Seasons

yeh

Bev: I tend to agree that there is one Truth and that most sincere religious paths lead to It.

My experience is similar to yours. I grew up going to a Methodist Church. As I started getting deeper into the teachings, I realized they made no sense to me. Funny thing is that as I figure out more and more about Taoism, I'm starting to be able to follow the Christian teachings a bit better. It makes me wonder if religions are like languages: you don't really understand until you've been exposed to at least two.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Well, no, because if it was infinitely delayed then it would never actually happen. Faith is only as good as the object of the faith.

yeh i never thought of it like that i thought of everything else but not that:O

I'm not sure I'm explaining this very well. If they can be saved by faith in the Messiah before the Messiah comes, then it is as if the Messiah has already come. Then the Messiah does not need to come because God himself is acting as the Messiah by saving them...

*looks at what she wrote; shakes her head*
That probably didn't help any. Oh well.

This is discussed in Romans 3, I think. The sacrifice of Christ was necessary as an atonement for sin. The reason people could be saved before it was actually accomplished is because God knew it was going to happen. Similarly, Christ was able to save people who hadn't yet been born when He died. God's knowledge, and his plan span the timeline.

Which is precisely why I disagree...

yeh but does anything literaly exist or are we all just dreaming and we wake up when we sleep

or maybe the ocean really is a pond full of a few really big ducks

djfroggy knows what i meen

Eugene - I don't think Jesus Christ was a messiah. I think Jesus Christ was just a man hungry for power, and a hell of a good public speaker. Hitler met those two criteria too, you know...

lol