Sadly, it is completely true, there are so many religions that it can be confusing as to which one is correct. There is a common belief in our pluralistic society that all religions are basically the same, and all roads lead to heaven, so I will address some of the facts pertaining to various religions. Please keep in mind that my goal is not to question the sincerity of peoples beliefs, I as a Christian admire the sincerity and plight of many religious people who have put their faith in their god, and believe wholeheartedly in their god's powers. You can be sincere in what you believe, but also be sincerely wrong.

Religions, even the ones pertaining to Christianity, such as Mormonism, or Roman Catholicism point to Jesus, but in essence destroy who He really is. All religions except for true Christianity are based on works, or merit. The better a person you are, the more likely you will go to heaven. This is simply not true (Ephesians 2:8-9) explains this in greater detail. If you still needed to work to get into heaven, then why would Jesus have to die on the cross? Mormons will claim that Jesus is the brother of Satan, they also will say that you need the book of Mormon to understand the Bible. Both of these are simply untrue, Jesus is GOD, he is the creator of all things. (John 1:1) says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Colossians 1:16) says, "For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him." So therefore it is impossible for Jesus to be the brother of Satan, since Lucifer is an angel, a creation of God. Joseph Smith claims to have had a vision, where an angel told him to write the book of Mormon, and that it was needed to see the complete truth of God. Similarly, we find this in Islam with Mohammed. Maybe these men did have a vision, maybe they were telling the truth about those visions, and perhaps they did not mean to deceive. The only problem is, what they claimed is deceptive, since the gospels were in place way before either of them had their visions. Jesus warned to test the spirits to see if they are of God. Galatians 1:6-9 states " I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the Grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel- which is really no gospel at all. evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But if we, or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned." Or as some versions say "anathema" which means Cursed.

I came from a Roman Catholic background. Now don't get me wrong, once again there are many sincere Catholics who have a strong desire and love for God, however they are deceived. I have an issue with all of the little demy gods they have, they throw prayer haphazardly in all directions. Mary, or any of the various saints they have anointed are not God, and they should not be prayed to. The bible says that there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Notice it does not say many mediators. (Acts 4:12) States that there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved, again it uses the word must, it is not given as a choice, and secondly it indicates that we must be saved by Jesus, not by our works of righteousness. Also if you take the 10 commandments, the Catholic church has dropped the 2nd commandment, which deals with making any sort of idol or statue in the form of anything in heaven, on earth or in the waters below, and conveniently split the 10th commandment into 9-10. Why would they do that? An Idol biblically speaking is anything that would take your focus away from Jesus. The 10 commandments can be found in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. I encourage you to look them up and see for yourself.

Now a look at non Christian based religions. Although I touched on one point about Islam above, I just want to state that the Koran, or Quran makes reference to the Bible as being authoritative, in fact, they believe fully in Abraham, Moses and all of the Old testament prophets. However, there seems to be a small issue with Abraham's sons, and whenever you have a small issue, that can escalate into big issues. God places his blessing on Isaac (Genesis 21:11-12), however, Islam teaches that God placed his blessing on Ishmael, whom was Abraham's first son. Usually it is the firstborn son who receives the blessing, except in certain cases such as this, where God clearly states that the blessing is to be on Isaac, because Isaac was born to Sarah. Another such example would be Jacob and Esau, Esau was the firstborn, but Jacob received the blessing. To take it 1 step further, Genesis 16:11-12 gives a great prophecy about the nation of Islam, look it up, and tell me that it is not accurate. Again, let me state that I admire the religious convictions of Islamic people, they love Allah and are not just mundane in their beliefs, they out pray most Christians, however, the bible was way before the Quran, and Jesus was way before Mohammed. Jesus is the only person in history who claimed to be God, and also the only one to rise from the dead. If the account of Jesus was not accurate, the eyewitnesses would not have given their lives to defend something they knew for certain was a lie.

Now for all of the rest of the eastern religions, such as Buddhism or Hinduism, In essence all they are is a moral human way of thinking. Unlike the 10 commandments they're principles are not given directly from God, all of them were founded by men. You might say, "so was Christianity," right?, wrong! Although Jesus was a man, he was fully God, he also claimed to be God. Also Christianity is not separate from Judaism, rather it is the fulfillment of the promises of Judaism. No other person, not Buddha, Confucius, Tao, or anyone ever claimed they were God. Also unique to Jesus is the FACT that he rose from the dead, anyone could die a martyr in the name of God, but the fact that Jesus was resurrected is what defeats sin, He crossed from death to life, unique in every way, without the resurrection, there is no redemption. So as not to get long and drawn out, there are so many unique Bible prophecies about Jesus in the old testament that were fulfilled by him, no ordinary man could possibly achieve that feat. Contact me if you would like some specific prophecies. Biblical Christianity remains the only religion where salvation was the work of God, and there is no way to earn that salvation, it was Christ's atoning death where he took our place as a sin offering, whereby he paid our sin debt in full and made our slate clean with God.

Last point, when was the last time that you heard someone use a name other than Jesus as a curse. Seriously, Jesus' name is used so casually, and taken in vain more than any other name. Why? because the devil wants exactly that, he wants to paint a picture that portrays Jesus as nothing. Next time you get mad, try shouting Oh Buddha!!, it just doesn't work does it. Any questions, please contact me by using the feedback page.

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