Exclusivity
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. Isaiah 46:9
The God (Jehovah), who claims to have created everything, claims exclusivity. He says there is “none like me.” But others make the same claim. How can we know the truth about the real God with so many choices? Can there be many gods?
Elijah gave the people a choice between a false god and a true God:
“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 1 Kings 18:21
Most of the people of Elijah’s time were on the side of the prophets of Baal. It is an exciting story to see how proof was provided to those who were deceived by the hierarchy of religion to believe in a non-existent god. The story is recorded in 1 Kings 18: 1-40.
Anyone can claim to be God. Anyone can claim to “know the truth,” even non-believers, i.e., Atheists. Agnostics may say, “There is no such thing as truth,” or “Truth is whatever you want it to be.” “You have your truth, and I have mine.” These phrases are an easy, neat, clean set of words that are opinions without any meaning or proof. They have no basis in reality and are lazy world views. Reality states that a truth is true whether we like it or not. The law of non-contradiction states that two opposing claims cannot both be true.
The World of Gods.
In this section, we will explore the world of gods, those claiming to be gods, and those claiming to have the truth. Our objective is to ask the real God to stand up and give us some reason to believe he is the real God.
This is such a massive topic. This is by no means an exhaustive study. Nevertheless, I want to ensure that facts are carefully explored with proper and fair use of resources. So, hang on, here we go. Let’s start by asking quantitative questions: How many gods exist worldwide? How many religions? How many groups claim to have the truth? This will give us the scope of all this.
Below is a ranked listing of the major religions and the estimated number of followers according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
I am including Atheists as a religion. Like some religions listed below, they do not believe in any god but have a belief system and faith in their philosophy and worldview. Like many churches, Atheists are Evangelical. They often try to proselytize others through campaigns, books, meetings, merchandise, social media, etc. They claim to know the truth!
The less biased researches regarding the number of Atheists vary, but several sources put the number at about 1. 4 million or 2% of the population worldwide. It is very complex to identify an unbeliever or an Atheist, but even the higher numbers put them at a low percentage of the world’s population. Based on these numbers, they would rank about #17 on the list below.
World Religions and Approximate Number of Followers:
Christianity: 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.3 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha’i: 7 million
Jainism: 4.2 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 4 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Tenrikyo: 2 million
Atheists: 1.4 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
Scientology: 500 thousand
Within each religion are thousands of “denominations,” “factions,” or “sects.”
World Christian Encyclopedia estimates there are 33,000 Christian denominations alone! (World Christian Encyclopedia by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001).
In the Christian world, there is a split between the Roman Catholic church and those churches that “protested” against the tradition and misuse of the Bible and power.
The Atheists like to use these numbers as “proof” that “God is imaginary.” The inference is that if God were real, there would be only one religion and one truth. In a perfect world without any enemies, this might be so. I must admit that all their claims about God and truth are difficult arguments to address if it weren’t for the Bible.
Other arguments by unbelievers start with the same type of reasoning. “If” God were real, why is there so much suffering in the world? “If” God is real, why are there so many wars and death? Again, the implication is that God would not allow any suffering or death at all, and again, this is a difficult question to answer. But there is an answer.
We have a couple of options to address such difficult questions. We can put our heads in the sand and enjoy life as it comes to us and be placed in our graves after our time on earth. Such is the philosophy and the battle cry of the Atheist, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” This attitude was that of the rich fool Jesus described in Luke 12: 13-21 parable.
And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now, take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ Luke 12 19
The more aggressive evangelical atheist tries to convince others that because mankind is in such an emotional need of a higher power, they create God in their own image. Their fervent dedication to atheism is to destroy religion, which they see as harmful to society. Indeed, they have a good case as you consider the many wars, death, and destruction caused by “religion.” Many believers are confused by the terror on this earth, but I am not sure embracing their philosophy would make the world a better place and stop war. To them, the concept of God is a crutch for the weak-minded. It is about men controlling other men and wealth. It appears to make sense. Their formula for the existence of life and purpose is simple:
No one + nothing = everything (Evolution), which means:
No god + no purpose = no meaning to life (Enjoy while you can.)
After many years on this earth and many experiences, I have discovered that people with no answers can make themselves look intelligent by asking questions without easy answers.
Example: A young man doesn’t know why the country fell into a recession, so he asks, “Is this really a recession? Has the government manipulated the numbers for political reasons?” These types of questions bring doubt and no real answers. It only adds to the confusion.
Just as Atheists don’t have an answer for the many religions, their question brings doubt about the reality of a Creator God, but no real answers or proof of the “no-God” theory. They only have circumstantial evidence with their twist on its interpretation. But the same is true for the believer.
Undoubtedly, there is an element of deception in religion and philosophy. However, the atheist believes all religions are false and have deceived all men. But what if one of these gods is the real God, and how would you know? This is what we will explore.
