If I read you correctly, you're asking "Does God allow people to worship him differently than the Jewish?" And the answer ifs Yes. One of my professors sees the Jerusalem Council in Acts as permission to denominationalize.
There are other factors involved. Can one still be a believer and believe the Book of Mormon? I have read portions of the book of Mormon and from my Judaic background, it cannot be true. Does that mean why one who believes in the book is not saved? I dismiss the question. Otherwise, people who believe in UFOs, Evolution, or any other false thing cannot be saved either.
The problem arises in this way: As it is written, "How you mete out judgment is how you will be judged." The Mormon boys who came to visit my house on a Shabbat morning were greeted by a house full of Jewish men who were preparing for a study. During the course of our conversation, it became apparent that the Mormon Doctrine states that unless one takes on the yoke of the Book of Mormon and believes it to be the Third Testament, one cannot be saved. They [the Mormon boys] just put themselves into a precarious situation, because they will be judged by God in the way they meted judgment out to these particular Jewish men; [i.e., if they're wrong, they might not be saved]. As additional support, refer to the parable of the man who owe his King the equivalent to the National Debt, yet forced a companion into debtor's prison for a C-note.
I will say this, however. I appreciate the love Dave H has. His love far exceeds ANY one else. If there is one thing you can learn from this man, it is love. I have no desire whatsoever to join the Mormon Church and I know Dave H has no desire to become Messianic. Since we two are dogmatic, there are, then, other avenues to explore and discuss together.
-- slade
Same page on this one. If I were to preach that inwardness -- however defined --- has always been the primary concern of God when it comes to the "judgment" of man. We have K David telling us that sacrifice is one thing, a broken and contrite heart is quite another. Jere 31:31-34 tells us much about prophetic nature of the first covenant (if I have that right). We have God through Paul giving the Gentile in Romans 2 a chance at salvation (I understand an instinctive doing to have something to do with what society knows as benefitial and the Gentile, no doubt picking up on that "sinstinctively" acts.)
So, that is the sermon outline. Right or wrong. Would God's tolerance of other religions , alla Ninevah, in view of an instinctive doing be a viable conclusion drawn from Jonah's prophecy to those pagans?
John
