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I'm an 18-year-old who's been developing some deep questions about Christianity. I think that right now I am more of a Christian Universalist, even though I've grown up as a Catholic. First, I want to thank you for creating this site [Christian-Universalism.com]. It's clear that God is working through you and people like you to speak out to people with spiritual questions. I, like you, have a problem with the idea of only Christian people being allowed into heaven. First, clearly other religions do have teachings similar to Jesus. As you say, the teachings of the Buddha are probably the closest to those of Jesus in any non-Christian faith. But whether or not a particular religion teaches the way Jesus did is really besides the point, especially considering that many Christian churches teach things that would clearly enrage Jesus. The contempt Modern Christianity has shown for homosexuals is especially repulsive. Pope John Paul II called gay marriage an ideology of evil that threatens the very fabric of true marriage between a man and a woman. How so? Pope Bendict just recently forbade gay men from becoming priests. Why does it matter what kind of sex the priests AREN'T HAVING? He also says that voting for a pro-abortion candidate like John Kerry makes you just as bad as him. And all this brings me to my recent discovery of Pat Robertson. Being only 18, I haven't been too familiar with him over the years. I only recent learned who he was when he advocated the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. I was stunned when I heard of this, but I would soon discover that while Mr. Robertson is a born-again Pentecostal, he most certainly does not teach anything that I would call Christian. He also advocates that believers in UFO's be stoned, that all non-Christians are destined for an eternity in Hell, that the Constitution NEVER included anything with respect to separation of Church and State, etc., etc., etc. I've been watching TBN lately to get a look at people like him, and came across the show called "Way Of The Master," in which Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron of "Growing Pains" confront people on the street with the dangers of being non-Christian and not a born-again Christian, and asking people how well they've kept the Ten Commandments, blah, blah, blah. Every time they get someone to say, "No I'm not a good person, yeah I'm probably gonna go to Hell, as are all non-Christians," I almost want to grab the T.V. and say to them, "Don't listen to them, you're saved, you just don't know it." But what really bugs me about all this fundamentalist non-sense is that it is so devoid of Jesus stressing the importance and the power of unconditional love for each other. Certainly, Non-Christians are just as capable as Christians of loving one another, and turning the other cheek, and helping those in need, etc. In fact, the truth is, you hardly ever hear Fundamentalists speak of love. Oh, they speak of GOD'S love, but only in terms of those who are Christian. I can't remember the last time I heard any televangelist or religious leader say, "Loving another, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, this is wants Jesus wants from us. We owe it to him." I think that modern Christian leaders have basically changed the meaning of the word Gospel from "Good News" to "God's Ultimatum" -- "Convert or burn in hell, these are your choices," is all I hear. It's made me want to honesty stop attending mass, which drives my mother crazy, who insists that Catholicism doesn't endorse or promote such extremism. I wish you luck on your mission to teach all men the true Gospel that has been suppressed from them by the modern day Christian hierarchy.
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Christian Universalist Testimonies -- Christians Transformed "From Hell to Hope"
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Heavenly Father, please bless this ministry, lead multitudes to this website, and help them see the truth of Your love and forgiveness for all people through the power of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the whole world. Open their eyes to Your true nature, take away their fears, and fill their hearts with the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. |