Why so many religions?

[Classik]

Hi Classik. For me its like this. We are told in scripture that many will heap up to themselves, with itching ears, teachers that teach what they want to hear. Also that many in the last days will say "Lord, in your name we cast out devils, prophesied and did many wonderful works". These people believed they were Christian and claimed it. Jesus says though "depart from me". Not all who look Christian are Christian. That's why we are told to try the spirits. To look into and check if they and their teaching is in line with God and scripture. There can be slight cultural difs even in one culture but the basics are clear to see in scripture. It tells us about who teaches, elders, singing, worship, conduct, idols and so on. If what they do or teach does not line up then we must consider a few things. That's why there are so many, but not all doing the right thing. Seriously, what's so hard about doing the basics which we are shown clearly? Nothing, then why do they deviate? We can follow a repair manual for a car to the letter and get it right but not some simple church practices?

This is so good. Ta

 

[Classik]

Why do we have so many religions?

Why not?

So funny.

 

[Brother Mike]

Thanks for your reply Tho its a bit confusing.

sorry for the confusion..................... My point was there is no real different religion inside those that make Jesus Lord and trust in the precious blood of the lamb. I guess you call them different denominations and not different religion as all believe on the Lord Jesus.

Now religion that does not believe on the Lord Jesus would be different than those that do.

Mike.

 

[Infinity]

Why do we have so many religions?

Because people get bored and decide to start a new movement and the world is full of suckers who will follow. People will believe anything.

You know i was not one sided. I myself decided to investigate all religions and myself found Jesus to be the most reliable out of them all. I could have gone anyway. I just studied the facts and history of many religions what many people dont do and found the most trustworthy and reliable.

I did the exact same thing, and that confirmed my atheism.

 

[Aardverk]

And why so many that come sooo close to Christianity... deities who come to earth and die and are reborn.......

The interesting thing is that all those death-rebirth-deities, and there are a great number of them, predate Jesus by centuries and even millenia. There are also a great many of those 'gods' who were born of a virgin mother and who had 12 disciples.

I always seemed very strange to me that God would choose to emulate so many 'gods' who had done this so many times before. It's almost as if the stories have become conflated. ;)

The most interesting thing to me is that the Roman soldiers favorite 'god' -Mithras, had huge similarities to Jesus. Pretty well as soon as Theodosius banned Mithras and his ilk, introduced religious intolerance and imposed Christianity on his soldiers and upon 'the world', the Roman soldiers lost all respect for Theodosius. The Praetorian Guard subsequently 'sold' the emperor's role to the highest bidder. Followed very rapidly of course by the fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. Poor old Theodosius probably thought he was doing the right thing trying to promote Christianity but he actually brought about a dreadful period in human history and put back progress by hundreds of years.

 

[Classik]

Why do we have so many religions?

Because people get bored and decide to start a new movement and the world is full of suckers who will follow. People will believe anything. You know i was not one sided. I myself decided to investigate all religions and myself found Jesus to be the most reliable out of them all. I could have gone anyway. I just studied the facts and history of many religions what many people dont do and found the most trustworthy and reliable.

I did the exact same thing, and that confirmed my atheism.

:toofunny No one who trully meets with the LORD leaves;)

 

[Classik]

And why so many that come sooo close to Christianity... deities who come to earth and die and are reborn.......

The interesting thing is that all those death-rebirth-deities, and there are a great number of them, predate Jesus by centuries and even millenia. There are also a great many of those 'gods' who were born of a virgin mother and who had 12 disciples. I always seemed very strange to me that God would choose to emulate so many 'gods' who had done this so many times before. It's almost as if the stories have become conflated. The most interesting thing to me is that the Roman soldiers favorite 'god' -Mithras, had huge similarities to Jesus. Pretty well as soon as Theodosius banned Mithras and his ilk, introduced religious intolerance and imposed Christianity on his soldiers and upon 'the world', the Roman soldiers lost all respect for Theodosius. The Praetorian Guard subsequently 'sold' the emperor's role to the highest bidder. Followed very rapidly of course by the fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. Poor old Theodosius probably thought he was doing the right thing trying to promote Christianity but he actually brought about a dreadful period in human history and put back progress by hundreds of years.

Welcome back:waving. I was actually thinking about you when I was 'writing' this thread. How are things with you?

 

[Infinity]

Why do we have so many religions?

Because people get bored and decide to start a new movement and the world is full of suckers who will follow. People will believe anything. You know i was not one sided. I myself decided to investigate all religions and myself found Jesus to be the most reliable out of them all. I could have gone anyway. I just studied the facts and history of many religions what many people dont do and found the most trustworthy and reliable.

I did the exact same thing, and that confirmed my atheism.

:toofunny No one who trully meets with the LORD leaves;)

Feelings can be very deceiving.

 

[handy]

And why so many that come sooo close to Christianity... deities who come to earth and die and are reborn.......

The interesting thing is that all those death-rebirth-deities, and there are a great number of them, predate Jesus by centuries and even millenia. There are also a great many of those 'gods' who were born of a virgin mother and who had 12 disciples.

I always seemed very strange to me that God would choose to emulate so many 'gods' who had done this so many times before. It's almost as if the stories have become conflated. ;)

The most interesting thing to me is that the Roman soldiers favorite 'god' -Mithras, had huge similarities to Jesus. Pretty well as soon as Theodosius banned Mithras and his ilk, introduced religious intolerance and imposed Christianity on his soldiers and upon 'the world', the Roman soldiers lost all respect for Theodosius. The Praetorian Guard subsequently 'sold' the emperor's role to the highest bidder. Followed very rapidly of course by the fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. Poor old Theodosius probably thought he was doing the right thing trying to promote Christianity but he actually brought about a dreadful period in human history and put back progress by hundreds of years.

Hi Aardverk, good to see you again!

I don't think it's so much a matter of God choosing to emulate... I think it's far more a matter of Satan being fairly well aware of what God's plan for redemption was... and throwing many copies out there in order to obfuscate the plan as much as possible.

 

[Comprehender]

Why do we have so many religions?

I think it's the same reason why we have so many cultures, traditions, sports & sport teams and countless other "group thought."

We long to sense that we belong - because we do but on a much more profound level than superficial "groups."
Being alive involves risking the inevitable alternative - death - so we need hope & peace to combat this ugly reality.
Generally, it is easier to lean on others for faith - belief - because we began life doing that with our parents/primary care givers.


A while back, after watching the movie, Life of Pi, (about a boy who wants to be Christian, Hindu & Muslim), I noted some things...
Please keep an open mind and consider the universal aspects that unite all religious groups and all people...

My first impression of this story was that God represents the preference of goodness.
Goodness, being true to one's nature, one's potential.
It is in carnivorous animals' nature to eat other animals - that is how they were created to be.
Humans are not created to kill each other.
Humans have more intelligence, potential and ability to choose, rather than go by instinct.
Choosing the story about the animals, over the other story, is a way of accepting the "circle of life" among animals and refusing to accept such animalistic behavior from humanity.

Pi's experience alone on the boat & raft reminded me of the ultimate struggle - to conquer one's own ego/pride. "The kingdom (realm/experience) of God is within you." Sometimes we have to get to the place where somehow we don't have other gods before God (looking for love in all the wrong places) & are somewhat al-one enough to experience God. As we get deeper in exploring the kingdom of God within us, we must confront every obstacle, so it can be a partly hellish & partly heavenly journey to the depths of our souls.

Focusing on the grim reality & trying to get through this life on the belief of self-determinism is lonely, uninspiring & even discouraging.
We cannot help but think in subjectively limited (illusional) ways, we might as well have our illusions/thoughts work for us, rather than against us, especially considering the power of our subconscious, which seems to be accessed best by belief in a higher power.
Yet, there is a delicate balance between focusing on what inspires us & embracing reality, to be able to respond in the most beneficial way.

We need "functional illusions."
It doesn't matter so much what illusions we embrace, as long as they are functional by honoring and loving (striving for what's best for) others as well as ourselves.
That sounds so simple, but it isn't!
Most of us want to cling to something or someone we find inspiring, when really, the most functional illusion (God), IMO, is an ever-changing process, because it is in responding "best" to each evolving circumstancial moment. This is why some type of belief in a higher power is important, however, even such belief needs to be open to expanding to new truth.

 

[Aardverk]

Hi Aardverk, good to see you again!

I don't think it's so much a matter of God choosing to emulate... I think it's far more a matter of Satan being fairly well aware of what God's plan for redemption was... and throwing many copies out there in order to obfuscate the plan as much as possible.

Are you suggesting that Satan knew, thousands of years in advance (!), what God's plans were? Clever little devil!

No, I can't accept that explanation. I'll stick with the conflation theory rather than the satanic precognition theory.

 

[Comprehender]

Feelings can be very deceiving.

Yes, they can, but we would be even more deceived WITHOUT feelings.
Years ago, problems were attempted to be remedied by lobotomy - removing the emotional part of the brain.
It caused people to be even more deceived. Logic was fine, but they lacked understanding what they WANTED- that emotional or intuitive part that senses what is best. They were sadly very lost.

Still, it is important to consider spiritual feelings in light of common sense.
As we need both sides of our brain - we need to harmonize both logic and emotion.

A few years ago, when my husband & I were struggling, my ex & I connected online & I felt "the spirit" about him.
I thought, "Why would I feel the spirit about this guy who's never been faithful to any of his ex-wives or ex-girlfriends & who has abandoned his children & fled the country to avoid taxes - and I'm married with children anyway?"
Previously, I thought that when I felt the spirit, it meant to act on it - but I realized that, that was my interpretation.
Common sense kicked in... & I realized that the spirit testifies of LOVE (God is love).
I felt love from him and for him, especially when I was ignoring the less pleasant aspects of his behavior.
The spirit is more of a symbol of love - but it can be interpreted many ways.

Love is many things - and the emotion of love is beautiful, but such feelings are not commanding officers telling us what we should do.
We've been given brains to use, in combination with emotion.
And Love is not just based on feeling, but is more about hoping & striving for what is best, through trial & error - active faith.

 

[handy]

Hi Aardverk, good to see you again!

I don't think it's so much a matter of God choosing to emulate... I think it's far more a matter of Satan being fairly well aware of what God's plan for redemption was... and throwing many copies out there in order to obfuscate the plan as much as possible.

Are you suggesting that Satan knew, thousands of years in advance (!), what God's plans were? Clever little devil!

No, I can't accept that explanation. I'll stick with the conflation theory rather than the satanic precognition theory.

That's exactly what I was suggesting... and I believe the devil is quite clever. Of course, Satan has the advantage of being a spirit which puts him in a different dimension than us. But, the demons most certainly believe in Christ. Perhaps there wasn't a clear cut understanding, but all indications show that Satan knew of God's plan of redemption...God was the first to tell him of it in the Garden after all.

;) However, given that you're not a believer in the first place, it's not surprising to me that you would reject the idea.

 

[YosefHayim]

Doesn't it say in revelation: And that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan who deceiveth the whole world?

The lost hate truth, especially absolute truth.

The absolute truth is Jesus Christ is the only way.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:4-5

Jesus Wins.

 

[Free Christian]

I have sometimes wondered. If Satan had of known exactly what was going on would he have not done all he could to keep Jesus from going to the cross? Not put it into Judas's heart to betray, for the Pharisees and Sadducees to like Him and not hate Him? For the people to ask Jesus to be freed? For his demons to make those possessed act better so they did not need to be exorcised? Things like that. As far as I am concerned Satan is not in possession of omniscience and does not know it all. If I knew someone was going to bring about my downfall, why would I help to speed up the matter and push others into doing all that will bring it to fruition?

 

[Aardverk]

.....;) However, given that you're not a believer in the first place, it's not surprising to me that you would reject the idea.

Oh Handy, how can you say such things. I am a believer. I obviously don't believe some of the things you believe though.

I think 'True Christian' has the right way of seeing such 'political' manipulations. I also think we should credit God with a bit more intelligence than to have His plans messed up by Satan over thousands of years and still not be able to come up with another idea. Hardly likely is it?

Let us say, for a moment, that Satan knew God's plan and sabotaged it by making dozens of people, over thousands of years, invent other 'gods' with a virgin mother, 12 disciples, death and re-birth etc. You are suggesting that God reached the point in his plan when he was going to do exactly the same things and He carried on regardless? What went through God's mind?..... "Oh heck, that pesky Satan has messed up my plans. Oh, never mind, I'll do it anyway. Maybe people won't notice ."

Hmmm. Not very likely. On the balance of probabilities - there is an alternative explanation.

 

[handy]

.....;) However, given that you're not a believer in the first place, it's not surprising to me that you would reject the idea.

Oh Handy, how can you say such things. I am a believer. I obviously don't believe some of the things you believe though.

(My bad... admittedly my bad... shall we agree upon "since you are not a Christian" with all the doctrine, dogma, and teachings that name represents? After all, you have stated this yourself...Christian: No)

I think 'True Christian' has the right way of seeing such 'political' manipulations. I also think we should credit God with a bit more intelligence than to have His plans messed up by Satan over thousands of years and still not be able to come up with another idea. Hardly likely is it?

Let us say, for a moment, that Satan knew God's plan and sabotaged it by making dozens of people, over thousands of years, invent other 'gods' with a virgin mother, 12 disciples, death and re-birth etc. You are suggesting that God reached the point in his plan when he was going to do exactly the same things and He carried on regardless? What went through God's mind?..... "Oh heck, that pesky Satan has messed up my plans. Oh, never mind, I'll do it anyway. Maybe people won't notice ."

Hmmm. Not very likely. On the balance of probabilities - there is an alternative explanation.

As far as God coming up with another plan because that pesky Satan messed with His original one... No, I don't see Him doing that... His plan was set before the foundation of this world... goes without saying that whatever Satan came up with as a means to try to mess with it was taken into consideration....

I really think the most compelling idea that comes into play here is Jesus's words in John 10:27. I think that the pseudo Christs and the false prophets and the near-but-not-quite messiahs all play into the very fact that we are called to faith... and those called to faith in Christ by the Father will certainly hear His voice.

As far as I am concerned Satan is not in possession of omniscience and does not know it all.

I agree with this as well. I don't believe that Satan is the least bit omniscient. However, I don't think he was completely unaware either. He tried so hard to tempt Christ away from the plan after all.

 

[Infinity]

Feelings can be very deceiving.

Yes, they can, but we would be even more deceived WITHOUT feelings.
Years ago, problems were attempted to be remedied by lobotomy - removing the emotional part of the brain.
It caused people to be even more deceived. Logic was fine, but they lacked understanding what they WANTED- that emotional or intuitive part that senses what is best. They were sadly very lost.

Still, it is important to consider spiritual feelings in light of common sense.
As we need both sides of our brain - we need to harmonize both logic and emotion.

A few years ago, when my husband & I were struggling, my ex & I connected online & I felt "the spirit" about him.
I thought, "Why would I feel the spirit about this guy who's never been faithful to any of his ex-wives or ex-girlfriends & who has abandoned his children & fled the country to avoid taxes - and I'm married with children anyway?"
Previously, I thought that when I felt the spirit, it meant to act on it - but I realized that, that was my interpretation.
Common sense kicked in... & I realized that the spirit testifies of LOVE (God is love).
I felt love from him and for him, especially when I was ignoring the less pleasant aspects of his behavior.
The spirit is more of a symbol of love - but it can be interpreted many ways.

Love is many things - and the emotion of love is beautiful, but such feelings are not commanding officers telling us what we should do.
We've been given brains to use, in combination with emotion.
And Love is not just based on feeling, but is more about hoping & striving for what is best, through trial & error - active faith.

A world without feelings would certainly be a world worth almost nothing. However, when our feelings are the reason for turning something we don't understand into a lie we want as truth, the consequences can be felt for a long time.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Why do we have so many religions?

<sup class="versenum">17 </sup>But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. <sup class="versenum">18 </sup>They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.†<sup class="versenum">19 </sup>These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit." (Jude 17-19 NASB)

Perhaps the biggest of those ungodly desires operating in natural, not spiritual, men to make them invent their own religion (after the desire to simply fulfill the lusts of the flesh, of course)...PRIDE. The pride of knowledge.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

It's funny how an unbeliever I worked with accused Christianity of 'forming God into it's own image' (there's a big anthro-something-or-other name for that). I said, "What? Do you think if I formed the God of a religion into the image of myself that I'd outlaw adultery, fornication, stealing, revelry, etc. etc.?" She was speechless. (She had a doctorate in Psychology.)

Various religions are invented to suit the carnal desires of the person making them. Carnal desires that range all the way from self-righteousness to fornication. It all started with Cain. He decided he would have a different way to approach God.