Does the Bible say anything about respecting other religions?

feral

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i would have to say no...due to references about warring with other nations, verses against wicca/witchcraft and passages where god tells his people not to follow the religion of the land they travel to. can't give you exact verses but...do a search at bible.com. i still think it pays to respect those of other faiths. for one...when you are a separatist you miss out on interaction with others, and also how can you share your beliefs in a positive way if you're running down other faiths? pure positive social interaction should be a reason for treating others kindly...even if you don't approve or follow their faith.
 
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Plumbdumb

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16th March 2003 at 09:34 AM KlashBash said this in Post #1

I'm curious, I've heard many Christians that have stated this but I have not found any verses so far that go along with it. 

The answer, if you want the actual words is "No". However if you look at all the verses telling Christians how to behave towards to everyone, including those outside the Faith, the answer would be "Yes". How will you ever show the Love of Christ (which constrains us) to others if you are disrespectful of anything or everything that they are about or believe? The Golden Rule surely applies here.
 
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sbbqb7n16

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Check the 1st commandment in Deut 5....

"I am the Lord thy God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before (or besides) me"

But also "Love thy neighbor as thyself"

We are not to have any other religion besides ours. Nor do I believe that we should repsect any other religion (the religion itself not the people of that religion) The people of the religion, we should love; part of that involves respecting that their decisions are their decisions as other human being just like ourselves. We can only inform them of the grace of Jesus Christ and continue to show His love to them.

Hope this answer helped :) Have a great day!
 
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The Bible calls all other religions "idolatry". While Christians do not have to go around telling them "You are practising idolatry", we are called to proclaim the Gospel -- preach the Lord Jesus Christ. So the positive and godly thing is to proclaim Christ and let the idolators discover for themselves that they do not follow the One who said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but [expect] by me" (John 14:6).
 
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papakapp

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Act 5:29 Then Peter and the [other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

and...
Mat 7:3 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Mat 7:4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?
Mat 7:5 "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

So, if you are going to tell somebody that they are wrong you better make darn sure that you believe what the bible teaches first. If you don't do that then you are condemming yourself.
On the other side of the coin, if somebody tells you that YOU are wrong, you had better make darn sure that THEY believe what the bible teaches first.
In short, always go to the bible for truth.
 
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Gerry

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24th March 2003 at 08:16 PM sbbqb7n16 said this in Post #4

Check the 1st commandment in Deut 5....

"I am the Lord thy God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before (or besides) me"

But also "Love thy neighbor as thyself"

We are not to have any other religion besides ours. Nor do I believe that we should repsect any other religion (the religion itself not the people of that religion) The people of the religion, we should love; part of that involves respecting that their decisions are their decisions as other human being just like ourselves. We can only inform them of the grace of Jesus Christ and continue to show His love to them.

Hope this answer helped :) Have a great day!

Well said!
 
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I don't see why Christians should not respect other religions.
To separate a religion from its adherents is to suppose some sort of life for an abstract concept - I don't think it is possible to hate the religion but respect the people in it.

I definitely think that "do unto others..." implies a respect for those others. Whatever they choose to do, and whatever we feel about it. That does not mean you cannot witness for Christ, but it does mean that we should respect the choices other people make - if someone wants to follow another religion, we have no right to stop them nor to try to deny them anything we have based on their religious choice.

When I needed a neighbour
were you there?
and the creed and the colour and the name don't matter
were you there?
("When I Needed a Neighbour" - Sydney Carter)
 
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I personally do not believe in "religion". I am not religious. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. "Religion" is what's wrong with the world today. Too much religion & not enough relationship with God. My KJV Bible states that there is only one true God, so I do not & will not "respect" nor sympathize nor consort with other "religions", "faiths", "beliefs", etc. I read previously that we "should respect other religions as it's the christian thing to do". I'm sorry, but I can not "respect" claims & beliefs that fly in the face God's Holy Word. Jim Jones had his set of beliefs, and he took them with him as he & his followers committed suicide. The ancient south american cultures had their beliefs, wich lead them to sacrifice friends & family to various & sundry "gods". Respect other "religions"? Not me. I'll stick with my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, thank you!
 
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aggie03

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I do not believe that you should respect other religions, put simply, they are wrong. As far as how we shoudl act toward others who are members of another religion - I believe that the Bible teaches we should act toward them personally with patience and meekness in teaching them the Truth - but respecting their religion - no.
 
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tulc

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How many of US can be separated from our Christianity? By that I mean when someone asks (or even if they DON'T ask) do you identify yourself as a Christian, a follower of Jesus? Do you want people to respect that? How can we do any less?
Just a thought.
tulc
 
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I do not respect other religions as truth, and I attempt to present God's Word as truth to followers of other religions. However, I do respect their right to choose another religion. I will not use any type of violent force on someone over religion, although I will not respect that religion in particular as valid or true.
 
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It really is similar to the "hate the sin, love the sinner" idea. Do I respect Islam? Not in the least, but I'm not going to go into my opinion on that here. However, a person who is a Muslim is a person. I respect them as a person, but don't force me or ask me to tolerate the religion.
 
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vajradhara

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Namaste all,

i hear quite a bit of agreement on the "i'm not respecting another's religion" theme and some agreement on "well, i respect them as people" theme and no agreement that any other view is valid.

actually, i didn't really expect that much of a different response, though one can always hope that intolerance and hatred can be overcome.

i would posit that one cannot simply choose to label someone as they see fit and then expect that other person to not do the same. if you choose to say that my religion is worthless yet i, as a person, have worth then you will only close my ears to your words, correct or not. for some people there is no speration between "them" and thier "religion" so by disparaging the one you disparage the other.

i suspect that most Christians would not be too happy to have others discounting their religion and beliefs and it amazes me that the thought here is that another faith tradition may accept that type of critisim and still listen with an open mind to anything that one might say, let alone regarding an alternate faith tradition.

~compassionately~
 
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