Many Religions

Does anything matter? Is there such a thing as “truth”? Are there actions that are “bad” and things that are “good”? Can “truth”, “good”, and “bad” be determined by the majority of a society or does each person get to set their own standards? Are there “no god”, “many gods”, or “just one god”? Is it possible for a person to have “no religion”? Does it matter what you believe as long as what you believe, you really believe it?

My attempt to answer these questions is influenced by my experiences during my 81 years and my research of various materials including the Bible. The answers provided today will not be the same that I would have provided during earlier years of my life. There are too many different beliefs (religions) for me to discuss all of them in one article, but I will try to cover the distinct categories of religions and hopefully provide reasons for my beliefs by the end of this article.

Categories of religion can be divided in diverse ways like world religions, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. Another way is to group them based on location on the world map. A third way is by Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) and Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and others). However, we need to add Atheism, Agnosticism, Humanism, Paganism, and Theism. Some people say that some of these are not religions based upon the first definition provided for religion; however, when we consider the complete definition that includes: “a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance,” their argument falls apart.

Humanism and Atheism hold the same beliefs in that they do not believe there is a god and that humans are the sole determining factor in deciding between right and wrong. Not all those with humanistic beliefs will accept the label of atheism. Agnosticism says it is wrong for anyone to say that they are certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless they can provide evidence that logically justifies that certainty. If you cannot prove there is a god or disprove there is a god beyond any doubt, then you are certainly wrong; therefore, there is no right or wrong.

Hinduism and Buddhism have many similarities. Buddhism, in fact, arose out of Hinduism, and both believe in reincarnation, karma and that a life of devotion and honor is a path to salvation and enlightenment. However, some differences exist between the two religions: Many strains of Buddhism reject the caste system, and do away with many of the rituals, the priesthood, and the gods that are integral to the Hindu faith. Hindus worship many gods and goddesses in addition to Brahman, who is believed to be the supreme God force present in all things. Hinduism is a diverse system of thought marked by a range of philosophies and shared concepts, rituals, cosmological systems, pilgrimage sites, and shared textual sources that discuss theology, metaphysics, mythology, Vedic yajna, yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics.

Paganism or Polytheism is the belief in many gods for different purposes. They worshiped and made idols for each of them and prayed for things they wanted.
Theism is the belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially the belief in one god as the creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures.
Deism is the belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all are centered around the worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned in the religious scriptures of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, and the Quran. All three of these believe there is one God and only one God. All three of these religions believe Jesus did live. The Christian faith includes the Old Testament Books and the New Testament Books for its teachings. The Judaism or Jewish faith uses the Torah which is the Old Testament Books. Judaism does not accept Jesus as the Messiah which was discussed many times in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus’ time on Earth.

The earliest Christians were Israelites who accepted Jesus Christ as the anointed one or chosen one – the Messiah after He was crucified. They accepted that Jesus had taken on the sins of others so that they could have salvation and everlasting life. Those following Judaism today still believe God will send the Messiah in the future. It was the Apostle Paul that shared the Gospel of Jesus with the Gentiles and people of other faiths became Christians. That began the spreading of the Christian Faith that exists in most parts of the world today.

Islam originated with Muhammad’s mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7^th century CE although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abrahamic prophets such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and Jesus, with the submission (Islam) to the will of God. According to the traditional account, the Islamic prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations in 610 CE, calling for submission to the one God, preparation for the imminent Last Judgement, and charity for the poor and needy. In 632 CE Muhammad died and almost all the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. Muhammad had many wives and killed many people. His teachings have led to millions being killed for not accepting the authority of Islam.

God promised Abraham in Genesis 15:4 that he would have an heir: “one who will come from your own body.” His wife, Sarah became impatient and told Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaid Hagar and to produce a child by her. Hagar conceived a child by Abraham and became despised by Sarah. Ishmael was Hagar’s son. Fourteen years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Isaac, in turn, fathered Jacob, also named Israel, the father of the Israelites. Ishmael is the branch of Islam. The angel told Hagar that she would have so many descendants that it would be too numerous to count.

