Are all religions the same?
Can you believe in every religion at the same time? The answer is no. All religions have fundamental beliefs. The problem is that these fundamental beliefs contradict each other. For example, many Hindus believe in an impersonal God while Christians and Muslims believe in a personnel God. Christians believe that Jesus is God was raised from the dead. Muslims deny both of these ideas. Jesus was either raised from the dead or he was not. You cannot believe that he was both raised and still dead without having a contradiction in your mind. Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born a Hindu but disagreed with Hindu teachings and started Buddhism. Why did he feel this was necessary if all religions are the same? All religions contradict each other in very fundamental ways. They cannot all be true. The truth excludes the false. Some people say all religions are the same because all religions talk about love and justice. But we need to investigate more deeply into this matter. If a religions talks about love, what is the foundation for this love. Many Buddhists believe in an impersonal god and therefore this "god" cannot love. Some people worship idols made my men. How can an idol made of metal love? How can a piece of metal bring justice to the world? It can not. On the other hand, the Christian God is a personnel God. The Christian God is love. The Christian God has shown this love throughout history and by sending Jesus into the world. Either this is true or it is not. Muslim's believe in justice but justice without love is empty justice. Enforcing the harsh justice found in Muslim law. But if the law is not based on love it is not justice at all. (You can judge a tree by it's fruit!) If love is a high virtue, which religion empowers you to love? A religion based on many rituals or based on stone idols can empower nobody to love.
In summary, beliefs in religions should not be irrational Suppose one man believe 1+1=2 and a second man believe 1+1=3 and a third man believes 1+1=4. And suppose a fourth man comes and says "I have carefully studied this and I believe that all three of you are right!" Which man is the most foolish? In the same way, to believe all religions are true is to believe a contradiction. We must not think in that way. Some people say that all religions are fundamentally the same but only superficially different. Actually the opposite is true. The world's religions are only superficially the same but are fundamentally different. The truth is important. The truth is the truth whether or not you believe it. Since your eternal destiny depends on the truth, it is very important to discover which religion is true.
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The foundation of religions is not just in what type of God they believe, it is in practices and deeds. If Buddha saw err in the ways of Hindu, he would not practice it. He must understand what is right, and live it. And many of the major religions have love as major part of the foundation. Just because one is Hindu or Muslim does not mean one is unable to love.
ReplyDeleteGod can also not be labeled so generally as personal or impersonal. "We say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse," A wall between us and Him, when there is not.