i've read with interest the discussion about adi da and sai baba. what i'm wondering is why christianity refuses to acknowledge than anyone but Jesus is an incarnation of God. how would christians like it if buddhist claimed that buddha was the only enlightened one, or if hindus didn't recognize Jesus as divine? it does seem that christians are pretty arrogant claiming that only Jesus was divine. maybe adi da and sai baba are who they say they are. who are we to say?

I think there are a lot of Christians who believe God works in different ways for different people. However I couldn't tell you what the "official" Christian position is.

You seem a touch annoyed because some religions might have certain beliefs, but that is the very nature of religion. You're generally free to believe one way or or the other and there are few, if any, primarily Christian countries today that deny the right of other people to to do just that. If you look at some Muslim countries this is definitely not the case, which is a shame. I know you're a bit annoyed that someone could believe that their way is the only way to get to Heaven but as long as you're free to believe otherwise, and that no Christians are preventing you from doing so, then this perceived arrogance may really just be a matter of their deep faith.

No doubt there are some people, even Christians, who are smug about what they believe but that is hardly unique to Christianity. There are Buddhists who are quite smug in their beliefs, if not toward other religions, then toward different economic and political systems. Christianity has no monopoly on arrogance.

Hi wondering,

Brad makes some good points about religions being different because they have different beliefs. Sometimes these seem to conflict with each other, but sometimes they're just different "takes" on the same Reality.

Just for the record, however, Buddhists don't consider Siddharha Guatama, their founder, to be an incarnation of God; same with Moslems and Mohammed, Taoists with Lao Tzu, Confucians with Confucius, and Jews with Abraham, Moses, and other leaders. Hinduism recognizes avatars--incarnations of God--and even considers some of the people just mentioned to be such, even though their respective religions don't. So, obviously, Hinduism has a way of speaking about incarnations of God that is probably different in at least some respects from what it means in other religions.

I've tried to reply to some of the objections that Christians have to the Hindu notion in the thread on Adi Da. Perhaps if you have more specific follow-up questions, here, you could register a forum name and post your follow-ups. I hope to hear more from you.

Phil

quote:

it does seem that christians are pretty arrogant claiming that only Jesus was divine.

That's not arrogance; you're wrong. It is called F-A-I-T-H. It is quite clear in the Bible that Jesus was most definitely God's son, therefore, we're sure of that. That is definitely not arrogance. It is belief, pure and simple.

"Allah" came to some low-life camel driver in a dream - no historical documentation, no nothing but a man said he had a dream and look how that turned out - that isn't from God, that's for sure!

Originally posted by starlite:
it does seem that christians are pretty arrogant claiming that only Jesus was divine.

That's not arrogance; you're wrong. It is called F-A-I-T-H. It is quite clear in the Bible that Jesus was most definitely God's son, therefore, we're sure of that. That is definitely not arrogance. It is belief, pure and simple.

No, starlite, you're wrong. Ignorance, rudeness, and arrogance are not faith.

"Allah" came to some low-life camel driver in a dream - no historical documentation, no nothing but a man said he had a dream and look how that turned out - that isn't from God, that's for sure!

Some low-life camel driver?

Joseph had a dream and look at how it all turned out.

tee