Have you delved into the Eastern religions yet?
Den’s recommendation of Alan Watts is a good one; an ex-minister, he tailored his books to Western sensibilities and made the ways of Vedanta and Zen clearer to the way we think here in the good ol’ USA.
Good translations of the Analects of Confuicius and Lao-Tse’s The Way of Tao should also be on your bedside table.
I’ve recently picked up G.K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man, which was his rebuttal to H.G. Wells’ The Outline of History, which Chesterton felt was too agnostic. Old G.K. was one intelligent sonofabitch, and he ended up converting to Roman Catholicism. I’m trying to figure out why.
So if I come in here one day swinging a censer and lighting candles to Saint Swithin, you know who to blame.
Uke
Great Debates strikes me as the place that will bring the most helpful responses to the OP. I’ll move it over there.
NYC IRL III
is on April 15th. Do you have what it takes?
Satan,
You might dig-up the Could you believe? thread from GD. The last couple of pages included some thoughts on what the Bible has to say on salvation for “others.” As usual, Polycarp had some thoughtful perspectives on this.
As a Christian, it is hard to deny the texts that for a variety of reasons have been accepted as part of the canon. These scriptures make it pretty clear that Jesus declared himself the only way. The apostolic writings confirm this in various ways.
Nevertheless, Poly and others suggested that those that earnestly sought a god who loved mercy, justice, and love (all Judeo-christian perceptions of Godly attributes) would, in fact, find God (with a capital G). A person who finds God this way, may believe in the name of Jesus without knowing the name of Jesus.
This is quite a bit of hermeneutical gymnastics, but the upshot is this … Several of us believe that if we, as mere mortals, can posit an escape hatch then a God who is infinite in mercy as well as justice, might open that escape hatch and welcome the seeker with open arms.
God Bless,
Tinker