternity? Spread his word! In fact if you're a Christian you're practically commanded to evangelize. Matthew 28:19 tells us. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".
So are you worried about others not hearing Gods word? Than go out and spread it!
What about people born in Buddhist cultures who aren't exposed to Christianity or any other culture for that matter if I was born in North korea for example I wouldn't be Christian
Buddhism isn't a religion so much as a strict lifestyle. It helps you with regulating emotion without following a god. It can be followed in conjunction to Christianity.
I remember talking to someone about this. They said that those who were never taught of God via Christianity can still get into heaven so long as their heart is in the right place.
There's no hard evidence that lets us know the God of Christianity is the actual God that made this universe. We choose to believe it based on what speaks truth to us. I'm not confident that the God of Christianity is our actual God but I do believe there's something divine that nudged life in the right direction to evolve to what we are today. If that happens to be the God of Christianity, cool. Jesus was a cool cat with honorable morals so I choose to follow him.
Buddhism isn't a religion so much as a strict lifestyle. It helps you with regulating emotion without following a god. It can be followed in conjunction to Christianity.
I remember talking to someone about this. They said that those who were never taught of God via Christianity can still get into heaven so long as their heart is in the right place.
There's no hard evidence that lets us know the God of Christianity is the actual God that made this universe. We choose to believe it based on what speaks truth to us. I'm not confident that the God of Christianity is our actual God but I do believe there's something divine that nudged life in the right direction to evolve to what we are today. If that happens to be the God of Christianity, cool. Jesus was a cool cat with honorable morals so I choose to follow him.
Salvation is a gift, we don't earn it. We aren't entitled to it either. All are deserving of condemnation. Should even one be saved, it's God's mercy and grace. There is no other salvation.
Romans 3: “None is righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did it to demonstrate his righteousness, so he might be the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus."
Romans 10:15 "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"
Romans 3: “None is righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did it to demonstrate his righteousness, so he might be the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus."
If someone doesn't know of Jesus Christ, how is salvation delivered? I was told if you knew of Christianity, salvation was delivered if you accepted Jesus as your lord/savior, meaning you try to do right by him by doing as he does. If you chose to reject Jesus as your savior, you do not get salvation. That seems to me like salvation is contingent on earning it through coming to terms with Jesus as your savior.
But if they don't know of Christianity and grow up in a land that doesn't acknowledge Christianity, what is their salvation? A pedophile who is not remorseful for raping a child, a murderer who is not remorseful for murdering someone for pleasure, these are individuals who would not get into heaven (from what I've been told). Accepting Jesus means to understand these are bad things you've done and work to not do it again. One saying "I accept Jesus" but intentionally continues to lead a life that goes against what Jesus would want... is that truly accepting Jesus by spitting in his face? Those who don't know about Christianity would be judged by God based on what?
I think there is a good argument to be made that the theology of these other religions does not allow for the world that we experience. With an impersonal diety (or no diety) knowledge itself becomes impossible.
I agree with the Christians in this thread who reply "Because the Bible," I mean that is ultimately correct, but I dont think its an effective argument to make vs an atheist or a hindujeet. They already dont accept any of that. The better approach is to show how their own worldview is incoherent.
If someone doesn't know of Jesus Christ, how is salvation delivered? I was told if you knew of Christianity, salvation was delivered if you accepted Jesus as your lord/savior, meaning you try to do right by him by doing as he does. If you chose to reject Jesus as your savior, you do not get salvation. That seems to me like salvation is contingent on earning it through coming to terms with Jesus as your savior.
But if they don't know of Christianity and grow up in a land that doesn't acknowledge Christianity, what is their salvation? A pedophile who is not remorseful for raping a child, a murderer who is not remorseful for murdering someone for pleasure, these are individuals who would not get into heaven (from what I've been told). Accepting Jesus means to understand these are bad things you've done and work to not do it again. One saying "I accept Jesus" but intentionally continues to lead a life that goes against what Jesus would want... is that truly accepting Jesus by spitting in his face? Those who don't know about Christianity would be judged by God based on what?
