Clarification
filed in christianity, politics on May.01, 2007
I want to thank Joe and David for commenting on my post regarding Religious Pluralism. However, I do want to clarify my thoughts…
I fully support the separation of Church and State, and also the first amendment. My question was a theological one, not a political one. Let me restate it:
By saying that we live in a Pluralist society are you saying that the Gods of Hinduism, Islam, etc… exist? And if so, by acknowledging their existence are you negating your faith in God?
I’ll leave you with two quotes:
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
A.W. Tozer in the Knowledge of the Holy
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
May 1st, 2007 on 11:35 pm
Shane,
I understand what you are saying and you are raising some good points. Barack Obama made the statement that we live in a pluralist society. That is a perfectly fine an accurate statement. I agree with him. The real question is how do you interpret what he means by saying that. What if I were to say to you, “We live in a pluralist society.” You know I am firm believer that Jesus is the only way to true life. Was Barack making a statement about his beliefs or was he making a statement about the world we live in.
Now lets move this to another point. What does it matter what his faith is? Are Christians the best leaders? Are followers of Jesus the best leaders? Are Christian mechanics better then non-Christian mechanics? Who do you trust more with your car? Do you take your car to the one that charges you the least for the same amount of work or the one that’s a believer? For some reason we have associated Christians with excellent leaders. Unfortunatly in this day and age, thats just not the case. Don’t get me wrong I think Christian can and should be the best leaders but when I go to vote, I don’t vote based on what people’s faith is. Rather I vote based on which canidate positions me to spread the gospel more. That raises a new paradimn a a shift in thinking. One guy might be anti abortion which is really good but he might have horrible foreign relations which means even more people can’t hear the gospel. This is an incredibly complex proposition.
Also, I’m just trying add to this discussion. Please don’t take this as any kind of definite word from me. These are good things to discuss though. In the mean time I want to leave you with this verse and ask you to ponder what its implications are toward Christians and their field of service. Paul wrote it to there Corinthians “1st Corinthians 1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: mnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”
June 1st, 2007 on 10:32 pm
can i share? this may sound like an acid-trip… but why is it that the people of this world look different (skin color & facial features), talk different, celebrate different holidays, practice different cultures, worship different gods, eat different foods? these things are separated by geography. but why? i don’t know, but world regions have different traits amongst the human population. but in the end, i truly believe everyone is striving to achieve the same goals. live fruitful lives, find happiness, and truly be good humans at heart. i think most religions believe in the same core values, but the name of their gods are different. does this post have value?