Don't see it that way, Art. Humanity goes up and down like a yo-yo, and I suspect that it won't be very long before we enter another dark age. The spiritual message may not be lost at all, in that case. What we will lose instead is the carefully built-up knowledge of the universe and how it works. (This has happened before, and much knowledge was kept alive only because it was saved by the Muslims. Who will it be this time, do you think?)
Same argument as above, and I ask you to look around the world, at the conflicts we're having now, and tell me how much better it is, and how much more advanced humanity is. And tell me that you think nothing is going to happen to that carefully accelerated advancement.
Frankly, I think that there were a lot of voices crying "prophecy, prophecy!" I think that there still are. And what makes a prophet is that -- after the fact -- we choose which ones sounded best, or resonated most strongly, or most accurately reflected the conditions of the people/time doing the reflecting and the writing. Thus, much of the books of the prophets were written long after the prophets had actually prophecied, and reflected the reality (for example the Babylonian captivity) of the people doing the writing.

You can see this in Isaiah, for example, written over a period of 200 or more years. Chapters 1 to 39 (700-750 BCE) were during Isaiah's life and pertain mostly to the Syro-Ephraimitic War and invasion of Judah by the Assyrian army in 701 BCE. Chapters 40 to 55 were composed in the 6th century, probably by an unknown Jewish exile in Babalonia, often referred to as 2nd Isaiah. They were perhaps written during the reign of the last Babylonian ruler, Nabonidus (about 555 to 539 BCE). Chapters 56 to 66 are identified as the product of a third author 3rd Isaiah who might have composed them circa 540 to 500 BCE. The final editing of the book might have been as late as 200 BCE.

Now, what can we really say about the "Prophet Isaiah" in light of that?

Maybe. Too many "maybes." If diversity was part of God's plan, surely to God that can't include belief in different deities. Or the notion of a God requiring any kind of belief goes out the window, and therefore why believe at all?

And really, if "all paths lead to God," then any religion which says otherwise must -- by definition -- be false. That is, if all paths lead to God, any religion which says, "the only way to God, or the only way to salvation, is..." must be a false religion because it is telling a lie.

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

Dear EH,

You wrote:

And really, if "all paths lead to God," then any religion which says otherwise must -- by definition -- be false. That is, if all paths lead to God, any religion which says, "the only way to God, or the only way to salvation, is..." must be a false religion because it is telling a lie.

I too believe that all paths lead to God, I however believe there is only one Truth, but many interpretations of this Truth: My Father and I am One, I am that I am, I am spirit and spirit is perfect, I am Christ, I am God and so on. By definition we can't explain what God is. Is not God to each one of us something different? What if no one was wrong? I think it might be something we can't comprehend with our human mind and therefore we can't find words because it has simply not been found yet. We tend to always think in terms of duality: good and bad, right and wrong and leave a third option completely out of consideration.

That there are so many prophets, as you articulated Evangelical Humanist, and so many different religious and cosmological perspectives indicates that we cannot figure out the nature of God on our own. We need the assistance of a human being.

The question then becomes which person/persons we find the most reliable (assuming of course that there is something we call 'God' to bestow knowledge of his nature to someone in the first place).

It's okay to find one prophet 'more reliable' than another. For example, I find Micah much more reliable than Emperor Hirohito / Showa and David Koresh.

But then we must ask what are the criteria for determining reliability of prophets. The one I admire most advised us to 'judge them by their fruits.'

This has always been a question I had/have? What could be the fruits of spirit? I have heard so many interpretations such as speaking in tongue, having "good" children, preforming Miracles. What do you think is meant by "You shall know them by their fruits?"

This is an excert from an article I recently submitted to our local newspaper, which I feel pertains to this discussion.....

