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Which religion, which God?
Unexamined religion is not worth following.
Once I saw my Muslim best-friend praying on a mat, and I asked, seriously? I saw my friend pray for the last few weeks but this time it hit me. We used to go out and do irreligious things together. Now looking at him, I could not believe what I saw. Not that he prayed five times a day but that he believed in Islam. He had always been a Muslim but now he was becoming devout. Does he not know it is not the right path to God? I thought.
It was not long before my intellect was challenged with a thought “you are a Christian because you were born a Christian, he was a Muslim because he was born a Muslim”. It was as if a new world opened before me. Just because I was born into a religion does not make that religion true. I concluded I would be lost if I did not truly seek the truth about the right religion or the right way to God. It surprised me because all religious people are in danger of hell if they don’t seek and choose the truth above the religion they are born into. This revelation led me to read part of the Quran and Christian books that had different views to the orthodox Christianity I was practicing. It took me a few months before I was convinced by one.
We are all hitchhiking to eternity, and we need to know which ride is the right one. Plato said an unexamined life is not worth living. I would say even more so unexamined religion is not worth following. The biggest sin in any religion is to worship the wrong God.
We all think our religion is better than others and can even go to war for it. In the past people killed many because of it. Jesus said, “the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God”. That was 2000 years ago. How many people killed by those who said we have the right religion. If you force it on others, it is not the truth. Religion should convince others about the truth rather than force it. You cannot truly believe what you are forced to accept. Faith should come by reason and choice. So, we must examine if we consciously chose what we believe without fear. It means the difference between heaven and hell, forever. We must ensure we know the reasons and facts for our faith rather than accept it ignorantly.
Someone asked me: “There are 3,000 religions in the world. Where do I start?” I understand his dilemma. No one has the time to try them all. Not all of them are religions; most are cults built on one man’s claims, others are clubs, traditions, and cultural expressions of an unknown God.
The true God would be like a good parent: relatable, caring, and responsible. He should have higher moral standards. He should be an example we can look up to and who knows how life works best. That means the fruits of this god’s teaching will produce peace and prosperity
Around 1,500 years ago Muhammed claimed he had met the angel Gabriel, who gave him the rewritten, pirate version of Jewish and Christian Bible and the messages by prophets before him and made him the one and last prophet. This was unprecedented because Jesus, the son of God who came to the world said that even the apostrophe of the Bible can’t be changed. Islam’s only prophet Mohammed claimed that he had received special revelation from Gabriel and wrote all of it in a scroll at once. His writing included different versions of stories of the Jewish and Christian Bible.
Islam is one of the three Abrahamic religions. It shares storylines with Christianity and Judaism. It started 600 years after Christianity. There are 1.8 billion Followers. Initially Islam was spread through war. Therefore, it only spread as far as it can be forced through war. Most Muslims live in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. However, most of the growth came through the high birth rate of Muslim population.
Leaving Islam is punishable by death. There is no changing of your mind. If you are born in Islam, you will be a Muslim by default without a choice or belief. You can’t leave Islam, the cost for apostasy is death. Islam is spread with a sword, maintained with a sword, and if you change your mind, you meet the sword. This hardly leaves a room for reason. If it is forced it is not true, if true it should not be forced.
Muslims believe in heaven and hell. However, no one knows if they are going to heaven or hell. This has made people to be much adherent to it, even if it means killing other people as a concession to heaven.
There is no one righteous enough to get to heaven; even the prophet of Islam could not for sure say he will go to heaven. If he is not sure, forget everyone else!
Why I do not believe in Islam
There are three reasons, why I do not believe in Islam? The first reason is Muhammad rewrote the Bible, changing the messages of greater prophets that came before him. Even Jesus did not change it or say anything that was contrary to the old prophets that came before Him. Jesus even quoted from the Old Testament several times word to word. I can’t build my faith on one man’s claim that overrides every other prophet, especially when it makes me endanger my soul to burn it in hell or risk enjoy life in heaven forever. That is too much risk.
