From an outsider’s perspective, It seems to me that if your actions do not reflect your professed faith, then your faith really isn’t true. If you say that you believe in Jesus Christ and his teachings, but yet you can’t be characterized as charitable, compassionate or tolerant, then you can’t really “believe” as you profess. Hypocrisy and faith are at opposite ends in this regard. The same can be said about Islamic Extremist “suicide bombers”. I doubt anyone other than those within their group and the uninformed would consider then “faithful Muslims”.

In this regard, as I agrued with Hapajap, I believe that the Christian doctrine requires “good works” (moral living, in alignment with the intent / spirit of Jesus’s Christ’s teaching) for salvation. These “works” need not be monumental accomplishments in honour of Christianity. But rather, they should be mindful, and deliberate attempts of following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

While your beliefs about Jesus are valid for those who believe in Christianity, Jews would not agree. For Christians, there is the belief that Jesus has replaced the high priest and the saccrifices, but in Jewish belief thsi is not the case. God understood taht the Jews, in the time before Jesus, also couldn’t follow the law 100% of the time. In that case, he gave them saccrifices of attonement to redeem themselves from all but the most horrible sins.

In Catholic belief, good actions are essential to salvation. Even with the sacrament of reconciliation, where Cathilics believe that sin is forgiven, the sacrament is not complete until the pennance is done. Death without some form of reconciliation damns you. This to me sounds very much like justification by acts. That was, in fact, one of the great theological disagreements between the Catholics and Martin Luther. Catholic chatechisim specificly states that those outside of the church that live good lives still ahve a chance to reach heaven.

In Jesus’s teachings, he specificly states that at the last judgement he will ask about the good deeds of each person, “When I was naked you clothed me / didn’t clothe me.” Jesus, in the Gospels, focuses on good acts and a moral life. The beliefs in justification by grace alone are in the epistles, but those epistles specificly instruct followers that this did not mean that they could live amoral lives.

Exactly how does a merciful God give no chance for redemption to massive amounts of the population? If being Christian is the only way to be saved, then all of the Americas before 1492 had no practical chance for salvation and no possilbe chance prior to 1 A.D. I know this a classic question, but I fail to see an answer in your theology.

By your argument, Abraham was also damned, as the way was not paved for him.

Justification by acts combined with a God who forgives human failings to me seems the only way to resolve this.

The thing about ‘doing good to get saved’ is empty. It is the same problem as saying one must obey God’s Law to be saved. In either case, no man would be able to do enough good or follow the Law according to God’s Standards which is 100% doing good and following the Law 100% of the time. Even for the most faithful of men this cannot be done.

And God always knew this even before creation. So in His Infinite Wisdom, He came up with plan so not all not all of mankind would perish because of sin.The Son would come to the planet and fulfill the Laws by never breaking the Laws and giving those Laws.(God will not sin nor tempt others to sin.) Jesus also brought with Him the true intent and meaning of God’s Law. Also by dying and resurrecting, Jesus defeated the great enemies – Satan, sin, and death. When Jesus resurrected, He paved the way for those who sought God’s Forgiveness and the ability to truly repent which is done through Jesus.

You talked about each religion in terms of forgiveness of sins, emphasis on good works, and faith in God.

In Judaisim, faith in God is pretty much assumed. The emphasis is on actions. The method for forgiveness of sins used to an elaborite set of rituals at the temple. With the temple gone, modern Jews focus on leading a good life and hope for a forgiving God.

In Christianity, faith in God is critical. Christianity focuses on both proper thought and proper acts. Sin should be avoided both in act and thought. A Christian is taught to actively believe. The question of salvation varies widely by sect. Calvinists and their decendants belief that ONLY be grace are we saved. Good deeds are an outward sign of God’s grace. Catholics, on the other hand, believe that God’s grace is obtained through good acts. In that light we are saved by our actions. The other sects are in this range.

In Islam, faith in God is essential. The first thing a convert must do is to say “There is no other god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.” At thsi point, belief in God is established, and a Muslim demonstrates faith through good acts. I believe that the approach to forgiveness of sins is, like the Jews, to try to lead a good life, try to make amends for sins, and have faith in a forgiving God. The community is involved in supporting a believer, but more as a general support. Islam emphasises both proper thought and actions. They charicterise a mental war against sin.

With regards to the creation of the Nation of Isreal, being prophecized to the day, I have two doubts. First, is the exact date the prophecy was written known? If not, then your claim Hapajap, may be an overstatement.

If it was known, consider this scenario: It is the end of WWII. The allied nations gather to discuss the plight of the Jewish people. The idea of creating the Nation of Isreal is proposed and adopted. Is it possible that the date set for the creation of Isreal may have been suggested by a biblical scholar? Humanity is known for the love of “poetics”. Nothing would have been more poetic than to fulfill an ancient prophecy.

Consider that Nostradamus prophecized that at the turn of the 2nd millenium, there would be 8 years of strife followed a new “golden era” for humanity. Now some would claim that Nostradamus’ prophacy refers to the Bush Administration, while others, like Hapajap would say that the two have nothing to do with one another.

That is the nature of prophecies. They are often obtuse and their fulfillment depends on the interpretation of the prophecy itself.

The Bible is historically accurate in that it chronicles the history of the Jewish people. However, it does not cover the history of the entire world. Asia and the Americas are not dealt with. Africa and Europe are covered only as Egypt and the Mediterranean cultures. The Han peoples had a dynasty within the history of the unified China. They were overthrown and now they are once again the dominant culture of modern China. One could argue that their nation was restored. The Viet people were subjicated by the Chinese, then the French. The Americans made an unsuccessful claim. Now the Viet people have their nation restored to them.

The Bible is many things. It may be the Book of Truth – but only for one culture. not the universal truth.

Also, the majority of the Jewish tribes never returned. While the lands of Israel were restored, the ten tribes of Israel were not. The tribes that did return were transplanted as a group to Babylon and then transported back as a group. A similarity could be drawn to the voluntary relacation in Exodus. Some of the Jews were never removed in either of the scatterings.

Now, with the diaspora, they were scattered widely over time. They did, however, keep to small and relatively isolated exclaves in their new homes. They definitely did not go through this unchanged. There were signifigant changes in the religious practices caused by this shift which are still practiced today. Most of these changes revolve around the priesthood. The priests, he center of religious practice, have not been restored as they have no temple. The rabbis, who were a small part of the old teachings, not even discussed in the Old Testament, are now the central figures in Judaisim.