emilynghiem
Constitutionalist / Universalist
You make perfect sense. Unfortunately I see very little evidence that the followers of Jesus have made this world a better place because of what Jesus said and did.Not really buying this either. Doesn't Jesus claim that the way to the father is through him? If that is true, what of people of other religions, are they out of luck or was John misquoting Jesus? IOW, does everyone, regardless of their religion have an equal shot at heaven? If they do, what is the purpose of religions, if not, the majority of people are doomed.If there was only one God, why did he allow so many contradictory religions? (Hey I was only 12.)Such as?
Dear alang1216
By definition there is only one "GOD" if God means the supreme Almighty/Absolute.
What is diverse are the systems of laws and religions which are like LANGUAGES for the laws.
(so the ABSOLUTE laws that are self-existent are the SAME/UNIVERSAL for all humanity but the EXPRESSIONS of these laws are "RELATIVE" and differ by Culture, Tribe, and Nation for those audiences that develops their own to share equal ownership of the same body of laws)
The reason there are so many is to ORGANIZE humanity by TRIBES.
This is like having 50 states in one UNION, so each State can govern its own people with LOCAL SOVEREIGNTY.
All 50 states are still under one NATIONAL law and govt.
But that's TOO MANY people to govern effectively under one centralized system.
So given the complex needs, relations and institutions necessary for people socially,
we diversify and LOCALIZE so people can govern themselves DEMOCRATICALLY to REPRESENT themselves EQUALLY.
If all the birds had to live in a tree with just
ONE HUGE TRUNK, there would be no place for all the birds to build their own nests.
So the TRUNK divides into BRANCHES and the Branches subdivide
to hold more leaves and hold more nests for all the birds.
This is like the FAMILY of HUMANITY that will have different tribes
so people can organize under the group and leadership that represents THEM.
Yes alang1216
What this means is the way of RESTORATIVE JUSTICE (which Christ Jesus represents)
is what saves Humanity from war, greed, suffering, ills abuse and other destruction we perpetuate ourselves.
Instead of RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE (which is ANTICHRIST)
Compare in general the
* OT which is full of war and genocide (antichrist,
judgement and punishment, living by the letter of the
law corrupted by greed and RULE BY "Retributive Justice")
* NT which is about renewal, restoration living by LOVE of
Truth, Justice and Peace to RESTORE human relations and society
You can SEE when people take one side of JUSTICE over another.
That is WHY "Jesus" is warned as bringing a TWO EDGED SWORD
that "divides people against each other" (this division shows when
you compare people taking the Restorative approach to Justice
being opposed by people taking the Retributive approach instead)
You have your choice of
* Retributive Justice where you get the judgment you give
* Restorative Justice where you forgive others for you to be forgiven
So THIS explains why some people teach
* God and Jesus as JUDGING and CONDEMNING by Authority of law
* others teach God as LOVE and Jesus as granting Justice with MERCY and CHARITY
alang1216 does this make sense that we have people
and groups taking BOTH these approaches to "Justice"
And WHICH do you believe makes more sense if Jesus means
SALVATION and bringing true Justice and Peace to SAVE HUMANITY.
Which do you find brings REDEMPTION HEALING and RESTORATION
* Look up Restorative Justice to see the results it has had on people
* For Retributive Justice look at wars, bullying in the media and politics,
backbiting and all manner of negative judgement blame and punishment
What makes more sense that Jesus would represent?
Restorative Justice? that brings renewal of relations and healing to humanity?
or
Retributive Justice that brings destruction and more war?
If you can understand why Christ Jesus would mean RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
then you can see what it means for all humanity needing to take
THIS path to restore justice and peace in order to establish
"peace on earth" or the "Kingdom of God".
Does this make more sense?
Dear alang1216 Unfortunately the louder mouths that preach judgment and condemnation
get more coverage in the media that leads if it bleeds. More publicity and attention goes to
Terrorists dominating the news than the quiet humble peacemakers, Jews Christians and Muslims
alike, who carry the burdens of keeping their communities going despite these warmongers that get all the attention.
The REAL peacemakers who can work 30-40 years nonstop "behind the scenes" aren't the ones we see getting credit in the media. Does that mean these efforts and effective outreach don't count or don't exist?
That may be the way of the media to be biased to sell bad news.
However, if you don't depend on that, but research the efforts of faith based groups yourself,
you will see a WHOLE DIFFERENT WORLD of what is really going on the media doesn't cover.
I can give you a few examples off the top that show me the stronger power of the real message of FORGIVENESS
and how people have been using it to inspire miraculous recovery healing and change:
www.rachelschallenge.org
www.paceuniversal.com
www.christianhealingmin.org
https://avpusa.org/
www.centerhealingracism.org
If you look up the stories on Heroes of Forgiveness and Restorative Justice,
people have literally transformed from criminally abusive or deadly situations
to healing relations and inspiring whole communities to change course.
If you wonder why so many Christians appear "angry" that this isn't recognized
and Christianity is being portrayed as all the negative hypocrisy and greed type religion,
if you KNEW that Christian spiritual healing would stop mentally ill people from shooting up
schools by getting help in time, but that senseless murders still happen because this
KNOWLEDGE of curing mental illness is being CENSORED by the media rejecting anything Christian,
wouldn't YOU be heartbroken and either outraged or beyond grief? That lives are being lost
every day that COULD BE SAVED if people KNEW the medical impact of Christian healing to cure sickness?
Consider the cases where Christian spiritual healing saved people from addiction,
and turned hardened Gang members into the most caring sincere charity volunteers
reaching out to stop kids from getting in trouble (I knew one man like this in Houston
John Gable who used to run with gangs and act as a pimp until Christianity changed
him into a complete lamb who lived for helping kids to walk away from drugs
http://www.isocracytx.net/hp-org/johngable.html Also David Berkowitz former Son
of Sam was healed and transformed similarly David Berkowitz's Testimony)
Groups like Justice Fellowship, Alternatives to Violence Project, etc. have been
transforming lives we don't see in the prison system that is segregated from society.
All we see in the news is the violent crime that happens if we people DON'T get this outreach and help in time.
What we DON'T see are all the massive changes that people HAVE gone through
to heal and overcome from pure evil and horrible abuse and destruction.
But once you see how this has worked to change people lives,
then you can understand that by multiplying THAT mass change
by 1,000,000 people x 2000 years of this going on, how it's heading toward global change.