> I'll have to be honest with you. When I posted my question about Templeton's
> book last week I was really testing the waters to see if anyone else picked up
> the same things I did from it. Since only a couple of you responded I assume you
> have not read the book or my question was to general. To be more specific let me
> quote from a section of the book.
>
> The following comes from page 37 and 38. "To have all men believe alike would be
> a great tragedy. Progress would cease. The spiritual struggle would be over.
However, if all men believed differently on everything, such as whether
things fall when dropped, or whether people drown when submerged under
water too long, or whether the liquid that they are about to drink is
sulfuric acid, then the world would be in great chaos, as it is now even
without such strong relativism. Perhaps if everyone on the earth were
truly attempting to be disciples of Christ *uniformly* by obeying the
Scriptures then the world would be a much better place and greater
progress would be made, even with the spiritual "struggle" being lessened
to this extent.
> Gaining knowledge is like working a quarry. As we chip out bits of
> information, the mining face gets larger and larger. The more knowledge we gain
> the more we can see the extent of the unknown. As we grow in knowledge, we grow
> in humility. this may be just as true in studying the soul as in the
> investigations pursued by natural sciences.
Total and reliable truth about the soul or spirit can only come from
direct revelation from God.
> A man or woman pursuing the humble way to God could adopt a credo similar
> to the following:
> God is billions of stars in the Milky Way and He is much more.
> God is billions of billions of stars in other galaxies and He is much
> more.
> Time and space and energy are all part of God, and He is much more.
> The awesome mysteries of magnetism, gravity, light, knowledge,
> imagination, memory, love, faith, gratitude, and joy are all part of God and He
> is much more.
> God is five billion people on Earth and He is much more.
> God is untold billions of beings on planets of millions of other stars
> and He is much more.
> God is all the things seen and also the vastly greater abundance of
> things unseen by man.
> Men who dwell in three dimensions can comprehend only a little part of
> God's multitude of dimension.
> God is the only reality - all else is fleeting shadow and imagination
> from our very limited five senses acting on our tiny brains.
> God is beginning to create His universe and allows each of the children
> to participate in some small ways in this creative evolution.
> God is the infinitely large and also the infinitely small - He is each of
> our inmost thoughts, each of our trillions of bodily cells, and each of the
> billions of wave patterns which are each cell.
> God is all of you and you are a little part of Him."
I suppose that I am not humble, then, since I am not a pantheist.
>
> And on page 48: "Differing concepts of God have developed in different
> cultures. No one should say that God can be reached by only one path. Such
> exclusiveness lacks humility because it presumes that we can and do comprehend
> God. The humble person is ready to admit and welcome the various manifestations
> of God."
Jesus said this, and He was God. I guess then that according to this,
Jesus, i.e., God, lacks humility.
Jeff