Christianity puts God in a box, discuss

[jo]

I have a feeling I am not going to articulate this very well, but I feel that if there's a divine creator then to 'limit' Him/It to CHristianity just doesn't .. well, work. Surely such a person would want to include everyone in his creation?

I know that this forum isn't the best place to advance a fuzzy sort of 'all roads lead to God' ideology, but what if that really were true? What if Christianity, like Islam, or Mithraism, or the ancient Roman and Greek gods and godesses, is just mankind's way of trying to reach out for God .. and God doesn't mind this, or mind the inaccuracies in ideology?

Am not saying that I believe this but sometimes the restrictions which different religions put on 'reaching' God seem tiresome and unecessary to me; everyone has a different set of 'rules' and everyone's convinced that their religion does it right. What if they are ALL slightly wrong, but it's not important?

[sehoy]

The way I see it, the point of most religions is to give the person practicing the religion a tangible way of approaching his/her god.

The only reason I can see for being a Christian, is that out of all the religions, it the only one which offers us the closest approach to God, not only as God, but as a father, a friend, a brother and a comforter. A God, who says that he knows exactly what it feels like to be a man and therefore has some insight into how difficult being a man is. No other religion offers that close and intimate a relationship.

[Adam]

"There is one path to God, not because He is limited in His power or His character, but in order that we may all walk the same path together, that we may pick each other up when we fall. And in the end the providence of God will be revealed, not in the suffering or the blessings of the path travelled, but in the love and grace of our fellow travellers. For God's power and character must not be limited to one path or even to many paths, but can be contained only in the hearts of our brothers."

[Genie]

The Box, the Box, Jo just opened the Box...

[Robin]

[AllanS]

[jo]

Yes Allan but remember that some of the Calormenes were in the new Narnia .. I would imagine that Lewis gets a fair amount of flak for that but I like the way he portrayed it :)

[Steve]

[AllanS]

Hi Jo,

Here's a bit from a sermon I preached this very morning. It was all quite harrowing and I've just indulged a good dose of Drambuie to help recover.

...God loves us because he cannot disown himself. That is to say, even if I’m quite dodgy, God cannot disown that which is like God in me. And what is at the absolute heart of God, the Holy Trinity? A willing, joyful, trusting, generous giving-and-receiving of love between persons. This giving-and-receiving of love is not restricted to the persons within the Trinity, but overflows also to God’s neighbour, to all of his creatures, including us. God also loves his neighbour as himself.

To the extent that I also am engaging in this willing, joyful, trusting, generous giving-and-receiving of love between persons, to that precise extent I am saved. To that precise extent, I am owned and loved by God, because this is the only thing worthy of love that is in me. Indeed, it is the very glory of God in me. To willingly and fully participate in the love that animates the heart of God is to be filled with the Spirit of God. It is to be ‘in Christ’ and ‘in the Father’, since both Christ and the Father exist only in that love...

[jo]

Nice Allan :). And I like the emphasis on live, rather than fire and brimstone and retribution which some ministers seem to preach (do you do those types of sermon too??).

[Tony]

Jesus saves, my friends. Short, gros, thin and tall. All colors and all races. Those who respond to revelation through scripture, and also through nature. God's grace isn't limited to His Word. The door to the Kingdom is not through pages, but through our Lord and God. There are many who have not heard the good news, yet are far closer to heaven than those who have. That says something..

And Jo, I think you're putting God in a box, not Christianity. Think about it. :)
lovetony

[jo]

LOL well perhaps. But you sound very much as though you're preaching universalism and, though it's a comforting thought (especially to me, as a sceptical agnostic/atheist) it doesn't strike me as having very much biblical backing.

Are you sure you're not just creating a god in your own image?

[Simmer Jr]

[Achilles]

If I may interject,
The truth of God is plain.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. -Romans 1:18-25

"The truth is exclusive; it is possible for all religions to be wrong, but not all of them right. ... The problem is not the availability or lack of availability of truth, it is the hypocrisy of our search. Truthfulness in the heart preceeds truth in the objective world. Intent is prior to content." --Ravi Zacharias

[Adam]