Someone asked “If the Bible is true, than why are there so many religions?”
 
In this episode I hope to shed some light on that question and provide you with 4 major things to look for in a religion to determine if it is a Bible-based religion or a man-based religion.
 
For a more in-depth look into the topic, head to the podcast or video links above.
 

KEY POINTS

1. They are all based on the Bible … but not really.

 – Islam: Quran

 – Mormonism: Book of Mormon & Pearl of Great Price

 – Judaism: Torah (Not Pentateuch)

 – Catholicism: (Not really big on Bible study as a rule of thumb … add Apocrypha and corrupted manuscripts)

2. They negate Scripture through oral traditions and personal interpretations.

 – Islam: Asbab-an-nuzul (Historical commentaries)

– Mormonism: President of the LDS decides church doctrine the “advanced revelation”

 – Judaism: Rabbinic authority and tradition decides the practice of the Torah vs. Karaites who place place their authority in the Pentateuch alone.

 – Catholicism: What the pope says is “The word of Jesus”

3. They are works based religions that rule through fear.  The only way to get to their version of heaven is by not being ex-communicated from their church or family ties.

4.  They persecute those who hold the Bible alone as the authority of their conscience.

 – Islam: The crusades, current terrorism, family abuse, creating martyrs regularly. (Read the Voice of the Martyrs)

 – Mormonism: This persecution is more shadowed and is done through intimidation, stalking, business “opportunities”, etc.  But you see it worse in “fundamentalist compounds” and also you can see the “Mountain Meadows Massacre” and the early Mormon church.

 – Judaism: Well, Jesus … and a long history of killing prophets, but right now you mostly see intimidation that discourages people from reading passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and anything that might threaten the current teachings of the Rabbi.

5. In conclusion, even if you are in a Bible-believing church, but you see leaders practice this type of intimidation or control tactics or taking away your confidence of understanding God’s word (i.e. saying “Your Bible is translated wrong, but the Greek says”) … get out.  Read the KJV Bible and find a church home that truly fosters biblical discipleship … not man-based religion.

As always, thanks for being here and thanks for being my friend.