rock, i will answer your question here but from now on you need to ask me this kind of stuff thru private message. if someone makes a comment to me i will respond in here, i am not afraid to take a stand. but todd has requested that this discussion be held privately. since you asked me publically, i will resond publically. first of all, what happened to you? you have changed your core belief to one of a more generic "faith". it get's down to this, it really doesn't matter what you and i "think" or "feel". what matters is what does god himself have to say about the subject. if god has not made himself known then we could all have our own generic opionions about him. but he has made himself known. god is specific and the way to him is specific. it is a ridiculous arguement that god would create us and then turn around and say : "you believe whatever you want to believe about me. it doesn't matter to me". it is not being intolerant of others to stand up and say that there is only one god because god himself is narrow. he makes up the rules as to who he is and how we come to him. but has created us with the free-will to choose him or not. and when god stands back and doesn't cram himself down our throats, people mis-place their idea that god could give a rip about what we believe about him. he is not "many" and there are not many ways to him. that's chaotic. people only have a problem with the one god-one way to god thing because they are much more comfortable making up their own version of god so he can match their "lifestyle". god then becomes their servant when it should be the other way around. god will let them play that game for now. ethnic groups that you talked about are not excluded on their ethnicticity. a person is only excluded from gods presence (heaven) based on their rejection of his provision. all have the same invitation, but not all will accept the invitation. it has nothing to do with what part of the world you come from. you either come to god on his terms and by his rules, or you don't. it is a matter of free-will choice. all of this is my opinion of course. but here is my get down to business contention: if god could not or has not told us who he is and what we have to do to "know" him (not know "about" him), then your explanation about there being " many ways" would hold water. but god has told us and then backed that up. god is not politically correct. he is not afraid of offending anyone. he is not afraid of challenging us or telling us the truth even if it hurts our "feelings. we are the one that play those games. you asked me and i will answer you. jesus said "i am the way, the truth and the life. NO ONE comes to the father but thru me". the only door to god goes thru christ. but he made claims just like everyone else. what makes jesus different and really the "only" way. the answer is simple: he raised "himself" from the dead. only god has the power over life and death. that solidifies that he was who he claimed to be. all other "ways" to god were discounted in that one single act. their claims about being the way fell to the ground (christ is risen and everyone else is still dead in their graves). rock, there are not many god's- only one. and there are not many ways to god- only one. if we had the abiblity to "save" ourself, then the arguement about "many ways" would be accurate because then it would be about good works. jesus took care of that issue doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. i am done. this discussion in this detail belongs in private. i am not afraid to stand up and answer all questions and remarks. if you ask me on this board i will reply on this board. but please ask me privately as that is what todd has requested. my last comment about this: there cannot be various opinions of god, only one. i guarantee you that god is not flippant or un-decided about who he is. but it is a personal choice. want to know god, he is able to tell you himself. there will come a time for every person to get the chance to find out if your personal belief has put you into a good position with god or not. my suggestion, take it serious now, not later...........visiondude
"i am .........."meant to"
P.S., that RJoH is a stand up guy. thanks, vision
until further notice, it's france everyday