THEOLOGICAL BLOG 4

Having missed a day early on in blogging, I will write more tonight, in an effort to keep up the pace.

How does one become a Christian? Are Christian correct in claiming exclusivity for the saving work of Jesus on the cross. True, he spoke these words: "In my Father's house there are many mansions," "When I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself." He also claimed to have the authority to judge, in the various 'I am' verses in John's gospel, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no-one comes the Father but by me. Strive to enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate which leads to destruction. Apart from me you can do nothing.

Such exclusive claims are anathema to the world, to sinful man, who cannot bear to have his moral autonomy challenged.

Blog on theology

Day 2 of my theological blog and already I have received comments about calling Buddhism a cult maybe I touched a raw nerve. I do not mean to offend or provoke, just to invite reasonable discussion. If you take cult to mean new religious movement in the sociological sense then the word is accurate. True it has negative connotations, but I was contrasting it with the mainstream religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

It seems with the advent of Post-Modernism that language has become divorced from ultimate meaning. To quote Nietzche, "To get rid of God we need to get rid of grammar." Again, Jacques Derrida, that language has no ultimate reference point, or "transcendent signifier."

I have just posted my first post on the blogosphere, and realised that I termed Friends of the Western Buddhist Order and Nichiren Buddhism cults. Well, the term cult can be read in three ways: negatively, as one might regard Scientology or David Koresh, neutrally, as it were a synonym for a sect or new religious organisation, or positively, as in a cult film or cult book, as if to say Valley of the Dolls is a cult novel. It was in the neutral sense that I used the word cult in describing the two Buddhist groups.

Some thoughts about blogging. This has given me much more of an incentive and motivation to express my thoughts in writing. Rather than having to go through the filter of an editor or publisher to get my work into the wider readership, I am able to communicate more directly, and publicize my work to whomsoever I wish.