How can you know which religion is true?

[luckyfox]

Hello,

I am curious, in light of the competing claims of absolute truth advertised by the world's major religions, how can a person know conclusively which religion is right, or whether any of them are? Most religions, particularly the big three of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, claim to be whole and correct while stating unquestioningly that all others are at best misguided, and at worse, totally false and even demonically inspired. Other, lesser known traditions sometimes say the same thing but don't seem to evangelize. With so many choices, how can we know which is the right choice? Is it possible that all have some aspect of truth, or are all but one false?

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

Hello,

I am curious, in light of the competing claims of absolute truth advertised by the world's major religions, how can a person know conclusively which religion is right, or whether any of them are? Most religions, particularly the big three of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, claim to be whole and correct while stating unquestioningly that all others are at best misguided, and at worse, totally false and even demonically inspired. Other, lesser known traditions sometimes say the same thing but don't seem to evangelize. With so many choices, how can we know which is the right choice? Is it possible that all have some aspect of truth, or are all but one false?

Hi luckyfox,
Welcome to the forums.

May I suggest that there is one absolute truth and that all false religions incorporate some bits and pieces into their falsehoods?

The way to discover the truth is to begin with searching your own heart. Ask yourself some basic questions.
1.) Am I teachable?
2.) If the things that I have believed up to this point are wrong, am I willing to let go of them in order to grasp hold of the truth?
3.) If God is God, if Jesus Christ is Lord, do I want to know it? When someone comes to knowledge of the truth, they must respond to it in one way or another. Doing nothing is responding. Embracing the truth is responding. Walking away is responding.


The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that God created the heavens, the earth, and man. Man sinned, and God's curse entered into the world. God made a way back into His Kingdom for those who choose to come back. That way back, is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to earth to tell us of God's love. He bore our sin, and paid the price that we owed, with his own blood. Three days later, He rose from the dead, and is alive.

There is much to ponder there. God's power. His anger. His love. and His plan.

What I always suggest to people who are seeking the truth, is "Ask Him." If you humble yourself with the attitude of "God, if this is true, then I want to know it and I want to believe it." He will do miracles for you. He will purge the doubt, and make things clear for you. Perhaps an even more open form of that prayer could be "Dear God, whatever the truth is, I want to believe it."

If, on the other hand, someone were to ask Him with a sort of "Who do you think you are?" attitude, the results will not be as favorable.

I will be praying for you.

 

[Guest]

Hello,

I am curious, in light of the competing claims of absolute truth advertised by the world's major religions, how can a person know conclusively which religion is right, or whether any of them are? Most religions, particularly the big three of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, claim to be whole and correct while stating unquestioningly that all others are at best misguided, and at worse, totally false and even demonically inspired. Other, lesser known traditions sometimes say the same thing but don't seem to evangelize. With so many choices, how can we know which is the right choice? Is it possible that all have some aspect of truth, or are all but one false?

Yes, all religions have some of God's Truth in them, just as Satan's words always have some of God's word. He did that in the Garden of Eden when he lied to Eve, and when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

The only way to know which denomination or church is true is to test them for their actions. If they can materially demonstrate all of their preaching, then they are true. Jesus and the Apostles materially demonstrated all they spoke.

I Corinthians 4:20, "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."

Be careful of the "Pentecostal" people. They are most clever at pushing peoples' emotional buttons, and are most clever at substituting exciting words for actions.

Shelli.

 

[Elisha Kai]

Luckyfox wrote:

I am curious, in light of the competing claims of absolute truth advertised by the world's major religions, how can a person know conclusively which religion is right, or whether any of them are? Most religions, particularly the big three of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, claim to be whole and correct while stating unquestioningly that all others are at best misguided, and at worse, totally false and even demonically inspired.

Elisha Kai replies:

This is not entirely correct!

Islam accepts both Judaism and Christians and the Bible, problem matter is that the Qur'an and the Bible contradict each other.

Judaism is more paradoxical at this point, it favours of course a distorted view of the Israelite religion which is Judaism but possibly appreciates that others create religions that follow similar rules, some Jews may therefore value Islam not as a true religion but as an effective copy of God's true religion, while some Jews may even accepts Christianity as following the same trend.

Christianity on the other hand, that is if the Bible is taken as the fundamental authority, sees its self as the only true path to God, Islam is seen as a false, corrupted, fabricated and demonic religion, while Christians do not in the same way depict Judaism or the Old Testament religion, Judaism is merely seen as a temporary religion that applied for a specific people, in certain place, time and situation. Judaism has therefore been replaced by Christianity which is the fulfilment of Judaism.

