Expert: Brenda Martin - 2/6/2007

Question
Hi Brenda,
What effect do you think religious pluralism and the interfaith movement will have on the future of organized religion?  

Answer
hi there, According to the Bible; "organized religion" is doomed--

What is the Bible’s viewpoint as to interfaith?

How did Jesus view religious leaders who pretended to be righteous but disrespected God? “Jesus said to them: ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for from God I came forth and am here. Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth. . . . You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie. Because I, on the other hand, tell the truth, you do not believe me. . . . This is why you do not listen, because you are not from God.’”—John 8:42-47.

Would it demonstrate loyalty to God and to his righteous standards if his servants were to embrace in religious brotherhood those who themselves practice what God condemns or who condone such practices? “Quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man. . . . Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom.” (1 Cor. 5:11; 6:9, 10) “Whoever . . . wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” (Jas. 4:4) “O you lovers of Jehovah, hate what is bad. He is guarding the souls of his loyal ones.”—Ps. 97:10.

2 Cor. 6:14-17: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? . . . ‘“Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,” says Jehovah, “and quit touching the unclean thing”’; ‘“and I will take you in.”’”

Rev. 18:4, 5: “I heard another voice out of heaven say: ‘Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues. For her sins have massed together clear up to heaven, and God has called her acts of injustice to mind.’”

Religious pluralism finds no support in the Bible--

In promoting religious pluralism,is to imply that God has no set guidelines according to which he is to be worshiped. Is such organized confusion consistent with a God of truth, who the Bible says “is a God, not of disorder, but of peace”? Is the often heard Protestant go-to-the-church-of-your-choice mentality any different from the independent thinking that led Adam and Eve into erroneous belief and subsequent trouble?—1 Corinthians 14:33; see Genesis 2:9; 3:17-19.

so whats important is not what "I think" but what God himself says, and he says there is NO future for organized religion.

all the best
Brenda