Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mib@ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Food for Thought Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 91 05:29:36 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 68 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [to OFM: I've pruned this a little, but since it was a set of replies to another's questions, I left some context. If you think this still includes too much of the original text, just drop the posting. ] In article gdsimpson@amherst.bitnet writes: 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: 1. If God says that he "requires mercy not sacrifice", then how are we to understand Jesus' sacrifice on the cross? I understand the atonement to be a demonstration of God's love. At the least, it shows that God is willing to let us destroy things. "If you love somebody, set them free" is a good motto, and God seems to have done just that. The important thing about the crucifixion is the meaning behind it. All analogies eventually break down, be they "sacrifice" or any other. 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? This is kind of a strange question. By the same standard, one would have to wonder about Moses and Elijah! After all, they didn't say "I believe that Jesus is the Christ etc...." For those who like a religion of rules, they would say the Jesus changed the rules, but not until the Resurrection. But there is something more. This is also a story about just such a religion of rules. God desires actions, repentance, and love. The ritual observance of the pharisee in the same parable earned him nothing, for he was trying to earn things from God. The tax-collecter, instead, admitted his total inability and was then given everything by God. Perhaps we should learn from this! 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? "Streamlined religion"? Well, I don't believe that "religion" (in the sense of rituals and observances, be they sacraments or "I believe that Jesus is the Christ etc...." statements) gain us anything from God. Rather they are for our benefit in understanding and worshipping God. 4. If what God really wants is "worship in spirit & truth" is it plausible that another religion such as Islam [has some validity]. I would agree with this sentiment. I don't think God demands adherence to simple formulas, doctrines, or behaviors. God is interested in our whole being, and nothing we do is separable. -mib