Surely All Religions Are The Same!

When sharing your faith, sooner or later some will say: “all religions are the same”. How do you respond?

One way to approach this scenario is to highlight the facts:

The founder of Buddhism is dead and still in his grave.    

The founder of the Muslim faith is dead and still in his grave.   

The founder of Confucianism is dead and still in his grave.    

The founder of the Sikh faith is dead and still in his grave.    

The founder of the Hindu faith is dead and still in his grave.    

All followers of these religions will agree with the above facts.

However, according to the Bible and the experience of millions of Christians, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is alive today.    

  Let’s assume you’re out on a hike. You come to a crossroads and you’re unsure which road to take. You notice there are two men by the side of the road. One is alive, the other is clearly dead. Which one would you ask for directions?

Jesus Christ is the living person at the crossroads who can tell you the right road to take.

In all other religions, man points and says: “This is the way to God!”. In the Bible Jesus Christ says:”I am the way to God!”

According to the Bible, Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins, something only God can do.

Jesus also said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father, except by me”

For more help on this topic, see this page on the New Christian UK website

 

Several Ex-Prisoners In Today

The first guy who came in for food had beeen released from prison the day before. He had been in for “TWOCing” (Taking WithOut Consent). He proudly told me the different cars he’d taken, amd had even used the owners keys to do it.  

The next one was a Romanian guy in his 20’s who spoke pretty good English.  The third was an Indian woman who seemed pretty well off her head, making crazy comments about herself and talking weirdly to anyone who would listen, about her faith (Hindu),  her father who bullied and verbally abused her, and all kinds of strange topics.  In one of her throwaway lines she said she’d been in prison, but didn’t say why. At one point she said “all gods are the same”, to which I replied “no, they’re not!”, but she was so much in full flow I don’t think she even heard my retort. She mentioned she was bipolar, so perhaps she was missing out on her meds. She also said she’d been drinking too. We couldn’t give her food without a voucher. She waited while her friend, who had seen the “Footprints” poem on our wall, wrote out a copy of it. We told her where to go to get a voucher, but she never came back.

Another woman client was quite chatty and we talked a bit about God and faith. As she left I gave her a copy of Norman Warren’s booklet “Journey Into Life”.

Outreach At Our City Stall

Had some good conversations at our stall in the city centre today.

The first lady had a rucksack on her back and was looking for a good breakfast place to eat. On her way to a course on the use of plants, I showed her the sign on the Victorian building opposite which said: “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof”, to which she said “how appropriate.” She took our leaflet.

Another lady took an Easter Bible verse and read it out in a way that suggested she knew it. She said she wasn’t a Christian, but her Gran had taken her to church as a child. She took issue with God’s love, on the reasonable basis that God didn’t stop an 8 year old boy sexually abusing her 6 year old daughter.

Before I went out this morning, I came across a Hindu tract and felt I should take it. Sure enough, in due course I met a Hindu lady, a local GP, and she graciously accepted it from me. I also told her that Luke’s Gospel in the Bible was written by a medical doctor.

An old lady stopped to chat and told me she has suffered multiple illnesses for many years, but the local hospital had been negligent in treating her, so she had recently written to complain. She said she was “a spiritual person”. I talked about Jesus who healed people and offered to pray for the pain she was suffering. She agreed, so I spoke to the pain in Jesus name and commanded it to go. I asked how she was and she said “no change”. I offered to pray again but she said “no”. We chatted again for a while and I again offered to pray for her whole body, for peace within herself. She eventually agreed, so I prayed again. I asked how she felt and she said: “I feel lighter”. I also offered to give her a hug and a kiss. She said “people I know might see it!”. She relented and I hugged and kissed her. She seemed to go away very happy!

I met a young addict who was with an older alcoholic I knew from the streets. I offered him an Easter Bible verse and he said: “that’s appropriate for me”.

A couple of Indian guys walked past so I offered them both the tract “The Missing Peace”, which both accepted.

A Muslim lady took “The Missing Peace” to look at, but handed it back when she saw it was Christian.

I had a decent conversation with another Muslim guy who stopped. He knew of Jesus, of course, and I explained how Christianity is different from Islam. He needs 51% righeousness to get to Paradise, or he ends up in Hell – and he agreed that is so. I explained how Jesus is our righteousness and He got 100% – which passes to us as His followers. So we have a confidence about Heaven that he never has in his uncertainty.

Three young students were sitting nearby, so I gave each a “Missing Peace”.

The last guy I spoke to was a Buddhist from Tibet. He had come here via India and was teaching locally on Tibetan things. We chatted a bit about Buddhism. I took his leaflet and in return gave him the “Missing Peace”.

In the course of three and a half hours we also gave out over 100 “Challenge” Christian newspapers, full of many Christian articles and testimonies.

All in all, a good day on the street meeting people of all types and backgrounds and sowing seeds.