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You said you reject religions other than Christianity because of their views of personal responsibility in order to secure divine grace, right? (That would actually be an awesome thread in its own right, if you want to start it).

the criteria I consider relevant...

1) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which did not recognize the existence of a creating deity. I do this because I reject the possibility that the universe exists by chance.

2) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which did not recognize that any any deity capable of creating the universe could find a way to communicate successfully with the created. I consider it unlikely that a deity would create the universe without a purpose or be unable to provide to the created a lasting framework for what that purpose is.

3) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which was not found to be acceptable by a significant number of people. That would imply that a deity capable of creating the universe would be incapable of convincing people to believe in him. In this category I place all "extinct" religions such as Greek deity worship, Zoroastrianism, etc.

Using those three rules, as applied to the ten largest religions in the world, I believe I limit my possible choices to three, all of which acknowledge the same creating deity, identified as YHWH and called either God or Allah by his followers.....Judaism, Christianity, and Islam...(granted that Judaism is not one of the ten largest, but I don't think you can discuss Christianity and Islam without considering Judaism)....if I am not mistaken, in those three you have approximately two thirds of all the people on this planet.....(edit:turns out to be a bit over half)

I will pause at this point to let you respond...

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Surely Zoroastrianism still exists?

I want them all to be true, also UFOs, psychic powers and ghosts. It's all so much better than every day life.

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Originally Posted by Zichao

Surely Zoroastrianism still exists?

if the Zoroastrian deity is the creator, he sucks at communication, since less than 1% of the people of the world know about him....

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Quote:

1) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which did not recognize the existence of a creating deity. I do this because I reject the possibility that the universe exists by chance. 2) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which did not recognize that any any deity capable of creating the universe could find a way to communicate successfully with the created. I consider it unlikely that a deity would create the universe without a purpose or be unable to provide to the created a lasting framework for what that purpose is. 3) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which was not found to be acceptable by a significant number of people. That would imply that a deity capable of creating the universe would be incapable of convincing people to believe in him. In this category I place all "extinct" religions such as Greek deity worship, Zoroastrianism, etc.

Cool.

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if the Zoroastrian deity is the creator, he sucks at communication, since less than 1% of the people of the world know about him....

Well it does help to have a powerful marketing department. A strongly militant believer population doesn't hurt either.

F

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Quote:

You said you reject religions other than Christianity because of their views of personal responsibility in order to secure divine grace, right?

before going further, I must note that you incorrectly quoted me.....I stated they had differing views on securing righteousness, not securing divine grace.....

in truth, Christianity teaches that we achieve righteousness THROUGH divine grace, as opposed to achieving righteousness through faithful sacrifice or through living in an appropriate manner......

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Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet

if the Zoroastrian deity is the creator, he sucks at communication, since less than 1% of the people of the world know about him....

Your assuming one Religion to Rule Them All. The Z-folk do not make that assumption. They hold that the Diety manifests in many ways. The Zoroastrain way is not for everyone, just for Parsis (at least according to the Parsis, other Z-folk take exception).

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Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet

if the Zoroastrian deity is the creator, he sucks at communication, since less than 1% of the people of the world know about him....

You've got a point.

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Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet

3) I could not contemplate as true, any religion which was not found to be acceptable by a significant number of people. That would imply that a deity capable of creating the universe would be incapable of convincing people to believe in him.

This is a dangerous argument. How big is big enough? Since God is almighty, wouldn't s/he want to convince all people to believe in him or her (or it)?

Thus, if your argument holds, I would conclude that this is almost a proof that there is no God since there is no religion that all people believe in, and on the other hand, if it doesn't hold, then we are back at square one.

Or a manichean point of view....

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