Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gdsimpson@amherst.bitnet Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Food for Thought Message-ID: Date: 30 Jan 91 09:32:13 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 88 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu The following are a few questions that have been rattling around in my mind for a very long time and I would appreciate it very much if anyone out there who can bring me closer to coming to terms with these problems would post a message in response: Thank you. 1. If God says that he "requires mercy not sacrifice", then how are we to understand Jesus' sacrifice on the cross? Was he a sacrifice that somehow allowed God to forgive us of our sin, or was Jesus a way-shower who brought a saving message to Mankind and was killed as an incedental part of his mission (In the same way that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed as an incedental part of bringing a message of racial equality)? 2. In Luke 18:9-14 tells a parable about a tax-collector who went to the temple and "would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,'God, have mercy on me, a sinner'" and Jesus says that this man "went home justified before God". Is being justified the same thing as being saved and if so, does that mean that salvation is possible apart from Christianity? The man in this story did not say for example "I believe that Jesus is the Christ etc..." He only acklowedged his sin and his desire for forgiveness. And if this is enough to gain God's pardon does that mean that it really does not matter what religious form you use as long as that essential attitude repentance is present? 3. What does it mean when, in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-24), Jesus says "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks"? Is this just the kind of simple streamlined religion suggested above or is it something else? 4. If what God really wants is "worship in spirit & truth" is it plausible that another religion such as Islam (which says that it respects the truth in Christian and non-Christian really aren't meaningful catgories as far as God is concerned? Can't one find Muslims or Taoists or Buddhists who worship in spirit & truth. At the time of Jesus there was an argument between the Jews and the Samaratans about what is the proper way to worship God; should worship center around the the temple in Jerusalem or the mountain? Can't it be argued that mainstream Christians fail to see that Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists are the Samaritans of our own time? And Maybe the time WILL come when human beings will worship the Father "neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem", nor in Mecca nor on the banks of the Ganges nor the peaks of the Himalayas nor in St. Peter's but in Spirit and Truth and Love. PLEASE if anybody has ANY thoughts on the above, either post them or send me email. Thanks again :) Peace, [There is no generally agreed theory on the atonement, i.e. on how it is that Christ's death saves us. You seem to be bothered by the concept that God required Jesus as a sacrifice before he could forgive us. There are several other ways of understanding his death. For exmaple, consider the following: The problem is not that God is unable fron his side to forgive us without Christ's death. It is that sin by its very nature isolates us from God, even though he is willing to forgive us. What Christ represents is God joining us on our side of the wall set up by our sin, accepting its full consequences. That way the wall can no longer separate us from him. It was natural for early Christians, who as Jews (or for that matter pagans) were accustomed to sacrifices as part of their religion, to use that as a metaphor for what Christ did. But some of the implications we draw from the metaphor may not be necessary. There are also varying ideas on the situation of non-Christians, ranging from the concept that what Christ did may benefit people even if they don't fully know about it, to the more traditional view that you must confess Christ's name to be saved. I think most people fall somewhere in the middle. Most Christians are uncomfortable with ideas that looks like they say it doesn't matter what you believe, but it's also typical to make allowances for people who haven't had the opportunity to hear about Christ. Until Christ had died and been resurrected, it's hard to see how people could believe in him in quite the way we do now. --clh]