| There are many man-made
religions and gods. But according to the
Bible, there is only ONE true God, "Hear, O Israel:
The LORD our God is one LORD:" (Deuteronomy
6:4)
and
only ONE way to serve Him.
"God
is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)
The true God is the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All the rest are
frauds!
"Understand that I
AM HE: before me there was no God formed, neither
shall there be after me." (Isaiah 43:10)
The God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob.
There are not many paths
to God. Just one--His name is Jesus.
"Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John
14:6)
A
relationship with Jesus Christ, the only begotten
Son of God, cannot be compared to any religious
imitations. Jesus stands alone without
equal.
"Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name which is above every name:" (Philippians
2:9)
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
What distinguishes "Christianity"
from religion?
- Jesus Christ rose
from the dead and was seen by over
500 people. None of the major
religions of this world make the
claim that their leader did this.
They all lay in the grave dried up
carcasses.
- Jesus Christ
offers forgiveness of sins.
Guaranteed, no doubt about it, you
can be forgiven. Muslims can
only hope at best, hope that Allah
will be merciful on them. They
have no assurance of anything.
God; however, has PROMISED to save
all those who come to Him.
"All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me; and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." (John 6:37)
Every
single person on this earth has sinned--lying,
stealing, fornication, etc. Therefore,
we need to be forgiven. If you tell a
Muslim that you did something wrong and ask
him for a solution, he'll shrug his shoulders.
A Hindu will tell you maybe you can get it
right in your next life (which is,
incidentally, considered a curse by those in
the east). A psychiatrist will tell you,
"You need some counseling, step into my
office. Oh, that'll be $200 per hour
once a week." I knew a Buddhist
woman who had been going to her therapist for
20 years and was no closer to relief than the
first day she went! Ask Jesus for
forgiveness and He will say, "I forgive
you and will give to you the water of life
freely." And you will be forgiven!
- Jesus Christ
offers His disciples a relationship
with the God of the universe, unlike
the religions of this world.
Religion requires certain rituals and
rites in an attempt to please God,
hoping that these vain oblations will
work. Most religious services
are synonymous with a funeral.
Buddhists chant to scrolls, giving
food and cigarettes to statues.
These statues cannot speak or hear (Buddhists
even have to light the cigarette
because their god can't do it).
Muslims have to obey strict dietary,
cleansing and cultural laws.
Hindus worship any of a combination
of millions of gods and goddesses
with rites (Shiva, for example, has
six arms!). Catholics do
penance and worship a host of saints
as well as a goddess named Mary.
Some people even claim to be their
own god (which is ridiculous--they
can't even make one hair white or
black as a result of their own will).
- To the Christian,
Jesus Christ is Almighty God, Savior
and Creator. Jesus has provided
the sacrifice necessary to pay for
our transgressions. The blood
sacrifice of Christ pleased God
because it made a way for every man,
woman, boy and girl to know Him.
Even though they had previously been
criminals, who transgressed His holy
laws, Jesus paid the price for those
transgressions. Everyone that
repents of their unbelief, turns to
God in faith and believes in the
death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus becomes a child of God. (Jesus
+ Faith = Salvation)
- Jesus is with the
Christian's morning, noon and night--guiding,
directing, loving, perfecting.
Jesus does this through His Holy
Spirit that dwells within us, and
through His Word. God's Word is
pure and teaches us how to live.
It also shows us how to know the One
True God, not some imitation--
1)
Recognize that He is Holy and without spot .
2)
Recognize that we are sinful and full of
spots.
3)
Recognize that He loves us and sent His Son,
Jesus Christ to die for our sins.
4)
Believe upon God's only Begotten Son.
- Various religions
have their "Holy Books"
which are reported "revelations"
coming through various means (e.g.
dreams); But the origin of the Bible
is quite different. It is
rooted and grounded in history.
It came from the experience of a
specific people (Jews), in
identifiable places, at particular
times. The archaeological
records have only confirmed that the
places and names found in the Bible
are accurate--none have ever
disproved it. The Bible is not
a "Holy Book" in the sense
of esoteric philosophy like all other
"religious" books. It
is holy in the sense that it is God's
Word spoken through His people.
- The Bible does
not contain the characteristic
untruths of other religious books.
In Job, one of the oldest books of
the Bible (written in about 3500 B.C.),
Job wrote, "He [God] hangeth the
earth upon nothing." Back
then, people believed the earth was
on the back of turtles and elephants
and all kinds of strange things--you
will find no such ridiculous
statements in the Bible. The
only way Job could say that the earth
was suspended in air is by the Holy
Spirit of God revealing it to him.
- The Bible is not
a scientific book, but when it speaks
about "scientific" matters,
it is always correct. The Bible
says that "the life of the flesh
is in the blood." This is one of
the most medically accurate
statements that can be made.
