Deep Thoughts
(Read the title of this post aloud with with a low voice and some echo...) Actually, it's nothing too big. I just wanted to record a few of my thoughts from group discussion last night at church.
Is there such a thing as absolute truth?
I say no but only in the sense that God created everything, knows everything and is all wise. So God is the standard of absolute truth, but that can still be considered relative truth - truth that is relative to God.
Absolute Truth = God's Truth
Did you consider other religions before becoming a Christian?
We had a group of twelve people there last night and only one person said that they had considered other options. I presume it's the same case for most of my Christian friends and social group.
As an off-shoot of questions that were posed this past week during the Do You Agree With Them session (as I wrote about here), this begs the question: Did we make an informed decision about our faith? A comparison was made to someone who walks into one store and declares that this store has the best prices of any store, without ever visiting another store.
I suggested that this was a false analogy. All decisions are not alike and all decisions are not a matter of comparisons or logical arguments.
A better analogy would be: How do you know your wife loves you? (Granted, not everyone can relate to this question.) Do you have to date or marry other women first in order to prove that your wife does indeed love you? I don't think so.
This analogy is even more apt, I think, because faith in Christ is not a product off of a shelf, packaged with a moral code and a holy book. It's a relationship with a real God, and the real question is: Does God love me, and how do I know He loves me?
6 comments:
Jamie, I think your analogy of a wife's love is not quite right. The analogy should be, how do you know she's the right one for you, not based on love, because love is not really the issue (I think?).
Anyway, Choosing a partner/settling for a partner can be compared to eating a particular ice-cream flavor all the time. You either try a whole bunch of differnt flavors and pick your favorite, or you settle for the chocolate fudge one on the first try. The trying out of different flavors can be a seen as a valid argument this way.
Similarily religion is the same way, if you don't explore what's out there then you don't really have anything to compare your religion to.
As far as love goes, I don't think that's the issue at all, if the question is 'Did you consider other religions before becoming a Christian'?
Hope I make sense,
Cheers,
P.S. I'm currently contemplating my own choice of religion & what drew me to Christianity in the first place. Good to reflect on things...
Thoughtful response, Amanda. Your analogy does sound better for what I was trying to say. Maybe a better version would be: If you married the first person that you ever dated, how can you be sure that you married the right person?
In addition, I think that we can find an answer to that question after 'marriage' to Christianity without trying all of the other religions directly.
Hmmm, to extend this analogy further, would being born into a religion sort of be like having an arranged marriage? If so then perhaps some of the same drawbacks apply, such as not being able to choose and still expected to follow suit. There may be some benefits as well, as with arranged marriages it is believed that the parents or elders have made a good sound choice for thier children (most of the time).
Imagine you totally hated the religion you were 'married' to, does God allow us to get a divorce and try out something else?
Interesting thoughts...
Cheers,
Ah, but you will date several women in your lifetime before you find a wife.
Or would you prefer to have married the first girl you ever dated?
Yes, Mike. My dad married the first women he ever dated and it worked out well. Um, so there.
My main point was not to compare choosing a wife to choosing a religion. It was to show that all decisions do not have to be made the same way.
Choosing a religion does not have to mean comparing all of the options on the menu, although that may be the case. It's sometimes implied that choosing to be a Christian without taste testing everything else makes it an invalid choice and that's not necessarily true.
My question wasn't rhetorical, actually.
Post a Comment