No Jesus literally meant that He is the only way. John 14 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. He is saying that the only way to Heaven is in believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he came down from Heaven in a human form, lived a perfect life, and sacrificed himself for you and me. It had nothing to do with practice, everything to do with faith in JC. This is where Christianity differs from every other religion. We believe in salvation through faith not works.
i have no doubt we will not agree on faith. that's fine. statements like the one you just posted are why we won't. we're disagreeing at a very fundamental level. and again..that's fine. nothing says we have to agree on everything. but i believe there are static absolute qualities. i think they're seen and proven in science..in nature. we know it from common observation. my dog is brown.
this speaks to the question that andy asked. yes, andy. Jesus made it quite clear what he thought of himself. What he thought of his role. What he thought of other religious teachers of his day. He made those things very clear. In your search, andy...if you're interested...pick up a book by Lee Strobel called "The Case for Christ." You might find it interesting.
Meowgi -- one more thing. do you know of Melchizedek in Genesis? Abraham runs into him in the desert...and he's not Hebrew...but he's credited with knowing the One, True God. With being a pure person...a priest. Someone who truly knows God....again, though he's not a Hebrew. Jesus, himself, tells the story of the good Samaritan...a race of people looked down upon, from whom he draws out a hero...a model of righteousness for his care for others. I'm not saying there are no truths in other religions...I willingly recongize there is a great deal of crossover. Islam, for example, calls for kindness to strangers, as I understand it. Christiantiy calls for the same. Those "truths" overlap. But I'm saying where there's conflict...like, say, over the very nature of who Christ was...of what he claimed to be...those things are directly at odds with one another. Now here's where you and I don't see eye to eye, I guess...you can see the direct conflict and say we're both saying the same thing...I see the direct conflict and see the direct conflict. That he can't be God's Son...part of the Trinity...and also NOT be God's Son...and part of the Trinity. You know...because my dog is brown and all!
Actually, Mohammed came hundreds of years AFTER Christ, so it would have been difficult for him to comment on his contemporaries and have that include Mohammed. In addition, I seriously doubt that you have read everything that Jesus said without delving into Far Eastern religions. There are many writings (a series of books called The Masters of the Far East details some of these writings) about a foreigner with long brown hair who visited with the masters for years. I believe that this was Jesus during the 15 years that the Bible conveniently skips. The search for truth does not begin and end with the Bible. Jesus taught FAR more than was written in those texts.
i don't doubt that Jesus taught far more than was written in those texts. what i do doubt is that he taught something contradictory to those texts. i've read of the talks about him going East. it's speculation...AT BEST. as best i could see, the timetables didn't match up for that. we assume that jesus had long brown hair because those are images we get from western culture. who knows if he had long brown hair??
How do you really understand something without truly experiencing it, living it? If not, it is nothing more than an idea. It's like reading a menu, but not ever eating the meal. Practice is vital. What good is faith if you don't do anything with it? Practice is key. I'm not talking about "earning" your way to some sort of afterlife, like some sort of point system. I am talking about living a life that is peaceful and positive right now. Jesus wanted action. But you have to start with yourself. We have that power. Faith and understanding are dynamic tools for personal change. It has everything to do with practice, a way of living. What were all of Jesus' sermons about? Why would he say anything more than "believe I am the only son of god"? Jesus is explaining a way to cultivate your minds to bring peace and happiness from within yourself and others. The Kingdom of heaven lies within, he was showing people a way to touch it and experience heaven right now, in this present moment. It's like the old saying "there is no way to peace, peace is the way"
holy crap!!! we agree on something spiritual!!! i totally agree...jesus did not merely call for some mental assent, and then that's it. i think the Book of James states this best when he says, "show me a faith without works, and i'll show you a dead faith." having said that, it's grace that saves us, in my view...not our own actions...those good works are a fruit of salvation...sort of like my own thank you to Christ for redeeming me.