The blood carries all kinds of
antibodies, nutrients, etc.
George Washington died because the
doctors (I'm sure they were the best
at the time), bled him to death
thinking that bleeding would help his
condition. They took a quart of
blood at the last bleeding.
They drained his life out of him--"the
life of the flesh is in the blood."
Science was wrong.
When
a man severed his hand in 1988, doctors could
not reattach it immediately because of his
internal injuries. So what did they do? They
attached his hand to blood vessels in his
abdomen to keep it alive and reattached it to
the man's wrist two months later. The blood
flow kept that hand alive--the life of the
flesh is in the blood. The Bible told us this
important fact over 5,000 years ago and
science has only recently agreed. Does that
mean that the Bible was wrong when scientists
said bleeding was the answer? No. Science
simply had not caught up yet.
You
don't find truths like this in the various
religious books but rather myth, superstition,
and human wisdom. How could the
psalmist write about the method of Christ's
death a thousand years before Jesus came down
to this earth? Crucifixion wasn't even
a method of death in Israel when Psalm 22 was
written. The Bible is an awesome book.
If we can trust the Bible for these amazing
insights, can we afford to not believe it
when it comes to life and death and heaven
and hell?
Concerning
manuscript evidence for the Bible, there
is more evidence for the Bible than ANY other
ancient manuscript--including the ones we
use to assemble our history books--
- -
Aristotle - 5 copies available
for comparison
- - Homer -
643 copies available for
comparison
- - Plato -
7 copies available for comparison
- - The
Bible - 30,000 copies available
for comparison (includes
5000+ Greek copies and another 25,000
written in other languages). This
wealth of evidence is simply
staggering.
Other
interesting information--
- The Bible was
the FIRST book ever printed by
moveable type.
- The Bible is
the best-selling Book of all time (press
runs increase every year).
- The Bible is
the most circulated book in the world.
- The Bible is
the most translated book in the world.
- The Bible is
the most loved book in the world.
- The Bible is
the most hated book in the world.
No
book is like the Bible. Millions have
suffered and died for it. It has been
burned. It has been spoken against;
nevertheless, it still stands because Jesus
said,
"Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall NEVER
pass away." (Matthew 24:35)
The
caretakers of the Scriptures, the Jewish
people (an ancient people), are still with us
today and prophesies concerning these people
are still being fulfilled.
God
is not a human, He is a Spirit.
God does not accept our motives based on what
we think to be true. A person can live
their life on this earth without the God of
the Bible while trying to live a good life;
but this is not acceptable to God. The
Bible says that without Jesus, "...all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."
(Isaiah 64:6). We cannot please God
with our humanistic good works. If you
die trusting in those works, God will reject
you. Why?--Because you rejected His Son,
His Beautiful love offering given for you.
For
a Bible-believing Christian like myself, the
most important part of being a disciple of
Jesus Christ is being saved from the wrath to
come, loving my Jesus with all my heart,
receiving His love, and loving others as I
love myself which is a result of loving Jesus.
Many
people admire Christ's teachings of kindness,
forgiveness, and tolerance. These are good
rules to live by. However, it is
impossible to live up to these statutes
without a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Reader, if you are
unsaved, please ask God to reveal Himself to
you. He can be known--
He
is not unknowable like the Hindu says,
He is not unreachable like the Muslim says,
He is not a force (or non-existent) like the
Buddhist says,
You are not alone in this world like the
atheist says; and,
You certainly don't have to be unsure about
His existence like the agnostic says.
Come
to Jesus Christ and you will never spiritually
hunger, thirst or wonder again about Who God is.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is:
"Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light."
--Jesus the Christ
Matthew 11:28-30
One
more time. There is one God; He is the true God.
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is none other. The Bible says so!
"I am the first, and
I am the last; and beside me there is no God."
Isaiah 44:6
"Is there a God
beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any."
Isaiah 44:8
"I am the LORD, and
there is none else, there is no God beside me:
I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me." Isaiah 45:5
"There is no God else
beside me; a just God and a Saviour;
there is none beside me."
Isaiah 45:21
"...there
is none other God but one. For
though there be that are called gods, whether in
heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and
lords many,) But to us there is but one
God, the Father, of whom are all
things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we by him."
1 Corinthians 8:4-6
I have studied many different
religions in my lifetime. As a matter of
fact, I've been doing it for 20 years. I
have yet to discover a religion that makes any
more sense than the plain truth of God's Holy
Word--The Authorized King James Bible. I do
not endorse any religion; religion is the worst
thing that ever happened to this world! My
goal is to lead others to the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who is our salvation.
There is a right answer to
the comparative religion question--His name is
Jesus.
Remember
Friend--Salvation is NOT found in a religion, but
in a Person--THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
Ye
Must Be Born Again!
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