In this world, filled with turmoil, there are many great religious paths guiding people in the principles that God intended us to follow. The greatest of these, a common theme of all the great paths, is the Golden Rule. It may be worded a little differently in each but it is there.
A lot of the major military action in the world has originated do to religious conflicts. This is so sad. No matter what messenger or master, whose teachings you chose to follow, if you look at the actual teachings, what they taught was love and compassion for one self and others equally.
At some point in time mankind may have altered those teachings to fit their mind frame in an effort to control people towards their own inclinations and as a result the followers are not actually following the teachings of their supposed master.
Jesus, Buddha, and all the great masters were trying to teach us how to live together peacefully not how to hate one another.
One way of promoting this peaceful existence is to not judge other peoples spiritual paths or condem others beliefs.
As a Interfaith minister, it is my role to accept each spiritual path as legitimate. I view life as a huge mountain and we are all going up searching for knowledge of, and closeness to, our creator. Every spiritual path is a path going up that mountain and people choose which one fits them appropriately. Although people are on different paths, they all reach the top.
As I prepare my services, I try to reflect the teachings of the many great enlightened ones.
One of my goals is to have my ministry set up in a way that if some one walks through the doors they will feel comfortable, no matter what their spiritual background is.
One benefit of Interfaith is that I have training that enables me to provide ceremonies that reflect the religious background of the person requesting it. (ie; weddings, baptism etc.)
We are one world. We need to accept each others choices and not be judgemental. Judging someone because they are not Christian, or, Jewish, or Muslim, or Baha'i, or Buddhist or what ever is going against the basic teachings of your master.
Most people are familiar with the story of the blind men and the elephant. They are all touching different parts of the elephant and when they are asked to describe the elephant they, naturally, each give a different description. But the important thing is none of them are wrong...though not entirely right. God or Father or Mother God or Goddess or Spirit..which ever name you choose to recognize him/her/it by, has many aspects also. Each person sees the part that is easiest for them to grasp or relate to at that time. One religion or spritual group may see one aspect while another one sees another aspect. One does not make any other one any less legitimate. By learning about the teachings of the other religions it simply broadens your view a little. It also promotes harmony and compassion and understanding in a world that doesn't need anymore comflict.
To be Interfaith you do not become an ex anything. You do not have to follow the different spiritual paths. You simply give each one the validity it deserves. We do not try to convert anyone to anything. How could we do that? If all spiritual paths are just as valid which one would we convert them to?
An Interfaith minister has their own spiritual beliefs and follows them. That does not however prevent them from honoring and validating others choices.
My goal is to assist others on their path and be a tool of spiritual growth to all. My desire is to create some harmony and spirituality in this world. I also desire to learn from others as I am on my journey up the mountain.

Another respectable fellow thought that some of those fruits are 'peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.'

Good starting point for a plumb line. Not enough, though, because there needs to be a truth standard (after all, prophets claim to be saying true things). So this brief addition is unsatisfactory, but it's a helpful standard for whether someone is living humanely.

I don't think it's cynical to say that the answer to this is; God wouldn't!
You know who needs prophets? You know who needs God to use Prophets? Prophets do! Prophets and tyrants and bullies and rulers and church leaders, and meglomaniacs like Joseph Smith. I'm not sure what progress this lot of so called Prophets has produced by the way. These are the people and institutions who need God to use prophets.

These are also the people, along with others of all charcter who never question what they were indoctrinated with in youth, who need God to be a personal God who is seperate from HIS Creation who can be pleased and displeased with YOUR actions or non-actions and so you better follow the proper conduct, pray the right way, wear the right dress, think the right things, generally do what you're supposed to, and most importantly worship the sactioned Idol (currently Moses, Jesus, Mohommad etc) instead of realising your own Divinity.

What metaphysics is more conducive to fascism and tyranny? One that says everyone is God and God is not personal? Or one that says God is the master technician who CREATED YOU and will reward or punish you according to your conduct? And who sometimes needs to use Prophets, NOT YOU, to spread HIS message. Perfect Obedience.

If men do not know that they are God they will try and become God. Sometimes it comes at the end of a sword and an empire. Sometimes via "revelation" they realise that they are at least special. More God-like than others.

By the way, there are NO races of human beings. This divisive notion has been well debunked. And we are all equally capable of learning ANY and ALL human language as long as it is spoken around us from birth.

Dear fourtyone,
If you take that thought further: Prophets need Prophets, you could also say a Doctor creates the patient, a teacher the student, a massage therapist a sore back, the construction worker the need for housing and so on. Are we not all creating our "need" to be needed?

There is actually a thread on this topic, I don't remember the title of it. You could used the search feature at the top to find it. It is really interesting.

I believe that "by their fruits" means that you will recognize them from their actions. When someone says something but does something different, it does not reflect well on them, but when they do what they say, well it is a wonderful reflection on their charactor.

Thanks Rev. Kelly I will look for that thread and in the mean time think about "actions" : )