From: mccarrol@remus.rutgers.edu (Mark C. Carroll <MC>)
Newsgroups: alt.brother-jed
Subject: Re: A paper I wrote for a speech class
Date: 30 Dec 92 19:01:27 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Dec22.174147.21047@samba.oit.unc.edu> danielg@med.unc.edu (Daniel G. Sinclair) writes:

] In article <nate.967@psygate.psych.indiana.edu> nate@psygate.psych.indiana.edu (Nathan Engle) writes:
] ]
] ]    I think that you are jumping to the same conclusion that Jed et al 
] ]have; i.e.- that the Christian set of "divine laws" are the only acceptable 
] ]means to avoid damnation. I speak from the standpoint of devout Taoist
] ]
] ]    Don't hold your breath. There are other religious systems which are 
] ]older than Christianity and (IMHO as always) which are better guides for 
] ]the conduct of human society. 
] ]
] I must agree that Jed does not necessarily convey the spirit of
] Christianity.  However, I would like to suggest that you have
] misapprehended Christianity (as many Christians have) in thinking it as a
] system of guidelines for conduct.  This is merely moralizing.  The crux of
] Christianity is that men are separated from knowing God in a personal way
] (as opposed to knowing about him vicariously through study) and that
] through Christ, they can know Him.  This 'moral' preaching without the
] central message of Christianity, sounds nice, but it's like a sandwich
] with no middle - no real meat! (apologies to you veggies :-).  
] 



] ]    Thanks, but I prefer to stick with my stodgy old belief that there 
] ]is more than one way to skin a cat. Jesus is only one way to become 
] ]reconciled to God.
] ]
] Nathan, I see you everywhere!  Do you post to rec.music.christian at all,
] or is it just here?  I want to add that your position seems to make out
] Christ and the Christian message a bit foolish, i.e. if there are other
] ways to God, then Christ was a bit of an idiot to needlessly die a
] horrible death.  Why didn't he just point us to Tao?  Perhaps you are
] familiar with this argument.  You must admit, however, that the
] exclusivity of the gospel (Jesus the only way) *is* a doctrine that is
] clear and uncontested in the Christian scriptures, yes?  

Hey, if the shoe fits...

Seriously, from the perspectice of many other religions, the story of
Christ *does* seem to be very foolish. For example, from the Jewish
perspective: The all-powerful, all-knowing God creates mankind with
flaws. Then, because we are flawed, he punishes us for having the
flaws that he gave us. Then, he decides that he wants to stop
punishing is. So, the all-powerful God takes on the body of a man
(why?!) and comes to earth as the Messiah (whom he told us will bring
an age of peace to the world). Not only does he not do what he
promised, but he has to get himself killed in order to make up for his
earlier creation of us as flawed beings. It sounds *dumb* from that
perspective- if God is all-knowing and all-powerful, then why did he
create us in a way that he could not forgive us? And then, when he
decided to forgive us, why did he have to get himself killed? And if
he was the messiah, then why didn't he do the things that he claimed a
messiah would do?

I don't mean to criticize Christianity - just to point out that, as
you suggest, from many other perspectives, it does seem silly. From
its own perspective, it makes perfect sense - but not everyone can buy
into the same set of premises. 



] ... Also, you seem to
] think that other religions are older.  However, don't forget that
] Christianity is actually the Jewish religion continued - Jesus being the
] Jewish Messiah and all, so please include the Jewish heritage of
] Christianity when estimating the age of the faith.
] 

No, please don't.

Christianity is *not* the continuation of the Jewish religion in any
real sense. The central doctrines, morality, tenets, principles, and
methods of Christianity have no relationship to Judaism. 

	<MC>
-- 
|| Mark Craig Carroll: <MC>     ||"I live to see my fondest dreams realized,
|| Univ of Delaware, Dept of CIS|| Of living under the sights and sounds of
|| Grad Student/Labstaff Hacker || the gifted, Who gave so much to me"
|| carroll@udel.edu             ||   - _Feed_the_Fire_, Happy Rhodes
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