God is exclusive or inclusive? Baptist or Presbyterian? True Story:?

Question

Alongside a large road that I frequently travel are two churches, one Baptist and the other Presbyterian. On the billboard out fron on the Baptist church is the sentence," God is exclusive, not inclusive." Down the road a few miles, the Presbyterian church says "God is inclusive; who ever will enter may come." So, what do you think? Does God have a private club, or is He open to the public? And why do you think each denomination says what they do?

Wow, so this question must be in the bargain basement of Christian thought today...does anyone else find this story to be emblematic of the way denominational and doctrinal splits tend to tear apart the integrity of a seat of spiritual learning? This is a concrete example of why I think that religious organizations tend to push people farther from the core idea of God and the personal worship of Jesus Christ. I am an agnostic, for those of you scratching your heads over this. It doesn't matter whether they were Baptist or Presbyterian or what...the point is they were having a little tiff on the roadside sign front...

Answer 1

This points to exactly why I have not formed an obsession with Yahoo Answers R&S, for which I am eternally grateful. Hehe.

The constant battle for who has the Truth, who has God's ear and God's love, who is saved and who isn't, is utter nonsense. Religion is intended to create unity among mankind, and yet it results in divisiveness. It's intended to temper man's fear and judgment and yet becomes a weapon of self righteousness and a flag of war. Most religions are founded on the one Truth, and quickly devolve into egoistic story telling to feed the childish needs of the ignorant masses.

All belief systems are, at best, stepping stones to Truth, which cannot even be spoken. At worst, they are the epitome of mankind's invention of evil.

Nobody is right. The sincere seeker of truth will follow the trail of beliefs and question everything until he arrives at absolute Nothingness where all mind's concepts are seen for the stories they are and all of it collapses from it's own weight of silliness. To even get a glimpse of Truth is to let go of everything that mind thinks it knows. To arrive at the end is to return to the beginning, knowing precisely nothing. This is Truth.

Answer 2

Honey, protestants have been having their little tiffs since they started being protestants. They fought with the Catholic church and with each other simultaneously. It is also possible that those two roadside signs were a little mini-conspiracy on the part of the two pastors to get your attention.

I figure Christians always want to get more people in, so the idea of a "private club" will only work if they make a point to say "but you are invited." But perhaps it means they make a big deal about baptism, or consciously choosing to be a member, "accepting Jesus as your savior" is the usual term, I believe. Often referred to as "conversion," although they sometimes use the term within their own churches to refer to something known as being "born again."

You'll have to get the Christians to define all these terms; or rather ask each denomination for their definitions, as I think you will find they differ a good bit on these points.

It's confusing, isn't it?

Answer 3

I honestly tried to search the web for it, and it left me scratching my head (as you so quaintly put it :). In one place they say that God's TRUTH is exclusive, not inclusive. Maybe it was a misquotation? Another reason could be that the Baptists wanted to differentiate themselves from the Presbyterians, (although they both basically sprung from the same source). Go figure ... its too much for me.

Actually, I believe every religion is a social club. If you are Tibetan Buddhist of the Drikung Kagyu sect, you play with other Tibetan Buddhists of the Drikung Kagyu sect and look down at the followers of the Nyingma sect. Everyone thinks he has the monopoly for truth ...

Answer 4

Ahh, those churches, the people that go there call those buildings the house of God, crazy and proud they are. Inclusive is better but still that's putting a head upon a head. To have faith is to not know the truth, we'll not even talk of beliefs. Here in this place 6,000,000,000 people have free will, when will they stop and look? ~ : )

Answer 5

According to the bible there is only one true church. All others are doomed. Of course Christians will say that any church that teaches that only one church is acceptable is heresy. The question is should you believe man or the bible?
BB

Answer 6

God doesn't look at whose "club" your in. He looks at whether or not you obeyed his commands. If you have never fallen short, all is well. If not, you stand on your own or on the work of Jesus on your behalf if you so choose.