From: adams@spss.com (Steve Adams)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Isaiah does not prophesy Christ
Date: 4 Jan 93 22:06:42 GMT
Organization: SPSS Inc.

pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey) writes:

>In article <root.726157205@spssig> adams@spss.com (Steve Adams) writes:
>>pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey) writes:
>>>adams@spss.com (Steve Adams) writes:
>>>>pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey) writes:
>>>>>In article <78714@hydra.gatech.EDU>
>>>>>rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts) writes:
>>>>>>You know I consider the OT and NT vaild.  And the NT shines light
>>>>>>on the OT, but yet too the NT comes from the OT, for the NT tells us
>>>>>>what Jesus did, but the OT tells us he was coming.
>>>>>You think what you know is the absolute right, the absolute truth. 
>>>>Almost every religion makes this claim, implicitly or not.  That it holds
>>>>the one, true way, and is the sole possesor of God's truth.  Christianity,
>>>>Islam and Judaism sure do...
>>>This statement is not correct. This kind of dogmatic thinking is largely
>>>limited to the two great conversion religions: Christianity and Islam.
>>Hardly 'not correct'...first of all, I said 'most,' and secondly, all three
>>of the ones I pointed out fit the bill (ie those that make up >95% of
>>western religion.  In any event, a religion is basically a system of
>>truths, which generally rejects other systems of truths.
>
>Judaism does not reject other religions or Gods. The LORD of the Hebrews
>is the only LORD - of the *Hebrews*. Judaism is not a conversion religion
>and there is no after death penalty or reward.
Uhm, my reading of the OT seems to say that YHWH is 'THE' God, and no other
God's may come before Him...I may be wrong, but I was pretty sure that
Hebrew monotheism denied the existence of other Gods...

>And, I find your definition of religion to be an insult to the word.
>[Webster's II]:
>religion: 1a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power accepted
>as the creator and governor of the universe. b. A specific unified
>system of this expression <the Buddhist religion>. 2. The spiritual or
>emotional attitude of one who recognizes the existance of a superhuman
>power or powers. 3. An objective pursued with fervor or conscientious
>devotion <make a religion of a hobby>.
But from a philosophical point of view, if ones religion doesn't claim to
be right, then what is it?  In other words, it expresses a metaphysical
world view that in general, is somewhat exclusionary of others...

>Why must your type of religion reject other types of religion? Why can't
>I say that He whom you call Yahweh, I call Brahma or Kali or Buddha? Why
>can't I say that He whom you call Christ, I call Krishna? What makes
>your right The RIGHT and what makes my right The WRONG? What makes you
>think that your beliefs are the only valid beliefs for everyone else?

Naming 'God' by different names is not what relious systems are about.
There are great differences between eastern and western religions...
Perhaps God has revealed himself differently to different groups, but that
seems to be a stretch when some religions down-right contradict others.

>What is this RIGHT/WRONG? GOOD/EVIL? Shoot an arrow of condemnation and
>it will surely return.
This is the difference between eastern and western religions....or so it
would seem.  When one makes a claim of ultimate truth, right/wrong and
good/evil follow fairly naturally...

>>>For example, from the Hindu epic, The Mahabharata, Buck translation,
>>>Yudhisthira talks to the lake of unquenchable thirst, his father Dharma:
>>>Lake: "What is hypocrisy?"
>>>Yudhi: "The setting up of religious standards for others is hypocrisy."
>>>...
>>>Yudhi: "I don't know what you think of all this."
>>>Lake: "You answer well," said the invisible voice. "I am you father
>>>Dharma. I came to test your merit, and I have found it true, and I
>>>return your brothers to life."
>>But Hinduism certainly claims that it is correct and true, nicht wahr? 
>
>No, it does not make any such claim. Why should it? Notice above that
>the Lake did not say, you answer correctly, the Lake said, you answer
>well. If it can be said that there is a central concept of Hinduism, it
>is probably dharma, meaning "do the right thing." And who knows what is
>the right thing? Only you can know - for you.

So then what is 'right' for me is 'truth'...and back around the circle
again...

 -Steve
--
  The opinions expressed above are those of the author and not SPSS, Inc.
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   adams@spss.com                                  Phone: (312) 329-3522
   Steve Adams        "Space-age cybernomad"       Fax:   (312) 329-3558