Why do you believe the things you believe about religion and why do you profess to be a part of a certain group?

These questions have been asked time and time again. Isn’t it strange that someone can tell you why they own a certain brand of automobile, or that they follow a certain athletic team, but they do not have a clue as to why they believe as they do about religion?

Some follow a certain religion because there family has always done so, while others follow another group because it is convenient. Realizing that a person’s soul is at stake shouldn’t a person know more about why they follow a certain way?

God’s word tells that one can know what is right and what is wrong. When Jesus was on the earth there were those who were following ways different from what God had commanded. Notice what Jesus said about their “worship”. “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). If it were possible for this to be the case when Jesus was on earth, is it not reasonable to believe it could be the case today.

Today some say that with the great population of the world, there has to be more religions than in the beginning. That statement may sound good, but it has no biblical basis, it is the thought of man. Jeremiah wrote, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). While man may think there needs to be many ways to reach God, God’s way is the only way. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). On another occasion He spoke about the necessity of following His words, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (John 12:46 – 50). One of the best places to see that God wants all men to follow the same way is found in the Lord’s Prayer, which is found in John seventeen. Notice His words, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20, 21). With the Lord saying these things, the importance of knowing were one’s faith rests is clear. It is a personal thing that each person must look at to make sure they are following “the Way”.