Muslim scholars says that the Bible had become corrupted and that is why Muhammed got the “corrected” version. If there was something wrong, God would have corrected it by Jesus, who came 600 years before Muhammad. God would not have waited 600 years to correct it. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in 1947 by Muslim shepherds, contained more than 24 books of the bible that were written 900 years before the birth of Muhammad, proved our current Bible is accurate and was not corrupted or changed by anyone. And these scrolls contain the prophecy about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which Muhammed did not mention.
The second reason is Islam is spread by force. God does not force people to believe in Him? We would not force our children to believe that we are their parents. We would reason with them and show the consequences of their decisions, but we would not put a wanted dead or alive notice on them. If God forces us to death to believe in Him, how can he become a role model to the world?
The third reason is there is no guarantee that you can get to heaven. No one is good enough for heaven based on their own righteousness. No matter how much you try to be and do good, you will do bad or hurt others in some way. And that person because of the hurt they experience hurt others. And the effects of our sin last even after we die. Individuals committed suicide and mass murdered people because of bullying and abuse. What kind of good work can pay for that? What kind of judge would receive good works for the damage we did all our lives? No one can pay for it. We all stand before God bankrupt- for the things we lied about stole and bad things we did secretly we can’t even talk about. And there is not enough money in the world to pay for the sins we committed. It doesn’t work like that because the damage we have done to others is often irreversible. If we pay for our sins with good works, the rich sinners will get to heaven easily.
Building on one man’s claim, being forced to believe in it and without an assurance about getting to heaven is too much risk, too irresponsible for me to believe in Islam.
Hinduism
Hindus believe in the main source of life called Brahman, which is expressed in three persons: Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. They believe that every living thing has part of Brahma – “divine consciousness” or the source of life. Hindus believe people are being reincarnated or reborn many times until their soul is purified. The more a person does good in life the more it purifies himself/herself and enters back its origin Brahman, and the cycle of reincarnation is stopped. If you are evil in life you might reincarnate as an animal in the next life, as the cycle also works downwards.
Karma is a belief that our good and bad actions have a corresponding responses from the universe. Being and doing good will cause the universe to be good to us and being and doing bad will make the universe be bad to us.
The Hindus believe there are four castes or classes of people in line with the body of the Brahman, the supreme god. The first caste are the heads who do the thinking, which are the priests and the teachers, the second are shoulders, the warriors and rulers of the society, the third group is the thighs, which are the farmers, traders, and skilled workers. The fourth group are the laborers and unskilled workers. There are groups who have no caste called the untouchables. They are not to be touched by other groups, for they are unworthy or unclean to be touched.
Though the law has enabled some sort of social mobility by relaxing the caste system, still there are 160 million people labeled as untouchables and unclean. They can be beaten and murdered for being in the wrong building. They are the expendables, eternally discriminated against, destined to suffer poverty and sickness.
There are 1.1bn Hindus in the world and 95% of them are in India. There are 3.2 million Hindu gods. The spread of Hinduism has been through tradition and culture rather than conviction. Conviction does not exist when you believe almost in everything. Hinduism is the most accepted religion only in India.
As the DNA migration and history shows humans have only one origin. Thus, the idea of many gods does not seem to resonate true unless there is one supreme God that created all other gods or all existence. The multiplicity of gods would only cause confusion and chaos. It causes anarchy of gods.
In Wembley, London, I met a Hindu teenager who had just kissed his girlfriend goodbye. I asked him if he believed in Jesus. He told me that he does believe in Jesus and had also many other gods he worshiped. Surprised, I asked him how he would feel if his girlfriend told him that she had many boyfriends and would like to date them simultaneously. The look on his face was priceless. Worship is a matter of love, devotion, and loyalty. You can’t be a true fan of all football clubs. Supporting more than one club is a treachery for many let alone worshiping many gods. For these reasons even the Supreme Court of India rejected Hinduism as a religion.
According to the Supreme Court:
“When we think of the Hindu religion, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to define Hindu religion or even adequately describe it. Unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one God; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion of creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.‘’.
Buddhism
Buddha was a prince in India who never left the palace. When he did, he was shocked by the poverty and sickness he witnessed and could not handle it. He thought the answer to the suffering of this world was to give up attachment to the desires and wants of this life and enter a life of complete detachment.
