Ok, time to put my foot in it again .......
Erick Mead wrote:
Usually, when the subject of Christiantiy comes up in this context I find that we tend to get wrapped up in a naming problem. For this reason it is important to distinguish the things we affirm by naming them correctly and things we affirm by doing them correctly. Affirmance is the key, not the mode or means of its expression.
Names, like so many things, have an omote (front) side and an ura (back or hidden) side. Names are powerful, and for this reason we have to be very careful. Names are troubling because they often hide as much as they reveal. Names are not the reality that they point to.
I affirm orthodox understandings of the requirements of salvation. But the line of discussion about identifying names, classifying their power and meaning is the Cartesian mode. Aikido is a different mode of understanding and of expression of that understanding, not necessarily better or worse, but different.
Dirk Hanss wrote:
In Matthew 7,21 Jesus says: "Not everyone calling me: Lord, Lord! will reach heaven.." And in Matthew 25, 31 through 46 you can read that it is your behaviour to other human beings, that decides if you will get ethernal life or damnation.
I fully agree that any discussion regarding Christianity can end up being a naming issue, but there is a very good reason for this. As previously pointed out, there are a ridiculous number of definitions of who Jesus was (and is). There are plenty of people who want to use the name of Jesus without getting involved with all this salvation lark, etc, and there are warnings regarding this, as mentioned by Dirk. This warning in Matthew is regarding those of us who try to use Jesus for our own self betterment and selfishness without taking on the responsibility of repentence and the leading of a Christian life as described in Matthew 5 to 7. Dirk's understanding is somewhat skewed, but it is a difficult concept to grasp.
It has been a very common practice for words to be borrowed from one belief system by another, have their meanings modified, and put back into circulation - this is extremely well covered by the Bible, especially with the warning at the end of Revelation (and other places). In the early Church, pagan terms were borrowed and reused with a Christian tint, thus enabling the conversion of pagans (it's so much easier when we all speak the same language! - then again, remember what happened at Babel). Now, the same thing is happening with New Age belief systems taking Christian terms and twisting them to match the ideology and theology of these other belief systems. The 'Christ Consciousness' is one that springs to mind, where esoteric Eastern religious and philosophical practices are mingled with pseudochristian dogma. Many New Agers think that Jesus was a form of Buddha or other enlightened 'spirit'. Others think that Jesus and Lucifer (Satan) are just different manifestations of the same spiritual being. We end up thinking that we are talking about the same thing as we use the same words, but we are miles apart. No wonder we Christians spend most of our time trying to get at the meaning of the word! The use of a Cartesian methodology ends up being vital as otherwise there is no way to even understand the viewpoints of others. "Aikido is a different mode of understanding and of expression of that understanding,..." but we still use words to communicate understanding and expression - without a baseline understanding of what the other person means, then communication becomes useless. That's why we have concordances.
Just my opinion on the topic. I Might be totally off, but that is how we learn.