ITT We Discuss Theology

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by AGDee

See, a Priest during my RCIA classes said it this way... He drew concentric circles on the board with a dot in the middle. He said that dot is where all religions are trying to be.. "One with God". He drew dots all around within the concentric circles and said that the organized religions were represented by those dots. He said each would like to believe that they are closest to the dot, but nobody really knows for sure which dot is closest to the truth but the only thing that really mattered was that the center point was the goal. This fit with the way I had always thought about organized religions so I was happy to hear him say that.

In "Embraced by the Light" by Betty Eadie, she suggests that different religions and denominations exist to meet different needs at different points in time.

There can be many roads to reach the end point and people need to take the road that works best for them. There is no one answer.

And honestly, I've always supported this concept myself. Along with a healthy dose of "Good done in the name of 'evil' is still given to the good. Evil done in the name of Good (insert Deity here) is still evil." I thank Narnia for the early introduction of that concept.

I suppose a good way to put it is that I'm not sure there is a dot there at all now. And that although I see how different religions serve mankind; I don't know whether there's truly that greater purpose above and beyond it all, or whether what started as stories to explain good, evil, love, war, rain, death, birth and so on took on a life of their own.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

When it comes to "shopping" for religions, I tend to agree with you. I think there's a difference, though, between doing that and exploring different religions to find the one that resonates most with what you already believe (or don't believe).

In that sense, it can be remembered that some religions make allowance for other valid understandings of the truth, while others don't. So, for example, if Christianity's claim to present the "real truth" doesn't resonate with you, then you might be unlikely to feel at home there. But Hinduism, at least as I understand it, doesn't claim to be exclusive with regard to "real truth"; rather, it claims to be one way of understanding the truth.

Then there's always the Unitarian Univeralists, where it's more about the search for truth than knowing the truth.

I'm glad my "shopping" metaphor makes some sense. And perhaps it is simply that I'm in a transitional phase and I'll regain my equilibrium at some point with some sense of what I identify as the capital-T Truth.

Originally Posted by BluPhire

In bold.

Isn't that the point of Faith?

Yes and no. Ultimately, yes it is about faith or Faith or what have you. But from within the Christian framework, God created us with these brains to think, logic and reason as well. If the only way to believe is to deny those attributes (and I acknowledge that it's not for everyone, plenty of people, myself included for a time, think critically about their faith yet keep it) then I'm stuck not believing. If the only way into 'Heaven' is for me to do that, well I probably didn't want to go anyway.

(I'm just getting it started since this thread has turned into a liberal lovefest of Theology. Somebody has to take the dissenting opinion
on things)

How is this liberal?

Okay Theology is a broad topic and if you want to discuss theology then of course from a Theological POV, none of the Holy scrpts make any sense. The issue is though why if the finite mind trying to prove the infinite and saying " See I told you."

If the infinite and omnipotent is not understandable by our finite minds, why try? Particularly if it cannot even convince our finite minds that it exists?

It's like with THEORY of evolution. Has enough circumstantial evidence, to be believable, but not enough evidence to prove.
Still looking for that missing link

Shitty science. Theory in science does not mean "Guess" it means accurate predictive descriptions about the world, ones backed up by repeated, consistent, empirical evidence. If you don't believe in evolution, I hope you don't get vaccines. Wouldn't want to support the idea that germs evolve! (Oh and the theory of gravity, don't believe in that either, you can fly!) Pretty silly, yes? That's because you can't brush it off as a *~*~THEORY~*~* when that is not what the word means.

Okay, in my own personal words and in all seriousness, discussing Theology is boring. I can quote the back and forths of the doctrines of a religion and what not, but what defines your faith? Those who said they believe God and have a personal relationship outside the church, I ask you how? What God do you serve? Is it the God of the Bible, or the God of your own creation?

The God of the Bible.. which God? The one who visits the sins of the father onto his great grandchildren? The one who slew the first born children, including innocents, of Egypt? The God who destroyed four cities because Lot couldn't find enough good people in them? The God who endorses slavery? The God who said, kill the Midianites and after you've captured the women and children, kill the male children and any woman who has slept with a man, and keep the rest for yourselves.*

Because if you're going to talk about the God of the Bible, you should be specific. And depending on how you understand and interpret the words written there, makes a lot of difference in how you worship him.

When you say Jesus, is it the Jesus of the Bible, of your fantasy of Jesus?

Same question, really. Which Jesus of the Bible. Which gospel? Whose story do you trust and how is it that you are assured that your reading is the correct one and someone else's is a fantasy? This is pure frodobaggins material. And however much you tried to turn this into "Faith" we swerve right back into Theology.

Those of you that are athiest, where does it come from.

Agnostics...pick a side...Okay I'm just kidding with you, but you get the point.

Why the assumption that atheism comes from somewhere yet religion does not? Also, I don't think you're really kidding. As much as I joked that I'm indecisive, I'm not. You can't force faith. I'm not thinking about flipping a coin tomorrow for believing in God or not. Agnostic means "without knowledge." There is no claim to Truth involved, nor wishy-washiness.

*I totally cherry-picked incidents intentionally. Partially by what I recalled off the top of my head, and partially because they're all pretty shitty things. There are apologist counters to all of them, but that's why "God of the Bible" is a poor way to describe your faith.