Final Destination

"All religions are just different paths to the same goddestination." Regardless of the terminology used, this phrase is becoming more and more popular among certain individuals. Many of these individuals have philosophical roots in the New Age Movement, but others are just ignorant in the area of religion. Lets look at some nutshell versions of some major religions, and see how this phrase holds up.

AtheismHumanismNaturalism: This is an easy one to start with, because it is one of the most irrational and illogical of all religions. These folk believe that there is no divine, that life is meaningless, and eventually all of us will die, decompose, and cease to exist. Although the universe is a product of chance through time, they uphold science (based on the principles of stability, consistency, and order) as their source of all knowledge. There is no such thing as sin, and might equals right.

Hinduism: Believe in Brahman, the great inpersonal force that created all things. Ultimately our life is bound by the law of Karma, and the purpose of life is to try and cheat Karma and be removed from a cycle of reincarnation, and to be absored into the great one, which is Brahman. They have a selection of over 330 million personal gods that they can choose to worship; but the goal is to be absorbed into the great one, and in essence cease to personally exist.

Buddhism: Traditional Buddhism teaches that humans suffer in this life because we desire. We desire to be healthy, to be rich, etc... and based on this desire we suffer. So the goal for the Buddhist is to eliminate desire and reach a state of Nirvana. They believe in reincarnation, but as mentioned in a previous post, not in the same sense as a Hindu or New Ager.

Islam: One of the monotheistic religions, they believe in a personal god named Allah. Allah is fickle in a sense, because even if Muslims follow the decrees found in the Koran, they can never be sure if they have secured a spot in heaven. Only by dying in the cause of Jihad can their heavenly spot be secured.

Judaism: The Jews are God's chosen people, but with exceptions they rejected the ultimate revelation of God that came with Jesus. They rejected the messiah that was promised; some still practice orthodox Judaism and others have adopted humanism. For the non-Messianic Jew, the afterlife is a very shadowy topic and often ignored.

Christian Science: pain, suffering, and sin are not real. The physical is an illusion. You need a extra-biblical book in order to accurately interpret scripture. All of scripture is to be taken as spiritual methaphors, and not to be taken literally.
Jehovah's Witness: Only 144,000 will ever go to heaven, and they have already been chosen out of the Jehovah's Witnesses living between the late 1800's to the early 1900's. Jesus was the archangel Michael, not God's eternal Son. The Watchtower publications take precedence over the Bible.

Mormons: The Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines and Covenants, and the Book of Mormon take precedence over the Bible, but the Bible is used as long as it is 'translated correctly'. God the Father is an exalted man, and Jesus was His first literal offspring; Satan was His second. Mormons can become gods over their own planets that they will be able to fill with their spirit children, but they have to work for this. Salvation is free, godhood is through works.

Scientology: The great profit engine based on the science fiction of L. Ron Hubbard. Essentially some ruler of another planet came to earth and imprisioned Thetan's here. Thetan's have gone through a number of reincarnations, and they have forgotten who they are. But if you have loads of money, you can obtain treatment to get rid of engrams (the real problem) and become 'clear'. But being clear is just the begining in this confuddled religion.

Christianity: Believe in a Triune God: Holy, Just, Loving, and Righteous. Due to man's rebellion against God we are naturally at enmity with Him. He sent Jesus, His only Son, as a once for all sacrifice for sin, a sacrafice that satisfies God's wrath against those that put their faith and trust in Him. For those that trust Jesus as their Savior and Lord, they will spend eternity with Him.

New Age: I put this last; as I mentioned before a person who believes all paths are essentially the same is most likely a New Ager or plain ignorant. As the brief snippets above show, among major world religions there are drastic differences. People adhering to anyone of those beliefs would not affirm that anyone else is right in their beliefs. It is only the Burger King mentality of the New Agers that want to believe that all religions are essentially the same in end result. All religions are qualitatively different: they all proposed different ways of living, and different final destinations.

The statement, "All paths lead to the same _______," is a way people use to ignore their need of Christ. Do not be afraid to challenge this belief, there is plenty to challenge it with. They do not want to acknowledge their depravity and want to avoid the fact that they are accountable to an almight God whom they owe their lives to. Though in a very frightening way all religions, except the personal relationship with Christ in Christianity, do lead to the same final destination...

The Appearance of Age

Opening Thoughts:

There are some things in my childhood I remember very well; one thing I remember was getting facial hair when I was only 12 years old. When I was a freshman in high school the seniors were so shocked that I was only a freshman, and not an older senior, that they never picked on me. Some of my friends were not so lucky.

It happened almost all the time: I was mistaken for being older. Normally the guesses were anywhere from 5-10 years off. In fact, much to my horror, I was even mistaken as being a friend's father at one point. Boy, that made me feel really good. Point being, 'age', much like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Fortunately for me, my age is not determined by the guesses of other people; if it were I would have been 18 when I was 12, and over 25 when I was 14. Other people have to depend on my self report or my birth certificate to know how old I am. Of course the whole issue gets muddled if I were to lie or if my birth certificate was compromised.

