/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>549664

I just shrug and say, "Whatever helps you sleep at night, friend." Then again, I'm older (45) and have learned that it's really not important for me to defend Christ. He doesn't need my help. I need his.

>>549664

Because Jesus said that he was the only way and that prophets who preached differently were thieves and robbers. You can't reconcile Jesus with the false prophets. This is from John 10

>10 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

>2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

>3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

>4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

>5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

>6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

>7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

>8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

>9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

>10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

>11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

>12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

>13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

>14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

>15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

>16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

>17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

>18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

>19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.

1. The teachings of these "sages" are to some extent mutually exclusive. They can't all be right. The mere multiplicity of propositions does not render every proposition wrong, nor does it render every proposition right. Obviously some are wrong and some are right, to various degrees.

2. Where there are perfect albeit paradoxical consistencies are in the tradition from Abraham to Moses to Jesus. The other bodies of teachings do not fully comport with this tradition, although they are not entirely inconsistent with it.

3. Where all traditions have much in common is a sign that natural law as understood by reason is a universal feature of human nature as opposed to an arbitrary social construct, and this natural law is hardwired into us. Morality it seems is a reality. If morality is a reflection of nature, then nature has conscience in a Creator Judge. Obviously traditions that posit such a deity are closer to the truth than those that don't.

4. The lives and teachings of the "sages" can be examined and investigated and contrasted and compared. Having already done this I can tell you that the life of Jesus is so peculiar as to be uncanny. You'd have to have a deliberately shallow focus of all of the "sages" to think them indistinguishable.

>>549664

1: who He claimed to be

2: the empirical reality of His death burial and resurrection

>>549664

None of them existed before all of creation, for one. In fact, it can be said about none of them that all things were created through them.

is this the blasphemous and satanic "Ascended Masters" bullshit again?

>>549711

Yes.

>>549664

All other spiritual leaders essentially try to impart to you that you are God through the power of perception. Christ tells us that without the power of God to handle the power of perception and experience responsibly in our lives, we are doomed to lies and death.

http://reasonsforjesus.com/proof-the-ascended-masters-are-demons-in-disguise/

>>549714

ah

>>549703

None of this explains why Christ is superior to the others. Your post could be equally said about Muhammad.

>>549705

>the empirical reality of His death burial and resurrection

That's a very good response.

>>549705

>>549706

>>549701

>Jesus' claims about himself are different to other Sages

That's also a good answer.

>>549711

>>549714

>>549715

>>Ascended Masters

I've never heard of that before.

>>549682

>He doesn't need my help. I need his.

Yet he has told you to spread the gospel and to evangelize.

You're not escaping your job, are you?

>>549717

No.

None of that can be said about Muhammed, actually. I wouldn't group him with the likes of Socrates or Confucius, and it's very telling that you do. Muhammed was a different animal.

In fact Muhammed isn't comparable to any of the others. He was a pedophile, a warlord, a mass murderer, and a slaver, who personally murdered people and ordered the assassination of poets he didn't like, and his teachings, an inherently genocidal if not omnicidal death cult, are utterly incompatible with natural law.

Have you ever actually studied the lives or teachings of any of these men? Or are you just starstruck by their branding?

>>549723

>Have you ever actually studied the lives or teachings of any of these men? Or are you just starstruck by their branding?

Not in any depth but I've read fragments.

What I meant to say is nothing in your first post actually clarified how Christ was different at all.

>>549717

its basically new age satanist hippies who pray to demon spirits thinking that they are jesus, buddha etc.

>>549726

Did you actually read it? He said that what Jesus taught was logically incompatible with what some of the other sages taught; in fact, that's nearly equivalent to what some of the other posters, who you said had good answers, said.

If someone says 1 + 1 = 2, and someone else says 1 + 1 = 3, and eventually there are religious frameworks built around each, they are not both sages; one person is wrong.

It's not an argument that Jesus is superior, but it is an argument that he is not one of a long list of "sages", if you take sage to mean someone with some sort of transcendent knowledge.

>>549664

Because he rose from the dead.

>>549664

Here's a good vid

Muhammad vs. Jesus: Judging Religions by Their Central Figures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uem_0GQP-zY

>>549773

Bumping for the second book, its interpretation of Jesus character's is really good.

>>549664

If we accept all these 'good' sages as equally honest in their truth telling, then Christ is by definition the highest of them all since only he is identified with God incarnating in human flesh. To him belong all things in creation and he is the judge and arbiter of justice.