The media today is filled with news about competing religions and faith value systems. The general thrust is man should respect each system. Each system advances its views with the sincere convictions of convinced adherents! However, their teachings are widely divergent! What is acceptable human activity in one system is absolutely not acceptable in another. On the other hand essential “godly” worship in one is an abhorrent “ungodly” offense in another! The major religious choices are: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism; or, atheism.
Some Ethics systems are basically human philosophy-not involving “god.” There have been-and are-many other choices! But is God confused and divided within His teachings? How can you know the truth with so many choices? You can not do what is acceptable in one religion but not another and be acceptable to “varying” gods. There must be only one God and one truth, not many gods and many truths. Man’s religious history proves that on his own initiative man has never identified or originated communication with true GOD or His Truth!Mankind has constantly erred in his futile but seemingly-to man at least-sincere attempts to access God! Such attempts result in multiple impotent fake “religious and value systems.” Our eternal spirit actually perceives nothing beyond man’s finite and materially orientated mind which can only dwell on the creation and not the spiritual uncreated Creator. Finite Man can not initiate communication with the Infinite, Spiritual life of God; or, learn His value system! Our inherent spiritual hopelessness has persisted un-enhanced by man’s wisdom since creation!
From time immemorial, mankind has uselessly created myriads of false religions to access “god.” Man “deified” the sun, heavenly bodies, serpents, animals, man-animals: and, mythological super-beings molded in the image of finite perishable man! Man has carved wood, chiseled stone, molded metal images and, in ungodly wisdom, laid aside his tools and sincerely prostrated himself before those images in worshipful submission, even adoration; and, even sought guidance and assistance in supernatural “signs” from “gods.”
The existing proof of our ‘ungodly’ wisdom is reflected in ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Babylon, South America, etc. Mankind has laboriously built thousands of useless temples at great effort and expense worldwide from the beginning to venerate phantoms; and, unknown millions have slavishly but sincerely worshipped in fear, been murdered, endured temple prostitution, fought wars, suffered agony, offered in sacrifice, and; then in individual fearful circumstances, uselessly and hopelessly pleaded for assistance from their particular phantom! They prayed to the wind! But it was for them “sincere.” Many of those massive religious edifices to phantom gods are today simply amazing tourist attractions! No phantom god is worshipped there today? Where are those “gods” who mesmerized nations? How many millions over the centuries have spent their lives worshipping and then dying in fear of Ra, Osiris, and Isis (Queen of Heaven) in Egypt; Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, and Athena in Greece; Jupiter, Venus and Mars in Rome; Ahura Mazda in Persia, Marduk and Ashur in Babylon: Baal and Astarte (Queen of Heaven) in the ancient Near East or Thor or Odin in Viking nations. How many other hundreds we can not name? Especially in South America! We even foolishly consider ourselves much wiser today because we worship “our” phantoms-not “their” phantoms. Unknown millions suffered uselessly and the stark standing stones of those temples are a testimony to man’s ungodly wisdom in worshipping apparitions that never existed to begin with and whose memories and worship services have now vanished like mist before the sun, along with multiple millions of deluded humans lives.
Man’s finite religions, cultures, wisdom and philosophies; now and in the past, spawn and promote: strife, terror, ignorance, hypocrisy, bigotry, covetousness, murder, destruction of families, sexual lust, homosexuality, hatred, abortion, fornication, theft, adultery, wars, lawlessness, helplessness, etc. We seemingly exist to harm one another as individuals or collectively in national wars! Has this planet EVER known peace?
Our present ignorant hopelessness also embraces false phantom religions from Arabia, India, and China. Want religion? Pick one! Don’t like it? Be safe!! Pick two! Is it multiple choices or the luck of the draw? Perhaps place of birth?
Is the alternative for man to simply respect one another in peace? Has man ever done it? Strife is our nature! That is why the world is full of violence! If our nature was peaceful strife in the world would cease! Peace would instead prevail! Our individual lives, which consist of thoughts offensive to God and actions offensive to Mankind, shout our individual spiritual ungodliness and physical lawlessness. We need help! Bad!! God must initiate access to us!
The infinite God’s Spirit Life and Word are alien to us. We naturally resist them! Nonetheless, The Anointed One was sent from and revealed true God to us! Who dares to appropriate such authority? Who dares to announce He is the Son of God? Has God rejected Him or has God confirmed His testimony by raising Him from the dead? Mankind-characteristically-continues eons of godless wisdom and rejects God’s Word. Nevertheless, the gift from God for those who trust Him and His Word is undeserved forgiveness of sin, undeserved regeneration and peace with God through our simple faith in the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. True man is completed in Jesus Christ-not Adam! Jesus’ words from the cross could be translated: “It is completed!” In other words “Mission accomplished,” While being without sin Himself God chose through His Word to reside in a weak human physical body and experience the same daily testing, without sin, we generally have in the same flesh we have. Because of that He has compassion on us in our weakness and failures in sin; and, and gave his sinless human body on the cross to provide means of sin forgiveness. He did not come to condemn us and punish us for them-sin is a cancer to the spirit and has miserable enough consequences with out God’s intervention to additionally punish-but to remove the separating effect from Him of past sins and renew us. He cleanses us! He desires no one should perish! We actually condemn ourselves in rejecting our only hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ! Do you trust The Word sent from God or words from man? Will your “religion” be here hundreds of years from now? Where will you be? Many of the “state supported religions” that existed in the Roman world when Jesus was born Two Thousand years ago are gone; and, despite state persecution of Him since His birth-which persecution still exists, Christianity is still here and world wide! Study the New Testament about Jesus Christ! December is traditionally celebrated as the month of the birth of His purely human body. He is the “seed” of the woman. Genesis 3, 14-16.
Jim S. Brooks, Roebuck, SC