the mozilla community has recently been embroiled in theological debate. gervase markham, a christian mozilla dev, made a comment that touched off a massive controversy regarding the nature of god, prayer, christianity in general, etc. it's been recently expanded to include abortion laws in the uk.
lots and lots of kudos to gerv from this peon for making a stand and upholding the word of god. lots and lots.
*pause*
can't resist adding my own two cents.
i've read so many responses to gerv's post that go on about god's unconditional love, inclusivity, relationship to buddhism and islam, etc., etc. i've not read much regarding his holiness, his immense sacrifice, and our responsibility. guess what folks? the god of the old testament is identical to the god of the new testament. god is god, same now as he was yesterday, same yesterday as he will be tomorrow. the covenant has been revamped--the purpose of most of the old laws and rituals was to typify (point to) christ and the ultimate redemption of god's chosen, and it was fulfilled when he came--but god has not. he is every bit as holy, as awe-some, as just, as righteous and as intolerant as he ever was.
he is also as joyful, loving and merciful as he ever was. but it's as dangerous to neglect his less-palatable character points as it is to ignore his more savory qualities. we're human, we know we're sinners, we know our lives and our world are broken. so it's reassuring to talk about a god who just loves, loves, loves. it's easy to talk about how christians and jews and muslims all worship the same god, really. it's comforting to think that buddhists and hindu and moonies, if they're honestly trying to do good and live good lives, will go to heaven.
i honestly want to know how proponents of such arguments get around the "i am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the father except by me" statement. hard to get much more exclusive than that. notice: not "a way, a truth and a life," not "except by me, unless they're earnestly living the best life they can, in which case my death, my separation from the godhead and all the entire redemptive history leading up to it was not necessary. they're all set by themselves." a terrible, terrible price was paid to restore the relationship between god and human. (consider that, consider how much value god places in us. love like that doesn't exist anywhere else.) holiness is fairly stringent requirement. don't just brush off that sacrifice, don't just brush off the gargantuan goal that christ's death and resurrection accomplished.
some more news for you, while i'm on the topic: heaven is not the point. the christian life isn't about subscribing to god's line so we can all arrive in heaven one day. the christian life is about (to quote the westminster shorter catechism) glorifying and enjoying god, forever. catch that? god, it's about god, god is the point. the glorifying and enjoying part doesn't get put on hold until we're in heaven.
and don't give me guff about "christians don't do this." of course christians don't do this, not perfectly. hello, human? that whole "we're sinners" thing still applies. the difference is that through christ, our focus is changed. it's not about doing good for the sake of doing good, or to live up to a standard for some greater reward, or to make us feel better about ourselves. christ has justified us--we are no longer required to live with perfect holiness to be in relationship with god, because christ fulfilled that requirement with his life, and paid our penalty with his death. and then he defeated the whole cycle of sin and death and declared the new covenant, built on faith in him by the grace of god, with his resurrection. anyway. we do good because we actually do love this god. our focus is on him. we take joy in his pleasure. we love to see him "highly exalted," so to speak. when our actions are in line with his character, he is pleased. in an angels-dancing, trumpet-sounding sort of way. which makes us pleased. so we're all pleased, really. except the non-christians, who misunderstand and get pissed at us for our intolerance or our inconsistency. to whom i say this: yes, we are intolerant in that we believe in absolutes. truth. christianity is not a post-modern lifestyle. there is one god, who has provided for the human race exclusive access to him through his son. there are no shortcuts, no longcuts, no alternatives. no apologies, call us arrogant if you must. for our inconsistency, many apologies. we are called god's messengers, ambassadors of his kingdom on earth, and we too often botch the message through our own loss of focus. we can only point to the one who sends the message and say, "our inconsistency has been paid for by the one who knows no inconsistency. follow him."
...so a little more than two cents. right then. go gerv.