Opinion of these Abrahamic religions

[RFayette]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

[°Leprechaun]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

anti-recommend

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

I hope you don't need me to explain to you why "strongly disapproving" of Judaism even from within an extremely conservative and traditional belief in Christian salvation history is a formulation that many people would find alarming to say the least, RFayette.

[SNJ1985]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

I completely agree. In response to Nathan, I don't care who finds it alarming or why they find it alarming, especially since every possible reason involves placing someone else's opinion above God's (the one that matters more than anyone else's).

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

I completely agree. In response to Nathan, I don't care who finds it alarming or why they find it alarming, especially since every possible reason involves placing someone else's opinion above God's (the one that matters more than anyone else's).

You ought to.

[LBJer]

I didn't vote because I can't pass an across the board judgement on any of the three.  There are versions of all three which are great and versions of all three which are horrible. 

[afleitch]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

[Torie]

Neutral as to all three. I don't really care about them.

[°Leprechaun]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

Some Christians, no doubt, also take the idea of eternal fire literally (and why not*).
Why would anyone want to believe in a Supreme Being that would torture someone forever?
(*eternal fire is mentioned in the Bible, although maybe not that often)
Rejecting such a being would put someone in danger according to traditional Christianity.

[RFayette]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

If someone held to a very strict doctrine of no possibility of salvation outside their denomination/ecclesial group then I suppose you could apply that logic to all branches of Christianity outside that particular group.  I don’t hold that view however, and think that God’s favor extends significantly across numerous expressions of Christianity, as evidenced by the sheer fact of the multitude of miracles seen by newly evangelized people, despite this evangelization being done by Christians with markedly different theology.  I don’t deny the importance of doctrinal differences, but I do maintain there is a clear difference between affirming the Trinity, deity of Christ, Jesus as Messiah, etc. and denying these core truths, and this likely  makes an eternity of difference for many people.

[°Leprechaun]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

Some Christians, no doubt, also take the idea of eternal fire literally (and why not*).
Why would anyone want to believe in a Supreme Being that would torture someone forever?
(*eternal fire is mentioned in the Bible, although maybe not that often)
Rejecting such a being would put someone in danger according to traditional Christianity.

All of this was discussed at length in the "is Anne Frank in hell" thread:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=120269.0

[afleitch]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

If someone held to a very strict doctrine of no possibility of salvation outside their denomination/ecclesial group then I suppose you could apply that logic to all branches of Christianity outside that particular group.  I don’t hold that view however, and think that God’s favor extends significantly across numerous expressions of Christianity, as evidenced by the sheer fact of the multitude of miracles seen by newly evangelized people, despite this evangelization being done by Christians with markedly different theology.  I don’t deny the importance of doctrinal differences, but I do maintain there is a clear difference between affirming the Trinity, deity of Christ, Jesus as Messiah, etc. and denying these core truths, and this likely  makes an eternity of difference for many people.

So it's a 'thought'. So surely that would extend to less orthodox/more liberal/universalist theology too?

If on say 'deeds' not 'belief', because god extends favour to those salvationists, then surely god's favour would extend outside of the limitations of strict Christian theology and doctrine?

[RFayette]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

If someone held to a very strict doctrine of no possibility of salvation outside their denomination/ecclesial group then I suppose you could apply that logic to all branches of Christianity outside that particular group.  I don’t hold that view however, and think that God’s favor extends significantly across numerous expressions of Christianity, as evidenced by the sheer fact of the multitude of miracles seen by newly evangelized people, despite this evangelization being done by Christians with markedly different theology.  I don’t deny the importance of doctrinal differences, but I do maintain there is a clear difference between affirming the Trinity, deity of Christ, Jesus as Messiah, etc. and denying these core truths, and this likely  makes an eternity of difference for many people.

So it's a 'thought'. So surely that would extend to less orthodox/more liberal/universalist theology too?

If on say 'deeds' not 'belief', because god extends favour to those salvationists, then surely god's favour would extend outside of the limitations of strict Christian theology and doctrine?

We don't see the same evidence of great miraculous activity in the missionary activities of non Christian religions, hence why I think the eternal outlook for those in such religions is likely much more grim.  The Bible makes clear the necessity of faith in Christ many times, as we see in verses like John 3:18 and 1 John 2:23.  This isn't to say anyone who calls themselves a Christian is guaranteed salvation, but it is clearly a much better place to be than rejecting Jesus's claims about himself.

