Acts 17 is another key text in thinking about this subject. There we see Paul disagreeing with Greek idol-worship, but we also find him depicted in terms echoing the story of Socrates. In Acts 17:28<\/a> two Greek sources are quoted: \u201c\u2018For in him we live and move and have our being\u2019. As some of your own poets have said, \u2018We are his offspring.'\u201d<\/p>\n Epimenides\u2019 poem Cretica is quoted twice in the New Testament<\/a>. In the poem, Minos<\/a> addresses Zeus<\/a> thus:<\/p>\n They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one\u2014 The other text quoted in Acts 17 is \u201cWe are his offspring\u201d from the Cilician poet Aratus (c. 315-240 BC) in his \u201cHymn to Zeus\u201d. And so clearly the author of Acts did not think that what was said about Zeus could not be applied to God as understood by Christians.<\/p>\n We also touched on Romans 2 and the parable of the sheep and the goats, both of which suggest that it may be more important what we do<\/em> than the doctrines that we hold. Paul\u2019s choice of Abraham as an example of saving faith points in this direction too, since Abraham probably didn\u2019t assent to anything in the Nicene Creed beyond \u201cWe believe in one God\u201d.<\/p>\n So can Christians learn from other religions? Yes, we already have, and there is no reason in principle why Christians today ought to take a more negative view of other religious traditions than the New Testament authors themselves. I hope one day to write a commentary on Romans that will unleash the power of its message for our time, a message that I understand to be addressing an exclusivistic view of salvation that I fear much contemporary Christianity resembles<\/i> rather than opposes. It is time to reclaim this element of the New Testament message, that \u201cthere is no partiality<\/a> with God<\/a>\u201c, and to affirm with Peter in Acts 10:34-35<\/a>, \u201cIndeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Today in my Sunday school class we continued to discuss how we as Christians might, and should, view other religious traditions. To facilitate this, the pastor and I will provide an overview about some major world religions in next week\u2019s class. Providentially or coincidentally, I found that I had taken along as scrap paper some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!
But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever,
For in thee we live and move and have our being. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-6445702562064536796?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")