People who disagree with your point here, Brent, largely do so because they abor under the illusion that they understand the whole story, whereas Paul was explicit about the fact that he didn't grasp the whole picture, and Jesus was explicit about refraining from sharing certainly 'heavenly' truths with his disciples because they weren't ready.

Then there are those who think the infinite creator, the Heavenly Father, can be limited to their own understanding of Him. When someone says "we don't love the same God" they are deliberately ignoring the truth, which is "they do not have the same CONCEPT of God as I do" while equating their own concept of God with God himself. God is NOT the concept I have of God. God is real and transcends.

If I own a car, and when I look at it, I see the cost of running it, how much it cost me, where it can go and how it is operated, but my little boy sees something entirely different. He might even see a really big massive toy that Daddy owns. Or, an ignorant islander from a deserted South Pacific island might look at that car and think its a wild creature that somehow I have tamed.

But to then go around and say "Oh, the car they are talking about is not the car I am talking about" would be foolish.

It's the same car, but the understanding is different.

Christian faithful should, in my opinion, be grateful that our understanding of God as Christians is on a completely different level to those other faiths. We should also be humble that God has blessed us with that understanding, while recognizing that we, too, do NOT know the whole story (there is much to be revealed, as Jesus and Paul indicate).

(Even among the faithful we are usually united by common points of understanding, but if there is one thing in Christian history that is true, its that division and conflict among those who profess to honor, love and believe in Jesus is directly traceable to different Christians asserting that their own view is THE correct one, and everyone else is wrong. The truth is, none of us has a perfect understanding of God or Christ, and that even among the faithful, we are all at different levels despite our common beliefs.)

With gratitude and humility, the faithful should seek to understand WHY these others faiths see our Creator the way they do. We might then be able to actually understanding them, and aid them, and even grasp whether God was in fact teaching them something as a stepping stone to Christ, instead of thinking or believing that our own concept or understanding of God and Christ is so wonderful and unique and perfect. Truth leans into humility, not away from it.

It would be wise for us to recall the parable of the talents....

People who disagree with your point here, Brent, largely do so because they abor under the illusion that they understand the whole story, whereas Paul was explicit about the fact that he didn't grasp the whole picture, and Jesus was explicit about refraining from sharing certainly 'heavenly' truths with his disciples because they weren't ready.

Then there are those who think the infinite creator, the Heavenly Father, can be limited to their own understanding of Him. When someone says "we don't love the same God" they are deliberately ignoring the truth, which is "they do not have the same CONCEPT of God as I do" while equating their own concept of God with God himself. God is NOT the concept I have of God. God is real and transcends.

If I own a car, and when I look at it, I see the cost of running it, how much it cost me, where it can go and how it is operated, but my little boy sees something entirely different. He might even see a really big massive toy that Daddy owns. Or, an ignorant islander from a deserted South Pacific island might look at that car and think its a wild creature that somehow I have tamed.

But to then go around and say "Oh, the car they are talking about is not the car I am talking about" would be foolish.

It's the same car, but the understanding is different.

Christian faithful should, in my opinion, be grateful that our understanding of God as Christians is on a completely different level to those other faiths. We should also be humble that God has blessed us with that understanding, while recognizing that we, too, do NOT know the whole story (there is much to be revealed, as Jesus and Paul indicate).

(Even among the faithful we are usually united by common points of understanding, but if there is one thing in Christian history that is true, its that division and conflict among those who profess to honor, love and believe in Jesus is directly traceable to different Christians asserting that their own view is THE correct one, and everyone else is wrong. The truth is, none of us has a perfect understanding of God or Christ, and that even among the faithful, we are all at different levels despite our common beliefs.)

With such gratitude and humility, the faithful should seek to understand WHY these others faiths see our Creator the way they do. We might then be able to actually understanding them, and aid them, instead of thinking we are so wonderful and unique and perfect; the opposite of the love Paul exhorts us to.

It would be wise for us to recall the parable of the talents....

People who disagree with your point here, Brent, largely do so because they abor under the illusion that they understand the whole story, whereas Paul was explicit about the fact that he didn't grasp the whole picture, and Jesus was explicit about refraining from sharing certainly 'heavenly' truths with his disciples because they weren't ready.

Then there are those who think the infinite creator, the Heavenly Father, can be limited to their own understanding of Him. When someone says "we don't love the same God" they are deliberately ignoring the truth, which is "they do not have the same CONCEPT of God as I do" while equating their own concept of God with God himself. God is NOT the concept I have of God. God is real and transcends.

If I own a car, and when I look at it, I see the cost of running it, how much it cost me, where it can go and how it is operated, but my little boy sees something entirely different. He might even see a really big massive toy that Daddy owns. Or, an ignorant islander from a deserted South Pacific island might look at that car and think its a wild creature that somehow I have tamed.

But to then go around and say "Oh, the car they are talking about is not the car I am talking about" would be foolish.

It's the same car, but the understanding is different.

Christian faithful should, in my opinion, be grateful that our understanding of God is on a completely different level to those other faiths, and humble that God has blessed us with that understanding, while recognizing that we, too, do NOT know the whole story (there is much to be revealed, as Jesus and Paul indicate). With such gratitude and humility, the faithful should seek to understand WHY these others faiths see our Creator the way they do. We might then be able to actually understanding them, and aid them, instead of thinking we are so wonderful and unique and perfect; the opposite of the love Paul exhorts us to.

It would be wise for us to recall the parable of the talents....