The God that I follow.

I had a conversation with someone that felt we all worshiped the same god. Because all religions have the same basic principles: be good, be nice, do good works and you will get into heaven. A friend that was with me, who is a carnal Christian, agreed. I just stayed quiet.

Why did I stay quiet? I wanted to think about this further and compare it to what I know about the Lord. I am a very purposeful thinker and will ponder things very deeply, and this was one of those moments. Finally, I have an answer. My God is not your god.

Now, is this one of those exclusive religious statements that Christians make that tick everyone off? No. Because my God is the same God of the Jews. I am still trying to figure out if the God of Islam is the same and that will take some time to figure out. I do know that the god of Buddhists is not the same god.
Here's why:

• Buddhists like to have faith in people.
  
• They feel that good works will get them into heaven.
• They feel that being good and nice will get them into heaven.
• They also believe in reincarnation.

The Lord is clear on this:

• He wants us to depend on Him. We are to have faith in Him.
• We don't have to perform good works for ourselves, but let the good work glorify Him.
• We don't have to be good, but let the goodness of the Lord fill our lives.
• And we only get one chance to live on earth, but after that, if we truly love the Lord and want to be with Him, we will go to Him and live a life of joy, peace and utter contentment.

Here are the holes I see in Buddhism:

• Having faith in people is like the blind leading the blind. Everyone, in some sort or another is selfish. Everyone is some what greedy. Everyone lies to some degree or another.
• I wrote about Good Works vs Grace so I won't repeat it.
• It is impossible to be good because only one person has ever done that and He was Jesus. Why? The moment you are selfish or lie or not kind, you aren't good.
• What joy and happiness is there in reincarnation? Why would anyone want to experience another hard life or war or famine? When you die, shouldn't you want to experience peace and joy? Which leads to another thing....
• Heaven is perfect and if only good works and being good get you in, then heaven would be empty. Only by the grace of God and accepting Him unconditionally will someone ever enter heaven. A heaven full of imperfect Buddhists would be just like living on earth. But a heaven full of imperfect believers, that have been cleaned by the blood of the Lamb (meaning all sin is removed) would be perfect.

The same truth can be said of Hinduism, Taoism and any other religion. We can never be good because being good means being perfect. The moment you do a bad thing, you aren't good any more. Sure, you can try to ask forgiveness from your god, but does it require some sort of payment to remove your sin? I don't mean via money, but in a form of punishment? Many religions require this to remove the sin in your life. Others have you chant liturgical verses that have no honest open heart value to them. Jesus paid the price for each one of us. He paid it for you. He paid it for me. But He didn't paid for all of us in a group. Literally, He paid for our sins individually.

-Lord, today, I pray for my friends who struggle with this thought. If I am not to be the man to help them see You, I pray that person is put into their lives to help them see You with the open eyes of their hearts. I also pray for my friends (Louis & Amber) who are experiencing some hard times. Lord, I know You have something wonderful planned for them because You blessed them with a wonderful new baby girl. You have given them all that is needed to care for this new daughter and You have helped them in keeping the bills low. Lord, they need Your help to improve their financial condition. They need Your help in caring for this child. I wasn't given all the details on their lives, but You know what needs to be done and I pray for Your help for them. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.