Khisanthax wrote (View Post): › It's outrageous that Christianity claims to be the only way. Unless the entire religion has become psychic how can they or anyone make the claim that they are the only way to an afterlife? Or that your afterlife is the only after life or the only way it can be? Other religions have been standing around a lot longer and have the same principles for them to be equally true.

Khisanthax wrote (View Post): ›
It's outrageous that Christianity claims to be the only way. Unless the entire religion has become psychic how can they or anyone make the claim that they are the only way to an afterlife? Or that your afterlife is the only after life or the only way it can be? Other religions have been standing around a lot longer and have the same principles for them to be equally true.

Arythmael wrote (View Post): ›

Khisanthax wrote (View Post): › It's outrageous that Christianity claims to be the only way. Unless the entire religion has become psychic how can they or anyone make the claim that they are the only way to an afterlife? Or that your afterlife is the only after life or the only way it can be? Other religions have been standing around a lot longer and have the same principles for them to be equally true.

To have asked this question, you must have first proven to yourself either that (1) none of the world religions is the right one, or that (2) whichever is the true religion it must be one that does not claim it is the only way.

If (1) is not correct, then the true religion must be one that (a) claims it is the only way (invalidating your question because by definition this true religion is the only way), or (b) does not claim it is the only one, making statement (2) true.

Therefore in positing the senselessness of Christianity's claim, you are relying on either (1) or (2). So please tell me, how have you proven that all world religions are false? And if you have not, then please tell me what that true, all-inclusive religion is which you have proven is the true one -- and supply the proof.

Thank you.

Arythmael

Poet wrote (View Post): ›
Perhaps the seeker should spend time searching out the truth. After all, to those who seek, they shall find. Seek the truth and you will find it, whether or not it is what you expect it to be. However, just because you find a bit of truth in something does not define it as being necessarily correct; after all, the best lies contain a bit of truth.

//-->Poet

Quote: › That is not to say, however, that we cannot glean what truths are in each separate system and use them for ourselves in our own hodge-podge of working truths as a philosophy.

seekinghokmah wrote (View Post): ›

Quote: › That is not to say, however, that we cannot glean what truths are in each separate system and use them for ourselves in our own hodge-podge of working truths as a philosophy.

I agree, however, ones success will rely heavily on the ability to seperate ourselves from personal bias and agendas, and enough drive to continually whittle away at our own ignorance.

Nator7821 wrote (View Post): ›

I think you may have missed a third option.

That all or some of the world's religions are the right ways. In other words, that all the world's religions contain some kernels of truth that can be gleaned and used, instead of relying solely on one.

Arythmael wrote (View Post): ›
Nator7821,

Nator7821 wrote (View Post): › I think you may have missed a third option. That all or some of the world's religions are the right ways. In other words, that all the world's religions contain some kernels of truth that can be gleaned and used, instead of relying solely on one.

I didn't really miss that option, but rather dismissed that option -- and it may only be a matter of symantics that we might disagree on this point.

In my view, any religion's claim that theirs is the only way is so fundamental to the definition of the religion that if one were to remove it in the process of "gleaning" its deep truths, then it is no longer the same religion. For example, if you were to remove Christianity's claim to being the only way, then in my opinion what is left is no longer Christianity; I would certainly not consider someone a Christian if they were to deny Jesus' claims to that effect.

So if in gleaning from the world's religions we remove any claims they have to being the only way, then by my definition we cannot therein be saying that all of the world's religions are the right ways -- because we have redefined them away from what they really are (those with the "only way" claim). One may reasonably claim that the right way can be gleaned from all of the world religions, but not that all of the world religions, as they stand, can be right.

And unless this new, gleaned "right way" corresponds to a compatible set of one or more religions that already exist, and which do not claim to be the only way, then one must say no single religion in the world is this "right way", i.e., that all of the world religions are wrong [ this is option (1) ]. If this gleaned "right way" does correspond to a compatible set of one or more religions that already exist, then none of them can claim to be the only way -- else they would not be compatible [ this is option (2) ].

Arythmael