Luckyfox wrote:

Other, lesser known traditions sometimes say the same thing but don't seem to evangelize. With so many choices, how can we know which is the right choice? Is it possible that all have some aspect of truth, or are all but one false.

Elisha Kai replies:

I would say seek God and ask him to guide you. If you are a serious seeker, you probably need to engage in a historical study. Here is for example one issue that supports the reliability of the Christian faith, if Hinduism or Sikhism is true, all religions are paths to God, yet how come then that Judaism, Christianity and Islam contradict Hinduism, this logically seen debunks Hinduism. One may say then that in Hinduism everything is maya anyway, so no truth is explicit, yet think of it, this idea only belongs to one of these unreal religions and not the rest, that makes little sense. If we look at the more monotheistic religions, and say, If Islam is true, then the Bible at the present time is true according to the Qur'an, but the Bible contradicts the Qur'an, then how can Islam be true. This is of course only a drop in the sea.

 

[anna-Rose]

greetings

all of the worlds religions apart from Christianity say if you do or say this or that perticular thing you may get to heaven when you die but you cant be sure.

they say you can save your self by what you so if you do enough of it - but you cant be sure you have

they are the doing religions

the ones that are afraid of death
the ones that do not have the explanation for:
how the world came to be
why we are here
what happens when we die

they cannot comfort when things go wrong or people die
they do not have a God you can know personaly and talk to about absolutly everything
they do not have assurance of sin ( wrong thoughts and words and deeds ) forgiven and hope of heaven

this is why they are the doing religions because they would be empty - void of meaning if people had not made up long ago these rights and practises to fill the gap left by the God who made them - the one they were supposed to be looking to , to live for and to be looked after by

Christianity says this:

Jesus came and did the doing part for us -
God says you cant save yourself by what you think say or do for no one is good not even one but there is one Jesus ( Whos name means rescuer ) who came to die for our wrongs to make us right with God ( justify ) through His death and being raised to life again.

this is the done religion
it states that if you believe Jesus Christ is Lord ( God appointed rescuer from sin) you will be saved from sin and Hell and go to be in Gods house when you die ( in Heaven ).

I am not afraid of death - for I know whom I have believed am am perswaded that He is able to keep that witch I have comitted unto Him against that day ( the day when He will come back to earth for the judgment of the living and the dead those who are not Christians will go to Hell )

Genesis explains where the world came from ( there are many chreation accounts in the world because the descendants of Noahs family were the ones to repopulate the earth - check this out on http://www.answers ingenesis.org) and why we are here
we are here to Love God and Glorify Him forever - God made us in His image - body mind and spirit to be gaurdians over His world and to look after it and the animals - genesis ch 2 and 3
when we die we face Gods judgment - it is given to men to die once then face the judgment we do not become reincarnated.

I have a God who is a comfort in times of trouble - psalm 31, 121 Isiah ch 9 and His name shall be called wonderfull councilour mighty God....
I know my God - He lives in me - ... do you not know your bodies are temples of the Holy spirit? that is God sends the Holy Spirit to help us and we can talk to God in preyer - one of the defining marks of a christian
God says if you confess your sins He is faithfull and just toforgive us our sins and cast all your care upon me for I care for you

this is why it is a done no more needs doing faith - Jesus died once for all never needing to be repeated God wrote His law upon our hearts - our minds and emotions - so we only find our rest from struggles over these matteres when we find Him to have been there all the time.

all scripture is God breathed and usefull for teaching corecting and training in all right ness befor God Islam cannot agree with Judaism ( early Christianity - they have the old testiment part of the Bible - the new testiment is the fullfilment of the old ) and Christianity for so much of the koran is contradictory to the Bible - the principle objection being that the Koran states several times that Jesus is not God - this is key to the Bible where Jesus says I and the father are one - who ever has seen me has seen the father )

you will find God when you seek Him with all your heart.

hope of some help
dza devlefa
a-R

 

[Archetype]

Christ is the one and only true god. There can be no other.

Confess in christ and you will have the father: 1 john 2: 23

I do no trust islam, because it is the testimony of one man.

christian scripture is retold and affirmed throughout the old and new testaments by several prophets and evangelists. It is consistent and sound doctrine. It is originated by the lord, man has written down the lords words but has corrupted it. however, bible study will reduce the error.

mt 11: 22

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Buddhists worship idols and the devil. Hindus are of the antichrist.

Jesus is the only truth. Realize this, obey and love the lord, stop sinning and ask for forgiveness and you shall inherit eternal life.

 

[Rick W]

all of the worlds religions apart from Christianity say if you do or say this or that perticular thing you may get to heaven when you die but you cant be sure.

they say you can save your self by what you so if you do enough of it - but you cant be sure you have

True enough.
Other religions preach works as the principle path to God becoming worthy to be in His presence. In Christian doctrine God came to man because man is not worthy to go to Him nor can be worthy by his own efforts.

Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Job 40:9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Job 40:10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
Job 40:11 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
Job 40:12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
Job 40:13 Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
Job 40:14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

It just makes sense. How can I be in a position to obligate God? Who is sovereign, man or Him?

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

If I don't do exactly as I'm supposed to then does that mean I have to start all over again? No, I couldn't be sure of my so-called reward since I put my trust in myself. I can't judge myself, that I've done everything right. anna-Rose hit the nail on the head... I can't be sure. I may have a very strong maybe or I may even be prideful enough to boast of what I've done either to someone or myself. That's pride of ego, pride of self. Yet, down deep I can't say "I know for a certainty that I'm saved."
So how do I know that I know that I know that I'm saved? Because Christ promised me. It's His faithfulness I rely on, not mine. It's in His work I lay my trust. Not by my will but by His I am saved. And He is faithful.

 

[Archetype]

I agree with Potluck, but with the added stipulation that we must have faith/love in, ask for forgiveness, repent and obey the lord. Thats the sure fire way to heaven and eternal life.

 

[SpiritualSon]

If you are searching for truth the Lord will led you to it, as He did to me in the year 1966. Religion is such that all who believe in God and had lived a life of charity, have not kill, are saved, and have a place in heaven.

Harry :fadein:

 

[Free]

With so many choices, how can we know which is the right choice?

One can study the religions--examine their claims and historicity, for example--and use reason to find which one is most rational and coherent and makes the most sense of reality. However, this must be done with a heart sincere in finding the truth of God.

Is it possible that all have some aspect of truth, or are all but one false?

Just to try and clarify things a little:

Firstly, to say that "all have some aspect of truth" is not the same as saying all religions are true, which is what it sounds like you are meaning to say (and we actually have more than two choices to start with). If that is not what you meant then you must clarify what you mean by "aspect" as it can mean several things, including "appearance" or "element", and depending on which meaning is used the question changes slightly. From the way the question is worded, I will assume that "element" is more along the lines of the what was intended.

Secondly, as a Christian I believe in the Judeo-Christian worldview and do not separate them into two completely distinct religions.

Having hopefully clarified things somewhat, we essentially have three choices: all religions are false, all religions are true, or one religion is true.

After looking at the fundamental beliefs of many religions we can dismiss the claim that all religions are true--that is an impossibility. It is possible that all religions do, in fact, have at least one element of truth to them but that does not mean that all religions are true. I believe it can also be shown that the belief that more than one religion can be true ends up falling for the same reasons that not all religions can be true.

To say that all religions are false would not only require exhaustive knowledge and experience of every religion, it would require exhaustive knowledge of all things--one would have to be all-knowing. Many atheists claim all religions are false but they have no rational basis for doing so. Strict atheism is untenable and agnosticism would be a much more rational belief.

So while it is possible that no religion is true, the most rational position is that one religion is true.

 

[Gary]

.
Good post Free!!

There is one way to find out if Christianity is true or not. Perform the relevant experiment. To test the hypothesis that someone is behind the door, knock!

To test the Christian hypothesis that Christ is behind the door, knock. (Matthew 7:7)

How do you knock? Pray! Tell Christ you are seeking the truth, seeking him. Ask him to fulfill his promise that all who seek him will find him.

(Edit: Sorry, I forgot to reference my source - "Handbook of Christian Apologetics - Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli)

 

[anna-Rose]

greetings

there is a series of books by penfold publications that show 5 muslims, jews, hindus, witchs and wizards, occult and one other, testimonies of their conversions - they are realy cool

you can debate semantics but you cant refute the testimony of some one very easily - and there are many like these.

a-R

 

[knowledge]

Points of the True Church


*Christ organized the Church (Eph 4:11-14)
*The true church must bear the name of Jesus Christ (Eph 5:23)
*The true church must have a foundation of Apostles and Prophets (Eph 2:19-20)
*The true church must have the same organization as Christ's Church (Eph 4:11-14)
*The true church must claim divine authority (Heb 4:4-10)
*The true church must have no paid ministry (Acts 20:33-34; John 10:11-13)
*The true church must baptize by immersion (Matt 3:13-16)
*The true church must bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (Acts 8:14-17)
*The true church must practice divine healing (Mark 3:14-15)
*The true church must teach that God and Jesus are separate and distinct individuals (John 17:11; 20:17)
*The true church must teach that God and Jesus have bodies of flesh and bone (Luke 23:36-39; Acts 1:9-11; Heb 1:1-3)
*The officers must be called by God (Heb 4:4; Ex 28:1; 40:13-16)
*The true church must claim revelation from God (Amos 3:7)
*The true church must be a missionary church (Matt 28:19-20)
*The true church must be a restored church (Acts 3:19-20)
*The true church must practice baptism for the dead (1Cor 15:16&29)
*"By their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt 7:20)

 

[Vic C.]

"The true church must practice baptism for the dead (1Cor 15:16&29)

Totally false and unBiblical!

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=20832&p=342774#p342774

Anyway, the real true church is the total of all true (born again or born from above) believers, regardless of denomination or religious organization. No one organization has a hold on Christ's ekklesia.

 

[knowledge]

29 Else what shall they do which are baptized bfor the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
This comes from the King James Version of the Bible, New Testament, 1 CORINTHIANS, verse 29. Straight from the scriptures. The Bible does not lie.
There are other BIBLE references included for each point noted.

Thanks for the comment though...........God Bless and take care.

 

[Vic C.]

I often take into account historical and cultural references when studying doctrine and practices like this one. http://www.carm.org did a very good job researching the origins of this practice. I'll repost it in case you didn't check out the link I posted earlier.

But, the Mormons are incorrect. They have usurped this verse and taken it out of context. So, let's examine 1 Cor. 15 briefly so we can see what Paul is talking about when he mentions baptism for the dead.

In Verses 1-19, the fact of Christ's resurrection is detailed by Paul. Beginning in verse 20 and going through verse 23, Paul speaks about the order of the resurrection. Christ is the first one raised -- in a glorified body -- and then who are His at His return. Next, verses 24 - 29 mention Christ's reign and the abolition of death. This is when this controversial verse occurs: "Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?"

Just north of Corinth was a city named Eleusis. This was the location of a pagan religion where baptism in the sea was practiced to guarantee a good afterlife. This religion was mention by Homer in Hymn to Demeter 478-79.2 The Corinthians were known to be heavily influenced by other customs. After all, they were in a large economic area where a great many different people frequented. It is probable that the Corinthians were being influenced by the religious practices found at Eleusis where baptism for the dead was practiced.

Paul used this example from the pagans in 1 Cor. 15:29, when he said, "...if the dead are not raised, then why are they baptized for the dead?" Paul did not say we. This is significant because the Christian church was not practicing baptism for the dead, but the pagans were.

 

[Rick W]

Yes, Paul was refering to the pagan cult called the Eleusinian Mysteries. I don't have time right now to go further with this but I'll try tomorrow.
Gotta go to work.

 

[Free]

*The true church must have a foundation of Apostles and Prophets (Eph 2:19-20)

Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone

You will notice that this is past tense--the foundation has already been laid. Properly understood then, the true Church is on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone.

*The true church must claim divine authority (Heb 4:4-10)

Claiming it is one thing, having it is quite another.

*The true church must teach that God and Jesus have bodies of flesh and bone (Luke 23:36-39; Acts 1:9-11; Heb 1:1-3)

The passages you give show that Jesus has a body of flesh and bone but none show that God (the Father) has a body of flesh and bone.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

1Ti 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Joh 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Luk 24:39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."

Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Therefore, God (the Father) does not have a body of flesh and bone.

You will also want to read Alma 22:10 and Alma 31:15 in the Book of Mormon (BoM).

 

[forgivenWretch]

forget religion, as God could care less, all He wishes is a relationship, in which we strive to be more and more like Him everyday

Spend 15 minutes a day talking to God about you.
15 minutes a day talking to God about others.
15 minutes a day listening to God.
15 minutes a day studying His Word.

 

[Free]

forget religion, as God could care less, all He wishes is a relationship, in which we strive to be more and more like Him everyday

Okay. Then I would ask: Which God? Who is it that you think we should have a relationship with? How do you even know that "all He wishes is a relationship"? Why should we "strive to be more and more like Him everyday"?