If you dont question your faith, how do you know it is true?

Question

If you dont look at other religions and compare them, how do you know yours is true? Maybe only parts of it are true, so you believe the whole thing is, but perhaps there is another faith system out there that is more true to you. How can you be considered open minded when you are so one tracked with only one religion?

Schneb, have you ever thought maybe the "prophecies" were written after the fact? Maybe they did not occur, that facts were twisted to conform tot he prophecies? Maybe it was just luck? I am sure there are at least a couple hundred peopel who have lived that have met as many, if not more, prophecies as Jesus did.

Answer 1

The existence of God as well as the Bible being the Word of God can be proved through the vehicle of prophecy. To see the evidence of this, we must first establish the fact that God is a spirit who dwells outside of our physical time domain--that is, in eternity. In the Bible, God describes Himself in Isaiah 57:15,

"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.'"

If God dwells in the realm of eternity as the Bible states, then He must be able to declare future events as if they had happened in the past. We who live in the physical restraints of time and space have the disadvantage of seeing the world according to a timeline. But God sees the past and the future as one complete picture.

"Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,'" Isaiah 46:9-10

So through the vehicle of prophecy, God throws down the gauntlet to all the other "holy books" and all the other "gods" that dare to claim the title. The God of the Bible challenged in Isaiah 41:22-23,

"Let them bring forth and show us what will happen; let them show the former things, what they were, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together."

OK, there is the challenge from the God of the Bible. No other book contains prophecy that has been fulfilled with accuracy. Some would say that others twist scripture interpretation to make prophecy "appear" to be fulfilled. A silly notion, seeing that so many of these prophecies (that were fulfilled to the letter) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls--written many years before fulfillment. I have written one study based on one chapter in Daniel. In it can be found 16 in-depth prophecies regarding the rise of Alexander the Great and the subsequent rule of his generals afterward. I have paralleled the prophecy with the fulfillment from historic literature. You can find the study here http://tinyurl.com/lhwnb

This study only covers one chapter. There are hundreds more regarding the coming of the Messiah, the calling of Cyrus the Mead by name to allow the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, and the re-establishment of the nation of Israel. See the list of prophecies at this link... http://www.konig.org/page3.htm

Isaiah 34:16
"Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them."

2 Peter 1:16-21 (condensed)
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty...and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place...for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

So I dare any other religion to prove that its god is from the eternal. I've already looked, they cannot.
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Your details is a reasonable question which I too have explored. The link above to my study shows evidence on how this is impossible. Scientists all agree that when the chances of something happening venture beyond 1 to the 10 to the fiftieth power, that such an event would be considered impossible. The fulfillment of just 3 prophecies in Isaiah regarding the coming of Messiah far exceed those odds. But here are 50 just to make the point... http://tinyurl.com/mbqa3

Did you see my link above regarding the 10 prophecies regarding Israel regathering as a nation again? You must understand that an event like this has never happened before in all of history. In fact, Robert Anderson who was the inspector for Scotland Yard (who caught Jack the Ripper) took the book of Daniel and was able to pinpoint, via prophecy, the very date Messiah was to come. His incredible calculations pinpointed the DAY Jesus rode in to Jerusalem. For this, he was knighted by Queen Victoria and became Sir Robert Anderson. However, he read other prophesies regarding Israel becoming a nation again and thought that this was WAY too preposterous. No nation, after being conquered and scattered, EVER returned again to form a nation and a people. So it must have had some "allegorical" meaning to it. Well, in 1948, Sir Robert Anderson was proven wrong. Sir Robert Anderson believed the Bible, but his doubt in a wild claim such as Israel becoming a nation was too much for him. THAT is how accurate prophecy is. Before the fulfillment took place, Anderson assumed it was wrong (having lived in the Victorian era pre 1948). He twisted nothing, but assumed it was something else entirely.
There are many other proofs that make "just an accident" or "coincidence" a profound impossibility in both rational terms as well as mathematical probability.

Answer 2

for me personally, I grew up in a family that believed a certain way. I probably would have questioned it and looked to other things or read up about other religions if it werent for my own personal experiences growing up.

I'm pentecostal. Which means I believe in the holy bible, all the works of Christ, that Jesus is my savior and that the only way to heaven is by accepting him.

There have been a couple times in my life where I have felt him or experienced what he can do.

