I am going to start a new collection of posts where I ask some high level questions regarding God and Christianity and begin to provide some answers and explanations.
I don't share this feeling openly, but I want to express it now. From the moment I was baptized, I felt like I started a new life and that all the sins from my old life were washed away and I was made clean and pure again. I remember my old life before coming to Christ and it felt like this: darkness, pain, happiness that was momentary and fleeting, helplessness, loneliness. I can visibly measure the difference between my life in death vs my life in Christ. I can't help but feel a sense of blessing that I can relate to non-Christians because not too long ago, I was there and I had the same burning questions about God, heaven, Christianity, Jesus.
I always have high level questions that are never easy to answer. So I hope that by writing about them, it will prompt someone else to think about the answers, further discuss it and hopefully ask more questions. It is important to keep in mind that we don't have the answers to all questions. Some things are just not meant for us to know. I cannot accept that things happen chaotically in the world with no reason or no purpose. Life is not one big coincidence and I have my personal testimonies to attest that conjecture. But if we can attain a certain amount of understanding on why things happen, I personally think it might bring people closer to God.
My first question was: Why did God create different religions?
The unifying belief regarding most religions is the belief in the one true God. Through Christianity, there is the belief in Christ (the son of God) and Catholicism focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Judaism focuses on the law of the Old Testament in the days of Moses while Islam focuses on the prophet Muhammad.
The answer is this: God did not create the different religions to be apart from Christianity; it was created through the works of man. Take Islam for example. In the beginning, there was Abraham and Sarah and they had no children, but God made a covenant with Abraham that he would have a son.
And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
- Genesis 15:4-5
For another ten years, Sarah remained childless so she suggested that Abraham have a child with her servant, Hagar. This very sin, the sin of impatience and failing to trust in God, led to the birth of Abraham's first son, Ishmael. God finally fulfilled his promise with Sarah and she gave birth to Isaac when Abahram was 100 years ago. However, this created a split in religions, with people believing that Ishmael was Abraham's true heir and he became the patriarch to what would be the Islamic religion today.
Although people worshiped God, over time, they pick and chose what they believed in and this led to the creation of different sects and denominations. God created Judaism, focusing on the laws and the covenant in the Old Testament. However, the Israelites continually sinned against God, disobeying the Lord and forgetting all the great works that God had provided for them. The old testament was meant to be "prepatory, temporary, limited" and often foreshadowed the coming of the Christ (the Messiah) who would make all things "complete, eternal, universal." But when God sent his son Jesus, people were divided and the Israelites continued to believe that no one else other than the Jews were the "chosen ones" which created the split between Judaism and Christianity.
This led me to ask the next question:
Why didn't God step in to stop man from creating different religions?
The simple answer is this: God did not create us to be robots. He gave us free will to make our own decisions and have our own beliefs. Bad things may happen and different religions may arise, but there are things in this world that happen beyond our understanding. We just have to remain hopeful that in the suffering, it may produce faith and bring people back to God.
My last question was:
What happens to people in other countries with no access to God?
The answer is this: No matter where you are, God will make his presence known to you. God can come to you in your sleep and completely transform you, as he did with Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the Apostle. For those who have not heard of Jesus, they will be judged by the law of God that would be placed in their hearts.
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
- Romans 2:14-16
It's funny how one question can lead into so many more. But hopefully by continuing to ask questions, we become more understanding of God's ways and understanding of things that happen beyond our control.
