Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!UNC!UJCCPC
From: UJCCPC@UNC
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Subject: Re:      Re: To Peter: saved,
Message-ID: <CHRISTIA%90020723235537@FINHUTC>
Date: 7 Feb 90 21:14:00 GMT
Sender: Practical Christian Life <CHRISTIA@FINHUTC>
Reply-To: Practical Christian Life <CHRISTIA@FINHUTC>
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>                    I have to compare everything that is taught by a
> human being with what the Bible says, since I consider this book to be
> the infallible Word of God.                                           ,

How is this different from what I said?  Where Christianity differs, I
side with Christianity.  I don't know what "infallible" means, and I
am pretty sure that human beings wrote the Bible (Moses, David, Paul,
Luke, John), nonetheless I don't think we have a disagreement here.

>                                  Jesus said: "I am the Way, the Truth
> and the Life"; he did not say:" I am one of several possible ways to
> salvation"

Please read my words:  WHERE CHRISTIANITY DIFFERS, I SIDE WITH
CHRISTIANITY.  Actually, they're not my words; I stole them from
C.S. Lewis--where most of my harebrained ideas come from.

>       Jesus said:" Go in the world, get everyone to be my disciple" and
> not: Look at other religions and pick the best parts to add them to my
> teachings.                                                            of

    I talked about finding common bonds, not creating some hodgepodge.
Allow me a short flame:  DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH!!!!!!! Flame off.  .

> we should help them realize that Jesus is the only answer to their
> questions and that Jesus loves them.

    This is what my post was all about.  Matt, there is nothing
you can say about our faith that I will disagree with, at least not
the important stuff.  The key question is:  What is our attitude
toward those who have not heard the Good News?  What is the most
successful evangelical strategy?  Is it to force people to be
baptized at sword point (Charlemagne did this with thousands of
pagans).  Do we just start preaching about Jesus to foreigners
without trying to understand their culture, beliefs, etc?  Or do we
seek to understand, to "walk a mile in their shoes", to love and
serve, to share, to cry with, to laugh with.

    Matt, we don't disagree about Christianity, but I believe we DO
have much to learn from people of other beliefs.  Muslims, for example,
have a much better grasp of the importance of hospitality.  To them
kindness to strangers is not only a duty, but a sacrament.  In this
respect, they share a common bond with Old Testament teachings, so it
is nothing foreign to us--they just do it better.
   I know someone who wants to dedicate their lives to public service,
to try and better the world by working in the political arena, to
really try and make a difference.  That same person is a Christian and
wants more than anything to follow Christ in his vocation, to imitate
Christ in everything he does in public office.  Who would that person
look to, in this century, that he could pattern his career after?
I can name only two politicians, whose struggle had a major national
impact, anyway, that come even close to following Christ.  One of them
is Martin Luther King, Jr.  The other one was a Hindu.  I would not
hestitate to tell my friend to study everthing Gandhi said and did,
to pattern his public life after him.  Gandhi is the supreme example
of someone taking the teachings of Christ seriously in public life.
We would all do well to follow his "experiments in truth".
John Cromartie