Why do you believe this?

Interesting that you bring this up! Can't "the way, the truth, and the life" be synonmous with "loving thy neighbor?"

Firstly, what's the exact bible quotation for this, I'm a bit lazy, I know I could find it on my own, but this is my lunch break so :P

Secondly, I really REALLY need to go find the Greek of that, I'll work on that when you get back to me on the citation. Because I'm suspecting depending on how the Greek is used it lends itself to a different interpretation than most people do which would be this:

The emphasis is put on the nouns, way, truth and life, not on the verb I AM.

If the emphasis is put on the nouns (possible in two ways, one their being in a certain case, or two the verb being in a certain tense, certain tenses place more emphasis on the nouns than the verb itself... it's complicated and I'll explain it when I look up the Greek.)

If the emphasis is indeed on the nouns Jesus placed emphasis on "way, truth and life, and then his being those. This would lead me to suspect he wanted people to emulate the truth that was the way he lived his life, i.e. loving your neighbor as yourself.

As such any religion that preaches that would be "truth"

John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me."

alright i'm anglicizing the greek since i odn't know how to make it appear in greek script but that section is...

ego eimi he hodos kai he aletheaia kai he zoa:


First this is a HUGE disclaimer that i am not a biblical scholar by any means, I merely know enough greek to make a few judgement calls on the emphasis of this and what John was going for.

The nouns are emphasized because they are placed in the nominative in an apositive construction. Granted the verb receives more semantic weight than I thought it would because it's in the present as opposed to the aorist tense, however I should have anticipated that because the aorist is technically a past tense, but it is the tense that one uses when one doesn't care so much about time merely indicating a verb happened. It has the weakest aspect of all greek tenses and the least semantic weight. Frequently it can be translated as the present, what would be interesting would be to do a lexical search and see how often John uses the aorist tense since that would shed a bit more light on this, but moving on...

I'd argue still, though I should do some checking on this, and probably will when I have enough time to get around to e-mailing my old greek teacher, that John places more emphasis on WAY TRUTH and LIFE than on Jesus being exclusively those things. That the come to the father one must live in a way that acknowledges the truth Jesus taught (unconditional love). Also John was written for the Jews, who placed a lot of emphasis on the word of god (hence the large introduction about the word being made flesh) to them scripture was sacred, so it's a HUGE thing when John tells them that Jesus was the word of god incarnate (literally in the flesh.) This passage ot me is Jesus telling the Jews to not worry so much about the laws, he came to simplify the law after all, instead focus again on the way he was living, that was the truth.

Because most major world religions make mutually exclusive statements. All of the Bible cannot be true, if simultaneously all of the Koran is true.

I think it is necessary to see the verse as a whole here:

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I think that, keeping in mind many similar statements made by Jesus, as well as the theology taught by Paul, it is foolish to think that Jesus is saying that it is possible to achieve salvation through his teachings, rather than through him. He does not say, through my commandments you shall be saved, but rather, through me you shall be saved.

Well I cannot refute you. I can merely say that I see it differently. I believe that Jesus was the perfect model for humanity. But I'm not sure that you have to call yourself "a Christian" in order to have Jesus as your model. And I believe that you can walk the way, that you can carry out the truth, and that you can live the life, without saying the words "Jesus is my savior."

Different branches, same tree.

But is not one of the tenants of Christianity that no one can walk the way? We will always stumble, as nobody can ever completely follow the teachings of Christ, nor can anyone always resist sin. We attempt to follow Christ's teachings because they are good, but it is believing in him is our saviour that saves us.

Ahh, one of the original Luther/Church debates. Works vs. belief.

Well, it really comes down to how you define belief. I know the definition of "belief" should be self-evident, but I really don't hold anything to be self-evident.

Anyway, I hold belief to be much more than a cognitive statement. I believe that "to believe" is a life statement--one that involves your body, mind, thought, actions, heart, and soul. So to really believe that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, is a radical statement of one's entire being.

Our prejudices are stubborn and our minds are weak. I do not expect a Buddhist to say that "Christ is savior" any more than I expect myself to say that "there is no God." Such prejudices are too deeply engrained in our cognitive thought patterns.

But the soul--now THERE'S something that can transcend our stubborn brains, that can know God regardless of what the mind was taught to believe by culture or society. And I believe that it is possible for a SOUL to follow Christ without the mind or the tongue naming "Jesus" as savior.

This is definitely true. I do believe that if one has faith in Christ, one's life will be transformed. One cannot merely believe "to get to heaven," because true belief will make one want to follow Christ's teachings. Nevertheless, one will always stumble, and as such, I do not believe that it is following Christ's teachings which saves.

That's certainly a fascinating idea -- downright heretical, but fascinating nonetheless. I don't think I buy it, but it is worth consideration.

However, I feel I ought point out the following passage:

Romans 10

9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Your ideas are, if shakily reconciable with the Gospels, in direct contradiction with the theology of Paul.

heh,

there's a reasons Catholics are not so found of Paul Nevin ;) I think you've stumbled upon it.

Haha yes heretical for most Christians, and very nearly heretical even for Catholics. And I should point out that the idea of the oneness of religions is not adopted by the Catholic Church, either. That's where I really am heretical.

:o WHOA, you're Catholic??? :lol:

True, I believe the current teaching of the Catholic Church regarding other non-christian religions is similar to yours Nevin. They contain elements of the truth but not the whole truth. However, they would not necessarily deny salvation to those who lead lives that are in accordance with Jesus' teachings. Particularly those who through no fault of their own live in ignorance of them, or who were exposed to them, but in such a way that the person "instructing them" turned them against those teachings. (I.e. an over bearing missionary who threatens them with hellfire and damnation as opposed to pointing out, this is Jesus, and this is what he taught.)

That being said Psycholopher and I, while we still consider ourselves Catholics usually give the caveat when speaking on Catholic doctrine that we don't necessarily agree with it. Hell if he's a heretic I'm probably burning at the stake on some of the finer points of Catholic theology. If you want to know what we personally believe ask us, otherwise I've fallen into the practice of merely stating "this is what the Catholic Church believes" when talking to protestants since they usually ask about that and want that instead of what do I believe.

Do you believe that other religions come from God?