The Journey We Must All Take

The JOURNEY Free Preview The Journey is a simple discussion about what can be a very difficult topic...religion The belief that life is sacred and that the soul is eternal is central to Christianity, which, according to many in our current culture, is just one of many religions. But is it? Just what is Christianity? How does it differ from the other major world belief systems? Do they really differ? Or do all religions eventually lead to the same mountaintop? We will take a look at some of these questions and see if we can find rational answers. From the beginning mankind has always been highly inquisitive and has sought answers to all that he experienced, saw, felt, or wondered about. Invariably, in this never-ending search, the following questions would demand answers: a. Where did I come from? b. What am I doing here? c. What happens to me after I die? So, How do we go about trying to find answers to these questions? Some look to science, others to philosophy, some to other disciplines yet, throughout our history man has most often looked to some form of religion for these answers. Why do we look to religion? We look to religion because nothing else has provided credible answers to these key questions and because we are driven to believe in something or someone outside ourselves. If we deny this need we experience a void, an incompleteness. Even the hardcore atheist who claims that he is complete unto himself has to really work at it to try to convince himself, ultimately, if he is honest, without success. The various religions represent our attempt to fill this void. This presents its own problems. There are so many religions in the world, most claim that they are the one and only true religion and that all the others are pretenders, cults, or just plain false religions. So are they all right, or is there only one true religion? In our review of the various belief systems we will discuss each systems belief in specific areas so we can understand and have a common basis for analytic comparison. These specific areas include: God, Creation, Morals/Ethics, Suffering and Evil, Salvation, Death and the Afterlife, and the Belief Systems Claim to Truth. We will take a look at religions that generally fall into five major belief systems: Naturalists There is no God Secular Humanists Man is Supreme Postmodernists God is whatever Pantheists There are many Gods Monotheists There is only one God Before we start the analysis we will refresh our knowledge and understanding of key analytical tools that will help us in our discussion. Our review will include such topics as truth, first principles, logic, presuppositions, cultures, worldviews, a very brief look into physics, and some first level scientific principles. Our discussion will then proceed with overviews of the various belief systems followed by a comparison and the analysis. The book concludes with a more in depth discussion on Christianity. FROM ANTIQUITY The Bible is comprised of some of the oldest books known to man. Other books that reach out to us from antiquity include Homer's Iliad (written around 750 BC) and his Odyssey (believed to have been written several decades later perhaps around 720 BC), and the writings of Confucius (551 BC to 479 BC) . The authorship of the first five books of the Bible, as previously stated, was attributed to Moses. These books were written around 1250-1225 BC, some five hundred years earlier than the next oldest recorded book.. Homer's Iliad. A NOTE: Skeptics have stated that some of the beginnings of the Bible bear an uncanny resemblance to Greek mythology presumably because the Iliad deals with the story of the ending of the Trojan War and the interaction with the Greek Gods and humanity during and after this war. An objective look at the timeline shows that if anything, the opposite is closer to the truth. SUMMARY We have seen how the Bible came to be, how it was written, who wrote it, who their intended audiences were, and how it was finally accepted i.e. canonized. In the following pages we will discuss such questions as: Is the Bible we hold in our hands today the same as when it was written? The Mormons claim that the Bible was heavily corrupted sometime after the crucifixion and the destruction of the Jewish nation perhaps late in the first century. The Book of Mormon was then given to the prophet John Smith in a very private and special revelation by an angel sent by God, in the nineteenth century. This Book of Mormon was the new and reliable word of God. More correct than the "corrupted" Bible. Is this Biblical corruption true or, even possible?