What are other religious people doing wrong?

[alexiscurious]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

 

[1watchman]

Therein is the problem! Other religious people are also following religions instead of the Savior. Salvation is clearly in devotion to the Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, and not in religious works and beliefs. That is understanding Christianity. If one does not receive the Lord Jesus into their heart and live for Him, they will have no part in the Creator-God ---the heavenly Father (see your Bible in John 1; John 3; John 14); and make special note of John 14:6 and read 1 Jn. 5:10-12.

 

[oi_antz]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

Belief vs truth. Christians do it too. We get attached to our beliefs and are afraid to have them challenged by the truth. See Matthew 7:13 in this context.

 

[Hospes]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

It seems you are saying the direction - i.e. goal - of a person's religious "steps" is irrelevant to the correctness of a religion.

 

[writtenwordministries]

It's a great question. It can almost seem as though God revealed Himself to some people and not to others. So, does this mean that those to whom God did not reveal Himself cannot be held liable because they didn't know? Will others be saved in spite of their false religion? Do they all lead to the same place? Or does this make God a sadistic God, saving some and not others?

I was an agnostic before becoming a Christian and I wrestled with those questions. Twenty some years after conversion, I still don't have all the answers. I know that in the beginning God was known to all men (according to Genesis) and as men separated into nations, some abandoned the worship of God and began to worship visible things within nature. (It talks about that in the opening chapter of Romans.) When Christ came, He said that He was the "Way, the truth, and the life" and that nobody could come to God except through Him--that being the way through His sacrificial death on the cross. The message of the Christian faith has gone out to all the ends of the earth, in one form or another and at one time or another. Some accept it, some reject it.

What do they do wrong? World religions teach that through certain human behaviors or actions one can be saved. Christianity teaches that no matter what we do, we can't save ourselves. If we can, through good work, behavior, or sacrifice, make heaven our home, then why did God have to come down to earth to save us from our sin? If Jesus is who He said He is--and the resurrection is historical proof backing up His claims--then faith in our own ability to save ourselves won't cut the mustard.

I do believe that God is the righteous Judge and that He will judge each one of us in fairness. There's a lot we don't know and understand, but I trust in that fact. I would also point out Romans 2:12-16, which seems to imply a standard of God's judgment on those who obey God without naturally being in the faith. Hope that helps.

 

[dcalling]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

Very simple:

Islam: Quran says Jews/Christians to be judged by Bible, yet most Muslims says Bible is corrupt/lost.

Buddhism: Claims we can archive tranquil levels by ourselves, and yet it turned out we (Jew/Christians/Muslims/Buddhists/Atheists) are all rotten.

 

[Albion]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

They are not the same, however. Christianity rests upon a number of assumptions and certain evidence. The founders of other religions simply popularized some ideas that they picked up from older people or, in the case of most Eastern religions, they don't posit the existence of a God at all--not as we understand the term. They're philosophies more than religions. Christianity alone teaches a personal God and one who showed himself to Man.

 

[com7fy8]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking?

It's not about taking steps which we can understand and control by ourselves. In Christianity our Father changes us and guides us.

It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do.

Ok, there are people who call themselves Christians, but they only and mainly hold to a group of beliefs and practices of each group's culture, and being nice to their neighbor the way they can control themselves to act nice. They can be copy-catting religious culture, instead of being truly changed by God. So, this is why some people calling themselves Christian can seem like people of other religions, Alex.

They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood.

This can work in different ways. Ones can be just parroting what they have been told. Others do not keep on with what their parents gave them. And kids can discover how their parents might name Jesus but their parents have not been able to live in Jesus Christ's "rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-30). And children may go along with copy-catting their parent's religion . . . until they discover they are not happy and satisfied . . . while they also discover how their parents are only practicing but not deeply peaceful and sound people in God's love; so they decide not to go along with the game.

They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

Not all nominal Christians are concerned with the miracles of Jesus; they are mainly trying to keep up with each other so they don't stand out while they live their lives . . . or try to live . . . the way they want.

Even in born-again culture, people can do some sort of repenting in thought and feeling only and say the prayer they are told to say; but they do not change . . . if they were only copy-catting what they thought they were being told to do. Only our Father can change us so we are peaceful and pleasing to Him in His love.