A scientific approach to discovering the real God would be to seek evidence and the claims of those claiming to be gods. Then, interview them and their followers to see if the real God is there. But what criteria would you use to determine who is true and who is false? What would be your basis for truth? We need to consider this in our search.
There was a popular TV show back in the 60’s called To Tell the Truth. Three contestants would be introduced, and all three would claim to be a particular person who had performed some unusual feat. For example, the show would start with all three contestants saying, “Hello, my name is John Smith; I swam the English Channel with my hands tied behind my back.”
The celebrity panel of four would ask each contestant questions, observe their body type (typically, swimmers are athletic-looking), and evaluate their answers. The contestants’ motivation was to deceive the four celebrities. The more celebrities who guessed incorrectly meant more money for the contestants. Of course, they had to lie or make up an answer sometimes. However, the real John Smith could not lie.
When the celebrities were finished asking questions, they would vote on who they thought was the real John Smith based on the contestant’s answers to questions and their physical appearance. Sometimes, it was unanimous; other times, the votes were split. After all the questioning, the moment would come when the Emcee would ask,
“Would the real John Smith please stand up?”
Imagine the celebrities’ surprise when the best-lying contestants deceived them! This was a lot of fun, but it has a simple basis for answering our question about the real God.
First, if we want to know the truth about God, we must be willing to ask questions and seek answers rather than just guessing without some basis. Many people don’t want to know the truth or have no motivation to pursue it. They are comfortable with their head in the sand.
Is it possible that the real God wants us to know the truth?
In our search, are we willing to accept things that cut across our philosophy, set of beliefs, or worldview? This is important. Otherwise, we can mutate into close-mindedness or dogmatism. We can feel we know everything and nothing new can be learned. I know people like this in the church. They know and understand the doctrines…maybe they could even recite the entire Bible, but the abstract thinking and the more profound appreciation for God are overlooked by knowledge. As Paul said it this way,
“…always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3: 7
A good place to start is to examine the claims of each god. As mentioned above, a few religions have leaders who do not claim to be gods but instead promote a particular philosophy about living and life. Philosophies are highly subjective. Many are nice-sounding words, but examining and testing for truth would be challenging.
Let’s try to start with the claims of each god or philosophy. We would need to study the answers to our common questions and compare them. Also, we would need to see if they have done anything that would demonstrate god-like qualities or evidence of truth.
We must be willing to submit to the idea that some liars in the group have a hidden agenda for their followers. There is truth, and there is error. We will talk a little about absolute truth later.
Perhaps only one is telling the truth. But keep in mind the law of non-contradiction. Two who contradict each other can’t both be right. The claim that all are right and there are many paths to eternity cannot be correct because of the contradiction of the claims on how to get there. Of course, the atheists take the simple way out and claim all are liars, a very lazy, snobbish way of thinking.
Many unbelievers would also ask, “Why is there a need to do such a complicated, time-consuming search?” Why doesn’t God just show up at the World Cup Soccer matches and say,
“Hello everyone! I am the real God, and to prove it, I will predict the winner, the score, and other facts you can’t possibly know.” Even this would not convince many because they would claim mind manipulation. One of my friends pointed to the deception in the last days by the beast of Revelation 13. So how does someone become convinced they are following the real God?
Let’s take the “To-Tell-The-Truth approach to finding the real God. The question as to “why” a search is needed is again typical of the person who has no answers and is not willing to do honest research or keep an open mind. So, they ask difficult questions without easy answers to bring doubt and get the seeker off course because they are trying to protect their philosophy. So, for now, we will ignore those types of questions.
Why are people a member of a particular religion or denomination?
Could we assume that people in these different religions are of that faith because they studied and selected that religion due to their research or because they were born into it?
If you are born in the Middle East, you will likely be Islamic. If you are born in the southern states of the US, you are likely to be a Protestant Christian. You will likely be the same if your parents were Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, etc.
It would be safe to assume that our religion and denomination are determined chiefly by our ancestry, location, and environment. Family roots and race is the most potent reason for someone’s religion. People say, “If it was good enough for grandma, it is good enough for me.”
Of our 21 “religions” listed above, how many claim to have a god?
Some religions, such as Hinduism and Shinto, have thousands of gods. Some have no gods but are led by gurus, teachers, philosophers, or politicians, such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Juche, and Jainism.
Many are recent “religions” such as Spiritism, Baha’i, Cao Dai, Tenrikyo, Neo-Paganism, Rastafarianism, and Scientology, which just started in the last couple hundred years.
Some are very nationalistic, such as Zoroastrianism. They attempt to reason to a conclusion rather than search the evidence.
One last question: What if there is an enemy to truth? Would it be natural for that enemy to use deception to steer people away from the truth, especially if he knew there was a source of truth?
Let’s compare the top two religions in the world and their leaders. We will examine the claims of Jesus, Muhammad, Jehovah, and Allah in the next chapter.