Buddha went on a quest to seek the remedy for the suffering of the world. He fasted with the monks for days. He went on a personal fast and claimed to have attained enlightenment- a place of detachment from this life – during his personal meditation and taught it to others. Detachment is like being dead to this life but alive only to breathe, eat and meditate.
Buddhism is more of a philosophy than a religion since Buddha is not a god nor does it has a known god.
If a God created us there must be a purpose other than giving up life to avoid suffering. I don’t think we are created to be monks who meditate all our life on the life we don’t live.
Though it is undesirable, suffering serves a purpose. You must be hungry to enjoy food. It is the fear of suffering that makes us build a better world. In Africa people used to go to the forest to get their food and had little worry to build better houses because of the hot weather. In Europe, the cold weather has left people no choice but to build houses that endure the weather. We are not to escape suffering by giving up but overcome it by facing it through faith and create a better life for ourselves.
Mormons (one man invention)
The Mormons base most of their doctrines on one-man revelation recorded in the Book of Mormon. However, the 66 books of the Bible are the only divinely given and infallible guide to those who believe in it. It is prohibited and a curse placed for anyone to add to it. To exalt or follow other books more than the Bible is heretical. Jesus told off the Pharisees for placing extra laws and traditions that undermined the Bible. You can’t use the Bible and additional writings as a doctrine. It seems that Joseph Smith had the liberty to add to the words of the Almighty, the book he believes in, the Bible, which is a contradiction.
Any extra-biblical teaching can lead to cultish practices. Even Paul the apostle had double-checked his revelation from God with Peter and other Disciple of Jesus after he received the revelation from the Holy Spirit.
Judaism
Judaism is the root religion for Christianity and later Islam. Judaism was to come to its climax at the arrival of the messiah. It was the right path until the Messiah arrived. Once the Messiah arrived there was no need for sacrifices, the Temple and the priesthood. Jesus became the sacrifice and the heavenly priest while we became the temple of God, for God does not live in houses built by men but in the hearts and minds of those who believe in Jesus.
To confirm this, the temple was destroyed 2,000 years ago, shortly after the resurrection of Jesus, and God has never said anything about rebuilding it and no one is able to. In Judaism, there is no worship, sacrifice, and celebration without the Temple. Unless God had another idea, it would have been built in the last 2000 years. Even when Israelites were taken to captivity for 70 years, God used foreign kings to build the Temple and the wall of Jerusalem. God had never had a problem in giving his people a place of worship. But the coming of the Messiah had changed how we worship as the Jewish Bible teaches.
Judaism needs four things; the Levite priests, prophets who hear from God, the Bible and the Temple to offer sacrifices.
God appointed only the tribe of Levi to be priests, until the Messiah came. Judaism cannot continue as its vital and important genealogical records that tell who Levites are were destroyed. Therefore, no one can verify who should serve as a priest. The arrival of Jesus, the Messiah coinciding with the destruction of the temple and the lost Levite priest records says much. God also promised in the Bible in the future He will write His laws in our heart and mind or conscience, God personally giving wisdom to humanity on how to live best and worship Him better
Like in Christianity, the God of Judaism is called the Living God. He is the God who is present, who talks, listens, and acts all the time. He is not a God who gave the Bible and then went to the other side of the universe. He is always in communication with those who worship Him. Throughout the history of Israel, not a generation has passed without God speaking to them through a prophet. That is how the Bible is written – as correspondence with His people for a period of 2,000 years. However, it has been 2,500 years since God has spoken to the Jews through a prophet. What happened? Did God give up on Israel? The Bible says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. He made an everlasting covenant with Israel. Did He change His mind? It is blasphemous to think that the Almighty God, like humans, would fail to keep His promise.
God has always spoken, and He has not forsaken His people. He spoke to the Jews through Jesus but they did not receive Him. As the Jewish Bible says, which is the Christian Old Testament, they would disown Him. I do not think there is any Jewish believer that would say God forgot to care, communicate, or abandoned His plans to save the world through the Jews. Two thousand years is a long time to be silent in a growing world. No wonder that there are so many Jewish atheists. As He promised, God sent His son to become the savior of the world. Though their own messiah, Jesus is saving the world and creating a better world wherever He is received. As it is written in the Jewish Bible the Messiah became a light to the nations and His promise is being fulfilled globally. It was prophesied about the Messiah around 2700 ago.
“He will proclaim justice to the nations” and “in his name the nations will put their trust”
It was the prophet Isaiah that wrote in his book chapter 52 & 53 that the Messiah would be rejected and be crucified to save the world by dying for our sins. The whole chapter speaks of His suffering. Of all the people the Jews know best that no one pays for the sin of another except with an innocent sacrifice, a lamb. Yet, there is a prophecy about God’s servant that would suffer to pay for the sins of many, which is being ignored by the Jews.
Judaism is the root religion for Christianity. It predates Christianity by three thousand years. Christianity is the continuation of Judaism. It believes in all the holy books of Judaism without changing a word of them.
As God said to Abraham, “Through your child all the nations will be blessed”, God blessed the nations through Jesus and invited other nations to know God two thousand years ago.
Christianity (moving on with God)
Unlike Judaism Christianity is not stuck in time. The Jews have been waiting for their Messiah for the last 2,700 years but their Messiah has already come, saved the world and went back to heaven. The Jews are still practicing a law that was written 3,500 years ago, but the just and fair way of an “eye for an eye” has been updated by Jesus by the law of “Give the other cheek” and “love your enemies”. We can’t stone someone to death for adultery anymore. Instead God holds everyone first to clean their own life before judging others.
Christianity
Christianity is more credible than Islam because it has not changed the Hebrew Bible which preceded it. It accepts 100% of the Hebrew Bible.
What makes Christianity credible is that its spread was through reason and peace. It grew despite opposition and martyrdom. Throughout the last two millennia millions of Christians have been killed by other religious groups and atheists. The first disciples of Jesus were willing to be killed for what they saw and experienced about the life to come.
Christianity does not force you to believe but compels you to reason with the truth. If there is a God who has a better mentality than us, I believe He can reason and is able to convince us to believe in Him peacefully and lovingly. God must be a good example. Who worships a God who is morally inferior to us? There is no punishment on this earth for leaving Christianity. No one will chase to kill, arrest, or persecute you. You are not forced to stay. In rare cases you could be kicked out of the Church. Only a true faith gives people the chance to freely choose and keeps billions of worshippers.
Most religions are mostly contained within a few nations and localized geographical areas. Christianity is the most widely accepted faith. Its believers are more diverse in nationality, culture, race, class, education than the followers of any other religion.
It has the most authentic worship that strives for inside transformation that is exhibited outwardly. Its fruits inspire, heal, and make a better world for everyone. It has the most rational form of faith that has love as a main objective in all its practices rather than irrelevant sets of rules to keep.
Christianity has spread as far as reason and truth accepted. It has endured the Roman iron fist and overcame Greek philosophy and became a beacon to the world.
Christianity is the only faith that has not started with one man's claim. Before Jesus came the Jews had been waiting for Him for 700 years. There were more than 20 prophets who prophesied about Him. Even after His death and resurrection nine prophets and apostles wrote about him. Jesus never wrote anything about Himself. However, He raised the dead, He healed all who came to Him and walked on water to catch up with friends. Even after His resurrection He accomplished an accomplishment only God can.
Like Judaism, Christianity has one holy God, who values love, faithfulness, and righteousness. He is purposeful and expects us to enjoy and manage the world well. We are tasked to decorate and bring the best out of this world and glorify Him in the process. “Be fruitful, multiply and dominate the earth” is the first mandate of God to Adam. As He said 6,000 years ago, we are being fruitful, multiplying and almost dominating the earth.
Though Jesus has not held a sword to conquer or a pen influence or left Israel or held any recognized status He became the most revered most life transforming person ever the world has seen. Revered in Islam, Hindu and other religions alike. Respected in atheism. No person has such willing acknowledgment as Jesus has.
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