Maybe god knew that some people would respond only to might and so he gave them an image of an almighty god.
Maybe god knew that human-kind would only come to know him and accept him by various names.
Maybe god knew that one image of god was not enough to reach the hearts of men and women.
And maybe god knew some would reject a god without mercy and he gave them an image of pure love through his son.
And maybe god knew that some would reject his son and he gave them a different path, and a different way to come to know and accept him.
Maybe god knew that some would reject him outright so he gave them a mind of their own that they could use to seek truth through various means (like science/philosophy).
Maybe god knew that because men have free will, that there would need to be a million ways to find him.
If this is true, then why does the NT explicitly state that there is only one way to one God? It seems like you are constructing a vision of compatible pathways to God when some of those pathways explicitly state that they are mutually exclusive. How do you explain this? Or do you care?
For example, take the history of the Israelites in the OT. When they get too cosy with they traditions of other people groups, God explicitly condemns their behavior and kills many of them. He cites “idol worship” as the reasoning behind his actions.
From your position, it seems like the Israelites could have justly complained, “but we were just following other pathways towards the same God!”. But I’m not sure that God would have listened.
If I knew that it were true I would have said:“god knew” and left out maybe.
Perhaps god knew that some people could not accept multiple paths and to those people hearing the message of one path to god is the way to lead them to himself… or something to that effect.
Relax Ned. This is exploration and it is not the establishment of something new. I am not a threat to your god or your messiah or to their messages. The exclusive paths to god may be right or perhaps (maybe) god established many paths… maybe god knew it was the only way to give us free will and yet give us a way to go to god. If god is the destination, what does it matter what path we chose so long as we get there?
I’d rather choose my own path and never reach the right destination than to have that path chosen for me and never have my own path. Personally, I am an atheist that believes in free will and to me that means that god or a path cannot exist but that doesn’t prevent me from exploring these ideas.
Maybe some men can find their own way around the forest…
While maybe others needs their guides, shepherds, and what have you…
Maybe.
If you accept that possibility then you have the problem that God is a liar when he says that there is only one way.
I’m relaxed. Honest!
I know what you mean. But I’m just trying to point out that syncretism has it’s own problems. You have to ignore large chunks of the bible to make it work for you. Kind of like squashing a square block into a round hole.
I’m sure you’re not.
Again, you have to believe in a God who lies repeatedly and then states openly that he never lies.
Because it places more emphasis on you than there ever should be. The basis of idolatry is the construction of your own God. In olden days people would carve a little man out of wood or stone and then bow down before it exclaiming , “this is my God”. In modern times we are much more sophisticated. We construct an anthropomorphic view in our heads of how God should be, and then tell all our friends, “this is my God.” More sophisticated, same problem.
I used to think that way too. But you have to ask yourself if you will ever reach the destination.
Maybe some people think they can find their way through the forest. Until it starts to get dark and they realize that they are lost. Then they wish they had followed the path, or at least taken a map and compass.
Sometimes lies are necessary to protect people.
Would you lie to protect an innocent from certain death?
Why is that a problem? Free will, right?
Free will, right?
I don’t care to. The journey is too interesting.
Don’t you trust in your god to save those that are lost?
Perhaps they need to get lost so that god can find them…
You ever wonder why god chose the Israelites? Maybe because they were constantly straying from the path…
Probably. But that’s not the issue. The issue is whether God would set up different systems of “truth” that all lead to the same source, and then lie repeatedly to people that he only created a single source and that he never would lie. And there seems no apparent “protective” reason to do so.
Alrighty then.
The assumption in your question is that god has said somewhere that he will save all those who are lost. The bible does not say this at all. It teaches that God will save only a minority of those who are lost. The minority are those who choose to obey his directions.
God knows where they are and is able to direct them out. But most wont listen.
I don’t think so. He killed many of them for disobedience. God chose Israel simply because he loved their forefathers.
Deuteronomy 7
6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. 7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
You don’t leave room for the possibility that it was necessary to “lie”? Why?
The reason to do so? How about knowing the hearts of men? Or do you imagine that free will only allows for one path?
