what about a syncretic faith that has Christian and Islamic beliefs within it?? like what about the Baha'i faith? that's one of the main reasons actually why i turned to the "lost" faith of Manichaeism, it was a syncretic faith that shares some beliefs from many other faiths, like Christianity and Zoroastrianism..
well i guess that wouldnt really help the situation of your marriage or families...joining yet another new faith, but i would say go with what you really feel is right for yourself and what fills your spirit with love for God.
I think Christianity was supposed to be a syncretic tradition, contrary to what many Christians now think. I think this is something Christians have forgotten in their efforts to preserve "orthodoxy."
Consider this story of how the Christmas tree became part of Christian culture. A missionary called Saint Boniface saw a bunch of people worshipping a tree and chopped it down to show their god was false.
Donar Oak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 723, the
Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Boniface, Apostle of the Germans, arrived in the area in his quest to convert the northern Germanic tribes to Christianity, using as his base the Frankish fortified settlement of
Büraburg on the opposite side of the
Eder river. He had just been in contact with
Charles Martel, who had confirmed Frankish commitment to the mission in Thuringia and Hesse. With the military support of the Frankish empire (there was a base in
Büraburg-Fritzlar), Boniface, in what was probably a well-planned and advertised action, had the oak felled to convey the superiority of the Christian God over Donar and the native Germanic religion.
[3] The account in the first hagiography of Boniface, by Willibald, relates that the huge oak was felled by a great gust of wind, "as if by miracle" with Boniface only making one swing of the axe. When Donar did not respond by hurling a lightning bolt at him, the assembled local people agreed to be
baptized.
Co-opting, assimilating and integrating pagan concepts into Christianity is something Christianity has done a number of times throughout its history. That was how Easter got into Christianity. Obviously, the practice of chopping down trees continued to show that no tree is sacred and can be worshipped.
The original "paganism" and "idolatry" in the pagan practices Christianity assimilated eventually died off. This was how Christianity led people away from paganism and idolatry and toward the worship of one God. The symbolism remains, but the "power" associated with the paganism and idolatry is long gone. The pagan religions Christianity assimilated have been largely forgotten.
This may have been Christianity's purpose from the very beginning. Christianity was the intermingling of the Jewish and Gentile worlds. It was Paul who declared this "syncretism" legitimate. After Jesus died and rose again, he instructed his followers to "baptise the nations." The question was how these followers would lead the rest of the world, the Gentiles, to the worship of one God.
Paul initially persecuted what he regarded as the "Nazarene heresy," but after being knocked off his horse by a bright light, was persuaded to take part in this mission. He went over to the Greek and Roman world to offer advice to the emerging churches there.
He found himself in the middle of a conflict between the ethnically Jewish and Gentile followers of "the Way." The Jews believed new followers had to convert fully to Judaism and many of them became circumcised. Paul opposed this movement because it asked too much of the Greeks and Romans. He proposed a tradition that avoided this difficult path without compromising the goal of leading them to monotheism.
He took Hellenism or "Greek philosophy" and modified it to serve the goal of monotheism. The practice of co-opting, assimilating and integrating a pagan tradition or philosophy therefore started right in the first century with Paul. St. Boniface and Easter are just a later examples. Hellenism and "Greek philosophy" have since died off and disappeared from Western culture, although you can still study them.
Modern Christians have forgotten this practice of co-opting and assimilating pagan religions and are resistant to major rival religions like Buddhism, Islam, Baha'i and New Age philosophies. They prefer to "convert" rather than to "assimilate" and "integrate." Pride gets in the way of Christians and they declare that they don't need other religions. This stops them from executing their mission of bringing people closer to the one God.
Islam and Baha'i of course are both monotheistic. Buddhism does not have a position on God. But that isn't the point. The point is that pride gets in the way of us fulfilling our mission. Conversion makes Christians feel good about their religion. Jesus told us to "baptise the nations." Are we not baptising the nations by co-opting, assimilating and integrating?
What I have just said is certainly controversial and is not a common, mainstream or official position on the role of Christianity.
An important issue is what Christianity will do with Judaism. A large majority of Christians believe the Judaism was a "temporary religion" and that one day, Christianity would completely replace Judaism. But the opposite may be true. In Romans 11:20, Paul tells the Gentile Christians "do not be arrogant" because in Romans 11:18, he says "you do not support the roots, but the roots support you."
Paul was proclaiming Judaism as the "roots" of Christianity. That's not all. The vast majority of Christians today are Gentiles, not Jews. Paul is therefore saying to the majority of Christians today "do not be arrogant." If Paul didn't regard the Gentile Christians as the successors of the Jews, then Christianity is not a successor or replacement of Judaism, but a temporary religion.
If Christianity co-opts, assimilates and integrates every other religion in the world, then every other religion becomes temporary (Christianity included). Christianity will simply absorb them all. Once Christianity has completed its mission of "baptising the nations," it will cease to be a religion.
Perhaps then, Christianity may surrender its "sovereignty" to Judaism (its roots). Judaism by then will be the last religion remaining to still have its sovereignty. We may then all come under the authority of Jewish halakha. Incidentally, Islam has similar aspirations of spreading throughout the whole world and becoming ubiquitous. Perhaps Islam, Christianity and Baha'i will all "meet each other halfway" and become mutually integrated. There will be a short-lived "hodge-podge" that will then come under the authority of the last religion standing.
There is no conclusive proof that this view is correct. I am just presenting a theory here.
The important thing, however, is that most Christians have not yet considered this alternative theory.
The claims of Islam still stand. The question of which religions are temporary and which one will be permanent (or last) are debatable. I do not know enough about Baha'i to say whether it makes claims of global ubiquity. Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel believe Judaism will achieve ubiquity when the messianic age comes. That won't be a surprise if Christians give out Bibles to everyone. Because Christians have the Old Testament/Tanakh in their Bibles, everyone will also be in a position to learn about Judaism. The rabbis may then travel around the world to tell people about the last remaining religion -- or perhaps Jesus will just tell them himself?
too many questions still unanswered ..... too many things still to discuss and debate
