Re: religion on the Sinclair list and web pages

["Rory Sinclair" <rory.sinclair@accglobal.net>]

Dear Rick:
This is the last try for me.
I lived in an Islamic country for 10 years.  I have read the Koran and had
long discussions with those conversant with Islamic theology.  You are
essentially correct in what you describe as the Muslim attitude to Jesus:
viz.: that it is blasphemous for Muslims to describe Jesus or anyone as the
Son of God as that whole idea trivializes the Godhead which is reserved for
Allah alone.  And yes Muslims believe that Jesus did escape death on the
cross and hence there could have been no resurrection.
I just want to stop for a second and catch my breath and remind myself that
it is you, Rick  who reported this on this list.   The reason why I have to
catch my breath is that it was not that long ago that this statement would
have been regarded as a heinous blasphemy against the Christian Faith and
punishable by any number of gruesome methods of dealing death.
How do you report this with such equanimity but stop abruptly and are highly
critical of someone who reported  the (blasphemous in the same context as
above)  Magdalene/Jesus belief , which incidentally holds in common with the
Mulsim belief  that Jesus did not die on the cross and consequently that
there could have been no resurrection.  Is it the putative sex that is
blasphemy?    Surely it all is ......or none of it is .
In the context of this list, I hold that research into our family and its
belief-systems cannot be blasphemous..... we may have had some cockamamie
notions in our times but any discussion of them  cannot be insulting to
anyone's God.  End of sermon, Church is out!
............................yours aye,          Rory.

P.S. John Quarterman, don't you dare absent yourself in any way from this
list.  What you have done here is magnificent and what kind of family
doesn't have an emotional uproar from time to time.  We must not fear it but
only strive for honesty and a little clarity. You are a "Wise auld heid" and
you are both needed and wanted.
Rory.

-----Original Message-----
From: J. R. Carpenter <gra_jrc@SHSU.EDU>
To: sinclair@jump.net <sinclair@jump.net>
Date: Thursday, May 27, 1999 1:25 PM
Subject: Re: religion on the Sinclair list and web pages


>
>>There are also links to various Muslim pages.  Muslims believe that
>>Jesus was just a prophet.
>
>I won't get into this too deeply, but Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet.
>The Koran basically states that to consider him the Son of God is blashemy.
>It states, I think, that Jesus excaped death on the cross and that
therefore
>there was no Resurrection.
>
>>There are also links to various Jewish pages.  Jews don't even believe
>>that Jesus was a prophet.
>
>In reading a ca 1946 book by Sholem Asch, and other readings, Jews do
>believe that Jesus was a prophet, but not a Prophet. Their treatment of him
>reflects the level of current persecution. In the early days of the Church,
>they fought back. In the early Middle Ages before the Inquisition,
>expulsions, etc, their treatment of him was far kinder. Asch reaches out to
>Christian as fellow heirs of Abraham, as I believe. But, Asch positively
>gushes over the Soviet Union's kind treatment of Jews also. Just coming out
>of WWII, I can understand his slant though.
>
>Asch does say something about converting Jews to Christianity that I agree
>with. He said that how do you expect someone to convert to a religion that
>says that everything you once believed in is no good. He makes a
distinction
>between pure Christianity and the Christian Church. I am no Jewish studies
>scholar, but in my opinion Judaism is a hard religion to practice. The
>covenant given to Jews is still good, God would not give out a plan of
>salvation that wasn't good, though in my opinion it is very difficult. That
>is why Christ had to appear, to make it easy for non-Jews. I believe that
>John 3:16 has as much heartbreak on God's part in it as it does his love.
He
>tried letting people live in Paradise and then he tried the Flood, and that
>all failed, so he had to give himself. When all Gentiles are saved, then
the
>distinctions between Judaism and Christianity will disappear, and the
Larger
>Faith will triumph. The antagonism between Judaism annd Christianity must
>hurt God.
>
>This is something I have been thinking about lately, nad maybe its
fortunate
>that this whole thing has come about. This is the first time I've expressed
>these thoughts on "paper."
>
>Rick
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