AWAYPART 21
Mark Cahill's Book
Chapter three
The Red Silver Dollar
Within a century the Bible will be extinct
Voltaire 1694 - 1778
Now that we know that the evidence for a Creator is solid and that not a shred of evidence for evolution exists, we need to ask:
"Who is this Creator? Surely He wants His created beings to be able to know Him.
Why would He create us and then leave us floundering around in the dark on our own? It is only logical that a God would give humans a way to find Him - a written record telling us about Himself, His character and His plan for mankind.
There are many possible answers to who this God might be. Buddhists don't believe so much in a God as in continual reincarnation leading to one's eventual re-absorbtion into the universe.
The Muslim god, Allah is distant and unknowable by man. In New Agers, everyone and everything is a god -you and I are gods. Many Hindus view God as Brahman, a universal spirit that everyone is part of. But while many Hindus don't acknowledge a Supreme Being , they worship 330 lesser gods.
To Jews, God is the
Creator - a personal, all-powerful Spirit Who
revealed Himself to
Abraham and to the
prophets, promising
someday to manifest as the Messiah.
To Christians, God is the same Creator. They believe He manifested as Jesus, the Messiah, in order to destroy the sin barrier between man and God by the sacrifice of Himself, and that He will come again to judge everyone.
There are many other beliefs about who and what God is. Some people think it is
intolerable or arrogant for anyone to claim that only one belief system is true so all the others are false.
But as you can see each religion offers a concept of God that is contradictory to other religions. Therefore, they can't all be true. It's possible that they are all wrong, but they certainly cannot all be right.
How do we decide which one -if any- is right?
In order to determine the validity of each option, first we would have to examine the religious texts of the various belief systems. Then we would have to apply some sort of test to see which one is true.
Some of the texts include the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Book of Mormon , the Pearl of Great Price, the Koran, the Hadith, the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas, the Holy Dhammapada, and so on.
What basic tests can we apply to a text to determine whether it is true?
When selecting a test of validity remember: It doesn't matter what we believe ; it matters what is true. I might believe the earth is flat, but that is not true. I might believe the sky is green, but that is not true. I might believe I am a millionaire, but that is not true. Truth is what reality says it is.
So be careful that you search for what is true, not for something that you already believe. Make sure you have evidence to prove that you are taking a calculated leap of faith into eternity, not a blind leap.
Once you have found a true religious text, you have your answer about which belief is true.So let us talk about tests.
Let's say you were taking a multiple -choice test, and had the following question:
2 + 2 = a) 4; b) 5; c; 3, d) 6
Once you know the answer is a), how much time do you need to study options b) c) and d) ? None at all.
Why not study the other options ? Because all truth by definition , is narrow
There is only one answer to 2+2 =. One right answer and a million wrong answers.
For example, there is only one person who is currently President of the United States of America: one right answer and six billion wrong ones.
The same holds for any type of truth, even eternal truth. Eternal truth will also be narrow, and you want to be sure you find the right answer.
next post 20th August
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