Do you mind if I come on your board and ask a question about the above statement? Ignore me if I am intruding.
What do you believe about those people in the world that have never heard of Jesus (pbuh)? I realise these are probably few and far between since the advent of the internet but for centuries there have been people in the world that had no idea Christianity exists. So do these people go to hell?
Salaam
Hello and greetings, Muslimwoman.
I believe the classic declaration by Jesus that "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; nobody comes to the Father except through me" is a declaration that it is the "concept of me" (Jesus) that leads to God.
By the "concept of
me" (Jesus) I believe he was referring to everything he believed in, lived for and stood for as a person who devoted and dedicated his whole life to God. If we believe in, live for and stand for the same things as Jesus did, we ultimately set ourselves on a road to God.
I believe therefore, that it is not
knowledge of Christianity that puts us on that road, but the "concept of Jesus" and his mission/purpose that puts us on that road.
Christianity is merely the collection of concepts that leads us to this concept, but I believe a person may arrive at the same concept without knowledge of Christianity. The "concept of Jesus" is undoubtedly the core of Christianity, but I believe it's possible (in theory) for a person to have the core without the peripherals and still find God.
A traditional and conventional Christian uses the peripherals (Christianity) to find God. An "unconventional Christian" aligns himself to the core alone without knowledge of Christianity to find God. The "unconventional Christian" bypasses the core.
I believe Christ is merely a paradigm. Christianity is a way of better understanding Christ and his paradigm, but Christianity itself is not Christ, the Messiah. Christianity is a path to Christ, but Christ is ultimately what leads us to God. It is
the paradigm that leads us to God. Christ himself was God's means of
bypassing the human authoritative hierarchies (ie. those of the religious leaders of the day). Just as God can bypass hierarchies that are the traditional channel of communication with human beings, Christian believers could also bypass Christianity and embrace Christ without knowledge of Christianity.
It's like you could be a good kung fu master if you were taught by Bruce Lee, but some people are so smart they don't need to be taught by Bruce Lee. Likewise with Christianity and Christ. Christianity helps us to understand Christ, but some already "
know him" even though they haven't heard the name that was used to refer to him
historically.
Christ/Jesus has a name, but we don't necessarily have to use the "name" to find God. It is more the paradigm than the name, that leads us to God. The paradigm could be described in many ways (without a name) and still be conceptualised correctly. You could call Jesus Bob, James, Michaelangelo or Leo but he'd still be the Messiah if the essential meaning of the paradigm is maintained.
Jesus never said Christianity/The New Testament was the Truth. He said
he (himself) was the Truth. Christianity is "truth" only as much as it conveys that "truth." Where Christianity or the New Testament fails to convey that, it fails to be so-called "truth."
In Revelation 19:12, the Rider on the White Horse is described as follows:
He has a name written on his forehead that no-one knows but himself. Revelation 19:12 (NIV)
With sufficient background knowledge of Christianity, one could safely assume that this figure in Revelation is Christ. I'd say it's a roundabout way of saying that Christ's true identity is not defined or referenced in a name, but understanding what he means in the cosmology (with regards to Christianity's view of the End Times) of things to come.
Explanation: you might find it ironic that in the next verse (Revelation 9:13) it says that "his name is the Word of God."
"Jesus" qualifies as a name in the sense of referring to an individual without regards to his role, but "Word of God" is a role, not the intrinsic name of a person. We know his role in Christianity (Word of God), and his historical name (Jesus) but what's his
identity? What does he mean to us? I believe that is what is being addressed in Revelation 19:12. The exact meaning of Christ is a mystery. We can only see parts of the concept in the written text, but not the whole thing. It's because of our limited scope of knowledge and understanding as human beings.
