Absolute or Relative?

[3paths]

Christianity has been slammed on this board for a long time, many times for it's exclusive beliefs. I really think it's pretty silly. What other religion or philosophy doesn't claim exclusivity? Do you believe what you believe in is right (absolute truth)? Or do you believe that truth is relative to the individual (relative truth). It's either one or the other. This question is black and white, no gray.

Just curious.

[Sgt.Shultz]

Jesus loves you.

[3paths]

how about you answer my question?

[Boid Fink]

Buddhists are pretty laid back.

They don't force anyone into anything, nor do they condemn you for your beliefs.  Life is a circle, a cycle.  Out of all religions, this is one I would think answers your question.

[oregonbucfan]

Islam is the only peaceful religion. They love everybody

[3paths]

So you are saying Buddhists support relative truth? Buddhists believe they are right and Christians are right, and atheists are right all at the same time?

The second and more important part of my original question is what do you believe in? And not the name of your faith (yes even atheists have faith, just not in a god). Do you believe in absolute truth or relative truth?

[buckit]

UU isn't absolute.  In fact, you'll probably never find two UU's that believe the exact same thing.  UU is all about finding one's personal relationship with their image of god  (or lack thereof) and building one's own theology with a healthy emphasis on respect for all the worlds religions.  It is a spiritually progressive and liberal path that all people are welcome to join, regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or economic status. 

[Boid Fink]

So you are saying Buddhists support relative truth? Buddhists believe they are right and Christians are right, and atheists are right all at the same time?

The second and more important part of my original question is what do you believe in? And not the name of your faith (yes even atheists have faith, just not in a god). Do you believe in absolute truth or relative truth?

They support truth in BEING.  Nothing more absolute than that.

How do you define absolute truth when there are no absolute guidelines?

Buddhists are content with the good and bad, because this is a cycle that is a part of the universe.  If you think about, we all have bad days, good days.  Good months, bad months.  GREAT YEARS, TERRIBLE YEARS.  In general. 

There is no such thing as absolute truth.

[buckit]

Here's a better one:  Hindu.  Hindu's believe everyone is right.  All things can be god.  They believe that it is the act of being spiritual that is important, not the god one prays too.  The Hindu's have over 3 million gods.

[John Galt?]

Everything is relative, especially incest.

[alldaway]

As it has been outlined in the past on this board Christianity is slammed for several reasons.

*Out of the three major monetheistic traditions, Christianity is the only one where it has a savior figure.

If you expand it further not even Sidhartha Guatama (aka Buddha) is recognized as a a savior figure in his own religious movement (Buddhism).  The Great Prophet of Islam (being the third great prophet as the number three has a significant meaning to that part of the world...especially to Christians in regards of the Trinity) is also not recognized as a savior figure.  Confucious nor Lao Tsu were considered savior figures in their respective philosophies/religions.

*Catholicim's influence in politics in Europe during the dark ages.  This control that the Catholic Churc exerted during that time period has turned people off from Christianity or even any religion in general.  So much so that when people point to the evils of religion they point to this small time period in the history of mankind as to why they hate religion (specifically Christianity).

*Christianity, unlike Judaism and Islam, splits up God with the Trinity and argue it is still one.  From the perspectives of Judaism and Islam they believe God can not be split up as he is only one.  And to split up God that would be polytheistic not monotheistic.  That is why Judaism and Islam consider Christianity a pagan religion.

Do you believe what you believe in is right (absolute truth)? Or do you believe that truth is relative to the individual (relative truth). It's either one or the other. This question is black and white, no gray.

I believe in the third path which is gray.

I believe in the combination of both absolute and relative truth.  Without either one I would feel incomplete and empty IMVHO.

[John Galt?]

ADW, good post.  I would just change one point.  Islam and Judeaism do believe in a savior figure, they just don't believe he has come yet.

The problem with most religions that use the title ''Christian'' is they have strayed far from the original teachings of Jesus that supposedly they are founded on.
Did Jesus every speak of Trinity? Did he every ask that people pray to him? I seem to remember that in his Sermon on the Mount he said ''this is how you should pray''  The Lord's prayer does not start out "Our Father, son, holy spirit, saints, various popes of note, virgin Mary, prophets, and that guy that hold up that sign in the endzone John 3:16,..."  These are all thing added to the original ''Christian message'' by people hundreds(thousands) of years later.

Islam accepts Jesus as one of the great prophets and believes all his teachings to be inspired by God.  So why the big rift?  Because people re-interpreted the words to fit their own agendas.

To answer 3paths original question,  I believe there is an absolute truth.  That truth may not be what I or anyone else believes.  It is out there waiting to be discovered.  Relative truth is impossible by definition.  If two people have different ideas about the same thing, at least one usually both are wrong.  Differing ideas are beliefs not truths. 

I also believe that the absolute truth cannot be found in any one religion(since all religions are created by and influenced by men) and it is beyond the ability of humans to currently comprehend.  What is important is that we keep trying to get closer to that truth by questioning all ideas and creating new ideas.

[buckit]

Christianity gets slammed because it's followers are loud, obnoxious, bigoted, theiving closet homosexuals that love to run around preaching the "convert or burn" dogma of a fringe spin off of Judaism.  They deny basic scientific discoveries such as evolution, yet the fact that their hero was nailed to a cross, then rose from the freakin grave to save all the world from an evil devil is somehow not insane.  To Christians ALL other religions are just devil worship, regardless of how legit the creed or how much longer it's been in existence.  They fear some divine wrath with every mistake they make, and hang on the delusionary denial that all things happen because their hippy god decreed it.  Christians are by and large close minded hypocrites that really just need to STFU.

[dr3z]

Please have the stones to tell me what this means:

Its straight from the bible. Black, white, no gray.........

Deuteronomy 13:6-10

6: If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy
bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go
and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7: Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far
off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8: Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity
him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death,
and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10: And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust
thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage.

[John Galt?]

It means we should throw rocks at Tom Cruise.