Genesis 16:11-12 NIV
¹¹ The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard of your misery.
¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward^[b] all his brothers.”

The wars between the nations of Islam and Israel can be traced back to the child of Abraham and Hagar (the slave) and the child of Abraham and Sarah (his wife).

With many religions, truth cannot be determined because it is only what someone chooses to believe; therefore, right and wrong are also subject to their feelings on that day. The idea is that they are highly intelligent and smart enough to know that the world is so complex that they do not even know what questions to ask. Those that are convinced there is no god, believe life begins when a person breathes their first breath and ends with their last breath with no heaven, hell, or judgments.

The Laws of Moses (Ten Commandments) are the basis for Judaism still today. Their laws determine what is right and what is wrong. Not all citizens in Israel worship Judaism. There are Christians, Muslims, other religions, and those who do not believe there is a god. With Judaism, there is a heaven and hell including a judgment for how well you followed the laws.

Within the Christian faith, many denominations have different beliefs about certain areas; however, they all include that there is only one God and Jesus was the Son of God. It is with the differences that there is a danger of following “false Teachings” if they stray from what the Bible says. As Christians, our focus must be on what Jesus tells us about the past and how we should live our lives, especially what we must do for our individual salvation. Jesus is clear on every issue we face during our lives and that salvation (avoiding judgment day that would certainly send us to Hell) is given through grace on a personal basis.

Recently, I wanted to select Bible verses that explained how we can get to Heaven and what will happen if we do not get there when we die. To answer the question if it applies to a person that does not believe there is a god or believes in a different religion. Below are what I found in my search that answers those questions.

Jesus the Only Way to Heaven

John the Apostle authored the book of John and 1, 2, 3 John and the book of Revelation. The book of John covers a period of about 3 ½ years (A.D. 29-33). It was written between A.D. 85 and 96. John, along with Peter and James, became especially close to Jesus. They alone are with Jesus at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9) and at Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-41). John authored this book for the specific purpose “…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).

John 14 New King James Version
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many ^[a]mansions; if it were not so, ^[b]I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The Father Revealed
⁷ “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
⁸ Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

The Answered Prayer
¹² “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ^[c]ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Jesus Promises Another Helper
¹⁵ “If you love Me, ^[d]keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another ^[e]Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Indwelling of the Father and the Son
¹⁹ “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and ^[f]manifest Myself to him.”
²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

The Gift of His Peace
²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. ²⁶ But the ^[g]Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ²⁸ You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because ^[h]I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
²⁹ “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. ³¹ But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

Galatians New King James Version
1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), ² and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:
³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Only One Gospel
⁶ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert^[a] the gospel of Christ.
⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be ^[b]accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. ¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Call to Apostleship
¹¹ But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. ¹² For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Contacts at Jerusalem
¹⁸ Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see ^[c]Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) ²¹ Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³ But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God in me.

Jesus instructs the apostles regarding their tasks, actions, and their message to the people of Israel. Jesus also warns them of how some people will react to the message.

Matthew 10 New King James Version
The Twelve Apostles
10 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. ² Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and ^[a]Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the ^[b]Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

Sending Out the Twelve
⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. ⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven ^[c]is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, ^[d]cleanse the lepers, ^[e]raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. ⁹ Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, ¹⁰ nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. ¹¹ “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. ¹² And when you go into a household, greet it. ¹³ If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. ¹⁵ Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

Persecutions Are Coming
¹⁶ “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless^[f] as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. ²¹ “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house ^[g]Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! ²⁶ Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

Jesus Teaches the Fear of God
²⁷ “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in ^[h]hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a ^[i]copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Confess Christ Before Men
³² “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Christ Brings Division
³⁴ “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to ‘set^[j] a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; ³⁶ and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ ³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

A Cup of Cold Water
⁴⁰ “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. ⁴¹ He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”