| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 275.1 | A couple of other unique things | EVMS::PAULKM::WEISS | Trade freedom for security-lose both | Mon Sep 27 1993 13:52 | 41 |
| The Judeo-Christian heritage is the ONLY religion that I am aware of in which God
is seeking contact with *US*. All other religions are about how we are to go about
seeking God. In Judaism, God sought out a certain group of people to be His Chosen
ones. He spent a couple of thousand years going out of His way again and again to
establish a relationship with His people.
Christianity shows the breadth and depth that the very creator of all that exists
was willing to go to know us and have us know Him. In breadth, He no longer is
seeking just His chosen people, He now says to all humankind: "Behold, I stand at
the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to
him, and will dine with him, and he with me." (Rev 3:20, NAS). Christianity is the
only religion in which God is knocking on OUR doors, instead of us knocking on His.
In depth, He sent His only son, actually part of himself (the trinity again), to
die just so that we could know Him. When truly apprehended, this concept is
absolutely staggering. The creator of universe is seeking ME that badly? The
infinite I AM was willing to suffer death just so that I might know Him? No other
religion comes close to portraying that depth of love for us by our creator.
Christianity is also alone in the relationship that is modelled between us and our
creator. All other religions, Judaism included, portray God as a Lordly, barely
approachable figure. In some religions He loves us, yes, and may even be seeking a
relationship with us. But it is the relationship of some distance, as with an
authoritarian father figure. Christianity is alone in claiming that we should call
God "Abba", as Christ called Him in Mark 14:36 and as we are called to do through
the Holy Spirit in Rom 8:15 and Gal 4:6.
The implications of this were also staggering when Jesus uttered it, though we
often miss it today. 'Abba' was the Hebrew/Aramaic word for 'Daddy,' or perhaps
even more accurately 'Dada.' It was a baby's first attempt at speaking a word for
its father. To the Jews who first heard it, it was almost a blasphemous term to
use for the revered creator of the universe, whose name they were even forbidden to
speak. When Christ said that we were to call God 'Abba,' He was claiming that God
would be honored by our addressing him in baby talk! More than that, He was
modelling our relationship to God. We were not to have the relationship of
respect, distance, and a bit of fear that a grown son might have toward hhis
'father.' We were to have the relationship that an infant has, a relationship of
love, trust, and utter dependence. It is Christianity alone that calls us to look
to God as an infant looks to 'Dada.'
Paul
|
| 275.2 | .1 adjusted to not run off the page | CXCAD::THELLEN | Ron Thellen, DTN 522-2952 | Mon Sep 27 1993 13:57 | 45 |
| The Judeo-Christian heritage is the ONLY religion that I am aware of in
which God is seeking contact with *US*. All other religions are about how
we are to go about seeking God. In Judaism, God sought out a certain group
of people to be His Chosen ones. He spent a couple of thousand years going
out of His way again and again to establish a relationship with His people.
Christianity shows the breadth and depth that the very creator of all that
exists was willing to go to know us and have us know Him. In breadth, He
no longer is seeking just His chosen people, He now says to all humankind:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens
the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me."
(Rev 3:20, NAS). Christianity is the only religion in which God is
knocking on OUR doors, instead of us knocking on His.
In depth, He sent His only son, actually part of himself (the trinity
again), to die just so that we could know Him. When truly apprehended,
this concept is absolutely staggering. The creator of universe is seeking
ME that badly? The infinite I AM was willing to suffer death just so that
I might know Him? No other religion comes close to portraying that depth
of love for us by our creator.
Christianity is also alone in the relationship that is modelled between us
and our creator. All other religions, Judaism included, portray God as a
Lordly, barely approachable figure. In some religions He loves us, yes,
and may even be seeking a relationship with us. But it is the relationship
of some distance, as with an authoritarian father figure. Christianity is
alone in claiming that we should call God "Abba", as Christ called Him in
Mark 14:36 and as we are called to do through the Holy Spirit in Rom 8:15
and Gal 4:6.