 

[doomsayer2]

It seems to be the main thing most religious people do wrong is focus on the things that are least important in God's eyes,the same as what the scribes and pharisees were doing causing Christ to rebuke them on several occassions. To me it's obvious that they lacked true humility. Which is evident by one's lack of true joy and/or contentment. And one's attitude of being non-confrontational in condemning those of other faiths.
The two shortest verses in the Bible are back to back,in 2Thessalonians-5:16-17...
"Rejoice evermore....Pray without ceasing." Of course there is "Jesus wept" as well,which is also something they seem to know little about,as far as being compassionate.
I guess Muslims probably have the prayer part down good,just as devout orthodox Jews did and still do for the most part. But even the verses just prior to this seem to point to a NON-religious mindset.
"...comfort the feeble-minded,support the weak,be patient toward ALL MEN."
"See that none render evil for evil unto any man."(2Thess.5:14,15)
And wishing death on the infidels kind of doesn't sit well even in the minds of non-Christians or anyone with any common sense at all! But true humility is simply having the mind of CHRIST and walking as He did. AND learning to REJOICE in all circumstances. But it's impossible to have this perspective when you believe even those of your own family should be disowned if they defect from your religion,if they are lucky enough to avoid a death sentence!
Of course i'm leaving out quite a few other religions/faiths but I feel the same advice applies to them as well. And I know most of them would disagree and feel they have enough good deeds and what not to inherit eternal life or whatever they feel awaits them on the "other side". But I thought I was a humble-minded person before I came to know Christ as Saviour,only to find out just how selfish and conceited i could be,and was all along. It's inside of us all whether you realize it or not. And there's only ONE atonement that can release you from it.

 

[Albion]

bump

 

[Job8]

I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him

Alex,
Since there is only ONE true and living God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) there is no such thing as "your God" vs "my God". All false gods are demons and Satan -- the worst false god -- is called "the god of this world" because he deceives the bulk of humanity.

The issue is not whether others are doing something right or wrong. The primary issue is WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE FOR YOU in His death, burial, and resurrection? "Other religious people" have no clue about this.

RELIGION = MAN + GOOD DEEDS = HOPE OF HEAVEN

BIBLE CHRISTIANITY = CHRIST ALONE = CERTAINTY OF HEAVEN

 

[TheyCallMeDave]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

What other religions are doing wrong is : They are trusting in pulling up of their bootstraps in a personal effort to win Gods favor toward them, they are attempting to act morally , and they are often riding on the coat-tails of their parents religion.....all in an effort to one day make it to heaven . Christianity is the only world religion that has God reaching down to mankind in paying for everyones sins as a totally undeserved free gift made by another , the very Son of God on the cross. The completely innocent for the guilty . And to back up that Jesus Christ was authentic and trustworthy in what he said and taught on how to get to heaven, he fulfilled over 300 prior prophecies made in advance of his coming , he himself claimed to be God in the flesh, that he would die and conquer death demonstrating that he was the real deal and that we all can have a deep personal relationship with him as Savior , King, and our Creator. All other competing religions are centered around doing religious things, striving to earn heaven, partaking in ceremonies , traditions, and trying to be good thru personal meritorious works. That's the difference.

 

[lupusFati]

Religion kind of messed me up. A lot. Still trying to heal from that damage.

 

[Another Lazarus]

All people will die we all know.

But Jesus has been resurrected and defeated death. This is what God is trying to tell you.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

May Jesus bless u all HalleluYAH

 

[Chicken Little]

Belief vs truth. Christians do it too. We get attached to our beliefs and are afraid to have them challenged by the truth. See Matthew 7:13 in this context.

I don't think it is "afraid" we all have gifts and not everyone gift is gabby and wordy . and it takes a
word type of person to enjoy or even value this kind of communication on these sites . and that ain't me
it took me 10 year to learn to type my fingers don't move well. and I don't see well.
but he told me to do some things so I tried . I think I failed but who knows.
either way it isn't my responsibility to convince anyone of anything . I can only provide the information and they chose to learn it or not . it is all about where your standing and your view..
I have no calling to save the unsaveable I only do IRL . but I know others might and will try . all I can do is pray for them maybe because they were brave in that arena and maybe it is just their calling and they find it fun. . but that doesn't mean those who don't are scared either.

 

[TheyCallMeDave]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

All the other world religions are trusting in their own meritorious works and deeds to find favor with God, they don't have a divine Savior who paid the price entirely , and they don't see Christ as God the Creator. Instead, they practice religiousity but not a personal relationship with CHrist whos the only one that can save.

 

[TheyCallMeDave]

Religion kind of messed me up. A lot. Still trying to heal from that damage.