Love in the Bible is an act, it's not just a feeling. One's love is only true if it bears fruit in your actions, doing good works, serving your fellow man, and abstaining from evil. Just saying you accept Christ but not repenting or changing any behavior means your feelings are inauthentic. That is not to say you earn salvation through good works, but your good works testify to your authentic salvation.
And I apologize if my last post was vague, but there are different theories about those who never heard the gospel. But I believe, and understand my second quote to support, that they are not saved. For none can earn salvation on our own merits, and we all rightly deserve condemnation in the absence of accepting Christ.
And I apologize if my last post was vague, but there are different theories about those who never heard the gospel. But I believe, and understand my second quote to support, that they are not saved. For none can earn salvation on our own merits, and we all rightly deserve condemnation in the absence of accepting Christ.
It sucks that people will suffer for all eternity just because they happened to be born into circumstances that didn't grant them the opportunity to even hear of Christianity. ):
I was told the Holy Spirit is that voice in your head that tries to guide you to the best path possible. I heard it in my head years before I stopped being atheist. I heard it when I was at my ugliest. I chose to defy the teachings of the God of Christianity yet I still heard that voice. If one hasn't heard of Christianity, do they not have that internal Holy Spirit guiding them? If not, why?
I'm not asking these questions to debate but to learn. If someone as horrible as me could convert to following the lessons of Jesus Christ, why can't anyone else be offered that opportunity beyond the grave? People who are upstanding individuals compared to a monster like me, shouldn't they be given one chance to believe? These people aren't willingly choosing absence of accepting Christ. They were never given a chance to try.
The Abrahamic trilogy is just the counter to true religion found in the so called “mystery religions” however one needs to be very careful they do not fall into the trappings of new-age spirituality and the unintelligent realm of paganism.
But what does that actually mean? Well all of the “mystery religions” would encompass the ethnic traditions of the Norse, Greek, Vedic, Egyptian, and other European traditions and would be considered sibling paths. However there is a couple of obvious problems.
1. They’re incomplete. Most of these traditions have suffered willful damage (at the hands of abhramic religions depending on the region) and are no longer in an easily useable form. There are some people devoted to restoring Asatru as an example (the norse tradition) but it remains to be seen how far they’ll get.
2. There is no longer any authentic mentors because of reason 1. Religion needs authentic mentorship in the form of priests and gurus that are able to help followers learn its contents and these are done in lineages. The abhramic religions do have a variation of this but most of those ordained into these positions are really just “doing a job” from a place of power and we have seen the last couple decades what that kind of scandals that leads to.
The most intact path is the Vedic one, which people erroneously attribute as being exclusive to India. Well it isn’t and those that call themselves Hindus are not even using its real name, the religion is not called Hinduism it is called Sanatana Dharma in sanskrit which means “Natural Law” or “The eternal truth”. There is a large chasm between so called hindus and Dharmis (followers of Dharma) and this is only further tainted by the materialistic all devouring indians that have been carted into our nations en masse.
But back to Christianity, a lot of people are getting their lives wrecked these days and turning to these institutions and while earlier in this post I lumped Christianity in with Judaism and Islam. I should clarify that this is just for Pauline Christianity ( which is the majority of christian institutions).
The true christians (i.e those who are trying to be like Christ) should be considered close to if not totally on one of the sibling paths of the ancient mysteries. The teachings of Christ only are considered to be like this not the rest of the bible. For those who want to know more of what I mean should look up Paleo Christians or Gnostic Christianity (the former is probably best).
There should be no doubt among everyone that Jesus Christ was a sincere and good person trying to help his fellow man in the time he was alive. If you must be Christian then actually be like christ and work hard to become like christ. Being spiritual and devoted is work and you cant just say you are something without doing the work.
