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Perpetua wrote:

Christianity is not about us. It's about God. I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at. The word simply means follower of Christ. Are you saying you hope God is not a small as truth?

One the surface, the belief that all religions are equal/valid ways of getting to your desired end (Heaven, afterlife etc.) sounds like a very rosy, harmonious and tolerant view. But you said yourself every religion claims to have objective truth, thus this sort of postmodernism will not tolerate most major religions. The Qur'an has nearly 500 verses related to their belief that "There is no other way than Allah" and describing the eternal damnation of the unbeliever. If all paths lead to the top of the mountain, than Jesus died in vain.

Christianity, I firmly believe, is more than a set of rules and rituals set up by man. Some of the rules stem from the character of God and are the way we must live in order to become more like Christ. Some are to protect us, but none of them will get us to Heaven in lieu of God's saving grace. He judges the heart, not our actions so I would also not be surprised to men who, on earth, called themselves "Muslim" or "Hindi" merely because they'd never heard of anything else or did not have the opportunity. Maybe at the end of world they will also be presented fairly with the truth and given the chance to accept or reject. Maybe that's a heresy, but if I know anything about God’s character, I know He is fair and just.

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LadyGodiva74 wrote:

I do not and cannot believe that a man who has spent his entire life worshiping Allah, Krishna, (insert other non-Christian deity here), etc, pursuing the truth, and living a goood, kind, decent life will die, go to the pearly gates, and Jesus will look at him and say "Well, you tried hard, but you didn't make it. Sorry Charlie, hope you like the tropics."

I'm aware of the fact that this doesn't jive with a lot of what the Bible says, but at some point I also believe that you need to stop trusting what someone else is telling you, and believe what your heart (sometimes a.k.a. God) is telling you.

Jessica, I completely understand what you're getting at.

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Arielle197 wrote:

This is something that i have given a huge amount of thought to over the years and I guess that I'm not completely sure. But, because I believe that everything that Jesus said was true, I have am fairly certain that Jesus Christ is the only way because that is what He said. Do you think He would have made that statement if there were exceptions? It is important to remember that he was SURROUNDED by devout jews when he made those statements.

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LadyGodiva74 wrote:

I do not and cannot believe that a man who has spent his entire life worshiping Allah, Krishna, (insert other non-Christian deity here), etc, pursuing the truth, and living a goood, kind, decent life will die, go to the pearly gates, and Jesus will look at him and say "Well, you tried hard, but you didn't make it. Sorry Charlie, hope you like the tropics."

I'm aware of the fact that this doesn't jive with a lot of what the Bible says, but at some point I also believe that you need to stop trusting what someone else is telling you, and believe what your heart (sometimes a.k.a. God) is telling you.

Jessica, I completely understand what you're getting at.

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