wil said:
This is the part that confuses me here. Someone starts a thread simply asking for each others views and beliefs on the foundation...not asking us to dissect each others views or beliefs but an informational cards on the table approach. I like that.
In this realm of thought how does one ruffle feathers? Isn't getting feathers ruffled a personal choice?
I may say I believe that only those that accept the blood and resurrection of Jesus as washing away their sins will survive.
You may say that thru an understanding of the principles that Jesus spoke will allow you to do good works and have a seat in the kingdom.
Someone else may say only 150k are gonna get in.
And someone else that while they are christian there are many paths to G-d and this whole saviour and saving thing is a personal experience.
Will some of us disagree, sure, but that is not what is being asked for here, anyone disagreeing with anyone else...the question appears...what is your foundation...not I want to knock your foundation out from under you...
Foundation of Christianity?
I think there's a simple recipe that everyone could, possibly, agree with: Trust.
If you can reason very well that you have found a God you can trust, then ultimately you have found God himself. This is a God you can know personally, not a God defined by some arcane or mystical science or philosophy. In other words, to be saved, you must find a God you can ultimately trust. It's something personal, intimate and sentimental. If you can't trust Him, you're not really saved. Therefore, we all have to seek, with all our hearts, all our strength, all our mind and soul for a God that can be trusted. In other words, "all paths lead to God" may not always apply. What paths can you trust? What paths lead us to a God we can trust? That would apply regardless of whether it's New Age, Wicca, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.
We may all differ in our beliefs, even on the common ground of Christianity, but I suppose what saves anyone is
Trust. In other words, it's not our
specific beliefs, but
whether we can reason with these beliefs that the God we have discovered and experienced is a God we can ultimately
trust.
I believe trust is the key. Why? It's because trust leads to faith. It's also because what you can ultimately trust is also ultimately the Truth itself and what ultimately leads us to God. Because faith is based on trust, and because faith is a prevalent theme in Christianity, it must mean that trust is part of the foundation of Christianity.
I suppose then that it's not enough for us to consider ourselves "Christian" because we still need to establish why the God depicted in Christianity is a God we can trust.
At least from my point of view, Christianity's God is a God I can trust. He sent Christ to liberate us from ideology. Jesus' coming was a way in which God told us that He was not a God that manipulated people through a system of rules, a mystical science or philosophy, but was simply a God with which we could become intimate and personal.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow or deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Colossians 2:8
Christ is the foundation, and the notion of Christ revolves around a God we can trust. Therefore, I could perhaps say that trust is a part of this foundation. What saves us is trust.
That's perhaps one way of looking at it.
