Which Do You Believe?
I found this on the Lectio Divina Group and thought it was worth posting.
You can believe two of the three following statements, but not all three:
1.) God wills to save all men
2.) God is powerful enough to save all men
3.) Some men will go to Eternal Torment
Of course, I suppose it is possible to believe all three as God is bigger than our understanding and because of the classical Christian belief that God is omnipotent (all-powerful) and people have free will, but it is still an interesting Christian koan.
May 8th, 2006 at 12:08
Interesting-
Is it possible to be a Christian and not believe any of the statements?
May 8th, 2006 at 13:10
I’m not sure. If one did not believe any of the statements he or she would definitely not be a Christian in the classical sense, but could be if the person totally redefined for themselves what Christianity meant. But in that case it would be one person’s redefinition (or a few people’s) against millions of peoples fundamentalist beliefs.
I guess this brings up the question of what does the term Christian mean. I personally steer away from labelling myself as Christian (even though in many regards I am) because I would rather not label myself as such than attempt to rebrand a term that has had case after case of misuse.
May 8th, 2006 at 19:34
What did Jesus say it meant to be a Christian?
May 8th, 2006 at 19:53
Love God and love others. Take care of widows and orphans. This was Jesus’ description of true religion in general. Christianity technically wasn’t really founded until after Jesus died, so I consider his teachings to concern a more general practice, and I would say that this would be the definition of “Christ-followers” but not of the Christian religion. I would not call what Christianity today (at least the average version practiced by the Christian population) a true religion (it is a religion, but not a “true religion” as Jesus defined it.)
“Christ-followers” can belong to just about any religion I think.
May 9th, 2006 at 8:11
“‘Christ-followers’ can belong to just about any religion I think.”
Yes. The more I learn of other religions, especially eastern, the more clear Christianity become to me….the more clear I see Jesus.
Jesus also said, “Deny thyself.” Another universal spiritual principle.
May 10th, 2006 at 10:32
I agree, though I think I disagree with the usage of the term Christianity. It’s just had so much baggage attached to it with tradition, I don’t think it’s worth the term to go through the pains of attempting to reclaim it.
Thanks for your comments!
May 28th, 2006 at 14:03
“Christian” is no more “Christ-follower” than “reptilian” is “reptile-follower” or “New Orleanian” is New Orleans-follower”. I think “Christian” is Christ-LIKE” and/or “FROM-Christ”, which, I think cannot be applied to most religions, even some actions undertaken in the same name.
Abraham Lincoln asked, “if you call a goat’s tail, “a leg”, how many legs will a goat have? “Four”, he said. “Just because you call a goat’s tail a leg, doesn’t make it one.” You, me, themselves or others may some/all reliegions Christian– that is not the determining factor. Are they from-Christ and/or like-Christ? Beats me.
Shall we abandon all words that get burdened with the baggage of tradition, misuse, error? If so, I sense our vocabularies getting smaller and smaller. As a lover of words and their ability to express our thoughts and feelings, I think I shall “not go gently into that good night”. I fight for things that have value. Words, all of them, “Christian” included, have value as enabling better expression, and they are all worth the trouble of reclaiming when abused.
May 28th, 2006 at 23:02
Spike - This is true. The only difference with Christianity is that it is a label for a core belief system. If it was simply another word that had some baggage, I wouldn’t hesitate to keep the term; however, since it is applied to such a large part of what I believe, sometimes I have a hard time justifying the misuse over the years. These comments were made when I was quite frustrated with the whole system, hence the reason for the extremity of what I wrote.
Thanks for your visit and your comment!