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[Negative]

I don't know how to make this a statement but why would God create other religions?

Muslims are really close to Christians in the amount of people that are in that religion. Why would god create something that would have almost as big of an influence as his followers?

[jimwalton]

God didn't create other religions. People did. People are notorious for believing what they want to believe and for making things up.

I mean, just look at the Internet. None of us have any concept of how many sites there are with false information posted by wacko people who are making things up. One might ask, "Why did the inventors of the Internet create those lying sites?" They didn't. Wackos do.

[Russian Troller]

So why doesnt god distinguish his religion from the rest? Why write an old book like EVERY other religion? Why use prophets?

[jimwalton]

Great questions. Thanks for asking.

> So why doesnt god distinguish his religion from the rest?

He did. Christianity is the only religion where God seeks us. Other religions are about us seeking God.

Christianity is the only religion with grace as a foundational component: the gift of God, not our works or our earning it, and His generosity to humanity.

Christianity is the only historical religion—set in history, time, and space, as God interacts with humanity. Hinduism is a philosophical religion. Islam (the Qur'an) is mostly pithy, unrelated sayings.

Christianity is the only religion where God is both imminent and transcendent. Technically, Christianity is a relationship with God and not a religion at all. It's vastly different from the rest.

> Why write an old book like EVERY other religion?

The Bible is quite different from the Baghavad Ghita and the Qur'an. If you read any of three, you'll readily notice that the differences between them are huge.

> Why use prophets?

God communicates to people through a vast network of different means: speaking directly, speaking through authorized mouthpieces (the prophets), writing things down, signs and wonders, in our thoughts and hearts, and through books.

With this Corona Virus going on, every night on the news we are spoken to by Dr. Fauci of the National Institute of Health. We get an authorized and consistent narrative through the voice of one expert. The same with prophets.

[Fat Strangler]

> God didn't create other religions. People did. People are notorious for believing what they want to believe and for making things up.

Wouldn’t a Muslim (or any non-Christian) say this about Christians as well?

[jimwalton]

Of course they would. Truth is not determined by making a statement or by deprecating the beliefs of others. Truth is determined by tests of truth and correspondence to reality. People can say whatever they want, and we know that doesn't make it true. It doesn't even make it true that lots of people are saying it, or even that a majority of people are saying it. What makes things true is if they are logical, evidentiary, inferring the most reasonable conclusion, and conforming to reality.

[Zap Branna]

> God didn't create other religions. People did.

Is your religion not created by people too? How do you know?

[jimwalton]

No, it's not. We judge the truth of anything by examining its premises, seeing how it aligns with reality, how it correctly speaks about the human condition, how it is confirmed by experiences through thousands of years of history, how it is logical and reasonable, how it conforms to life as we know it, and what it does to people worldwide in all eras of history.

One of the things science has taught us is that if we can't trust the human mind to separate true perceptions from false ones, if we can't trust the human mind to discern truth, and if we can't trust the human mind to be able to be reasonable, then we have no such thing as science. The same is true of religion. We have learned that gourmands are capable of true perceptions, able to discern truth, to be reasonable, and to learn which experiences are valid and which are not. When Christianity is weighed in the balances, it passes the tests of truth.

[Sue Me]

> Allah didn't create other religions. People did. People are notorious for believing what they want to believe and for making things up.
I mean, just look at the Internet. None of us have any concept of how many sites there are with false information posted by wacko people who are making things up. One might ask, "Why did the inventors of the Internet create those lying sites?" They didn't. Wackos do.

I literally just had to change one word to make it work for a different religion.

[jimwalton]

Truth is not determined by making a statement or by deprecating the beliefs of others. Truth is determined by tests of truth and correspondence to reality. People can say whatever they want, and we know that doesn't make it true. It doesn't even make it true that lots of people are saying it, or even that a majority of people are saying it. What makes things true is if something is logical, evidentiary, inferring the most reasonable conclusion, and conforming to reality.