I was having a religious discussion with my friend (a devout Christian that was formerly Baptist and is now more Episcipalean(sp?)...I, myself, am an agnostic for those that don't remember), and for once we found a couple of topics that we can agree on. I found them both very interesting, and it brought up a couple of questions in my mind about the doctrines that are taught in churches and other religious arenas today.
For now I won't post the actual verses cited, as I don't remember which ones they were exactly and I don't have them with me.
First, we meddled around with the idea of predestination. My friend originally thought this idea to be ludacris, but after reading the Bible more thoroughly, has come to accept it as God's truth. This is based off of the numerous references to God's will, path, and whatever other words that seem to indicate a plan you might come up with. I would assume the main problem with this for most Christians would revolve around the very nature of humanity and our ability to sin and choose whether to follow God/Christ or not. This is understandable, and brought us into our next point.
There are numerous references to the "chosen people" in the Bible and even God's plan for offspring in a couple of places. The passages seem to be worded as to indicate that God preselects who will go to heaven and who will not. Possessives like "my people" or "his people" or what-have-you seem to support this. We came up with an idea that perhaps removes some of the loopholes or errancies within the Bible. What if God only concerned himself with his chosen? What if he didn't have to love, care for, etc. those of which are not his chosen? This, in a way, leaves room for both free will and predestination. In addition, it kind of helps answer the questions revolving around "how could God be caring if...?". Maybe the ones that aren't chosen by God are chosen by another god from another religion? Could it be possible to accomodate all religions into one global religion using the same principles in others? What about evolution? This makes for an interesting scenerio: maybe God's chosen were created but others evolved or were created by another deity? I don't give any of this a grain of salt, but it just seems like something interesting that perhaps hasn't been explored all that much.
Any and all feedback is appreciated. I don't really believe any of this, but I thought it was pretty interesting. Citing verses and passages is recommended, and I'll try and do the same if asked (it could take a few days, though.)
This message has been edited by Glordag2, 08-08-2005 08:18 AM
This message has been edited by Glordag2, 08-08-2005 08:20 AM
™ Version 4.2
