Religious?

[Sarah]

I am very interested in this topic since I started to take a Bible class. I had never read the bible, or more specifically Tanakh before and reading it made me question a few things. For example everyone says 'there is only one God' but it /says/ there is more than one. Everyone says that Moses was the one to turn his staff into a snake in front of Pharaoh but it says that it was actually his brother Aaron.
Anyway my question to you is, do you think it is wrong to not beleive everything about a religion, but still see yourself as that religion. Because it seems to me like most people of the Jewish or Christian religions only believe in one God, where as it seems there are actually several, but you are only supposed to /worship/ the God of Abraham. Are they wrong in calling themselves Jews or Christians? Or say it's something else, like you don't agree with some rule or some story, can you still rightly say you are fully and completely of that religon? Similarly, can you call yourself someone of that religion until you have read the holy book?

[Vertigo_One [Ops Mod]]

God gives everyone the oppotunity. There won't be anyone who doesnt have the chance. It just means that because of what the parent's will do, their chance will be more limited, and it is more important for people to try and reach out to those types of people.

[God ~blogs admin ~]

God gives everyone the opportunity

The tribes in an undiscovered place live for hundreds of years, they have never heard of this said god or the bible.

What opportunity is there for them?

Also, are you saying that If never heard of this said god but father did and didn't convert or mention it again... I'd be punished?

[Vertigo_One [Ops Mod]]

Firstly, if you look at the Bible, there are lots of examples of people who had not been in contact with the gospel or the bible but who were saved. Abraham being a v good example. Secondly, if you look at world history, there are examples of tribes who have been prepared to accept knowledge of the gospel etc. One account tells of a woman who was very determined to go out to a part of Australia (I believe, or possibly one of the southern pacific Island nations), which at the time had a canibalistic tribe living in it. But she was determined and wanted to preach the gospel to them. So, given the only accessable way to get there was helicopter, she went and was dropped by rope ladder to reach them. When she arrived, she was greeted as a god by the villagers. When she explained that she wasn't a God, but was here to tell them about God, they got even more fervant. When she asked why, they said that their anchient prophecies had spoken of a woman who would be lowered from the sky who would come and reveal to them the nature of God.

God is fair, and will give everyone an apropriate chance. If you didn't hear about it through your parents, you would hear some other way, but it would be up to you to respond. Everyone is responsable for their ownn salvation. All they need to do is ask with sincerity.

[Dodo CaucusRace]

I'm going to have to call BS on that story. The only well-known cannibalistic cultures of the 20th century were Melanesia and the Taiwanese aborigines, which were converted BEFORE the invention of the helicopter.

[Bryan Rosander, FL]

I have a friend at Church who has a similar story from his brother who is doing translation and missionary work in the Solomon Islands. When he arrived, they begged him to tell them about his God and how they may worship him, even before he explained everything.

As far as fairness arguments go against Christianity, I think that they are actually very weak. God is capable of bringing missionaries and his word to everyone he desires. It becomes increasingly less relevant as it becomes more and more difficult to hide from the rest of the world.

[Vertigo_One [Ops Mod]]

Only WELL KNOWN. Yes of course, because only things that are well known exist/

Also, I may have been wrong with regard to canabilism. It may have been human sacrifice. The point of that part of the story was though that she was in serious danger of her life by going to this place.

[Miguel Cosme]

Well thts pressuming that men do not naturally hate God, which is what the scriptures teach.

[Miguel Cosme]

Bit of clarification, when I say "men" I mean it as a general term for humanity.

[Sarah]

I say alot of the contradictions can be attributed to what I said before. It's an old book, it has been translated many different times from it's original text. Another thing being the actual writing. Granted no one knows who wrote the bile but it had to be at least several people, no? Seems to me anyway. And she you get stuff like Moses' father in law having different names, sometimes he is called Jethro and sometimes something else (I can remember what). Admittedly these are small things that don't make much different, but it begs the question, what else has been changed or mistranslated?

[Miguel Cosme]

Hmm with the translations problem, we do have a lot of very of manuscripts that tell us what can be assumed is what they said (seeing as it's repeated more than enough times through different people) I suppose we don't know wrote the bible as much as we don't know anything about other traditions. Which considering is a tradition is actually a lot. With the number there were many people who wrote it. People like Moses, David, solomen, Isaiah, jeremiah, Amos, Malachi, Matthew the tax collector, Luke a scribe, Paul the apostle, etc. 

Also we can see where thugs have been changed. For example for every word in the new testament there are up to 3 different words that are used for it in the manuscripts? And for the old testament we can see variations through the different texts we have.

[Vertigo_One [Ops Mod]]

Of course it was several people. It was written over a period of more than a thousand years. You don't get one person living that long. Which is why it is so impressive how well it hangs together, and how the prophecies fufill each other etc.

[Clinton McBride]

Sarah, I think this depends on the religion.

As others have said or at least suggested, Christians are generally allowed to lapse at times or not accept a certain portion or amount or seriousness of doctrine. Given that for many Christians, notably of the Protestant faiths, have very limited and very narrow doctrines as it is, however, there's not a lot you can throw out and still call yourself religious.

Personally, I'm Jewish, and while there's no universally accepted set of beliefs (since there is no central Jewish authority), most nevertheless accept the 13 principles of faith laid out by Maimonides. (You can check those out on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_principles_of_faith#Maimonides....)

As far as believing that there are multiple gods, Judaism rejects the idea. At the same time, most Jewish communities advocate and accept varying concepts of religion per individual, so it would not be wholly accurate to say that someone who is genuinely Jewish might not have such a belief.

Ultimately, as with religion itself, I'd say it comes down to the individual. Everyone has their own beliefs, that's something that really can't be debated or taken away. So, in some sense, anyone can call themselves whatever they wish, though clearly that may be an expression of varying levels of truth.