comprehend said:Believing what I do about God, yes.
To non-theists, that sounds like them's fightin' words.
Peace,
Mystic
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comprehend said:Believing what I do about God, yes.
jhavali said:Making the Test
Following are a few questions that should help you to see whether your religion adheres to the Bible. Answer the inquiries as you read them. Then ponder what the Bible has to say. If yours is the true religion it will be in harmony with the Bible........
YmirGF said:I am a proponent of "spiritual anarchy" and wouldn't recommend that one bother with the fables of the worlds religions unless you have slightly masochistic tendencies. Why do you even "need" a religion? Listen to that little whisper within yourself and don't fret over which books to read. Your inner self will teach you far more than any religion of man can. Try it. You might like it.
jhavali said:Making the Test
Following are a few questions that should help you to see whether your religion adheres to the Bible. Answer the inquiries as you read them. Then ponder what the Bible has to say. If yours is the true religion it will be in harmony with the Bible. Since the King James Version is perhaps the Bible most commonly used in English-speaking countries, all references will be from it in making this doctrinal test, though you will find the same truth in any other Bible translation.It is important that you make such a test. If you are not certain what your religion teaches, then, by all means, find out. Then examine its teachings in the light of Gods Word. See if these are supported by the Bible. If they are not, reject that religion. Locate the religion whose teachings are in harmony with the Bible. Yes, heed the Bible admonition: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."1 Thess. 5:21.
First, does your religion teach the "Trinity" doctrine, which claims that Almighty God and Jesus Christ and the holy spirit are three persons combined to make one God? Does it say that the Son, Jesus Christ, is coeternal and coequal with the Father, Jehovah God?
Now consider what the Bible says on this matter: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5) Thus, God is one person, and Jesus is no part of God but is the mediator between God and man. Jesus, too, said: "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord." (Mark 12:29) And of himself Jesus said: "I am the Son of God." (John 10:36; see also Luke 1:32.) So rather than Jesus being God or a part of God, the Bible speaks of him as the Son of God.
Are Jehovah God and Christ Jesus coeternal, as the "Trinity" doctrine claims? Of Jehovah the Bible says: "From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." Also, it calls him "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity." (Ps. 90:2; Isa. 57:15) Hence he was not born, was not created; he had no beginning. But note that the Bible calls Jesus Christ "the firstborn of every creature," and "the beginning of the creation of God."Col. 1:15; Rev. 3:14.
And what about their being coequal? Those who teach the "Trinity" believe that they are. But Jesus said: "My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) And the Bible, at Mark 13:32, says that the Father has knowledge of important information of which the angels and the Son are ignorant. Obviously, then, Jesus and the Father are not equal. How does your religion compare with what these scriptures teach? It should agree with them if yours is the true religion.
Make the test on another fundamental teaching. Does your religion teach that the soul is immortal, which means it cannot die? Note what the Bible says: "None can keep alive his own soul." (Ps. 22:29) "He hath poured out his soul unto death." (Isa. 53:12) "Every living soul died." (Rev. 16:3) "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezek. 18:4, 20) The Bible answer is obvious. It teaches that souls are mortal, that they can and do die. Does your religion teach that? It should if it is the true one.
Try another question. Does your religion teach that only the wicked go to hell, that hell is a place of fire and that none are resurrected from hell? The Bible says that Jesus Christ was in hell three days and was resurrected from there. In a prophecy concerning him, it explains: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [sheol]; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:31) Also, Jonah was a man that was as in hell and got out alive. When swallowed by a big fish, Jonah said: "Out of the belly of hell [sheol] cried I." (Jonah 2:2) Where was Jonah? In the fishs belly, and there was no fire there!
What, then, is hell? Let us see from the Bible. At Genesis 37:35 Jacob, one of Jesus forefathers, when mourning for his son Joseph, whom he thought to be dead, lamented: "I will go down into the grave [sheol] unto my son mourning." Here the American Standard Version leaves the Hebrew word sheol untranslated; the King James Version renders it "grave," but the Catholic Douay Version renders it "hell." Obviously sheol, or hell, is mankinds common grave. And note that the Bible says: "Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." (Rev. 20:13) Yes, all those in hell are to be resurrected! Does your religion teach this? Since the Bible does, so will the true religion.
Now for another question. Does your religion teach that the dead are conscious? The inspired Scriptures say: "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing." (Eccl. 9:5) "The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." (Ps. 115:17) So, according to the Bible, the dead are not conscious. However, they have the grand prospect of being raised from unconsciousness by means of a resurrection from the dead.John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.
You can also very easily make the test in connection with other teachings. For example, does your religion teach that Christians are still under the Mosaic law, and that the observance of a weekly sabbath day is therefore binding upon them? (Rom. 6:14; Col. 2:16, 17) Does your religion permit any praying or bowing before images in worship? (Lev. 26:1; 1 Cor. 10:14) Does it allow the eating of blood? (Lev. 17:12-14; Acts 15:28, 29) Does it have a clergy class upon which it bestows titles such as "Father" and "Reverend"? (Matt. 23:9; Job 32:21, 22) The scriptures here cited show that the true religion does not teach or practice any of these things.
Greetings FREE. I see that you found the same religion that I follow - "my own." Just kidding, but why not love all the great religions, take the eclectic approach for their perennial truths, and be your own religion, and your own spiritual being. My belief is that each and every religion has the same source that is also the same as their aim - a human being who has realized union with God.FREEtoTHINK said:Which religion is the correct one to follow? There are more than 200 in existance and most of the stances of the religions are that there is only one true religion. SO, which one is right? :help:
Yes, I like to call the ego "etching God out."wizanda said:I would follow Oneness and not EGO...simplest religion known
Kcnorwood said:Then again he might follow a path that has no gods, would that be so terrible?
comprehend said:Believing what I do about God, yes.
Good thought, Tlcmel, believe you and wizanda have something there.Tlcmel said:Yes, I like to call the ego "etching God out."wizanda said:I would follow Oneness and not EGO...simplest religion known
(frubals when I get them in, lol )
Thank you!autonomous1one1 said:Good thought, Tlcmel, believe you and wizanda have something there.
FREEtoTHINK said:Which religion is the correct one to follow? There are more than 200 in existance and most of the stances of the religions are that there is only one true religion. SO, which one is right? :help: