The nature of the God we believe in will be reflected by the very nature of our behaviour, attitudes, actions, wisdom, creativity and nurture of others. If our view of God is judgmental and totalitarian then that will reflect how we view life,others and how we will believe laws should be written.

The kingdom of heaven for Christians will reflect the pureist of motives, and most righteous of behaviour that will bless all men. It will be a personal response to love God with all our heart, mind and strength, and unconditionally love our neighbours even as we ought to love ourselves. This is an ideal that few pray for each day.

The kingdom of heaven is not a political state governed by religious laws[Taliban for instance]. It is the personal state of allowing our view of God to guide our thoughts and motives.

Well said Philo; Xenophanes, a Greek philosopher living circa 500 BCE, had an understanding of God
that is unsurpassed by any of the expounders of the major religions of the world.
Xenophanes was addressing all men when he wrote:

One God …

One god, alone among gods and alone among men is the greatest.
Neither in body does he nor in mind resemble the mortals.
Always in one place he abides: he never is moving;
Nor is it fitting for him to change now hereto, now thereto.
Effortless he swings the world by mere thought and intention.
All of him is sight; all is knowing; and all is hearing.


The perfect truth ...

The gods did not reveal, from the beginning,
All things to us; but in the course of time,
Through seeking we may learn, and know things better.
But as for certain truth, no man has known it,
Nor will he know it; neither of the gods,
Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.
And even if by chance he were to utter
The perfect truth, he would himself not know it:
For all is but a woven web of guesses.

(from Karl R. Popper's "Conjectures and Refutations", and "The Self and Its Brain")

Coach,

Put simply, the will to co-exist should focus on what we have in common rather what our differences are.
From an average Muslim like myself, I believe we have the commandments in common with Christians and Jews. Only God can judge our intents and actions. Now I can live with that and love and respect my neighbour.

I don’t need to philosophise what God is or isn’t and it should not matter. We are still at the early days of learning about flies, bees and we started learning about ourselves and our secrets. How can you be so arrogant to believe you understand God or creation and claim to be in God’s family?

Let me use your term: ‘God family’ people don’t talk about God at all. They clear their intent, do good, give the needy and treat others as they would like to be treated. These values are Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, etc..

You should worry about your own actions and intent and let others do the same :)

Reason, Turnright,

Good to read your comments as always.

And wonderful to read your comments Fellow Human.

What the Coach/Philo brigade fail to understand is that it is how we treat each other that is important. By continuing this rant of "my way is the only way", they simply alienate themselves from many people who are normally accepting of religion even though they don't follow it themselves (people like me).

FH, you have written a great deal about religion - yet not once have I felt that you have judged me or attempted to persuade me to your particular religion; the same cannot be said of the extremist christians on OLO.

There are other christian posters who can put forth their POV without insulting or judging the rest of us (humanity), I wish that these extremists could just step outside themselves - just once, and take a good hard look at themselves. If they did this then they would understand why I fear them just as much as I fear extremists from Islam.

The only difference between Islam and Christianity is that Christianity has more power and influence in the wealthier nations. Apart from that, the basic ideology of each faith has the same roots and very similar philosophies.

Scout, fellow human - you have hit the nail on the head. Religion would not be a source of conflict if the fundamentalists on all sides did not have the compulsive need for conversion.

Take a look at the buddhists. When was the last time you heard of them inciting large scale conflict?

Or the hindus - I'll grant, kashmir has it's share of violence, but I rather suspect it's more of a political matter - as any valued & disputed piece of land will be.

The shinto seem pretty relaxed as well. We could all do well to take a leaf out of the less aggressive religious worldview.

You are all right in believing all religions have things in common – mostly they all follow rules, laws and rituals.

None – not one – can guaranty salvation though.

There is one God, one truth, one way to the kingdom of heaven that belongs to Him.

By repenting from your selfish ways and accepting Jesus as your personal saviour and lord of your life, you enter the kingdom and become a brother to Jesus and an adoptive son to God almighty. You are in His family for ever.

Your sins are forgiven, and you no longer need to DO good stuff to impress God. He has DONE it all on the cross.

Most of you will find this intolerable and simplistic. But this is the GOOD NEWS that true Christians are trying to proclaim for the last 2000 years.

Religiosities have no place in the kingdom of God (on this side of the cross). There was a time when that was important – we call it the Old Testament. Now Jesus has done away with that concept and Has sacrificed himself for humanity.

Those who refuse to “get it” are doomed.

The key to heaven is Jesus. Not religion.