The implications of this were also staggering when Jesus uttered it, though
we often miss it today. 'Abba' was the Hebrew/Aramaic word for 'Daddy,' or
perhaps even more accurately 'Dada.' It was a baby's first attempt at
speaking a word for its father. To the Jews who first heard it, it was
almost a blasphemous term to use for the revered creator of the universe,
whose name they were even forbidden to speak. When Christ said that we
were to call God 'Abba,' He was claiming that God would be honored by our
addressing him in baby talk! More than that, He was modelling our
relationship to God. We were not to have the relationship of respect,
distance, and a bit of fear that a grown son might have toward hhis
'father.' We were to have the relationship that an infant has, a
relationship of love, trust, and utter dependence. It is Christianity
alone that calls us to look to God as an infant looks to 'Dada.'
Paul
|
| 275.3 | | PCCAD::RICHARDJ | Pretty Good At Barely Getting By | Mon Sep 27 1993 13:59 | 10 |
| re:1
I agree Paul !
To add my own $.02.
I'am not a Christian because I tried it and liked it. By my own doing
I'am a great sinner. By God's grace, given to me through Jesus Christ,
I'am saved.
Jim
|
| 275.4 | The only uniqueness that matters.... | LEDS::LOPEZ | A River.. proceeding! | Mon Sep 27 1993 14:22 | 8 |
|
Jesus Christ as the center of God's plan.
All of christianity does not embrace this, however, this is the
single unique center of the true believing christian.
ace
|
| 275.5 | | EVMS::PAULKM::WEISS | Trade freedom for security-lose both | Mon Sep 27 1993 14:58 | 8 |
| Sorry. I just upgraded from X-windows notes to Motif notes, and I had to
re-size all my windows, including sizing the create window to allow exactly 80
characters per line. I was off by a couple, somehow. But it sure is nice to
have wordwrap now.
Did the "80" in the line above fit on your screen now?
Paul
|
| 275.6 | | CXCAD::THELLEN | Ron Thellen, DTN 522-2952 | Mon Sep 27 1993 15:00 | 9 |
| ><<< Note 275.5 by EVMS::PAULKM::WEISS "Trade freedom for security-lose both" >>>
>Did the "80" in the line above fit on your screen now?
Perfectly!
I hope you didn't mind my fixing that for you?
Ron
|
| 275.7 | | EVMS::PAULKM::WEISS | Trade freedom for security-lose both | Mon Sep 27 1993 16:05 | 9 |
| > I hope you didn't mind my fixing that for you?
Of course not. Thank you.
I didn't notice it when I read the note I had posted, because I have my read
window using a proportional font, and I have it sized extra wide so I can still
read a line if it has lots of capital letters.
Paul
|
| 275.8 | | ATZ02::RHOTON | John Rhoton @AUI - DTN 754-2345 | Tue Sep 28 1993 12:21 | 11 |
| re: .1
Thanks, that was a good note.
re: .3
I guess I probably expressed it poorly. I wasn't intending to make a
doctrinal statement just interested in what might prompt people to
consider Christianity.
John
|
| 275.9 | Very briefly | KAHALA::JOHNSON_L | Leslie Ann Johnson | Tue Sep 28 1993 12:41 | 24 |
| There are some issues and questions that led me to place my faith in God and
in His written word - the Bible, and in Jesus (Y'shua) being the Messiah
promised in the Tanakh. I don't have the time to go into great detail so I'll
just list them very briefly here:
1) the dilemma of morality versus cruelty
2) the dilemma of death versus the longing for eternity
3) the dilemma of individuality versus the need for community and sharing
4) the complexity, interdependence, and design of "nature" versus what
seems to happen by random chance and mutation
5) the physical and spiritual aspects of people
I have found that Christianity gives me beliveable, rational answers to these
issues the way nothing else has.
There are other, more personal reasons, that I have for believing and for
continuing to place my trust in God. These are:
1) the conviction in my heart and mind that I think was put there by God's
Spirit (very hard to describe or share with others)
2) the experiences I've had in my life that have demonstrated to me that God
is there, hears me, and is guiding and protecting me all the time.
Leslie
|
| 275.10 | | CSOA1::LEECH | Wild-eyed southern boy | Wed Sep 29 1993 11:17 | 3 |
| re: .1
Good note! Thanks.
|