What is the best Religion?

[Rapture Era]

Wow! This is an interesting thread with so much diversity in thought and belief systems! I wanted to add my view. I dont want to argue about my beliefs because it will just go on and on and on and on. The question was "What is the best religion" Personally, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and I'll tell you why verses putting my eternal trust in any "Religion" so to speak. Jesus is the creator of the universe, our planet and all life on this planet including every human being. Colossians 1:16 "For by Him (Jesus) all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him." Genesis chapters 1 and 2 describe creation in more detail. To my knowledge no other leader of any religion has ever claimed this. The "Ten Commandments." God gave them us as a guideline on how to love! And how to live. Jesus broke them down into two basic categories: Love God with all your heart and all your being; and Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. That's how the Commandments read. The first three reveal how our relationship to God should be... the last six reveal how we should treat one another... and the fourth Commandment between the two categories, the Sabbath, is the command to remember creation, that He is the Creator - and it is the test Commandment to see if we will obey Him.
God loved us so much, He made the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. I dont know of any god or leader of any religion who loved us so much that he would die for you and me! John 14:6 Jesus says " I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father (no one gets into heaven) except through me. There might be religions with all paths leading to the one and only true living God, but only one way in to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. To my knowledge, no other religious leader of any religion has ever been so bold as to make this statement! Christianity has been marred by evil people doing terrible things in the name of Christianity. Thats why I dont put my eternal trust in "Religions", but only in the one true God Jesus Christ Himself. We are all going to die one day, that is a fact. Eternity is a long time, thats another fact. Think deeply about who and where you are placing your eternal trust and why, because once you die, there is no turning back! This is just my belief on the subject and why. I realize all of you have different beliefs, I get that and respect you for that. This is just me.

 

[`mud]

The tribes are restless lately, aren't they ?
~
'mud

 

[Tarheeler]

What is the best Religion?

The one that allows you to connect the best with the Divine and allows you to reach your full potential as a person.

 

[miodrag]

What is the best Religion?

The best religion is the one that saves the most souls at the given circumstances - like historical period, character of the population etc... So, if I try to avoid subjectivity in search for the universal religion, then, according to my knowledge, my vote goes to Sanatana dharma. Other religions may have a better score at some particular moment, but the all-time winner should be a religion that has no beginning, nor end. Other religions are, in fact, just a subsets of Sanatana dharma.

 

[miodrag]

... God sent a universal saviour and universal book and that is what Islam is.

Problem is that Islamic concept of "universal" is frightening. Islam does not even have a religious book, neither universal nor local. The Quran is basically a commandment. It’s the law. It’s principles and Muslims understand that Allah wants every single person to follow these words. But people are different. Quran says no alcohol. Does it mean that Christians who use wine in the Eucharist will never be saved? Islam has only one model for man, and if anyone does not fit that model, he will be forced to fit, since - that is the law. The best association is the bed of Procrustes - one measure for all, and whoever does not fit will receive a free course in the Shariah law. It is amazing that anyone actually advises such a law in public. Except if one is a terrorist, though.

 

[Christ's Prophet]

What is the best Religion?

This is the most important question for anyone to ask. We have to get past the idea that we can walk into a spiritual supermarket and choose a religion that suits us. It is equally ridiculous to choose some parts of some religions because we happen to like them. To choose the wrong religion would be eternally devastating. I have chosen the Bible because you can read about 40 authors who have encountered God and have written down their experiences over 2000 years in 66 books which all agree one with the other. The most important question anyone can ask is ‘how do I have eternal life?’ Christ was asked this question:- Luke 10:25-28 (KJV)
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
My friends, do this and you will live. Christ’s prophet. Certainty for eternity

 

[Frank Merton]

Does anybody really think God has a favorite Religion?
That would present a very low opinion of God.

I might disagree. I think God finds some religions abominable -- especially those who kill people in God's name.

 

[Neglected Lighthouse]

Part of the answer is in the question itself, we as humans either seek "the best" or want to be the "best", so it is inherently human to want to know the best religion or best android phone. Part of all of this, is competition, we have to compete to be the best; another part is guidance/knowledge without which we may compete for a futile cause.

So the best religion, whatever it may be, should at least recognize this inherent part of human.

If you have the nerve and curiosity read the rest!

In Quran for instance among other classifications, God classifies humans into three groups:

1- Those who go to heaven.

2- Those who go to hell.

3- Those who competed and who got ahead (They will be very close to God).


The way Allah (swt) speaks about the third group is as if he doesn’t care much about the first group! He says in the Quran that the third group comparatively are not many. It almost sounds like going to heaven is nothing hard or special; going to hell though is hard and being in the third group is extremely hard! You see the thing is, in Quran God doesn’t speak as if hell and paradise are two options in front of you, NO! He speaks as though hell is behind you and you should really fail hard to go to hell. On the other hand going to heaven should be a natural course and not too hard, thus it is those who speed up and strive hard and take over the rest as in a car-race that God is really interested in!


So it is clear that according to Quran the purpose of creation is to see who wins in worshiping God better! The rest is there but secondary.

Another extremely important feature of Islam is that, it makes the competition work! In interactions with Islam, messed-up people (which I will describe later) fail even harder than you would normally deem possible!!! (History is witness, Only Islam could bring the deep jealousy out of the heart of the Abu-Sufian and his children) My comments may be somewhat fresh or strange to many of my Muslim brothers so let me ask them to chill out and remember the verses in Quran in which God says:

1- The issue of guidance is in “my” hand only.

2- Quran only further misleads messed-up people (Literally adds to their ignorance).

3- Quran only guides those who believe (non-messed up people).

Say, have you seen a group that strives really hard, but lacks guidance!?

So who are these messed-up people? Have they always been like this?In short one who rejects guidance, anyone with a sick heart (i.e. one with deep rooted jealousy which even he himself may not know of; at the end of the day GOD has the right to love some more!!! Can you deal with that?!), and finally and mainly one who actively try to move other people away from God through unconventional match-breaking and competition ruining ways!!! Like for example purposefully not allowing the word of God reach some people. (These are the only enemies of God, other less sick-people or average non-believers may end up in heaven eventually even if not Muslim). Most people start with a healthy heart (remember though a very healthy baby heart has some degree of other nasty things in it waiting to be cleansed by your own actions and struggle) but then again you can understand why God wouldn’t want to guide offspring of some people, so he use them as obstacle for the rest.

In Quran the issue of guidance and leadership are inseparable. It is in that famous verse all Muslims hang to their walls, like I do!

Another interesting part is those who go to hell tell God that “we just followed these bad guys so punish them more” the answer amazingly is “nah! I punish all of you the same/more!” Some people end up next to really nasty villains in history and say “why are we with these?” …God can’t allow every evil man and woman to practice maximum of his/her evil potential! Earth has no such capacity nor is there a need for it, so what happens is God shows the truth of your heart to you and says if I would allow you and you could, you would have!

Before getting out of scope any further, let me finish by saying that, by now you should have realized just how much Islam is competition oriented!

Thanks for your attention
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Edited: added the line in red color.

 

[rusra02]

All religions were initially true until human interference in the Holy Books took place. Islam is the final combination of all true religions that were from God.

I believe we must carefully weigh the claims of any religion as to whether it teaches the truth or not. I do not believe the true God would allow his Word to be successfully corrupted. (Isaiah 40:8) My study of the Bible convinces me that it is what it claims to be: "not...the word of men but, just as it truthfully is,..the word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:13) And the Bible does not teach that all religions were initially true.

 

[Kirran]

Christianity is not a universal religion so it does not qualify for the best religion. The best religion has to be universal and should address needs of all people of the world.

How is it not universal?

And why does the best religion have to be universal? Different people can have different religions appropriate to different places. Shinto works in Japan, Norse paganism works in the Western world.

 

[kerndog]

I believe we must carefully weigh the claims of any religion as to whether it teaches the truth or not. I do not believe the true God would allow his Word to be successfully corrupted. (Isaiah 40:8) My study of the Bible convinces me that it is what it claims to be: "not...the word of men but, just as it truthfully is,..the word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:13) And the Bible does not teach that all religions were initially true.

Very good, I LIKE ! HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD !

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

Why would a religion need a Savior to begin with?

Why do you need a mother to bear you?

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

Sorry, I am late to notice your arrival in the forum. I welcome you here also. They say "aik and aik make giyara, we are now tein here so it should be aiksogiyara". I like your name after the famous German Ahmadi "Hadayatullah Hubsch":

I met him at Rabwah long time ago.
Regards

Wslam, and thanks for welcoming me to the forum. Yes, of course we will go together hands in hands for the victory of Islam.

 

[Amleth]

Given that all religions are based on fantasy but pretend reality, none of them are worthy of being called "The Best".

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

I believe Jesus is still alive and well and comes to us in that name as the Spirit of God.

But Jesus was not a universal saviour so it does not make sense.

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

Given that all religions are based on fantasy but pretend reality, none of them are worthy of being called "The Best".

Who told you that religions are based on fantasy?

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

I did think at one time that maybe Abraham met an Indian sage who worshipped Shri Rama.
His name was Avram(before it became Abraham); Av - Ram....Av means Father & Ram could refer to Rama.
I am not arguing the case , although it is possible (if Abraham existed).

Do not assume things rather bring evidences.

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

THE ONE WHO TRULY DOES THIS...1PET.2:21...AND THIS...1 JOHN 2:6...AND THIS...JOHN 13:34,35...WHICH UNFORTUNATELY ELIMINATES THE VAST MAJORITYOF CHRISTENDOM !!

But christianity is not a universal religion so it does not qualify.

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

How is it not universal?

And why does the best religion have to be universal? Different people can have different religions appropriate to different places. Shinto works in Japan, Norse paganism works in the Western world.

Have you ever opened Bible?
Also Where does this idea come from that people of different places should have different religions?
How can you bring unity and peace in the World?

 

[Hadayatullah Hubsch]

I believe we must carefully weigh the claims of any religion as to whether it teaches the truth or not. I do not believe the true God would allow his Word to be successfully corrupted. (Isaiah 40:8) My study of the Bible convinces me that it is what it claims to be: "not...the word of men but, just as it truthfully is,..the word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:13) And the Bible does not teach that all religions were initially true.

Can you present a Biblical reference where it says that Bible cannot be corrupted or cannot have human interference?