That's because religion is man based while a personal relationship in CHrist is divine based. The former will always come with pitfalls and legalism while the latter comes with the truth according to Gods plan . Religion requires you to submit and surrender to an Institution and its madeup traditions, while submission to Jesus allows him to come into your Soul and life to remake you into his image. Im sorry you got caught up in the brainwashing part of religion and not the real thing. You still can by simply asking Jesus to come into your life, that you need him , that you are trusting his atonement to cancel your many accumulated sins. Allow him to REMAKE you by being obedient and from having the Lord as your strength for doing life successfully. In the end, you go to Heaven because you died IN Christ.

 

[FatalHeart]

In Romans 1:20-? it clearly shows that all men know God, but that some have rejected Him in their vain thinking to worship other things. I do not believe it is referring to something that happened in the past, but is the past tense and Bible's judgment on the human condition. That being said Romans also goes on to say that only through the Spirit do men escape sin and that the flesh cannot please God. Now, that being said, later in Ephesians 1:13, it talks about getting this Spirit through faith in what Christ did for your sins on the cross. So, to recap, one cannot please God without faith in Christ, meaning, all other religions, and the good they do, are an affront to God. One must look at the real result of someone's actions. I can feed the poor in the name of Hitler, which happened before he used that country to murder people. A deceiving action, no matter how good it looks, is still filled with pride and self glorification, self delusion, and, in the instances of a false religion, an attempt on the eternal life of the recipient in order to make the giver feel better about his fallen state. Although God uses your shameful rejection of Him to bless others in this instance, that doesn't make it any less detestable. "He who does not sow with me scatters." A loving action is not one that leads people to hell.

 

[com7fy8]

Religion kind of messed me up. A lot. Still trying to heal from that damage.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27)

So, in my opinion it is not Biblical "religion" witch messed you up. We can fool our own selves and not even know it, and get ourselves messed by phony religion. We can fool our own selves into trusting a wrong thing that hurts us, and then cleverly blame real Christianity for how a false thing got us hurt; that is clever mental witchcraft.

Someone can do this sort of thing with men, too. If a man has hurt you, you can then say all men are untrustworthy, letting one evil person trick you into judging all by what one has done. And some people can have character making them able to attract only to other selfish people who hurt them; then they blame men or all people or Christianity, when their own character brought them to wrong people and their own character makes them dishonest with themselves so they blame the people and the Christianity which are real and good. And then they stew in their clever curses they brew for themselves.

One thing missing from worldly religions, including Christian counterfeits of "pure and undefiled religion", is how people are not keeping themselves "unspotted from the world."

Ones do not keep themselves from being spoiled by fear, for just one example. They can be very religious and respectable, but slaves of fear. Ones can let worry keep on lying to them and keep on abusing them, even while they would never keep on trusting some human who lied to them or abused them, even once. Worry is a pathological lier and abuser which can hurt a person more than what some one-time abuser might do to hurt someone. But people keep on trusting and even obeying their worry.

We need to trust and obey Jesus.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." (1 John 4:17)

"fear of death" is slavery to Satan > please see Hebrews 2:14-15.

But there are plenty of people who claim to be Christians, but they keep on being available to Satanic effects of fear and worry. God can cure our nature so evil things can't get the better of us. So, it is not enough only to do humanitarian things for "orphans and widows"; we need also to become strong in God's love with His sweetly soothing immunity almighty against fear and worry and their torments of personality.

Our sin, of our own selfish nature, makes us weak so we can give in to cruel feelings and emotions of different sorts of fear; so religions are wrong, because they do not tell us this and make us aware of how God alone is able to cure our character so we can not be spotted by evil things.

 

[Hawkins]

Can anyone tell me what wrong steps other religious people are taking? It seems obvious that all the other religious people of the world are taking the exact same steps Christians do. They trust what their parents tell them about their god and unquestionably retain this information throughout adulthood. They trust that the miracles and events their ancestors witnessed, wrote about, and passed down in their book were correct. I have trouble understanding how their method is faulty when your God requires the same steps for a belief in him.

By default, everyone is subject to an older covenant with a set of Law. The Jews is with a covenant granted together with a set of Law, which is the Mosaic Law. Gentiles are in the same situation.

The New Covenant on the other, is for a human to choose with consent. Or to reject with consent at a point. The disciples of Jesus were trying hard to spread to Gospel to "the end of world". People however chose to reject and kill them. The effect of the New Covenant will have to rely on how well humans (Christians) to spread the gospel and how well humans to accept it. If a group of humans choose to reject it, then they are tied to the laws specified in an older covenant which will most likely make them captive to sin.

We never give up spreading the gospel, the other side may also not give up rejecting it though.