I believe pre-christian religions were preparation for the coming of
Christ: it's not making sense to think that there ever was any nation without God's guidance. To see God's work in history of all humanity just makes Him ever greater! In different ages and in different cultures Godhead was seen differently. Before Christ it was essential what religions taught, in christianity "Word became flesh"!
I think christianity is for the modern western world, but Christ as an objective fact is for the whole world. Christian religion in its present form is merely a vague shadow of its true potential yet to come. Through His death and Resurrection Christ Jesus sowed a seed in Earth: when His blood was bleeding on the cross and His body was lowered into the grave of the earth, the earth itself as a living organism received the spiritual alchemy of the cosmic communion!
Jesus Christ promised to send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and he said that "the time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth". (John 4:23) After Father and Son we need a religion of the Spirit. The Spirit works from within and draws all together as one.
I consider myself a tolerant person and quite liberal minded in religious matters. Yet there is one thing I can not tolerate and that is intolerance! Sadly, I must say I think islam is dangerous religion under luciferic influence. Danish cartoons, Pope's speach... as misunderstood as they might have been, muslims, however, have proved our prejudices right by their violent reactions. And though it's said that 9/11 had nothing to do with true islam, it's not justified to claim that islam had nothing to do with it: no other religion in present day world could have caused that! Sure christian history contains such tragic events as crucades and inquisition, but they are - literally - past history! In its golden age islam was ahead of christianity at the time - there's no doubt of that - but since then it has declined, not developed!
And I have known muslims personally; I have read a lots of books concerning islam, by scholars, muslims, ex-muslims, christians... so,
no one can claim I woudn't try to understand!
I don't think Allah is same as God of christians, yet all christians don't seem to know their God either. Some scholars say Allah was originally pre-islamic Moon god (crescent moon symbol!). Same has been said about Yahweh, and I find it easy to believe that Allah and Yahweh - the vengeful God of Israel - are essentially the one and only being: But the loving heavenly Father of Jesus Christ he is not! The heretic of the early church, Marcion of Sinope, made a good point here.
There is one important exception worth to mention: Finnish researcher of islam, Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, has made an excellent study of sufism, the esoteric branch of islam. His final conclusion was, that in both religions, islam and christianity, mystical experience seems to be very similar. Sufism was often regarded a heretical movement among mainstream islam. It's individual in nature and goes beyond strict doctrines and rules.
Finnish theosophical writer, Väinö Valvanne, points out that Jesus did not speak of "God", except when he was quoting the Old Testament ("Love the Lord, your God..."); instead, he used the name "Abba", Father (or "Daddy" to be more precise). Thus he was not referring to Yahweh with all cruel ideas connected to him. The Tempter who appeared to Jesus in wilderness and offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he worshiped him, was in fact the personification of the old ideal of God - "the ruler of this world". "Be pleased with the same God as everyone else and don't bring any new ideas to people, and I will make you powerful" he said. And Jesus answered: "It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" - that is, the voice of the truth within you, even if the whole world was against it!
Sometimes Jesus said the Father is in secret, meaning, that man-made images can't describe this reality. Also he said that no one has seen Father, but Yahveh had been seen by Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abidu, and the seventy elders of Israel (Exodus 24:9-10).
According to German theologian, Adolf von Harnack, keeping of the Old Testament in the christian Bible may lead to impress "the righteousness" and legalism instead of grace and love. Similarly, American scholar Robert Jewett thinks that the wrath of the Lamb described in the Book of Revelation has ousted the redeeming love.
I see both fundamentalism and atheism as two opposites, two etremities. We may remember here Afganistan under Taleban rule and the late Soviet Union. Atheism is a kind of spiritual deficiency desease... (atheism often seems also a kind of religion of science, and very fanatical one - close to fundamentalism) Man is a spiritual being born of God, citizen of two worlds, so religion is a natural realm of life: re-ligio, to reconnect to Divinity, that's what we have to do while living here on earth, or else we enter afterlife as blind because we didn't develope higher senses.
