Holy Bible: New Living Translation

Are all religions the SAME?

III. Is it true that all religions teach the same thing? It does not matter what you believe in as long as it is for the greater good.

Facts Religions are all different and teach different things. Religion is not your ticket to heaven. The word Christianity is never men tioned in the Bible and the word “Christian” is only mentioned 3 times in the new testament.

Inspiration What God wants is for us to have an intimate relationship with God, just like father and son or husband and wife. Religion based on YOUCAT or the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church means having an intimate relationship with God. Relationship with God is like marriage. You should be only faithful to one. How would you feel if your spouse cheated on you? This is how God feels if you believe in other gods.

Revelation 3:15-16 I know your works: that you are neither cold, nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot.

But because you are lukewarm and are neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.

Facts A big majority of the population in the world right now takes the stand of being neutral in what they believe. From the Bible’s perspec tive, being cold or not believing in God is even better than being lukewarm or neutral. In the real world, these are the people who go to church religiously every Sunday but do not really care Mondays to Saturdays. They go to church just out of habit, out of duty or out of fear but not out of true love of the one real God. When you drink water, you will enjoy cold water or hot bever ages. Drinking lukewarm water makes you feel sick and you would want to spit it out and that is exactly what God feels.

Observation The Bible stands apart from other religious books. Other religious books like Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist & Confucian writings have similar claims that there are multiple Gods and objects of nature like the sun, moon are ani-mate and divine or does not talk about god at all. Koran speaks of 7 literal heavens while the Bible only speaks of one true God, one true heaven. If there are Mutliple gods, won’t they quarrel all the time just like we do on decisions?

Decide The Bible is based on facts and is differ ent from all other teachings. You cannot believe that there is One True God based on the bible and multiple gods from other teachings. You can not believe that there is One Heaven based on the bible and 7 literal heavens based on another. It is like believing the earth is round and the earth is also flat. You need to choose one over the other. So make the right choice!

Personal Testimony When I was around 10, in one of the Sunday mass, the message was that all religions are the same, teaching that there is God and man has to be good. I thought the reason why there are different religions is because of cultural and language differences and it was ok to have different religions. After reading the scriptures over and over again, it made me realize that religion is just another name made by man and not God. At a later point in life, in one of the Sunday worships that I attended, the topic was Christianity is not a religion but a mission, which is to spread the gospel of salvation and make people become disciples of Christ. Accept ing Jesus as our savior saves us and we are tasked to spread the Word of God.

To do Faith is like marriage and you have a choice. Do not be born into faith where you choose the beliefs of your family. You do not want others to choose your lifelong partner on earth, so do not let others make the decision about your faith that will have consequences that last an eternity. Make the conscious choice to ac cept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.