Tuesday, May 25: World religions

Last week, there was a news report of a man driving 140 miles per hour down the interstate. The police chase ended when he blew an engine in his Corvette, earning the man a one-month jail sentence. The late night speedster is actually a friend of a friend, and a week before the arrest, the mutual friend told me of this man’s belief that he had been reincarnated 700 or so times, and had once been Leonardo Da Vinci. At the time, I commented that all these people who believe in reincarnation think they were someone famous in a past life. I guess that is much more romantic than being a garbage collector. After the news report, I wondered if this man would treat his current life with more regard if he believed it was the only chance at life that he got.


It brought the subject of world religions into my mind. Muslims believe in an afterlife. In fact, according to the Koran, warriors who die fighting in the cause of Allah, the god of Islam, are ushered immediately to Allah's presence. Additionally, enemies of Islam are sentenced immediately to Hell upon death. In Islam, sin is anything that goes against the will of Allah and sin is an act, not a state of being. Heaven, or paradise, is something that must be earned.


Buddhism is quite different, putting an emphasis on karma. Karma is the force that drives the cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being, based on action and motive. Do good deeds and you will be reincarnated as a higher being. Bad deeds cause the opposite effect. Want 500 tries at getting it right? This is the religion for you! After numerous tries, if you keep progressing, you might become an enlightened being.


Though Judaism has many of the same fundamentals as Christianity, humanists seem to be setting the standards rather than God’s Word. Jews believe in mitzvahs, which are basically “good deeds.” On Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, Jews spend the day fasting in the temple while reflecting on the actions of the previous year. If you have performed more good deeds than bad, you are a good person. Most Jews do not believe in an afterlife.


Christianity is quite different. Unlike Buddhism, you only get one chance, unless you are a Catholic and your friends or relatives pay a priest to pray you into heaven from purgatory, both concepts that are not to be found in the Bible. Unlike Judaism, heaven is a place of reward for forgiven sinners, rather than “good people,” as the Bible teaches that all of us are sinners and even one sin makes a man a sinner. Unlike Islam, Christianity teaches its followers to love their enemies, rather than kill them. Islam is also a religion that teaches that lying is wrong, though when speaking to your enemies, lying is required.


There are many other religions out there, as well. How do you decide what is right? Some people believe that all paths lead to the same result, or that all religions lead to the same God. If this is how you view the world, if you wanted to go from Los Angeles to Paris, would you just get on board any airplane to take you there? What a ludicrous philosophy! To me, the truth of Christianity lies in the Bible. It is an integrated document written by many different authors in a lengthy time period of a few thousand years. Yet one statement never conflicts another when read in context. Historically, it has proven itself not just accurate, but perfectly accurate. As prideful as men are, authors write about themselves and their own exploits. Instead, in the Bible, the variety of authors wrote about God, most notably, Jesus Christ, who humbled them all with His love, honesty and miracles. No other document associated with any religion makes predictions or prophecies that come true. In the Bible, they all either have come true or will. Jesus is not one of the answers. He is the only answer. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. To be forgiven, we only have to acknowledge who He is and what He did for us. He does all the rest. Repent and follow Him!


6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
John 14:6-7


God tells us in His Word exactly who He is. When we accept parts of that and change the parts we find more difficult to believe, does it change God? He is what He is and accept Him or not, He cannot change and will not change! Any god I could invent wouldn’t hold a candle to the One we have who loves us. Get to know Him better today! He cared enough to send His very Best!