I’m not trying to do a comparative religion topic here, I just was sent this article in an email a couple of years ago and thought it a nice time to post it. The author’s point being that even those of various religions, even if not agreeing on many other tenets, all teach some variant of the Golden Rule, and if everyone followed their own teachings in that regard, the world would be infinitely better off.
I disagree. The phrase "if everyone followed their own teachings" allows for a diversity of interpretation and is broad. Exodus 20:3 makes it clear: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.". There are not many paths but only one way. Matthew 7:14 teaches, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Later, also in Matthew (10:34), Christ states: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
There are moral absolutes and there are warmed over platitudes about the world's religions embracing the Golden Rule. The article leading off this thread just strikes me as another "We Are the World" form of the weak sauce of Kumbaya-ism. If one's faith lacks the cleansing power of Christ's Salvation ("Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."), it's little more than a Rodney King feel-good cliche of "Can we all just get along?".
LJ -- we've had many, many, many fruitful and agreeable discussions here, especially about the evils of sodomy. This is maybe the first time we've taken a different stance on any issue. It's nothing personal, of course, but when it comes to matters involving God, I take the Bible and only the Bible literally. If you will, it's the "howto manual" of my life and, frankly, any other such book or collection (Koran, Bhagavad Gita, Dianetics, Book of Mormon and so on) is just falsehood. All that said, I wish you well and again, to be abundantly clear, nothing personal at all.