Jesus said, "Therefore, all things whatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12 Thought for 2003: Our entire human existence hinges on how tolerant one is concerning definitions of God. If one truly follows the Golden Rule, one must accept that not everyone will believe in the same "God". It's a difference in frame, i.e. how each human perceives the world. Just because someone does not believe in the same "God" does not give anyone the right to kill in the name of their "God". Their are no politics of God, only politics of man and how stakeholders in society wish God to be portrayed. If you want to know the real God, read for yourself rather than being told by someone else.
Though I've tried, I am not a good man. My hope rests on my faith in Jesus Christ. He has saved my life many times over. You have the opportunity to place your faith in him as well. Science is always no better than 99 percent sure: faith is 100 percent.
Thoughts
At the age of 17, I attended the Arkansas Governor's School, started by none other than Bill Clinton. While there, I allowed my thinking to expand. Why not? Isn't that what education is for? Although I didn't realize it at the time, I began pondering the idea of framing (i.e. the organization of experience) through the topic of religion. I had been raised in strict Missionary Baptist beliefs, but at AGS I allowed myself to consider the possibility that other religions may be looking at God through a different frame. How else was it possible that so many read the same Bible, and yet came out with so many different ideas on how it was to be interpreted? I had friends who were Church of Christ, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Southern Baptists ... were they all going to hell because they believed it was ok to dance? (I didn't dance at ALL in those days). Was my best friend going to hell because he wouldn't abide to the Missionary Baptist code? I began to think not. Yet by thinking this way, was it not possible that ALL religions were looking at God in a slightly different manner? When you start including the Muslims, Buddhists and others, it worries some. They point out that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." [John:14:6]
The biggest difference between Christianity and the majority of other religions has been that Christianity teaches LOVE. It's the difference between the Old Testament (Judaism) and the New Testament (Christianity): in the Old Testament, God is a God of wrath; in the New Testament, God is a God of love. We are told in 1 John that "love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. ... And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." [1 John 4:7-8, 16] Jesus Christ is the epitome of God's love for us as He was sent by God to save us from ourselves. Jesus said, "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. ... I am the good shepard; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." [John:10: 9-11] I take this to mean that Jesus is not only the epitome of God's love, Jesus is love personified. If this is the case, then by coming to God through love (which next to fear probably rates high among reasons people worship deities), one actually comes to God through Christ, thus fulfilling John 14:6.
Lord, please forgive this synr. |
