“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 - New American Standard Bible
Simply being religious is never enough; whatever one calls their god: Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, or one of the many other names of god or gods throughout the world’s religion, they must believe in their god or gods, with all their heart.
Though I quoted out of the Bible – as that is the text I am familiar with – the above verse quoted is really a literal truth, because without faith, that god of theirs does not really exist, except perhaps for some concept of a god that is used as an excuse for hate and maybe then also, the use of violence.
Perhaps someone who does not have faith, but is religious, has a purpose for his or her religiosity instead of faith. Throughout history, religion has been used to wreak violence and terror upon societies. Those who accept those kinds of things as a way of serving their god, obviously have a perception of an angry god, one who seeks to destroy and harm those who do not follow that god’s strict religious edicts. Not only is their god perceived as being angry, but also limited to the employing of followers to carry out that anger upon that god’s own enemies.
Where the religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are concerned, all are based on the same god. Of course, there are those who disagree with me but historically, I am correct. One thing I know is clear about all three of these religions is that faith is an important ingredient, because without it, no relationship with their god really exists.
In each religion, there are many faithful believers. They follow their religions by heart and they truly believe in their god. They pray, they go to houses of worship and they do what their religion has taught them to do, because they believe. If they have a problem in their lives, they take care of it on their knees; Muslims, Christians, and Jews, all pray on their knees. If they are real believers, then after they pray, they believe their god has sent an answer and they will receive it. That is faith, whatever religion it is they follow.
All those three faiths also believe in the Devil, Satan, or Lucifer, who fell from Heaven. Those religions even share many of the same understanding of sin, as far as murder, thievery, or even adultery and sex before marriage. All three of them also believe that God is the creator of all things, including the creator of humankind. Surely, we all can ask ourselves, why would a god who created all things, need his followers to carry out acts of violence against his enemies? Does he not have the very power to take the breath of life away from them, if he really wants them dead?
If my god asked me to go out and kill those who do not believe in him, I would want to know why he wanted me to do the dastardly deed instead of himself, being that he is god after all and it was he who created what he now wants me to destroy.
If I may be so blunt, perhaps the god of terrorist is just a psychopathic spiritual being – if he exists even then at all – and not a real god at all, who enjoys creating things just so he can turn around and destroy them. Instead of a god, he sounds more like a spoiled little child who needs to be told how to treat his toys.
One other thing all those three religion have in common is they have followers who commit violence in the name of their god. It is easy to understand that just because someone commits violence in the name of a god, does not mean that god had anything to do with it. In fact, it shows just the opposite. Any real god would not need some human pawn to carry out their will, as though somehow they are a helpless god in need of assistance from us little humans.
For some reason, the god of terrorist wants some people dead, either because they are his enemies or because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he really is a god and someone displeases him so much, a lightning strike from Heaven is a much easier and better way to carry out a slaying, or a fireball, even a tornado or some other method that only a real god can do. Instead, the god of terrorist shows he is weak and impotent, and needs these able-bodied men and sometimes women and children, to go out and commit terrible acts against innocent people, and sometimes – no – many times, upon people of their own faith. This god is a god that gives religion a bad name. Instead of drawing people to a loving god who loves them and cares for them, this god sends his followers scrambling for their lives, to the point they must wonder, why did he create them in the first place, if all he was going to do was lay out his wrath upon anyone who displeased him, believer or non-believer alike.
A true believer, in whatever religion, believes in the power of their god not to only take care of their needs, but also trust their god to deal with their enemies. Someone who claims to believe in a god, and yet carries out terror upon others in the name of that god, does not really trust their god to care for them, or to even to deal with their enemies.
As a Christian, I believe in my heart that Christianity is the one and only true religion. However, many Muslims believe just as much as I do that their religion is the one and only true religion. Same thing goes for Jews, in their heart of hearts, they believe that their religion has to be the one and only true religion. Still, we can live side by side with each other, share our lives with each other and even marry each other and love each other, as neighbors and friends. We even sometimes join in to celebrate each others religious holidays.
We have learned from each other because we are willing to respect each others beliefs, and we open our hearts enough to accept that others believe in their god, or may I say God, the god of us all, enough to share the same values, because God put those values in us, those who choose to believe, and do.
In conclusion, you can put a gun to my head or a knife to my throat, and threaten my life if I will not believe in your god. Maybe I will be courageous and full of faith and refuse, then die knowing that Heaven awaits me, or maybe I will be afraid and my faith fail me at that moment of truth, and I claim a conversion that does not really exists. Yet, even then, I would be lying, because no gun, no knife, no bomb, no terrorist threat of any kind, nothing would make me believe in the impotent god of a terrorist, because fear does not produce faith, only love can do that. Faith is, after all, the opposite of fear.
This is a republish from my website: Fidlerten Place