In between goes the narrow path of balance between faith and reason.
Christ: it's not making sense to think that there ever was any nation without God's guidance. To see God's work in history of all humanity just makes Him ever greater! In different ages and in different cultures Godhead was seen differently. Before Christ it was essential what religions taught, in christianity "Word became flesh"!I think christianity is for the modern western world, but Christ as an objective fact is for the whole world. Christian religion in its present form is merely a vague shadow of its true potential yet to come. Through His death and Resurrection Christ Jesus sowed a seed in Earth: when His blood was bleeding on the cross and His body was lowered into the grave of the earth, the earth itself as a living organism received the spiritual alchemy of the cosmic communion!
Jesus Christ promised to send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and he said that "the time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth". (John 4:23) After Father and Son we need a religion of the Spirit. The Spirit works from within and draws all together as one.
I consider myself a tolerant person and quite liberal minded in religious matters. Yet there is one thing I can not tolerate and that is intolerance! Sadly, I must say I think islam is dangerous religion under luciferic influence. Danish cartoons, Pope's speach... as misunderstood as they might have been, muslims, however, have proved our prejudices right by their violent reactions. And though it's said that 9/11 had nothing to do with true islam, it's not justified to claim that islam had nothing to do with it: no other religion in present day world could have caused that! Sure christian history contains such tragic events as crucades and inquisition, but they are - literally - past history! In its golden age islam was ahead of christianity at the time - there's no doubt of that - but since then it has declined, not developed!And I have known muslims personally; I have read a lots of books concerning islam, by scholars, muslims, ex-muslims, christians... so,
no one can claim I woudn't try to understand!I don't think Allah is same as God of christians, yet all christians don't seem to know their God either. Some scholars say Allah was originally pre-islamic Moon god (crescent moon symbol!). Same has been said about Yahweh, and I find it easy to believe that Allah and Yahweh - the vengeful God of Israel - are essentially the one and only being: But the loving heavenly Father of Jesus Christ he is not! The heretic of the early church, Marcion of Sinope, made a good point here.
There is one important exception worth to mention: Finnish researcher of islam, Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, has made an excellent study of sufism, the esoteric branch of islam. His final conclusion was, that in both religions, islam and christianity, mystical experience seems to be very similar. Sufism was often regarded a heretical movement among mainstream islam. It's individual in nature and goes beyond strict doctrines and rules.
Finnish theosophical writer, Väinö Valvanne, points out that Jesus did not speak of "God", except when he was quoting the Old Testament ("Love the Lord, your God..."); instead, he used the name "Abba", Father (or "Daddy" to be more precise). Thus he was not referring to Yahweh with all cruel ideas connected to him. The Tempter who appeared to Jesus in wilderness and offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he worshiped him, was in fact the personification of the old ideal of God - "the ruler of this world". "Be pleased with the same God as everyone else and don't bring any new ideas to people, and I will make you powerful" he said. And Jesus answered: "It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" - that is, the voice of the truth within you, even if the whole world was against it!
Sometimes Jesus said the Father is in secret, meaning, that man-made images can't describe this reality. Also he said that no one has seen Father, but Yahveh had been seen by Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abidu, and the seventy elders of Israel (Exodus 24:9-10).
According to German theologian, Adolf von Harnack, keeping of the Old Testament in the christian Bible may lead to impress "the righteousness" and legalism instead of grace and love. Similarly, American scholar Robert Jewett thinks that the wrath of the Lamb described in the Book of Revelation has ousted the redeeming love.
I see both fundamentalism and atheism as two opposites, two etremities. We may remember here Afganistan under Taleban rule and the late Soviet Union. Atheism is a kind of spiritual deficiency desease... (atheism often seems also a kind of religion of science, and very fanatical one - close to fundamentalism) Man is a spiritual being born of God, citizen of two worlds, so religion is a natural realm of life: re-ligio, to reconnect to Divinity, that's what we have to do while living here on earth, or else we enter afterlife as blind because we didn't develope higher senses.
In between goes the narrow path of balance between faith and reason.
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