Expert: Mr. McClellan - 4/25/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I know my questions might not make much sense to you. I think a lot and I have a lot of problems in my belief and a lot of things that I wonder about. I hope you will answer my questions. Thanks.

Can there be one true religion? Do you believe Christianity is the true religion? How can all Muslims be sure Islam is the right religion, and Christians that Christianity is, and so on through most religions? Is it just about tradition? Do you know if Christianity is true historically?

Thanks
Sanna

ANSWER: Hello Sanna,
You've asked what I consider to be the most important questions that anyone can ask and to which we must have the correct answers. Due to the nature of what is at stake, we cannot leave them to mere guessing.

Can there be one true religion? Yes, most certainly. You see, what ever set of beliefs a person gives their life to that set of beliefs represents their god. For example, if the main reason a person lives is to become rich, then money is their god and the beliefs they have about money is the doctrines of their god. However, the power and security that money promises is only temporary at best as anyone can see in this present world wide economic disaster. Almost overnight, large numbers of people who believed that they had enough money to be secure in their old age lost that security. Their god turned out to ba false god and it let them down.
There is, however, one set of beliefs that guarantees to keep its promises and not let anyone down that accepts it and will behave faithfully with regard to its requirements. That is the one true religion and it is the only one, there can be no other. Which one is it?
Well, Sanna, if I just told you straight out what it is you would have no reason to believe me and you most likely would not. So, what would it take to convince you which religion is the true one? Think of this too, every religion is divided into numerous denominations, each claiming to be the most correct. Islam is divided into several sects that have been at war with each other for centuries, willing to kill each other over their differences because each one sees the other as unfaithful and disobedient to Allah and deserving of punishment. Judaism is divided also and many Jews believe that there is no God. What people think is Christianity is also very divided. There are hundreds of denominations. Some of them see all of the others as false, but most of them see the others as being equally right in their beliefs even though they may greatly differ over how a person becomes a Christian. In other words, they do not actually know how or when a person becomes a Christian but they feel strongly enough that they are right that they have established their own individual churches with names that distinguish them and their teachings from all of the others.
Sanna, many people do not realize that when two or more people disagree on something it is not possible for them all to be right. They cannot understand that there are only two possibilities. Either all of them are wrong, or no more than one of them is correct. The absurd notion that everyone is right, that there are many paths to God no matter what God may say about it, that as long as people are sincere about what they believe God has to accept their beliefs as if he had commanded them himself is the result of a mistaken definition of the word "faith." This mistake has resulted in what is called pluralism or relativism. These ideas hold that no one can actually know the truth therefore, all ideas must be treated as equally true. There are two definitions for the word "faith" used in the Bible for example. One definition is synonymous with the word "prejudice" which is the most popular definition of faith and is used by people who believe in false gods and follow the teachings of false teachers. The gods of these people are just there own inventions that they cannot prove exist by any legitimate means. This kind of faith is the kind that the God of the Bible hates. You see, in order for that God to be truly just, truly fair to humans, he has to make it possible for humans to know, not guess, that he exists. Humans must also be able to know his will, not just have to guess what it is and possibly, even likely, be mistaken. Not only that, but in order for God to be just, humans have to be able to do what he requires. If these conditions don't exist, God cannot justly punish anyone for disobeying him.
Without realizing it, people who've accepted the notion of pluralism have become their own gods. Those who seem to use the Bible as a source of their beliefs just pick and choose out of it what they like and reject the rest, or they twist what it says to mean things that often are the exact opposite of what the writers clearly said. They treat the God of the Bible like a puppet with themselves playing the part of the puppet master and the "voice" they hear telling them the will of God is really their own.
Now, I'm going to direct you to some things that will help you discover the answers to your questions for yourself. Finding the answers will not be easy but it will be simple. You'll be faced with having to question many things that you've already accepted as true but that you've never actually seen proof for. You're going to be put in the position of having to choose between truth and fiction about a great many things.
I want you to read the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament part of the Bible. There, you'll recognize that your questions were posed to Moses by the Isralites about three thousand years ago. See what Moses said. Then, read the first three verses of John 3 in the New Testament. There, you'll recognize that your questions are answered again.
Now, once you've done this, begin to read the Bible very carefully and thoughtfully and any other books you can get your hands on about the Bible. Read the writings of everyone who thought that they had, or have, anything important to say about it. Leave no stone unturned in your quest to discover the truth. Be sure to read the writings of historians who lived in the region of the Mediterranian during the first and second centuries. Read Josephus' Wars of the Jews. He was an eyewitness to certain very important things. Read the Annals of Tacitus, and others. Read "Ceasar and Christ" by Will Durant. Question every thing you read that anyone says. Question everything your hear.
In time, if you are very astute and pay very close attention, you'll begin to recognize what the truth really is. It's there, I can tell you that with absolute certainty. In fact, once you discovered it you'll want to kick youself for not having recognized it before. You're going to see that the truth is right in plain sight for everyone to see but people cannot see it for all the prejudices, the false beliefs, that they've accepted as true.
I wish you the greatest success. If you ever think that I may be of further service to you, just say so.
Sincerely,
Mr McClellan

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello again, thank you so much for your answer!

