Sir, you are in a philosophy forum and you’re asking me why it is important that I not contradict myself? Do we not share the same interest in following the inquiry where it leads? Do you like being ripped in half by following opposite pathways/conclusions? You have hoisted yourself on the petard of your own reason!
@Meno2 I had to share this moment with you 
Exclusivism is presumptive and lacks compassion. There are no opposite pathways, but numererous seekers in various cultural settings. Since all of us are blind, nobody has an advantage over the other - except by using force. That has been how history has run for ages.
How is it using force to acknowledge that the situation cannot be both that there IS a God and that there is NOT?
Even IF you used brute force, you could not make both true.
I don’t think that is the question. You are making that the question but it isn’t mine. I’m saying that your God is my Ground of Being, Cosmic Consciousness, Brahman, Tao, or whatever you want to call it. In Aramaic, God is Alaha. In Arabic it is Allah. Are we fighting over names?
Do they have a competing claims? You must choose.
They have varying experiences and practices, like children experience their parents differently. It is a question of initial perspective and consequent how it is lived. You can’t really say that the church showed much continuity with Jesus’ teachings anymore than Jews or Moslems have been moral examples. The problem is a human one, and I can’t see any difference between people in the varying traditions.
Let God handle the people and their mitigating (or not) circumstances… if there BE a God … how would each of those “traditions” have God handle it?
Mine (without contradiction) historically bled & died & lives to demonstrate it was always handled.
That is your narrative, as the church would have it. The first Gospel called it a tragedy, the others expanded on his life and death. For me, he realised that he (and we) are one with the universe, but tragically we fall for an illusion. He initiated a return to this awareness, and it spread, until the power fanatics took over.
I’ll repeat this again.
If Jesus had been a Hindi and called himself god, they would have just shrugged their shoulders and moved on.
Western culture is starting to catch up with Hinduism
Bob, are you saying my narrative is mutually exclusive of your narrative and vice versa? Can you state explicitly how this is the case? Can you state your evidence that is more historically attested than my evidence? I’m not addressing anything else you have implied at this time.
Ec… Did Guatama Siddhartha stay in his Hindu tradition & claim godhood? Just curious. Also… did he do what Jesus did in dying for everyone & rising again? Is his tomb empty?
The Buddha taught the clinging keeps you here.
He also basically that life is a Nintendo game to escape.
If I murder someone out of passion, I’ll be sent to hell eventually.
Murder and rape is a clinging passion.
If you hate people that much (he taught) be prepared to go to hell. If you love them, be prepared to stay.
Jesus teaches the opposite. Go through what everyone goes through and you’ll find eternal life with him.
Buddha thought that god was just a construct that was only attached to samsara.
No, I’m saying that your narrative has been made exclusive, and that other traditions approach the question of existence from their cultural and historical position. There is also clear evidence that they draw from each other, such as the OT took previous mythologies from Sumerian traditions, the Prophets were moved by paradigm shifts of the Axial Age, Jesus took from the Prophets but also from Vedantic traditions.
The Philosophy of Religion, Mysticism, and Spirituality have a broader scope and are not limited to a specific historical or cultural context. Philosophy of religion explores questions related to the nature and existence of God, religious experience, and the relationship between faith and reason. Mysticism and spirituality often involve a more personal and experiential approach to the divine or transcendent.
We need to look at the analysis and interpretation of religious beliefs, practices, and experiences. We can address questions about the existence of God, the nature of religious language, and the compatibility of faith and reason. I like to engage with religious traditions, seeking to understand, interpret, and critically evaluate the beliefs and practices associated with various religions.
But you ignored me Bob. I live what you read and beyond.
I’m an atheist.
This is hard to translate in human language
The easiest way to put it is that god is an atheist.
That warps people brains because it seems so contradictory.
We’re all accountable to each other.
Ichthus. I only have 2 more tests to pass from god before I become god.
God wants to die. Forever. You’ll all be god eventually. God chose me as his successor.
God is not dead yet.
you are a goofus
The best feeling in the world is to step off the throne and walk away.
Since I’m back, I’m being asked to be god again. God wants to retire.
I’m not the second coming of Christ …
I’m a completely different being.
Every being in existence becomes god someday.
That’s how strange the universe is.
This is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make… to be god again or to walk away.
Nah man. If you abdicate, that’s rule by abdication. You rule in bad faith.
Something the real God would never do. That’s how you know the difference between the real God & someone made in his image.
All like sheep have failed to be the Shepherd.
Ichthus. I’ll say this to you again and very short.
Everyone gets to be god at some point in all infinity and eternity.
Controlling people keeps you bound here.
Being loved by others keeps them calling you back.
I’m a retired god. I just happen to be back here.
In form. I know all the tricks like consecration and transfiguration.
Life is eternal whether we like it or not.
Some earn their sleep.
All the lessons are right there in front of you.
Boredom of narratives, of hell, of heaven, of earth.
Then you’re the king or queen and you just want to die.