For those who may be interested heres a link I just learned about. Compares numerous world scriptures arranged by subject matter.

WWW.unification.net/ws/

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), August 27, 2000

Answers

I found this link quite interesting. I still believe that christianity is unique not in it's similarity, but in it's differences. As an example, I include here some of the passages on sin and salvation. My comments follow.

I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Isaiah 43.25 All evil effects of deeds are destroyed, when He who is both personal and impersonal is realized. Hinduism. Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.9 Say, "If you love God, follow me, and God will love you, and forgive you all your sins; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate." Islam. Qur'an 3.31 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished uponus. Christianity. Bible, Ephesians 1.7-8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Isaiah 43.25: Cf. Isaiah 1.16-20, p. 729. Ephesians 1.7-8: This passage speaks of the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Cf. Romans 3.23-25, p. 506, Hebrews 9.11-14, below; John 1.29, p. 636; 1 Corinthians 11.23-25, p. 851. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Say, "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the mercy of God: for God forgives all sins: for He is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." Islam. Qur'an 39.53 Let every person ask pardon of the Great Light Asis,The Molder of us all. African Traditional Religions. Kipsigis Tradition (Kenya) If we have sinned against the man who loves us, have wronged a brother, a dear friend, or a comrade, the neighbor of long standing or a stranger, remove from us this stain, O King Varuna. Hinduism. Rig Veda 5.85.7

First of all let me say that it fascinates me that throughout the worlds recorded search for God. The principle of sin is universal. As we see here man is aware of his sin. Throughtout history man has come up with many bandaids for his sin. This site demonstrates mans universal search for a God to forgive his sin. Why does this exist? it exists because of man's fall in the garden. Romans 6:17 says " For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Which brings me to the first way that christianity is different. Christ claimed to be the only way to receive forgiveness of sin. He was the one spoken of here in Romans. Where many of the worlds teachings espouse the position that there are many ways to "enlightenment" Christianity teaches one way. ^The Bible teaches one way. If you look closely at the above examples you can see this in the biblical passages given. There are repeated conditions of forgiveness primarily being the Blood of Christ.

In addition, the Bible recognizes that there will be many different religions. Repeatedly in the old testament God declares that "Thou shalt have no other God's before me." Throughout the old testament God's wrath is kindled against the Jews because they continually worshipped in other religions. God seemed to take a dim view of the "many paths"philosophy. I would venture to say He still does. in fact the bible says "broad is the way to destruction".

The bible also teaches that there are conditions to the forgiveness of sin. We are required to seek forgiveness. We are required to come to a place of acceptance of God's eternal provision for our sin. And in fact the bible teaches that we cannot do this on our own without the leading of the holy spirit to do so. We are also required to accept the diety of Christ, and the miracle performed on the cross. This is completely different from other faiths who teach enlightenment by the pursuit of good. They teach that man can achieve this enlightenment on his own, and if he is persistent in his quest, and purifies his thoughts eventually he will reach the point where he can become God, or godlike. The bible in contrast teaches that man is completely depraved and cannot achieve sinlessness on his own, and that in order to achieve the right to be with God eternally, we must be brought by him to the point where we submit to his will. The bible teaches that we must that the cure for sin is justification through Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Little Bit farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@calinet.com), August 28, 2000.

You know, I was just thinking (dangerous!)that it might be nice to spin off another forum just for sharing our religious thoughts...what do you think? Or is there another forum that some of you go to that you would like to share?

It does seem like we are getting a lot of religious posts these days. The hard thing is to follow all of them, when in fact, a lot of what is discussed is germane to all the discussions.

Thanks for the links, btw.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 28, 2000.

Hi Sheepish,

Try "www.religioustolerance.org" . Very unique among religious web sites.

(:raig

-- Craig Miller (CMiller@ssd.com), August 29, 2000.