The following is my response to his comments.
Hey brother Surind Raj,
Allow to followers of Jesus the same liberty of self-expression that you wish for yourself with your principles and opinions.
The ironic thing here is that you seem to be offended by what you consider the "religion" of Christianity, which in your eyes is just another variety of what Islam is, when in actual fact, your attitude betrays your adherence to secularism in a religious way.
Religions always try to bind people rather than to free them. The man Jesus Christ came into a world bound by religion, yet He Himself was unbound, and He came to unbind others.
Look to yourself, brother, and make sure that you are not one of those He came to unbind, because if you are, if you are bound by anything, then it is your religion, and Jesus Christ is the end of religion.
There may be people who say they follow Jesus when in fact they serve another master: He frees, but they bind. In the end the words He spoke will be applied to them, "No man can serve two masters…"
A moment ago I wrote, "the man Jesus Christ came…" because it is not my duty to declare a truth in your face that you are not ready to accept, nor is it my right, nor does Jesus ask me to do this, nor does He Himself do this.
But my testimony about Jesus Christ is like that of Peter. I call Him not "the man Jesus Christ" but "the God-Man" or "the Son of the living God," that is, "the Christ."
He didn't force me to believe in Him, just as He didn't force Peter, just as He doesn't force you, and neither do I.
But for every man that has come into the world, everything in his life will narrow to that singularity where he must face this question:
"Who do you say that I am?"
—Mark 8:29
6 comments:
Romanos, my reply would be very similar to what you will read here:
http://atheism.about.com/b/2008/09/28/mailbag-jesus-christ.htm
Encourage you to do so and do more reading on that website if you are willing.
On another note, I'm sometimes a Pastafarian and member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster :)
http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
Surind Raj,
With all due respects, there is really no point in me, personally, looking at these links or finding in them anything constructive or complementary to my life.
However, I did look at all three links, reading and skimming through the material there, enough to determine that what is in many instances being criticised or mocked is not the Christian faith that I hold to.
I am leaving your comment up as your approach here has been respectful, which is as all our exchanges should be, and so anyone else who visits my blog can follow the links in your comment if they so choose.
My approach to life and to other people is very simple. Following the Son of God, Jesus Christ, I try to say and do what I see Him saying and doing. He never argued with those who differed from Him, and so I also try not to argue, though I admit that I sometimes do. For this I can be labeled a hypocrite, but then, much of what is labeled hypocrisy is really just human weakness, both in the accused and in the accuser.
Christ may have called out some of His opponents for their hypocrisy, but that is something I dare not do without His permission. Mostly I just ask questions of people who differ from me, hoping to receive real answers from them and not scripted material they have memorized.
I realise that many who call themselves Christians will respond to the questions or criticisms of others with scripted material and not with the honest truth, but this is how existence is: we cannot go on forever living and speaking in pretence; what we really are and what we really think must come out in the end.
That is what I asked you, when I wrote, "What is in your heart?" I wish you well, brother, and hope that your journey ends in the Truth, as that is where I am hoping to end up too. May we see each other there.
Romanos,
No prob, I am all for free speech and the freedom to criticise and mock/make fun/humour of anything and to have "doubt" (one of the most humble of values to have) about anything - speaking of which, there is a 2008 film titled "Doubt" that I highly recommend to everybody.
Wishing you all the best in your journey as well.
I leave 2 more links below, and you can always head to my blog as well and click on the "Atheism" tag there as well, if you are interested in learning more about my/our/that way of life.
I was a student of comparative religion and read a lot, even now about all religions, ways of life, philosophies, etc.
http://surind.blogspot.com/2009/08/root-of-all-evil-enemies-of-reason.html
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-3791007322683758535&ei=wYeVSrOOIoOSwgPP0Nn1BQ&q=religulous&hl=en&client=firefox-a
(the 2nd link is to the film Religulous, by Bill Maher)
the opposite of Doubt, is "Righteousness".
It's possible that one of the opposites of doubt could be righteousness, but I wonder if what you meant to say is self-righteousness.
To me the main meaning of "doubt" is one's inability to verify the truth of something. This can be conceptual (the truth of an idea or claim, "I'm not sure that global warming is really happening") or perceptual ("I'm not sure that it's a tree that I'm seeing up ahead of us"). Except for things that can be empirically proved or demonstrated in the first instance (when we get closer, "yes, that is a tree"), most other things are concepts or claims that the majority of people are not in a position to verify personally, and therefore they are either accepted or rejected based on other criteria.
Trust, faith or knowledge are the words that I would oppose to doubt in the above examples.
Thanks for the additional links, but I am not interested in exploring atheism or religion at the moment, or looking at videos of films like Religulous. I don't have a lot of time left, and so I pretty much focus on my priorities.
After all, one thing I do not doubt. We only live once.
well, since you are talking about empirical evidence, trust, faith, opinion, etc.
I invite you to view this short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07JvzfO0vOk
"There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance." - Hippocrates
Bottom line is that. We can beat around the bush and talk philosophy all day, but the scientific method always rains supreme in the end.
Not sure what you mean when you say your time here is short, as anyone can assign their own individual interpretation to that.
Studying, learning, growing and looking outside one's comfort zones is a great part of life I believe.
To learn, lived, pray and try out so many different forms of religion, ways of life, spirituality, etc. is just a part of that fun.
The Eastern Philosophies are different and even scientific to a degree (not fully), I am not saying they are right, after all, they are heathens in our eyes - Pastafarian talking here. "we are right!" :)
http://www.modcam.com/thought/essays/manypaths.html
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