I'll give you an example. When I was younger I was in the car with two other people. We were driving across the country. It was about two in the morning and there were hardly in cars on the road but a lot of 18 wheelers. Well we happened to be in a lane that merged with a lane entering the highway. There was a semi behind us and one coming into our lane. We were all going to fast to do anything. We thought we were going to die being crushed by the semi's. In a seconds time we all closed our eyes including the driver. Being believers we all called on Jesus. A couple seconds we opened our eyes and we were fine. There were no semi's anywhere. Behind us, in front of us, next to us. All the cars were gone. Instantly we all started crying. I would have probably thought it was a dream or that I had imagined it if I wasnt in the car with two other people. It was the scariest and best thing to happen to me. How can you question your faith when your life is spared?

so thats my story...wish more ppl could experience God/Jesus for them selves and we wouldnt have so many non-believers....

Answer 3

Faith is not religion or a system of belief. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith exist as does God---in the forever present. It is a spiritual quality that is forever on going. It is a trust, not of physical things, but of the spiritual truth. Faith cannot be divided. It must be single minded and focused on one, not many objects. As Jesus said, a house divided cannot stand, and no one can serve two masters. By faith we believe that our system of belief is perfect. We know that we, ourselves, are imperfect, but this does not affect what God has put into place. We believe that the Lord God Jesus Christ is without flaw, and since he is the originator of Christianity, then we believe that the church as he originally intended it to be is perfect. Never mind what you see on the physical plane, as the world is corrupt and the physical church must dwell on this plane. the church is two-fold, having a physical body and a spiritual body in Christ. It is the spiritual body to which we aspire to. It is the spiritual body that we shall enter someday when our time is up on this earth. If our faith in Christ is to be true, then we cannot compare ourselves to other religions. In fact, Paul says that we are not to compare ourselves to others, as people or as a group. Jesus loves you.

Answer 4

This is the same question I ask every so-called religious person with whom I discuss faith. They always feel that faith should be continual and unquestioning, but this makes no sense to me. Wouldn't a god take much more interest in someone who cares enough about their faith to put it to the test? Someone who abandons all assumptions and traces it all back to the roots of truth? The biggest assumption that people make is that the bible is god's word and is true, but if this god is as described, people should be able to find a more natural, verifiable source. Of course you can justify a god's existance through your holy texts: they're prejudiced, skewed sources.

If a god only wants to have blind, unthinking followers, why would anyone want to follow this god in the first place?

Answer 5

Been there, done that.

Truth cannot be based on a relative truth, such as whatever a human believes is true. Truth must be based on an absolute truth, such as those God upholds. So, "perhaps there is another faith system out there that is more true to you" is a pretty irrelevant statement. You must figure out which faith system is the most truthful about God, not what suits your needs the best.

Answer 6

I am a Christian and part of the reason I am is because I took a "World Religions" class in colllege that studied the 6 major world faiths.
You should ALWAYS question and study, and the more you learn hopefully more truth will be reveals and you faith will be strengthened. Ask God to guide you to Him.

Answer 7

Speaking for myself, I have investigated other religions. Interestingly enough, even before I began studying the bible, someone handed me a Book of Mormon. I read about two paragraphs and set it down, I did not hear God's voice in it.

Many years later, in bible study, I came to these verses in John...they are about Jesus (the shepherd) and believers (His sheep)..."they will never follow a stranger, in fact, they will run away from him, because they do not recognize a stranger's voice" (John 10:5). That is exactly why I put down the Book of Mormon; I had heard a stranger's voice.

Similar things have happened to me in looking into other religions. I "hear" my Shepherd and follow His leading. I believe only the bible.

Answer 8

Exactly!

I'm a shia Muslim, and its promoted to learn and more importantly respect other peoples religions so you can be sure your wot you are for the reasons of TRUE BELIEF and not just because your parents are that religion.

Your right dude, Look around. You'd do the same when buying a pair of shoes to make sure you're getting the best deal!

Answer 9

Hmmm, well my faith teaches that karma is real. And I have received good and bad karma, so that part has proved itself to me. My faith teaches that all things in nature are sacred, and I agree with that. My faith teaches that you shouldn't harm other people, and I agree with that too. I think my faith isn't about being "right". It's about being a good person.

And another thing my faith teaches is that all religious paths will lead to the divine. In other words, there is no "right" religion. All are true to its believers.

Answer 10

I am more than willing to allow people to make their case that their religion is true, but I have yet to see anything that even compares to the amount of historical and bibliographical and personal evidence as I have for the followers of christ.

Answer 11

Well I have dont my fair share of questioning God but I dont like realigion cuz it tells you of all the coulda, shoulda, woulda's of it when God doesn't say that it is sin. My relationship with God formed cuz I opened my heart to Him and He showed me the truth. Religion is a manmade rulebook that God didn't require cuz we all are different so why would a set of standards regulate many people with so many degrees of weaknesses.