Yes, I think you are right. There can be one true religion,
but how do we know anyone knows this religion?

"You see, in order for that God to be truly just, truly fair to humans, he has to make it possible for humans to know, not guess, that he exists."

And yes, many Muslims say they know. Many Christians say they know.
But I don't know anything.

"The absurd notion that everyone is right, that there are many paths to God no matter what God may say about it, that as long as people are sincere about what they believe God has to accept their beliefs as if he had commanded them himself"

Can not all be partially right? As you say there are many denominations within one religion, and all believe they are closest to the truth. How can that be?
If someone is brought up as a Muslim, he usually believe Islam is the true. If someone is
born into a Christian family the child will most likely become a Christian. Will God only forgive those who
have the "luck" to be born in a Christian family? Is that not unfair? Even if the person born in Islam have just as great longing for God as the Christian one has?

Do you not think God accepts every longing, even if the the person is on the wrong track? Else it is just about luck, who we meet in our life to lead us right. Do you think
we actually can find the truth to 100?

Thank you, I will try to read these books when I find time! I would honestly appreciate to know
a bit more of the truth than I do now. I really thank you for taking time to answer.

Sincerely,
Sanna

Answer
Hello Sanna,
Again, you have asked some very important questions, questions that too few people ever seem to ask and truly seek right answers for.

How can we know the one true religion? This is what I gave you an important clue to so that you could discover it. I know that it does seem like a guess and for most people, if not virtually everyone, it is. Most people seem unwilling to seriously want to really know because it seems like too much work; that it's too complicated to figure out. So, they just guess or convince themselves that there's no God.
No, it is not unfair because knowing the truth, all of the truth, has been made so easy for everyone to know no matter what beliefs your parents may have. Well, I'll ammend that statement a little. It is quite simple for anyone to recognize that God exists and it is quite simple for anyone to accurately recognize what God requires of humans. Humans have to ignore these things and blind themselves to them to justify a lot of what they do. However, once they've deceived themselves enough, or have allowed themselves to be deceived convincingly enough, it becomes very difficult, at best, for them to recognize what is right anymore. The writers of the Bible had an answer for this problem. You see, the Bible is all about how humans became mortals, how they lost immortality and how they can regain it without having to guess about how to do it. There was no excuse for losing immortality in the first place. It was a gift from God given to the first humans on the condition that they be faithful to God who created them and gave them the whole world to use and enjoy because of his love for them, his creation made in his own image. Sanna, a gift is something you give someone else but not because you are required to give it. So, God chose not to give that gift to the anyone else immediately, but he promised that at a later time he would make it possible for everyone to obtain the gift, everyone that is that would believe in Jesus and obey him. You see, Jesus, so the Bible says, was God incarnate and he came as any other human to clearly demonstrate that there is no legitimate excuse for humans to disobey God. They cannot legitimately claim that God can't be obeyed because Jesus did it without a single disobedient act. Jesus was not a hypocrite. He did exactly what he taught and what he taught others to do. As a result, God raised him to immortality to show that what God promised is really true and that he can raise every faithful person to immortality to live with him, the God who is the very definition of love. Jesus came to tell people how to obtain forgiveness for their disobedience and live faithful to their creator. So, no one can know about this without knowing about Jesus and his teachings. Remember, this is very important. Forgiveness is a gift. God does not owe it to anyone because no one has a legitimate excuse for disobeying God in the first place, no matter how completely they may have convinced themselves that they do. So, it's all completely fair, 100% just.
Yes, all religions, in a sense, could be partially right. For example, lets say you went to a restaurant and ordered a BLT on whole wheat. That's a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread. But, the waiter brought you a sandwich with everything you ordered except the bacon. Now, that would not be what you ordered, would it? "But," says the waiter, "I got it partially right, in fact I got it mostly right." The point I'm trying to make Sanna, is that there are certain teachings that are absolutely required for a person to accept and obey in order to become and remain a Christian. The same is true for Islam too. However, if even one of those necessary teachings about how to become a Christian is missing, then a person cannot be a Christian, for example, any more than you'd have a BLT on whole wheat without the bacon, or the tomato, etc. You see, it takes all of those things to make what you required. It's an all or nothing deal. Lets compare it to the body of laws of some country. If you violate one of it's requirements, you've violated the law. You can't claim that you should not be punished just because you've kept all of the other parts of the countries' code of law. It takes all of those laws to form its code of laws and make it distinct from other countries that may have a different set of laws though many of them may be the same. Do you think that an Islamic authority on Islam would accept you as a Muslim if you did everything required of Muslims except for believing in Allah? Of course not. That is just as impossible as thinking you're a Christian, that you're going to be "saved," if you don't even believe in Jesus, or think that you can't know for sure. Thinking that all you can do is guess and hope to get it right, or that God has to accpet what you believe just because you mistakenly thought that not knowing was really his fault and that he owes you.
OK, this should get you off to a good start on finding the real truth. But, it's going to be a real surprise when you do.
Sincerely,
Mr. McClellan