Lets boil this down and make it a little scientific:

1. 'Man, that guy looks old. I wonder how old he is?"
2. 'Hmmm, he has a gotee... he is kinda big... looks like the only resource available to me is him.'
3. 'Based on my observations, I'd say he is 23.'
4. 'I'll go to his house and ask how old he is,' 'Wow, he is 14!'
5. '14, still can't believe it.'
6. 'So, I guess this means I was incorrect.'
7. Tell others about it
8. Others come along and try to guess my age using various methods, and fail horribly.

Some initial conclusions -> Time is created, the 'appearance of age' is a construct:

God is eternal; He has no beginning or end. He is also the Creator of all things. His creation is finite and had a beginning; time is something that our finite existence is bound by, but it has no effect on God, for He transcends time. Plainly, God created time.

God, however, did not create 'age'. Age is a human construct to help understand a world that is beyond complete comprehension. Somewhere during the history of time, humankind has gotten the faulty impression that we can understand the universe completely. Specifically, through science we can 'be like God' and have all knowledge. But 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,' and to understand creation, you have to start with God's Word, not with science.

So what is this? Age as a construct? There is no law instituted by God that makes 'the appearance of age' constant. It does not exist. To our human eyes, we observe numerous things, and based on our naivete we declare, "That 'looks' old."

Age of Old Testament Patriarchs:

Based on deductions one can make from reading God's Word, it becomes clear that Old Testament Patriarchs, and others during that period of time, did not age the way modern humans do. Can you imagine if they did? Adam, upon reaching his 40's starts noticing wrinkles; when he reached his 90's he realizes he has to slow down his pace; upon reaching 800+ years, well, what would WE look like?

According to science however, if the 'appearance of age' was a law, it would have to be constant. You would expect all specific types of things the same 'age' to appear the same, and it would be thus throughout history. You just do not find that, and you cannot, because 'the appearance of age' is an inconstant construct in the eyes of humanity.

The 'appearance of age' is not constant over time, as stated above. Take any number of people your age and observe. Do they all look the same 'age' as you? Do you all have the same physical capabilities? Etc... There will be people out there that are similar to you, and others that are similar to older individuals, but nothing consistent. Can we really expect the rest of creation to be any different?

The imaginary world of testing:

Just as beauty cannot be determined by testing, 'age' cannot either. Much like 'age', beauty is a human construct, and it fluctuates between observers. Some individuals out there delude themselves and think they can reliably 'test' how old creation is, or how old the earth is. They have designed tests that support their faulty assumptions; they come out of a naturalistic/atheistic worldview. By the way, the naturalistic/atheistic worldview is not internally consistent and it defies the laws of science and logic, but that is for a different post. However some comments to this effect need to be made for the sake of this post.

Science is built on the principles found in God's Word: consistency, order and stability being three of those principles. The naturalistic worldview assumes that the universe is consistent, orderly, and stable, but it lacks logical reasoning on why those principles can be assumed. In fact it is counter-intuitive. From the Christian worldview there is a reason for those things: God created thusly. It is internally consistent. And on those principles science was originally started.

Somewhere along the line science went L. Ron Hubbard. They forsook science and pursued science fiction in an attempt to eliminate God from the equation. The only problem with eliminating God is you eliminate the piece of the equation that explains the universe, the piece that makes science viable. So they eliminate God, yet still delude themselves to say that you can have consistency, order and stability in a chaotic, chance through time world. Say what? Consistency + order + stability = Chaos + chance through time?

Science is only science when it begins with God's Word. God's words to Job apply so well today when dwelling upon naturalistic scientists: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?" The obvious answer is: not yet in existence, God is the Creator, we are not. God also did not feel obligated to let Job in on all the details of creation, or answer all his questions; and He sure is not obligated to help humans now understand all His works. Let us not delude ourselves with the same repackaged lie: "We can be like God."

The Conundrum:

There is so much that I could say on this topic, but I want to end with only one more area. The last piece of discussion for this post is something which I like to call 'the appearance of age fallacy', and it creates a conundrum for those that buy into it. As I hope is clear from the above, those that say we can scientifically figure out the 'age' of things (apart from God's Word) are standing on human understanding, not wisdom that God provides.

To alleviate the obvious implications for those Christians that buy into old earth theory, they are quick to quip: "God would not have created something that appears older than it really is, that would be deceptive. And God does not lie." So let us establish a foundation here first: God does not lie. As Jesus said, "I am THE TRUTH." In Him there is no shadow of turning.

