Is one religion sufficent enough to contain the ...

The Bible does not agree with the modern view that there are many acceptable ways to worship God. A few Scriptures show this: Ephesians 4:5 says there is "one Lord, one faith".  Matthew 7:14 says "narrow is the gate and cramped the road (italics mine) leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it".  Matthew 7:21 says "not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will." (italics mine) In order to DO the will of God, we have to know what it is by taking in knowledge as John 17:3 tells us.  Then we have to apply what we learn.  Once you know what the will of God is, examine the teachings AND practices of a religion to see if it's teaching the truth from the Bible. Then you'll know if you are on the one road to life.

Regarding a burning hell, you might reason this way - what would you think of a parent who held his child's hand over a fire to punish that child for doing something wrong? Well, the Bible at 1 John 4:8 says "God is love", so if it a loving human parent wouldn't punish their child by fire, would it be reasonable to conclude that we would expect our loving God not to do so either. Ecclesiastes 9:5 says "the dead are conscious of nothing at all...", so the dead experience no pain.

Lets see what God's word has to say about it:

• Acts 4-10 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men (Jesus), whereby we must be saved.
• John 10-1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
• John 14-6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  
• Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
• Romans 10-9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
• John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world not to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
• Revelations 20:11-15 And I (John) saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were open: and another book was opened, which was the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
• Matthew 22:37-41 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying , They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen saw the son, and said among themselves, This is the heir; come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will misersably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyaed unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 

My friends, Hell is real and the bible says God cannot lie. He is bound by his word. He turned his head while his only son was crucified for our sins. If we accept him (Jesus) we have eternal life and our names are written in the lambs book of life. If we reject him (Jesus) we are cast into hell for eternity. God said it and that settles it.   

Be Blessed. 

Anything you want to know about Almighty God, is found in the Bible. It sounds like you believe in the scriptures, which is good. The Bible shows us that all religions are not acceptable to God: Judges 10:6,7 (God's people began worshipping false gods, unacceptable); Mark 7:6, 7 Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrits b/c they worship was based on doctrines and not the scriptures); and Rom. 10:2, 3 (many have a zeal for God but refrain from doing what God requires because of lack of accurate knowlege). There is also support from the Bible that shows how to know which religion is right and true (what are it's teachings based upon -2 Tim. 3:16,17; is the religion making God's name known? John 17:6, Matt. 4:10; is true faith in Jesus being demonstrated? John 3:36, Psalm 2:6-8). Don't get me wrong, there are sincere people in almost every religion, however, what counts the most is what God's word says:  Eph. 4:4, 5 - there is only "one spirit, one Lord, one faith." It's also out of character for our loving heavenly Father to punish us after we die. At Romans 6:23, the price for sin is death, not torment. It is good to ask questions, it's how we find answers but we must use the Bible for truthful answers.

Wise Ali,

Thank you for your spin on the subject but I will take Jesus, no matter how foolish, iresponsible, inmature and dangerous this journey might be.

My heart is fixed and my mind made up, I am going with Jesus all the way. I will not be moved by what I see or hear. I will only be moved by the word of God. 

Whether or not the bible (which was inspired by God, for the prophets to write), is a program or philosophy that was originated and represented by one particular cultural perception, is flawed I don't know.

One thing is for sure that on that great day, when we stand before the master in all of his glory to be judged, we will find out.

Be blessed my brother and keep seeking God for guidance.

I have yet to read a book or find a religion that addresses in completion and clarety all aspects of life and gives a total, undisputable, accurate, representaion of who and what "God" is. 

Religion basicly means habit. So if we are to consider the reality of God there are a few things to take into consideration first. God is eternal, having no beginning or end, all knowing and precieving, has no concievable measurements, exsisting everywhere and extending in all dirictions and dementions without end, inward, outward, upward, downward, side to side and in between. God has no flaw. Even if we think we precieve flaw in man and nature as a creation, we are decieved. Everything that God dose ie perfect and intentional. If we only use 10-30% of our brains than we cant understand why babies die an why astiroids fall out of the sky and why tornadoes distroy peoples lives and it is justified in Gods Eyes. Gods plan is perfect and all that He dose is for hisown pleasure and purpose that we may never completky understand. (How long do you think it will take you to know and understand something that has no begining or end?)

