There are 4,200 different religions in the world today and
no, they do not all worship the same god.
A popular theme among belief systems is some form of afterlife often
distinguishing between rewards for the faithful and punishment or rejection for
the unbeliever. If such a common theme
turns out to be inaccurate then your choice of religion or lack thereof will
have little significance. However, if
there is a heaven and hell and our destination depends entirely upon the
decision we make today then we need to be absolutely certain we make the right
choice.
While most religions hold to this idea of a reward /
punishment scenario, they do not agree on how to achieve the reward and avoid
the punishment. Out of all the possible
religious choices, Christianity stands apart, unique in its approach to both
life and death. While we cannot compare
all religions since there are simply too many, we will take a brief look at the
five largest religions and compare their views on eternity.
Hindus teach the laws of karma. They believe their situation in this present
life is a direct result of their actions in a previous life. Punishment or reward is gained through
reincarnation. If you are poor,
malnourished, neglected, or abused, it is not because someone abused you or
deprived you of food and shelter, no, it’s because of your karma. You must endure punishment for your sins in a
previous life and if I were to help you by giving you food, clothes, a job,
shelter, etc, I would actually be harming you because now you are not receiving
the punishment you deserve and you must now continue to suffer in your next
life because you were aided in this life.
To be free from karma you must endure punishment for previous sins while
you work toward spiritual perfection. There
are three possible ways to end this cycle of karma: 1. Be lovingly devoted to
any of the Hindu deities; 2. Grow in knowledge through meditation of Brahman
(oneness)...to realize that circumstances in life are not real, that selfhood
is an illusion and only Brahman is real; 3. Be dedicated to various religious
ceremonies and rites.
In the new age belief system, you are a god, and so am I. Everyone is a god. As a god, you are the originator, controller
and power over all that is around you. There is no reality outside of what the
reality you determine. Nothing in your
life is wrong or evil. How can it be when
you are controlling your reality?
Negativity and ultimately reality itself is an illusion. You must develop your spiritually to the
degree that there is no objective, external reality. A person, becoming a god,
creates their own reality. And after death
you have your choice of a new plane of existence or reincarnation, likely
dependent on the degree to which you were able to empower your inner godhood
and spirituality. You are on your own,
striving for spiritual perfection.
Buddhist also believe in reincarnation but they do not hold
claim to any god. This world is mired
with hardships, sickness, tragedy, sadness from which there is no escape not
even in death, thanks to the inevitable rebirth of reincarnation. All
these rebirths mean that no one is ever free from suffering. A Buddhist seeks to end these rebirths, to be
free from suffering by not returning to a world of suffering. They believe there are three things which
draws us back into this life, three things which must be severed if we are to
be free from the cycle of rebirth. Buddhists
believe it is a person's cravings, aversion and delusion that cause these
rebirths. Therefore, the goal of a Buddhist is to purify one's heart and to let
go of all yearnings toward sensual desires and the attachment to oneself. One must extinguish the fires of attachment, and
ignorance. By following the Noble
Eightfold Path you start with extinction of the three fires (passion, hate,
delusion), proceed to ceasing all discursive thoughts and apperceptions, then
ceasing all feelings (happiness and sadness) unto nothingness, which leads to
nirvana. Nirvana is not heaven or a
blissful paradise. Nirvana is the
complete cessation of everything, including consciousness and rebirth. Nirvana is the escape from the suffering of
life into nothingness.
Muslims believe there is one god named Allah and they are
his servants. To be a Muslim, one must
follow five religious duties: 1. Repeat a creed about Allah and Muhammad; 2.
Recite certain prayers in Arabic five times a day; 3. Give to the needy; 4. One
month each year, fast from food, drink, sex and smoking from sunrise to sunset;
5. Pilgrimage once in one's lifetime to worship at a shrine in Mecca. At death
a Muslim will be judged by Allah based on one's faithfulness to these duties a
Muslim hopes to enter Paradise. If not, they will be eternally punished in
hell. A sure way to guarantee acceptance is to give up ones life for Allah
(jihad, for example). Good deeds and
disciplined religious rituals are considered essential to enter paradise and
even with these some Muslims will find themselves unworthy. Even the guaranteed entrance of jihad is
still something one must do to prove themselves worth of acceptance by Allah. For those outside of Jihad, how will you ever
know for sure that you have done enough to gain approval?
Christianity believes in one creator God who dearly loves
each aspect of His creation. Humanity
chose to disobey God and to try to find their own way, a decision which
resulted in death and sin. Since the
time of Adam and Eve mankind has been looking for a way to gain favor with God
on their own terms, but while God is love He is also just and cannot accept
anyone guilty of sin. To be sinless one
must be pure of heart, thought and action from the moment of conception until
the moment of death. Any selfish act,
even as a toddler, any pride even in our thoughts, condemns us to an eternity
in hell. God is holy, sinless and pure
and those who follow Him must also be holy, sinless and pure. We try to earn God’s favor through good deeds
and religious rituals to the true God and to the various gods of our
imagination, but our hearts are full of sin so our actions and sacrifices are
tainted with it and unacceptable. We
cannot work our way up to heaven, so God came down to earth. God came to earth as a man named Jesus, born
of virgin in Bethlehem. Jesus lived a
life without sin but paid the penalty for all sin by His death on the
cross. We cannot earn salvation, but God
gives salvation freely if we simply say yes to Jesus.
In short: Hindus = You
must perform ceremonies and realize spiritual truth. New Age = You overcome reality and create
your own reality. Buddhism = you must
let go of all desires and attachments to become nothing. Islam = You must perform the five pillars and
participate in Jihad. Christianity = God
saves you, you just need to let Him.
Perhaps Billy Graham explained it best:
There are many religions in the world, but only one Christianity, for only Christianity has a God who gave Himself for mankind. World religions attempt to reach up to God; Christianity is God reaching down to man”
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