How do we know our 'religion' is the right one?

How do we know our religion is the right one?

  

First off, I would like to say that Christianity isn’t necessarily a religion. It’s a relationship. We don’t need to keep up traditions or do certain things to be perfect or to have a relationship with Him. He didn’t die for us to go right ahead and say, “yes, You died for me, but I still need to do this or do that to be able to live in Heaven after I die.” No. That’s why He died. He died for us because there was/is nothing we can do to get into heaven by ourselves!

So He made a way.

Now I’m going to be completely honest.

There is no easy way to explain it. Once you ask this question, you ARE NOT going to get a straight answer. So hang on and bear with me as I try my best. Please know that I am human, so obviously I am not perfect. This will not be a perfect example so please don’t expect it to be! J With that being said (just to make sure we have clarity), I can dive into this post.

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According to the CNS News, 136,582,200 people in the world are atheists. That may seem like a lot, but in reality it is only 2.0% of the earth’s population. Also according to the CNS News, those numbers are predicted to drop down to 1.8% of the world’s population (which is 136,685,000 people approximately) in 2020. You may be thinking, what the heck does this have to do with religion?

Whether you believe so or not, it has A LOT to do with religion.

Hang on as I explain.

So. Let’s take out our pencils and paper, because to fully understand what an atheist is, you need to know what the word atheist means.

A – thi – est:

“A person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.”

Ok. So, an atheist is somebody who doesn’t believe God exists (or gods). Pretty simple. But what makes them believe what they do, that there isn’t a god somewhere out there in the universe. A lot of times it’s because they have went through hardships and they believed God would get them through, but He had a different plan. And as simple as that, just because they didn’t get their way, they stop believing in God because He let something ‘bad’ happen to them. So they believe, “if God supposedly loves everybody, then why does He let terrible things happen to us daily? Wouldn’t He want His creation to be happy?”

The short answer is, yes. God does want us to be happy. But happiness doesn’t come from within us, it comes from within trust in God. If we trust that God knows what is best for us, and that His plan is ultimately better than anything we could’ve planned for ourselves, then we realize that we don’t need to worry about the future because His plan always works for the benefit of others.

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

So there you go. The struggles that God sometimes let come our way is to not hurt us or to harm us, but to prepare us for a future filled with hope and joy.

Atheists are also almost always evolutionists. They believe the world came about by ‘random chance’ not by ‘intelligent design’ which is what Christians believe; God being the intelligent designer.

I just laugh and shake my head when I hear this. Random chance?

Take two fingers . . . and lay them on your wrist. Do you feel the steady, rhythmic beat pulsing beneath your skin? That’s blood surging through you veins on the way to your heart. With each beat, blood is pumped in and out. Random chance?

Look at yourself in the mirror. Those lovely eyes and unique face unlike anybody else’s in the world. Random chance?

Take a look around you at the beautiful world. The white snow in the winter? The crisp, beautiful colors of leaves in the Fall? The luscious green grass and soft dirt in the Summer? The wet April showers and beautiful designs of the multi-colored flowers in the Spring? Random chance?

The beautiful fish in the sea and the amazing creatures that soar in the sky. Random chance? How can that possibly be?

Don’t you see? THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY THAT THE WORLD AROUND US WAS CREATED BY A RANDOM SERIES OF EVENTS! THE WORLD HAD TO BE DESIGNED BY AN INTELLIGENT BEING.

It blows my mind that people actually believe in this stuff and use their entire life to study it.

So, in my opinion, Atheism is crossed out for me. Many people would say that Atheism isn’t a belief, but that’s not true. Everybody believes in something. Atheist’s believe that their isn’t a God. So they do believe in something.

So that leads us to believe that there is a God. But which one is the right one? There are many so called ‘gods’. Islam/Muslims believe in a god called Allah. Hindus have many gods! Catholics believe in the same God that Christians basically do. They believe that Jesus died and rose, but they also believe that Jesus’ death isn’t enough. They follow strict rules and traditions. Maybe, just maybe, if you listen to the priest, follow the pope, and obey those guidelines, you’ll pass Purgatory and get into heaven. Now, please don’t get me wrong. I believe that you can be Catholic and still a Christian, I do. If you follow traditions and guidelines and yet know that it doesn’t save you, and you have believed in the name of Jesus, I believe that you are a Christian. However, if you are Catholic and believe that your identity of being Catholic saves you, then I believe that is not having a personal relationship with Christ. Plus Catholics also believe in worshiping past saints, which goes against the commandment that says, “You shall worship none other than me (God).” (word in parenthesis is mine for clarity.)

Jehovah Witnesses are similar to Catholics in that they rely on tradition to be their savior.

So which one is right? There are so many religions/faiths/beliefs out there we can get tangled up in a labyrinth of which one is true!

But they can’t all be right, right? Only one is right. Every religion has one thing in common: god is at it’s base. Not the God who Christians believe in, but a god who people have confused with the God! You could look in one place looking for God and wind up seeing something else. You will be led by what you want to believe, rather than finding the true God. We need to seek the truth, not seek what we want to find. That is a very real danger that people suffer with daily! People think they want something, so they look for that, not the truth which is what will set them free!

It is obvious that each religion of the world has a base, and I already said that it is a god, not the God. But there is a person/group of people that helped to kindle the flame which gradually grew until it was a shining blaze of supposed ‘truth’.

So, again, which one is correct?

For our answer, I’m going to go to the Bible.

Isn’t that where it all started? Where Christianity got it’s basis? But what if it’s incorrect and flawed? What if somebody randomly started writing the Bible and it was gradually added on to over the years? Many people think this is very possible. In fact, they think it’s probable! After all, there was no eye-witness for the creation of the earth besides the Creator Himself? But where did the Creator come from?

You see, we could get tangled up and up until we are unable to think from all of the questions we have burdened ourselves with! So I am going to give you a very simple answer as to where God came from:

Nowhere. There is no way to prove that God exists. Our human minds just cannot wrap around the fact that God came from nowhere. He was just always there. People might protest, saying, “That is extremely unlikely! How can God just always exist, coming out of nowhere?”

That is where I say, “I gotcha! It is just as unlikely for a big bang or a random series of events to take place for the world just suddenly be here!”

So which one is correct? Random chance, or God? ‘Cause I’m going to need to go back to Atheism for my next point, guys.

So. The Bible is the most Historically-proved document in History. Everything in the New Testament and pretty much everything in the Old Testament aligns with the known History of the world! (I say almost everything in the Old Testament because Scientists obviously don’t agree on God creating the world, Adam and Eve, Noah and the Great Flood, and the Tower of Babel.)

Many would say that the Bible has many contradictions, but actually they are all complimentary towards further facts and evidence. The Bible is correct!

So if everything else in the Bible is correct, then would you be surprised if the account of Creation in Genesis is correct as well?

I wouldn’t be at all.

Mohammed spread the ‘truth’ about Islam and that the angel Gabriel came to him in a dream. There is only one eye-witness for this supposed account: Mohammed himself.

However, the Bible has thousands of witnesses and writers who didn’t contradict each other over a span of 2,000 years.

There is no way of knowing whether or not Christianity is ‘the real deal’. But there is so much evidence for God’s presence in our daily lives.

So, where do you stand?

Love you guys! Talk to you soon!

~Em