In 1976 I became a Home Sanctum member of The Rosicrucian Order A.M.O.R.C., and for years thereafter I received regular mailings of their instructional materials. I found those teachings to be of great value as an "Intro to Metaphysics 101." They stood me in good stead for decades.
I especially appreciated the RC admonition to never blindly accept anyone's teaching as true, until I had first submitted it to proof by personal testing and my own sense of reason - a warning which I subsequently discovered had been issued by no less a person than the Buddha himself.
I found myself exercising that intellectual freedom nine years later, upon reading some outrageous statements in a pamphlet sanctioned by the Order itself - statements which I could only conclude had been driven by World War II prejudices, rather than by spiritual insight or historical scholarship.
I exercised that objectivity yet again in the 90's as an avid student and teacher of spiritual Yoga, when it became clear to me that despite its many benefits, the more extreme yogic claims were nothing more than Sanskrit hyperbole and snake oil, possibly intended to be taken metaphorically but certainly not borne out by the actions of our "pure, immortal" Gurus, since all of them died from the same illnesses as everyone else and too many of them sexually abused their starry-eyed western followers. This attitude of thinking for myself made me horribly unpopular among those fellow students who had the neurotic need to submit themselves uncritically and unthinkingly to a cult leader who claimed Godlike infallibility. These students believed that such beings must actually exist, if a foreign culture told them so in an ancient language.
Another thing I truly appreciated about the Rosicrucians was their way of referring to whatever Deity or Deities I might choose to worship. Rather than insisting on a Name or Form of their own, A.M.O.R.C. instructed me to address every prayer and meditation to the "God of my heart, God of my realization." This enlightened attitude pleased me more than I could express. It bore out the feeling I had had for a long time: that in a religious congregation of a hundred worshippers repeating a group prayer out loud, there were probably a hundred different private conceptions of just Who and What was being addressed; and that, moreover, that was okay. It was enough to know that each participant was being sincere within his or her own mind.
I think of this example when pagans express frustration with non-pagans who insist that "After all, we all pray to the same God," or other phrases which we may find irritating. When it comes to those delicate discussions between people of different faiths, I think it is vitally important to keep my own private counsel and to afford the same privacy to the other guy - no matter how "open-minded" he claims to be. There is only so far that any religious person can be imposed upon to listen to someone of conflicting belief; at some point the creeping hints of blasphemy will compel him to explode in angry words which can never be retracted later.
Let's face it; the only individuals who can listen tranquilly to opposing notions of God and religion are atheists! They can afford the bemused attitude that these delusional people are arguing about their imaginary friends. None of us is that detached; we are too invested in the subject.
Our mistake, I think, is when we try too hard to convince the other guy of his error. It's nobody's business but yours whom the Gods or Goddesses of your heart are. If your "open-minded" debater is happy with his peculiar interpretation of things - and especially if he finds grounds for respect and tolerance between you both, based on his way of arranging the data in his mind - let that be enough for you!
Perhaps someday he will grow into a more profound understanding of your experience; but in the meantime you can count him among your friends. And as a very wise master once said, "He who is not against us is for us."
I do not think that quibbles over vocabulary will mean squat on my deathbed. And I do think that all the distinctions we fight over today will seem like just that - quibbles over vocabulary. I hope and pray that the culmination of my spiritual journey will be the simple thought that I go to the God of my heart...the God of my realization.