[Aurelius]

FF for Judaism, HP for Christianity and Islam even though there are aspects of both religions that I respect. Over the past week my perspective on Christianity has completely shifted. The New Testament is essentially an awkward combination of egregious slave morality ("the meek shall inherit the earth"... who actually believes this? When someone hits you, turn the other cheek toward them so they can hit it too... this is one of the dumbest pieces of advice I have ever heard. When someone hits you, hit them back. Defend yourself, don't be a wallflower.) and completely arbitrary and capricious restrictions on things like homosexuality and women teaching, extracted from or in reaction to a society 2000 years ago with a completely different social context. My objections to Islam are pretty much the standard right-liberal ones.

Judaism does have its flaws - it's very awkward to have a monotheistic religion claiming its god is the only one, yet disclaiming proselytization and proclaiming a particular "chosen people". It's no surprise therefore that now and then you hear about weird ultra-Orthodox rabbis proclaiming that goyim are subhuman and ought to be enslaved, when you don't really hear other religions declaring this about those who don't follow their religion. But I much prefer the moral and ethical framework of Judaism to the slave morality of the New Testament or the naked might-is-right conquering spirit of Islam.

I spent the better part of my life deathly afraid of Christian hell, even though I didn't believe it, wasn't raised to believe in it, and most people around me didn't really believe in it. It was a sort of tyrannical Pascal's Wager that became a parasite on my mind. Well, I have finally overcome that fear. There is no life after death, and I need not let fear of such a thing rule as a tyrant over me. It really is incredible how you can use the prospect of eternal conscious torment as a cudgel to force people to conform to practically any moral system regardless of its actual soundness or utility. I think that one thing that demonstrates the greater soundness of the Jewish approach is that it manages to prescribe a system of correct behavior without having to use fire and brimstone as a crutch to compel obedience.

[Aurelius]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

Some Christians, no doubt, also take the idea of eternal fire literally (and why not*).
Why would anyone want to believe in a Supreme Being that would torture someone forever?
(*eternal fire is mentioned in the Bible, although maybe not that often)
Rejecting such a being would put someone in danger according to traditional Christianity.

All of this was discussed at length in the "is Anne Frank in hell" thread:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=120269.0

Yeah, any moral system in which Anne Frank is to receive eternal suffering as punishment is not one that ought to be respected.

[Aurelius]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

I hope you don't need me to explain to you why "strongly disapproving" of Judaism even from within an extremely conservative and traditional belief in Christian salvation history is a formulation that many people would find alarming to say the least, RFayette.

As someone who is suddenly feeling much more connected now to my ancestral Judaism than I have in over a decade, I really genuinely do not care if someone views it negatively. That's their right, and if someone thinks that one particular religion ought to be free from the analysis and criticism extended to all others, then I would say they ought to grow a thicker skin.

[Aurelius]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

No, he was a false messiah and garden-variety sorcerer, a warmed-over proto-communist preaching an upside-down morality in which bad things are good, good things are bad, and suffering is exalted over virtue. Your hell does not exist, and I don't particularly care if someone thinks I am eternally damned.

[If my soul was made of stone]

No, he was a false messiah and garden-variety sorcerer, a warmed-over proto-communist preaching an upside-down morality in which bad things are good, good things are bad, and suffering is exalted over virtue.

[Georg Ebner]

“I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev.1,8;22,13; Hebr.13,8; Ex.3,14).
Christianity is the omega, so the culmination and endPoint of religious exPerience; but is also the alpha, i.e. the inevitable foundation, on which the insufficient&wrong systems created by humans/demons are based: That there exists only 1 verity (any agnosticism&subjectivism&relativism see themselves as the only truth, too); that IT doesn't alter ITself; that IT is so friendly&good to show ITself to us in the empirical world aso. All the antiChristian ("enlightened"/humanistical/agnostical/atheistical/rationalistical/empiristical/subjectivistical/...) ideoLogies created in Europe have taken these preJudices for granted - what they aren't.
Thus "For the simple observer Christianity is rather a new type of hermeneutics than a new religion." (GOMEZ DAVILA)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

I hope you don't need me to explain to you why "strongly disapproving" of Judaism even from within an extremely conservative and traditional belief in Christian salvation history is a formulation that many people would find alarming to say the least, RFayette.