Once you implant these ideas in your head as a foundation then you can go from there in determining or finding or developing a religion or habit of studying and worshiping. The religious order that would best represent God would be one that understands and articulates that seeking God, understanding God, learning the truth about God and embraces his essence is an everlasting effort with no end of persute. There is no end to nGod or time for that matter. And if you realize that we are his creations and that we were created from energy and matter that is of Him, then you would realize that we are eternal as well. Not that we will always exsist in this state(as humans), but that our spirits will go on and on. For what reason?.... To searve and please God for his own will. If this means that babies die and men have free will to war, then so be it.

God created the the "Tree of Knowkedge of Good and Evil". Ask yourself, who created the evil. Where and how and why did the evilness in Lucifers heart manifest? What is the purpose of it? What is the purpose of goodness? God didnt want us to just be ignorant of evilness only but also of goodness.

Be carefull in your persute of religion or God not to trust a book or practice because it is the popular one. Society has suffered all throughout history because of what was the popular thing to do. Modern Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Hinduism, Buhdism and Paganism are all flawed with human desire and agendas and are constantly in a state of change and refinement based on increasing technological, biological and historical information. Humans claim that their religions are perfect however we are still all in the same shit that we've been in sence Adam and Eve. Then some say that we wont know until "that day" of judgement. I say that we will alwasy exist and seek knowledge forever because as long as God never ends then there is always something new to learn for his creations.

My religion is to seek and study perpetualy and worship in my purest of heart. I call myself a student of God. I don't know about lakes of fire or 70 vergins or rivers of milk and honey. What I do know is that the information that i have been given by preachers and teachers and friends and my parents have all been inacurate and incomplete. I refine my knowledge and understanding of life and God every day with His help. The church cant save me, the Mosque cant save me. Only God. Stop depending on corrupted mind and hearts to lead you to God. Look inside yourself with a clear, honest perseption and a peacefull and open heart and God will reviel Himself to you and your true purpose. No man can do that. No Institution can do that. Trust only God. Not a book that has been changed, interprated, translated, added to, taken from and only inspired by God, not written or dictated by God. 

There are as many answers to the question of which religion's members will go to heaven as there are religions. Most of the people involved in those religions think themselves better people than those who do not belong to their religion.  Are there as many heavens and as many hells as there are religions? Is that the only solution?  Everyone is right, everyone goes to heaven.  Well, which heaven is the best?  Better to find the common thread among all of those millions of religions and consider that a pretty good way to determine what is right and heaven-worthy: that would be the Golden Rule, which exists in nearly every established religion and probably in all of the un-established religions except for those that preach "me first."

If every religious sect preached that only its believers would go to heaven, it would mean that nearly everyone was considered to be automatically going to hell by nearly everyone else. There has to be some universal truth out there regardless of how many organized religions are out there, what they are called, or the details of their preachings.  How many religions have as one of their most important tenets: "An it do no harm, do as thou wilst," or "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," or whatever other wording the Golden Rule is put into? How can any one religion possibly contain all of the power of the universe?  The real challenge is to transcend the trappings of formal religious sects in order to clear your eyes to see the truth.  We see the sun come up in the morning, we feel the rain, we see the new lambs and new life upon the earth in the springtime, we feel the freeze of the winter as the world turns on its axis. These are the facts of the world and the physical laws we must live by. How much more spiritual can you get?  It is a sad fact of human nature that we need enforced laws to keep the peace among those who just don't see the light.   

Maybe that is the difference in how we believe.  You believe in teachings of a minister in the distant past.

I believe in a man, Jesus Christ.  He isn't a set of teachings.  He is a very real person, not a set of teachings.  I am a very real person, not a set of teachings.  That's the difference.  Christians believe Jesus, and we believe IN Jesus. 

That is why we do what we do.