Aqvarivs,

Thanks for sharing your view, it makes sense.

Boaz,

Please stop living in the past and lets move to present constructive topics.
The Time magazine chose Amr Khaled, a moderate Muslim preacher for its top 100 most influencial people:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1610319,00.html

The question is: why this guy is in the international news (US and Europe) while Aussie media still insists on Hilaly in the headlines?

goodthief

"like you, I am ambivalent about this because, of course, I am then encouraging something that is based on a belief I regard as seriously flawed (in its denial of Jesus’ divinity)."

That is what worries me. There is a short step between this and religious intolerance. Why should the divinity of Jesus be any more credible than Mahomet's? I would rather an attitude that says this is my belief but I may be wrong, in any case the most important thing is how we treat others. This is a basis of Judaism and I understand of Islam, though no doubt Boaz will come up with a number of quotations to contradict all of this.

This concept was also important, I understand, to Jesus. Oh well I can only hope.

Dear F.H. I can see ur out of steam on that verse :) so I won't push that any further at this time here. But as for 'not living in the past' ? strange comment from one who supposedly believes Allah 'sent down' his actual word for our guidance. hmmm...ok.. I'll pull back now rather than risk upsetting you.

Dear LOGIC. It seems you don't understand either Christianity or Islam, and your "Judaism" is that of a contemporary accumulation of various 'feel good' traditions which enable you to feel a part of global society, without having too many worries ?

Jesus said and did many things, as did Mohammad, and they should be taken as a whole. You cannot adhere only to Isaiah without also listening to Jeremiah or the Pentateuch right? and what about the Minor prophets.. Amos, Daniel etc.. If your brand of Judaism neglects the whole counsel of G-D then its missing something I'd say.

Its clear that you simply wish to find good in all things. If only reality matched your expectations. I honestly think you could do well to 'tune in' to what is happening under the surface in our world, and not just look at the 'spin' which is presented.

Jesus summarized the Law in 2 sentences.
"Love G-D".
"Love your neighbour" (=Do for others as you would have them do 4 u)

But can you love G-D and adultery at the same time? Can you treat neighbour with neutrality if he is intent on burning down your house? nope.. you call the police....'kindly' :)

You cannot simply take the nice flowery bits of religions and assume that is their totality. In some, that totality has some dark elements.

Goodthief and Aqvarivs, I like both of your reasoning.

Manik, Aussie latte sipping Buddhists are not removed from reality anymore than Aussie latte sipping Christians would be, or Muslims for that matter. Some are, some aren't.

At the core of anybody who works on themselves trying to work out 'why we are here' and 'what is the meaning of life', 'what does it mean to live a good life' is to grow spiritually and as a human being.

On this journey, amazement at discovery can lead to overzealousness with wanting to share this discovery with others. Unfortunatly, discovery has to be personal for it to have any lasting meaning.

Islam should be interesting for Christians to study. One of their tenets is that some of the teachings of Jesus Christ has been manipulated by some with a vested interest in the early beginnings of the Christian church. Would it be wrong to look at why Islam thinks this?

Jesus Christ, as I understand Him, never condemned questioning. Indeed, that is what I find most inspiring about Him, his questioning of sacred held beliefs of His time.

Renaissance? Oh yeah!

The following rant by an Arab-American lady named Wafa Sultan on Al-Jazeerah TV is just the best!

But wait, there's more. The rebuttals posted by Muslims are also great value. You can see it all right here on....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wPglHZQf-0

And so there we have it - religion as side-show-alley.

aqvarivs,
"I prefer to know and reflect God by my own light as given to me by my own prayer for understanding and guidance. I am too aware of the fallibility of human nature to place the entirety of my existence in some others hand or sense of right and wrong."

This is the personal philosophy of a mature person - Christian but not only Christian - beautifully formulated. I cannot see how any Christian loyal to this or that denomination or Church, could find fault with it. Mature loyalty, (e.g. Catholic), consist in the awareness of a dynamic balance between one's own conscience or "interpretation" as you call it, and that coming from those who are supposed to be more knowledgeable, and have more experience, as much as this is often not the case.

Something like you learn to understand mathematics and "do it properly" by finding a balance between what you can figure out for yourself, and what the teacher tells you. Yes, there are bad teachers, who either themselves do not understand what they are supposed to teach, or simply cannot explain. And there are those among us who could never figure it out for themselves, so they either follow the teacher's instructions mechanically (and demand it from others), or they simply reject the teacher, all maths teachers, as irrelevant. Only very few, if any, of us could get through without any outside guidance.

In other words, I do not eat and exercise exactly the way medical authorities tell me I should, but I know I must not ignore them if I want to keep my physical health. However, when you say that "right and wrong may be universal but, are not universally interpreted," you are absolutely right: there is more or less a universal agreement among doctors on what is good for your body, but there are many religions, even varieties within one religion like Christianity, telling you what is this world about, and what is good for your soul (or psychological well-being).