Not contradictory, just expansions. Unless you actually seek out the texts that detail said travels, yes it is speculation. IOW, YOU can only speculate as to his travels and teaching during those travels whereas I have read about said travels. You are free ti dismiss it if you like, but this discussion is the perfect example of why one should endeavor to read a wide variety of spiritual texts rather than sticking to one book (Bible) or genre (books about the Bible). Where was Jesus during the time from age 18 to 33? 15 years is plenty of time to go to the far East, study for a decade, and get back. So, the descriptions of his actions and teachings in the Bible are not subject to question, but the descriptions of his physical appearance are suspect? Interesting. Once again, I would like to reiterate that I AM NOT arguing that you do not have a fulfilling relationship with God. I am just pointing out that there are many OTHER spiritual beliefs that I have found it useful to take into account. I believe that this study has given me a much more complete understanding of God and spirituality than I could possibly have gotten from the Bible and writings about the Bible alone.
andy -- my understanding is that the rough dating of the accounts would not have been during jesus' lifetime. all we know about this guy is he had some teachings and had long brown hair. there is no such description of jesus, elsewhere...the best guesses I've seen of what Jesus likely looked like include dark, short, curly hair. but, again, even those are guesses. my point is that if that's all we're going by...a stranger from another land with long dark hair...well...that's hardly substantive evidence of Jesus Christ heading to the Far East. and again...you keep saying i should read these books. i have. you're assuming that because I'm a Christ-follower, I've blocked off and never read of other faiths. that's simply not true, andy. the one post you make i don't understand is when you said that "you can't question the Bible but descriptions of what he looked like are in doubt." but the problem with that is that we don't know who is being described in those texts you're talking about. they don't say, "Jesus had long brown hair." They say, "A stranger from a distant land had long brown hair." You're then assuming the stranger is Jesus...I'm saying, that's an assumption I'm not making because I see very little evidence to back up the idea that it actually was Jesus. your last paragraph...that's great. i too have read about God elsewhere. i find truth in the bible...in Christ. I'm a Christian...a Christ-follower. that's it. i do not find it profitable to pick and choose from what i like of texts that stand in conflict with each other. i understand the proclivity and the attraction of that. and in this world, i suppose that makes one "enlightened." but that's not been my experience with God.
To be honest with you, it isn't the description that convinced me that he was Jesus, it was the things he said and the things that were said about him. I guess the point that I am trying to make is that you would be surprised how many other texts and religious beliefs are in parallel with each other. The biggest problem that I always had with most religions is that they all seem to say that theirs is the ONLY way to enlightenment, heaven, or knowledge of the Divine. With the studying that I have done, I see too many parallels to think that there is more than one God, whether you choose to call Him God, Allah, or Mother Earth. As I said before, I believe the "conflicts" between these religions and teachings were created by the HUMANS who wrote them rather than the Divine. I do not think less of you for being a "Christ-follower," I would just encourage you to read things that you might assume conflict with your beliefs because I think you will find FAR more parallels than conflicts.
I'll say it differently, Max, I wasn't trying to imply that YOU, specifically, don't. I just encourage ALL people of ANY faith to expand their horizons and read about alternate views and spiritual beliefs.
Just want to comment on what Max said... Jesus wasn't entirely clear on his role. To be completely fair, there is a good implication... a strong hint.... But to say he was absolutely, on all levels, clear that he was God in flesh... I just don't see it, and you (and KateBeckinsale51) showed tons of quotes regarding this. Does anyone else get that feeling? I'll try to find the old thread and dig it out to save you the finding of the quotes again, but I remember quite well, it was never entirely 100% clear like you make it seem. Also, going back that long ago... Considering Jesus anscestry, and where he was born, etc etc.... It's unlikely he was white and had very light brown hair. Chances are he was a bit tan and his hair was dark as well. As for his eyes, I don't know.
1. read in light of the Old Testament, I think it's very clear. read in light of passages he quotes from Isaiah, he makes it very clear. They ask him if he's the Son of God and he says, "It is as you say." It's that heresy that makes the Jewish Temple Authority so upset. 2. i agree on his ancestry...the images we have of him as white with brown hair are not likely true images of what he looked like. i say that, but also say...i could care not care less about what he looked like. i've seen murals of renderings of what Christ "looked" like from Christ-followers around the world...there are asian images...african images...european images...and on and on...frankly, i think that's beautiful.
According to his description in the bible, and considering where and when he was born, Jesus probably looked more like this: than like this:
that's the image i had seen on discovery channel, i think??? again...ultimately, i don't care what he looked like. but if i could go back to any period of time and just hang out...i'd go back and hang out around him. follow him with the crowds. wow.
I'd go back to the garden of Eden and b****-slap Eve before she caused the fall. Then I could be in the bible as the mysterious visitor who saved mankind.
