Reply to People who believe their religion is the only true religion

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "People who believe their religion is the only true religion "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why bother believing in a religion if you do not think it is the right one?
If another religion or faith is right, then why are you wanting your time with that one instead of the other[/quote]

My middle school religion teacher said something that has stuck with me all this time.
We're all just people wandering through the forest, hoping to find our way out without getting eaten by bear or something.  We have a map - our religion's teachings.  We are confident that this map is correct, and if we follow this map we'll end up out of the woods and into heaven.  
But just because we firmly believe our map is right, and we will continue to follow our map, that doesn't mean that other people's maps are wrong.  Some people (ie, other denominations of Christians, in our case), seem to be walking on nearly identical paths and trails through the woods.  Other people (even some with a map labeled the same as mine!) seem to be walking in circles or backwards.
I can, and should, share my map with anyone who wants it - and even invite people to follow me and my map, especially if they seem lost in the woods.
But it's really not my place at all to be snatching maps from other people or to be denigrating other maps.  
I'm deep in the woods.  I can't see the exit.  Maybe their maps get to the exact same place, just on a different path. Maybe there path is more direct and easier.  Maybe it's more circuitous and harder.
All I know if that I believe my map will get me out of the woods, so follow my own map, invite anyone who wants to join me on my trails, and leave everyone else to follow their own map without my making things harder for them.[/quote]

I like this too, but the problem is that most religions, doctrine-wise, are mutually exclusive. Catholics, for example, believe that Christian baptism is necessary for salvation. It's unclear whether this means Catholic baptism, but let's just say any Christian baptism will work. This means that anyone not baptized will go to hell. It's not fashionable to talk about this right now, but that's the deal. Of course, there are many other religions, mutually exclusive from Catholicism, that believe the opposite when it comes to their rituals. Therefore, one of three things is true:

1. One of the religions is right, therefore everyone other than that religion's adherents are going to suffer eternally in hellfire, and only their people get to go to heaven;
2. All of the religions are right, therefore everyone is going to simultaneously be in heaven and hell at the same time for eternity (doesn't seem likely);
3. None of the religions is right, therefore no one is going to suffer eternally in hellfire or go to heaven, or maybe if there is an afterlife, it's open to everyone, or at least to people who didn't totally suck in their time on Earth

I tend to go with (3.)[/quote]

That actually is a not what current-day Catholicism teaches, but it is what a lot of people think it says, even some Catholics (usually those who never studied the religion past grade school). Actually, those who die without baptism are "entrusted by the Church to the mercy of God." The Church has it "map" and doesn't pretend to know God's will for those who don't have that same map.

[b]Hellfire and brimstone is very old fashioned[/b], by the way.[/quote]

That doesn't make it untrue.   It's in the Bible.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics