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Per Fidem Intrepidus means "Fearless Through Faith". My courage isn't my own, it comes from the Holy Spirit, it's my faith in God and my personal savior Christ Jesus that calms my fears and allows me to move forward in this fallen world. Personally I'm afraid of a lot of stuff, but having the faith that Jesus adopted me as his little, sin filled, brother keeps me going.

Friday, February 8, 2013

All Religions Reach God? FACT CHECK

I hear it over and over, there are many paths to the same God. Being a saved Christian my response is a hearty "Surely you jest!" but then I realized that the folks uttering this line never actually researched the issue, and if they did, they did it without discernment. Most likely they just aped the line that they heard their new age buddies uttering. 

The concept is simple, if you believe in a higher power you're obviously going to heaven when you die if you follow your religion's tenants. Interesting concept and if you don't look at it more deeply than what's listed in the previous sentence it makes sense. So let's fact check this claim:

Satanism: The only commandment in Satanism is "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" which was penned by the father of modern Satanism, Aleister Crowley. So in Satanism you do what ever you want then you go to hell. That pretty much blows this "all paths lead to God" concept out of the water. But let's press on:

Wicca: There is no salvation in Wicca. You just die. Or you're reincarnated. Or not. Either way, the Old Religion (as it calls itself) goes 'way back to 1950 when it was postulated by Satanist (and student of Aleister Crowley) Gerald Gardner when he published The Old Laws. The wiccan moral statement is "An it harm none, do what ye will" which is different from satanists "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" because... just because. Remember: wicca is not satanism, wicca worships the horned god, Satanism worships a different horned god.

Hinduism: Hinduism is pretty complex, mostly due to the variety and sheer number of Gods you're required to please, but simply put the best you can realistically hope for is not to be thrown into hell. If you don't get thrown into hell, you get reincarnated to enjoy privation, misery, disease, filth, sin, pain, violence, and eventually death all over again, and again, and again. Eventually thought the eternal punishment of never ending reincarnation you may attain enough spiritual knowledge to attain eternal life in a celestial world. One of the methods used to attain such knowledge is yoga which is a form of communion with and worship of a semi-divine deity named  Ishvara. This religion doesn't lead to God, it leads to a lot of gods that are nothing like the God of heaven and earth. Note to Emergent Churches: You're teaching yoga in your circuses churches, why are you teaching people who are supposed to be Christian how to worship a deity from a polytheistic pagan religion? What part of Deuteronomy 32:39 did you emergents miss?
See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me;  It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

Shintoism: There is no salvation in Shintoism. You just die. An old Japanese saying is "Born Shinto, die Buddhist  because the only chance a follower of Shintoism has for salvation is to convert to another religion. So this religion doesn't lead anywhere.

Buddhism: No real salvation here either, you're consigned to an eternal hell of reincarnation and the only form of salvation is the hope that in a previous life you didn't suck. Like hinduism you eventually reach a state of becoming "awake" then you are pulled out of the cycle of reincarnation go into Nirvana. However in Buddhism there is no multiplicity of deities like they have in Hinduism, in fact there is no actual caring deity at all, it's a self centered religion which means you salvation is dependent upon YOU, and let's face it, do you want your salvation dependent upon someone that can't remember that Thursday is trash night?

Taoism: Taoism is a polytheistic Buddhism. While the only thing that can pass for a god in Buddhism is self, Taosim has gods everywhere, and they're invisible, and they don't talk to you. Like Buddhism and Hinduism your reward for suffering privation, misery, disease, filth, sin, pain, violence, and eventually death is the opportunity to enjoy privation, misery, disease, filth, sin, pain, violence, and eventually death all over again! Whoo hoo! Eventually you reach perfection and become an immortal and you move in with all the other immortals. 

Judaism: Judaism teaches that you are saved by keeping the law and repenting of your sins.

Islam: The Koran says that the way to salvation is through good works (when you die your good works are measured against your bad works) or by Jihad, and salvation through Jihad is guaranteed
"Let those fight in the cause of Allah Who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah,- whether he is slain or gets victory - Soon shall We give him a reward of great (value)." (4:74, Yusifali). 
While Jesus commanded us to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." in Mark 16:15, Allah said to go into the world and kill them:
"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful," (Quran 9:5).
"And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers, (Quran 2:191)
The differences in God and Allah are far too numerous to list here. And it's not like God said "Oh, to heck with that, let's do it some other way" that's not his nature. In Makachi 3:6 and Psalm 102:27 we find out that God does not change. So how did he go from "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." to "slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them"? He didn't, because Allah of the Koran is not God of the Bible. Isa of the Koran is not Jesus of the bible, and Gabriel of the Koran is not the Holy Spirit of God of the Bible. 

So we see that of the major religions of the world, other than Judaism and Christianity, none of them lead to God. In some there is no salvation, others lead straight to Satan, some lead to other gods, and some put you in an unending loop of misery until you reach perfection. So the next time you hear someone say that, ask them to explain.

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