Is Jesus The Only Way?

[Yessy]

Originally Posted by Green Tree

Check out Richard Carrier on YouTube

Check out Chuck Missler's YouTube proof the Bible isTrue

[Honza]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Right, you are...but some will be threatened by that statement...'What, how can you say that!!?"
And be aghast.
And all because of a misunderstanding of that sentence that he is the way... and
that he was saying it to his disciples...as all gurus might say...
''Do as I say and you will be shown the Staircase to Heaven!''

If people want Jesus as their direct path to the Father...great!
But, if someone likes a living master to take them ...great!
Or if someone wants to connect to the Father on their own...great!

Miss Hepburn always implies reaching God is easy. But it isn't. It is the most difficult thing we can try to do. If it was easy then everybody would be doing it.

[Honza]

From my own personal spiritual experience Christ is very different from any other being. Christ's reality is based in conscience whereas other beings are based in consciousness. They are worlds apart. So Christ could truly be the only path to God.

[Yessy]

Originally Posted by Honza

Miss Hepburn always implies reaching God is easy. But it isn't. It is the most difficult thing we can try to do. If it was easy then everybody would be doing it.

It is impossible to reach God without a mediator.
And there is only One Mediator to the One True God, the man Christ Jesus.


1 Tim 2:5
New American Standard Bible
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

King James Bible
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, Himself human,

[Green Tree]

@Honza & Yessy...

I walked the Christian path for many years, and had anyone attempted to sway me in my beliefs I would have considered them lost. I see my time on that path as necessary to lead me to where I am today - walk your path well.

One distinguishing feature of Christianity (and some other traditions) is that it [apparently] disallows belief in any other religious structure, and considers anything outside the faith as 'bad' 'negative' 'evil' 'of the devil' etc.

How sad that a religion of love and peace has completely lost its connection with the light of Truth, and has ascribed Truth only unto itself - a very divisive and truly unloving hard-line belief.

Walk with Jesus a bit longer - He is leading you somewhere your bible does not talk about.

Peace

[Yessy]

Originally Posted by Green Tree

@Honza & Yessy...

I walked the Christian path for many years, and had anyone attempted to sway me in my beliefs I would have considered them lost. I see my time on that path as necessary to lead me to where I am today - walk your path well.

One distinguishing feature of Christianity (and some other traditions) is that it [apparently] disallows belief in any other religious structure, and considers anything outside the faith as 'bad' 'negative' 'evil' 'of the devil' etc.

How sad that a religion of love and peace has completely lost its connection with the light of Truth, and has ascribed Truth only unto itself - a very divisive and truly unloving hard-line belief.

Walk with Jesus a bit longer - He is leading you somewhere your bible does not talk about.

Peace

His love is Holy, it's different from the human kind.

My heart is so saddened to see that you turned away.....I feel like weeping for you my brother, I believe it is Jesus's heart towards you I feel.

Many years ago I got drawn into New Age teachings, but by the grace of God I was pulled back before I had gotten in too deep. I remember how my spirit yearned for Jesus while my mind was intrigued with all these new strange teachings. It was pride that had become a trap for me, I started thinking I had become better than those narrow minded Christians that had such a rigid view. I remember how empty it felt considering God to be an impersonal Source and where everything was so vague and undefined and nothing was really considered right or wrong.

When Jesus pulled me back by a remarkable work of His grace and put my feet upon a Rock I still remember how I would tell Him over and over how deeply I missed Him. Since then I have walked with him for more than ten years and He is truly the Lover of my soul.

Jesus is Wonderful in every way, and I can say from my heart that I continue to love Him more, day by day, and I cannot imagine living without Him for even one day. He is precious and lovely beyond words.

[Jack of Spades]

Originally Posted by Green Tree

Do you believe Jesus is the only way?

Historically, the whole "Jesus is the only way" - idea makes a lot more sense when it's understood as a tool for control by the church. The whole logic used to go like this:

Be afraid of hell ->
Jesus is the only solution to remove this fear ->
The church is the only authority that can keep you on the path with Jesus ->
Obey the church.

This used to be the logic for the first 1500 years of Christianity. Jesus was merely a one link in the chain that was used to boost church authority over it's members, who were controlled by fear of hell.

But, after the introduction of Protestantism and other modern forms of Christianity, this emotional trap of Hell & Jesus & Church has been often reduced to just Hell & Jesus. This new, incomplete form of it is a lot less intuitive to understand than it's original form was, since the beneficiary (the church) is not introduced as clearly. Now it's like a chain to put on people without anyone particular holding the other end of that chain.

I don't think Jesus is the only way. If God is wise enough to understand all human languages, he sure is wise enough to understand all the "languages of worship" (religions, paths, practises) human has come up with. God must be bigger than any particular religion, or he is far too human to be God.

[Green Tree]

Originally Posted by Yessy

My heart is so saddened to see that you turned away.....I feel like weeping for you my brother, I believe it is Jesus's heart towards you I feel.

1) "My heart is so saddened to see that you turned away..."

Your heart is saddened for reasons relating to your own testimony and experiences. Your "sadness" is merely a projection of your own prejudice.

2) "I feel like weeping for you my brother..."

My life and spirituality have vastly improved and opened up since my turn away from such strict dogma. I would appreciate your "compassion" if it were your own natural feelings rather than being a rote religious compulsion.

3) "I believe it is Jesus's heart towards you I feel."

Exactly! Christianity supplants our own good nature, calling it evil from birth, and makes it all about something outside ourselves. God lives within and all around - Jesus taught such, though most Christians have been lead astray by the "church" and its fearful need to control what it fails to understand.

Friend, I do not feel sad or sorry for you that you are on your path, nor do I pity you or consider you lost. What is a pity is that your chosen path presumes to spill over onto others who's paths are equally valid and sincere as your own, labeling them as inferior or even evil. That is sad and divisive, and in no way leads to the Truth.

[Green Tree]

Originally Posted by Jack of Spades

Historically, the whole "Jesus is the only way" - idea makes a lot more sense when it's understood as a tool for control by the church. The whole logic used to go like this:

Be afraid of hell ->
Jesus is the only solution to remove this fear ->
The church is the only authority that can keep you on the path with Jesus ->
Obey the church.

This used to be the logic for the first 1500 years of Christianity. Jesus was merely a one link in the chain that was used to boost church authority over it's members, who were controlled by fear of hell.

But, after the introduction of Protestantism and other modern forms of Christianity, this emotional trap of Hell & Jesus & Church has been often reduced to just Hell & Jesus. This new, incomplete form of it is a lot less intuitive to understand than it's original form was, since the beneficiary (the church) is not introduced as clearly. Now it's like a chain to put on people without anyone particular holding the other end of that chain.

I don't think Jesus is the only way. If God is wise enough to understand all human languages, he sure is wise enough to understand all the "languages of worship" (religions, paths, practises) human has come up with. God must be bigger than any particular religion, or he is far too human to be God.

Agreed. The "only way" doctrine was promoted by the "church" to enact strict control over what they feared, such being that people would find a path to God apart from the desires of the church and its interests (sociologically, politically, and financially).

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by Green Tree

My life and spirituality have vastly improved and opened up since my turn away from such strict dogma.

I am sorry to hear that your life has improved and opened up. Must be a real bummer to be thrown off the path with such niceties...