I have read the Bible, Old Testament, The Quran, the Gita, Karbala, Buddha (which is not a religion but a philosophy of life), etc. If it is in a book form, I have read it. I have read histories of religions, the Crusades, etc. I have the following conclusions:
1. There is one God.
2. As an example, God lives on a Mountain but there are many many ways to reach to the top of this mountain. There is no single way. No religion is the only religion. Christians can reach him from one road, Muslims from another, Jews from a third way, etc.
3. He is a God for all mankind, not just for the Christians or any one religion. He is a loving God who looks for reasons to bless his children and not for reasons to punish them.
4. All mankind is a creation of God. He will not put one group of religion in heaven and the rest in hell. When a Christian says that they will only go to heaven, they are wrong. When a Muslim (Islam) says that are the only true religion, they are wrong. All men and women are equal to God, the difference will come from how they lived their lives, not from the religion they choose.
5. All religion is man-made. Every man made religion is biased to the group that created the religion (except Islam, as Islam does not have an organized group - details later). Catholic is biased towards the Church. The system is to differentiate Catholics from other people, to donate funds to the church, the saints, and to support the Vatican. Islam does not have a leader like the Pope, or an organization like the Church and cardinals and priests. In Islam, each Mosque (similar to a church) is independent and there is no person who can speak for it. It is more individualistic. Donations made to a Mosque do not go anywhere other than that particular Mosque and the people that Mosque chooses to help. But, it is only one of many paths to god.
6. All great wars have been fought over these man made religions. They make the attitude of humans to be US against THEM. There are no us and there are no them. We are all God's creatures, live and let live.
7. All religions are 95% similar, yet people focus on the 5% difference to fight and argue. All the basic laws in all the religions are the same. No killing, no theft, respect, no adultery, no lying, and no injustice. Yet, we find reasons to fight and argue about the different religions. More people have been killed in the name of God and religion then for anything else.
8. Finally, churches are filled with Gold while the people praying and donating are hungry and poor. How can there be a single ounce of gold in a church if even one person is hungry? The church should sell the gold and feed the hungry man. It won't happen, but it should.
The conclusion? Our religion is unimportant, our thoughts, deeds and actions are what is important. Do what your heart tells you is right. Your heart does not need to be told that killing is wrong, stealing is wrong, lying is wrong. God does not write a book so that only a few can read it. He loves us all. He has put the book, the rules, in every individual’s heart. Look inside yourself as there is no need to look outside. What is right and wrong is no mystery, we all know it. We choose to ignore it, but we all know it.
Sam
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