God's Word tells the story of a young earth, a young creation. It teaches a young creation from the very first chapters of scripture. Of course the same Christians who buy into the old earth lie, to cater to naturalistic scientists and make themselves seems more 'relevant', will try to warp the meaning of scripture and provide unorthodox translations of the original Hebrew to try and support the lie. At times they do unorthodox and almost heretical things with the New Testament scripture to support their views. But taking God's Word for what it says, the earth is young, not millions or billions of years old. After all, God is Truth, and in Him is no lie.

So the conundrum these folk put themselves into? God does not lie, so He would not create something with the appearance of age. And they will sight the 'age' of stars, rocks, etc... Millions and billions of year old, they say. But right there they have put themselves in a position that is untenable. This position says the Word of God is deceptive, and apparently cannot be relied on. In fact, the lies in scripture, for these folk, start from Genesis 1. Further, when interpreting the Bible you need to rely on science and the creation to truly understand it, not rely on the Creator, whose word it is. They end up worshipping at the feet of human works and science. At this point they create a worldview that is neither Christian nor Naturalistic, however it is as internally inconsistent as the naturalistic worldview.

Apart from God there is no Truth, because He is the embodiment of All Truth.

Reincarnation: Natural cut, curly, or seasoned fries?

One of the first steps to becoming a good apologist is knowing God's Word, and also knowing other belief systems. As Christians, we can only be ready to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15) when we are standing on the living Word of God (Heb. 4:12) and when we know what we are defending against. With that, let’s take a look at a popular concept: reincarnation.

Reincarnation is in obvious conflict with the Word of God (Heb. 9:27), and Christians should be ready to answer why we do not believe in reincarnation. But in a witnessing situation with a person who believes in reincarnation, it is important to understand what they believe. Reincarnation is not a stable concept amongst different belief systems. For our purposes let’s consider these three systems: Hinduism, Buddhism, and the New Age Movement.

**Caveat: This is by no means an in depth study, but a set up for a closer look at the belief systems at a later date**

Hindus believe in a sense of self all comprised within one reality. So when Hindus are talking about reincarnation, it is built around the concept that 'someone' is being reincarnated. That is, the self is reborn in a different package determined by karma (a concept for a different time). Depending on the karma of the self or soul in the previous life, the new life can take a number of forms: insects, animal, or human.

Buddhists deny the existence of self (e.g. I, mine, yours). When Buddhists talk about reincarnation it is not a soul that is being reborn. It is wrapped around an idea that all physical material, including the physical material that comprise the human experience (e.g. the five senses), is constantly in a state of flux. It is not the self that is passed on, but the physical components of a person that are randomly recomposed to create a new identity. So it is a repackaging of not a soul but of physical matter.

The New Age Movement seeks to be Western friendly. It is impossible to define a coherent belief system within the New Age Movement, simply because the movement promotes a mishmash of various religions stuffed in unique packages that jive with each individual’s tastes. Call it the Burger King of faith systems: have it your way. The predominant thought within the movement in regard to reincarnation is human to human rebirth. After all, who wants to come back as a dog or an ant?

The importance of knowing who you are talking to and what they believe cannot be overemphasized. Two people can say they believe in reincarnation and be coming from two totally separate world views or faith systems. Stayed tuned.

The New Tower of Babel

Let’s consider the Jewish people. Interjected throughout the history of the Israelites are periods of being spiritually perverted by those religions that they were in close proximity to. In the current era the perversion is coming from humanism. Not only are God's chosen people buying into this perversion, but the Church is also.

Some things that the Church has held dear over the centuries are the everlasting truth and stability of God's Word as His perfect revelation to us. A growing majority of the Church is listening to the serpent once again, and they are perverting the Word of God to be more palpable to the flesh. Humanism has taken a hold on not only God's chosen people, but also is threatening God's elect.

Today some Christians are looking at the world through humanistic eyes. With human reason and science, they say, we can truly know everything about the universe and how God created all things. This thinking is certainly contrary to what Solomon knew to be true (Ecc. 3:11), and even to God's very words to Job (Job 38:4). Tthese Christians start with human reason and science, and then interpret the Bible to fit into their assumptions. When you worship the pot, however, you will never know the potter.

As Christians, we need to start with the Word of God, because it is Truth. Then if our 'reason' or 'science' does not add up in the light of scripture, our reasoning and assumptions in the scientific realm are incorrect, fallible, finite, and more importantly tainted by sin. As humans, the only thing to be gained by worshiping at the feet of scientific knowledge is a rebuke from God.

Humanism, in this way, is the new Tower of Babel. During the time of the Tower of Babel humans were not only rebelling against God’s command to spread out and multiply, but they were erasing God from the picture altogether. With their own might and understanding they would glorify and make a name for themselves. Now, via science and reason, humans are once again turning their backs on the creator, and instead are asking the creation how it came to be as it is now. The ultimate goal: humans being the final source of knowledge and truth, and reliance on God becoming irrelavant, to the glory of humankind.