As someone who is suddenly feeling much more connected now to my ancestral Judaism than I have in over a decade, I really genuinely do not care if someone views it negatively. That's their right, and if someone thinks that one particular religion ought to be free from the analysis and criticism extended to all others, then I would say they ought to grow a thicker skin.

Ethnoreligions should be assessed using a different hermeneutic than universal-proselytizing religions even when it comes to their intellectual and devotional content because the relationship of that intellectual and devotional content to other practices, customs, and attitudes is intrinsically very different. I understand that you'll probably disagree with that, but I don't intend it solely as special pleading on behalf of Judaism, although I do think it's especially imperative to make this stance of mine clear regarding Judaism for all the obvious historical reasons.

[afleitch]

Strongly approve of Christianity, strongly disapprove of Islam and Judaism.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  Any religious system which denies his deity and/or his status as the Messiah is false and puts people at risk of eternal damnation.

Doesn't Christianity put people at risk of eternal damnation because it doesn't have an agreed, cross denominational set of criteria on how one can escape it?

If someone held to a very strict doctrine of no possibility of salvation outside their denomination/ecclesial group then I suppose you could apply that logic to all branches of Christianity outside that particular group.  I don’t hold that view however, and think that God’s favor extends significantly across numerous expressions of Christianity, as evidenced by the sheer fact of the multitude of miracles seen by newly evangelized people, despite this evangelization being done by Christians with markedly different theology.  I don’t deny the importance of doctrinal differences, but I do maintain there is a clear difference between affirming the Trinity, deity of Christ, Jesus as Messiah, etc. and denying these core truths, and this likely  makes an eternity of difference for many people.

So it's a 'thought'. So surely that would extend to less orthodox/more liberal/universalist theology too?

If on say 'deeds' not 'belief', because god extends favour to those salvationists, then surely god's favour would extend outside of the limitations of strict Christian theology and doctrine?

We don't see the same evidence of great miraculous activity in the missionary activities of non Christian religions, hence why I think the eternal outlook for those in such religions is likely much more grim.  The Bible makes clear the necessity of faith in Christ many times, as we see in verses like John 3:18 and 1 John 2:23.  This isn't to say anyone who calls themselves a Christian is guaranteed salvation, but it is clearly a much better place to be than rejecting Jesus's claims about himself.

Yes, you do.

You absolutely do see the same 'evidence' in so far as the same outcomes are attributed to prayer and offerings as in the Christian faith, by those who adhere to other faiths.

[Figueira]

I don't think I can express my feelings about any of these with a simple up/down vote.

[RFayette]

Yes, you do.

You absolutely do see the same 'evidence' in so far as the same outcomes are attributed to prayer and offerings as in the Christian faith, by those who adhere to other faiths.

I would suggest reading Craig Keener's work Miracles, many of which specifically focus on missionary activity to areas with little Christian presence, and showing comparable miracles specifically done in connection with the missionary work of other faiths in areas where that faith is not very present.  

The fact that we see such an intense concentration of miracles in association with Christian mission is a clear mark of divine favor.

[afleitch]

Yes, you do.

You absolutely do see the same 'evidence' in so far as the same outcomes are attributed to prayer and offerings as in the Christian faith, by those who adhere to other faiths.

I would suggest reading Craig Keener's work Miracles, many of which specifically focus on missionary activity to areas with little Christian presence, and showing comparable miracles specifically done in connection with the missionary work of other faiths in areas where that faith is not very present.  

The fact that we such an intense concentration of miracles in association with Christian mission is a clear mark of divine favor.

Craig Keener is a Christian theologian and apologist.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Yes, you do.

You absolutely do see the same 'evidence' in so far as the same outcomes are attributed to prayer and offerings as in the Christian faith, by those who adhere to other faiths.

I would suggest reading Craig Keener's work Miracles, many of which specifically focus on missionary activity to areas with little Christian presence, and showing comparable miracles specifically done in connection with the missionary work of other faiths in areas where that faith is not very present.  

The fact that we such an intense concentration of miracles in association with Christian mission is a clear mark of divine favor.

Craig Keener is a Christian theologian and apologist.

     Which gave him the motivation to find these miracle testimonies. Citing it to dismiss him out of hand is analogous to a juror dismissing a prosecutor's arguments for the guilt of a defendant because the prosecutor is acting out of a professional obligation to try and convict the defendant, yet nobody tries to defend that course of action.