If my theory is plausible, then the bible does not apply to everyone, rather it only applies to some. Those are the one’s that are “saved”. The others chose to reject all paths (including any alternative paths) and those are the ones that are “lost” forever. Maybe. It’s a key word. You understand the word maybe?
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4). Here we discover a most blatant defiance of God, a deliberate refusal to obey His command given through Noah. He had said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 9:1); but they said, “Let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
As we have seen, Nimrod’s ambition was to establish a world-empire. To accomplish this two things were necessary. First, a center of unity, a city headquarters; and second, a motive for the encouragement and inspiration of his followers. This latter was supplied in the “let us make us a name.” It was an inordinate desire for fame. Nimrod’s aim was to keep mankind all together under his own leadership “lest we be scattered.” The idea of the “tower” (considered in the light of its setting) seems to be that of strength—a stronghold—rather than eminence.
“And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel (Confusion); because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Gen. 11:6-9). Another crisis had arrived in the history of the world. Once again the human race was guilty of the sin of apostasy. Therefore did God intervene, brought Nimrod’s schemes to naught by confounding the speech of his subjects and scattered them throughout the earth. Here was one of the mightiest and most far-reaching miracles of history. It finds no parallel until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost when another miracle of “tongues” was performed. The effect of God’s intervention was the origination of the different nations and after the destruction of the Tower of Babel we get the formation of the “world” as we now have it. At this point the nations were abandoned to their own devices—“God gave them up” (Rom. 1)—but not until the race had twice enjoyed a revelation of God’s mercy (first to Adam and then to Noah) and had twice forsaken Him before and now, after the Deluge.
So, how do you explain why there are so many denominations within Christianity? Is it true that each and every one of these is the only “true way” to God? Indeed, it would seem to be a lot of this depends on “who” is doing the interpreting.
Why would it be a lie to say that there is a single source? If the different systems all lead to, or stem from, the same source then where is the lie?
If the Taoists are right, and there is one mountain with many paths; and God exists as sort of an inverted capstone perched on the peak of the mountain then is there not one path to God whilst at the same time many paths to the pinnacle?
Aye, but the experienced woodsman will always find his way through.
For the experienced and adventerous woodsman, his journey through the forest will be difficult and exciting, filled with the varieties of animal and plant life.
Perhaps he will even stumble through the dark and frightening parts of the forest…
but if he makes it out alive (the best ones always do), then I reckon he’ll have a much better story to tell than the simple minded traveler who stuck to the main road.
Perhaps the woodsman will even make a startling new discovery that the simple-minded traveler simply walked past.
However the simple-minded traveler who decided to stick to the easy, straight-foward path will find that his experience left him wondering what might have been off of the path. He might wonder what he missed as he walked straight ahead. But, he will never know…he was to afraid to stray from the well-beaten path.
But I suppose the average simple-minded traveler does not even recognize this or care…
The map that you were given is incomplete and its credibility is limited, so it is up to you to become the cartographer, and chart the unexplored regions on your own.
You know, when YHWH was talkin’ directly to the Isrealites, “he” gave them direct commands:
*If someone was caught worshiping another god, they would be killed.
*If someone was caught having sex with the wrong person, they would be killed.
^There are many more examples.
Liberal, free attitudes about any path–these attitudes are human, and not the attitudes of the whole Jewish God & Jesus character/idea.
But if universal spirituality theorists took a moment to stop bullshitting themself, they could realize that maybe it’s not the will of one god, but the will of a billion people–not to be taken literally.
Complex psychological needs fuel the similarities in “god” theories, but this is because of human-nature, not “god’s” communications with each of them.
If you treated “God” the same way as he treated you,
He could never see you or hear your voice.
Does that sound like a “relationship with God”?
There are more chances of this being partial communication with a non-god, astral being or species–if it is real. “The one true God”–has never been.
Or the one true god is the self. The conciousness or spirit within. Your own existance. Your creator, Your destroyer, your saviour, your lover, your teacher, your student…“You”, in your purist metaphysical form.
Everyone is their own path because everyone is their own god.
Mr, thirst is not an Athiest. He is an Agnostic. And he has found himself and his own path, his own understanding and truth. “He” is God, For he hath created such.
Let’s make a break for it.