How does anyone ever know for sure that his is the one true religion?

Question

There are about 3.5 billion people worshipping the same God in a dozen divisions and hundreds of denominations of three major world religions and a couple of minor ones. I can understand the argument that the 45% of the world's population who DON'T worship this particular God will not be allowed into heaven, but why would He discriminate against any of the 55% who DO?

I appreciate all the references to Christ and Christianity, but only because they prove my point: If accepting Jesus is the only way to get into heaven, where does that leave all the Jews and Muslims?

Answer 1

at the risk of sounding cynical, i'm confident that 99% of the time it has to do with what your parents believe. religion is like a web browser; some use IE, some use Firefox (I'm a firefox fundamentalist). Both link you to the same place (the web), but both have different features. I use Firefox because I like it, but most people use IE because it's the default.

Conclusion: people tend to be passionate about default religions

Answer 2

I have one thing to say to all of the people who keep writing that Christians don't know for sure that there is a God:

As a sane, intelligent, rational, unusually logical Christian, I answer this: YES I DO! You do not know what I have seen. I have met God in such a way that He was just as, if not more real than the physical world. He also showed me many principles as to why people doubt and how it is utterly impossible that He would lie or that He could not exist. If you want to know, ask Him with all sincerity and as if your life depended on it. Only He can show you the things of the Spirit. I can only describe them or tell of them, but I cannot provide the understanding of them (the Bible confirms this).
It is very presumptuous to say that Christians do not know that there is a God and He is who we believe Him to be.
It also does not follow that He would be the same God as the others because Jesus said that no one comes to the Father but by Him. If Jesus wasn't telling the truth, then our faith is a lie and would not be included with the others. If it is the truth, then it cannot be included with the others. Gee, I think it cannot be included with the others in reference to accuracy.

To answer the question:

The bottom line is that only one Way provides a payment for sin. That is faith in the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross. It matters not that one's name was associated with a particular church, did a number of good deeds, abstained from most sins, etc...the fact remains that we were born sinners and cannot save ourselves....no one can: not those born into Christian families or Jews or Muslims or anyone else. Only Jesus paid the price for you to come into the presence of a Holy God. period.

Answer 3

Let me answer this from a more pagan viewpoint.

My Theory on Spirituality.

I believe that everyone is heading to the same place. We're all just taking a different route. It's like trying to reach the top of a mountain. There are many different trails and ways to get there. Some will walk as a group, and some will walk alone.

The folks who walk together feel more comfortable with the company of those who believe as they do. The folks who walk alone do so because they seek spirit through solitude.

Those who seek religion, seek a way of life. They want to be told how to eat, what to wear, who to socialize with. What is proper and what is not. Those who cling to religion need to herded and taken care of. Because they give so much of their belief to the system and not to the higher power they claim to worship (and notice I said worship, not love or commune with) they are not leaving the possibility for miracles and spiritual evolution open. Not everyone who is involved wtih an organized religion is that way, but the majority are. I, myself tend to (for the now) walk alone.

Those who seek a spiritual life realize that religions are all just window dressing. We're trying to get to the same place. Religion just makes us comfortable while we get there.

All religions are basically the same. Just some details have been moved around.

Some people are religious to the point where they feel that nothing or no one will get where they are going unless they follow thier path, what ever their particular church tells them. They are very rigid in their beliefs. They feel they must convert you to their religion, forgetting that the life we have now is really a journey of the soul.

A lot of "religious" folks tend to be very intolerant and inconsiderate. It's so much easier to "cast that first stone" than to look at their own spiritual journey.

Answer 4

No one knows for sure if their religion is the "true" one because all religions were started by HUMANS not by God. Hasn't anyone learned by now that God is not a Human, God is a power greater than anyone or anything. We are the creation of this power and when our life is over we will go just where we are supposed to go and be taken care of just how we should be taken care of, whether we were "good" or whether we were "evil". And no one will know until they are gone from this world. So while you are still on this world just do your best to be as good and loving as you can with your fellow men and women cause you will never know what the outcome will be. Even someone who doesn't believe the bible was dictated by God and doesn't believe in religion can still be a good, moral person who is worthy of going to the right place when the end comes to them.

Answer 5

The Bible says to search for God while he may be found. This doesn't mean ANY God but the true God of the Bible. Asking for God's holy spirit to help you understand the scriptures and reading and meditating on them every day for at least a few minutes should help you to get enough information to compare with your religion to find out if it is teaching what is in harmony with the Bible. Another way is to see if others who practice this religion have true love for one another (especially, they should NOT be on the battlefields killing one another). God insists on exclusive devotion and knowledge and acceptance of his son's sacrifice. These would also be indicators. Are you still having trouble eliminating some who are claiming to worship God?? Jesus will say of those who are not acting in harmony with their claims, "I never knew you."

Answer 6

Faith, it's all faith. From my point of view, the one true religion is the point at which all religions agree on an issue. If the all agree, then God probably talked to every nation and every people and they all came up with the same religious idea and THAT is what God really told everyone. The rest is trivia.

Answer 7

Evangelical Christians, Born again, all believe that only their group will get into heaven. They take the bible literally and if anything is not in the bible , it is not the "truth". If you look at their websites they are all about bashing Catholics, and other protestants. The thing with Born agains is they took the church Jesus had the apostles start, and decided it was no good. It's sad in my opinion.

Answer 8

Do you believe what Jesus said?

He said, " I am the Way, The Truth, and The Life, no man can come to the Father except through me".

"Except you be born again you cannot see the kingdom of God".

" This is the record; that God hath given us eternal lfe, and this life is in His Son". I John 5

Answer 9

No one can be sure, that's pretty much what agnosticism is. However, they can accept faith, which basically says "I accept this as truth despite not having logical proof that makes it 100% true." And that's okay to have, I just don't have it.

Oh sure, there's EVIDENCE that sugguests god, or no god, or whatever it is you're looking for. But evidence isn't proof; they're two different things (Though I suppose proof is inheritly evidence, though not the other way around)

Answer 10

Jesus is the Only Way. John 14:6
Jesus is the Only One who died for every person's sins, so each of us could be reconciled unto God.
Salvation can be found in NO other name but Jesus. Acts 4:12