gsmith@brahms (Gene Ward Smith) (10/14/86)
In article <2754@burdvax.UUCP> devonst@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht) writes: >gsmith@brahms.UUCP (Gene Ward Smith) writes: >>In article <3071@sdcrdcf.UUCP> alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) writes: >>> A person who really believes that Jesus Christ is God is >>> a Christian. One who does not, is not. >>>One piece of data to throw into the fray is that in 1979, only 47% >>>of Dutch Catholics thought that Christ is the Son of God. >> Based on the above, I might conclude that 53% of Dutch Catholics >>are not Christians, whereas many Hindus are. This seems too much at > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!? >>variance with normal usage, if so. >I don't know any Hindus who could, in good faith, acknowledge as being true >the statements in the Apostle's Creed. Hindus might believe that Jesus >Christ was a good teacher, as many other religions do, but would have >difficulty declaring that He is the only-begotten Son of God whose death was >an atoning sacrifice for the sins of His people and is the ONLY way to the >Father. I don't remember the Apostle's Creed nor most of the above theology as forming a part of Alan Algustyniak's proposed definition. It is rather common for Hindus to believe that Jesus was an Avatar, and hence divine-- just as Rama and Krishna were divine. >They might find Jesus' declaration that "no man comes to the Father except >by me" to be a little arrogant and bigoted. They might. They might also interpret in in a way different that you would, so that Jesus is saying something like "no one achieves realization that Atman is Brahman without becoming aware of the divinity which I embody" (I am winging it here). ucbvax!brahms!gsmith Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720 ucbvax!weyl!gsmith Institute of Pi Research