Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: johnw@stew.ssl.berkeley.edu (John Warren) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: RELIGIOUS STATS (was Re: Christians a dying breed?) Message-ID: Date: 14 May 91 07:30:08 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Space Science Labs Lines: 50 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article JMK5@ns.cc.lehigh.edu (J. Michael Kafes) writes: > >{a lot of interesting world religion statistics} > >What makes this even more interesting is that the Baha'i Faith is less >than 150 years old. It took Christianity 2,000 years to spread around >the world. The central and pivotal teaching of the Baha'i Faith sheds >some light on why it has such universal appeal: the unity of all >humankind on earth. It is the first religion to lay out a Divinely >revealed framework for the establishment and maintenance of a true and >world peace. > >Michael Kafes I'm not so sure about that. 2000 years ago transportation and communication were VERY slow, by today's standards. And yet Christianity still spread. It's just not as impressive for the same thing to happen today. And what's so great about the unity of all humankind on earth? There are evil people here, and there are good but misguided people with different ethics than the ones I'm striving toward. To be united with them would be disaster. I've heard of a society (here on earth, not in a science fiction book) that actually praises cowardice and treachery. Do I want to be united with that society? No. And who gets to choose what are the uniting principles of the global village? The Pope? The Dalai Lama? The Anglo-American Establishment? Gorbachev? Buckminster Fuller? John Lennon? And I'm tired of the stigma that is put on me (probably by myself and my internal devil's advocate, more than anything else) for being so suspicious of 'one-world' movements. The stigma of 'unlovingness' and bigotry. This is just the way antichrist will deceive people: through their desire for unity. Look, I come from a family of 10 kids, and I love big parties, and I'm the type who likes to find the common ground with people, so I prize unity (more accurately: harmony). But moral decisions necessarily bring division. If you make a moral decision, you have implicitly said, "I believe this is right, and anyone in my shoes who would choose the other choice(s), would be wrong to do so." Jesus said that he came to bring not peace, but a sword. The peace and worldwide unity will come later, when Jesus is King visibly. John Warren ----------- "Of every earthly plan that be know to man He is unconcerned. He's got plans of his own to set up his throne When He returns." -- Dylan