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9. can you find salvation in other religions or other intermediaries? 

Isaiah 45:20-21

 20 Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together survivors from among the nations. They have no knowledge that set up their wooden idol, and pray to a god that does not save.

21 Declare and let them take, and enter your case; who did hear this from the beginning, and has said since then, but I the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and Saviour, none beside me.

 

Maybe you have thought the possibility that the salvation of our soul can be accessible to all regardless of the religion that we follow and regardless of the god / gods / we worship. Many Christians today have thought that having additional beliefs do not determine the salvation of our soul. They believe that they can even combine different religions (eg Christianity and religion prevalent in the culture in which we live). However, God reveals a very different response to these thoughts, here are some examples:

 

John 14:6 "Jesus said ... I am the way and the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me ..."

 

Acts 4:12 "... 11 This is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the head of ángulo.12 And there is salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, we must be saved .... "

 

These verses clearly tell us, surely there is no salvation by any other means only by the belief of Jesus Christ. There is no need of any other intermediary (religion or person) that leads us to God. Only through Jesus Christ. We should not settle for the new doctrines and idioms that try to distort the original message (1 Timothy 4:1). We therefore need to put our faith in Jesus Christ and in Him alone to be saved. No other religion (Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, etc ....) and any other intermediary (god, the Virgin Mary, saints, philosophers, angel Moroni, any angel or any person, animal etc ...) can lead us to the Salvation of our soul.

 

Cultural Problem

 

It is common in many cultures that  the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ is mixed with other religions or cultures to which they belong (eg, African, South American etc ....). Many people accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior, but somehow,  they are unable to break away and uproot their family or cultural beliefs (Hinduism, Buddhism, voodoo worship of the Virgin Mary and the saints, Mormonism etc ... .)

 

We must understand and make it clear to others that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:4-5, Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 5:9, Joshua 24:19 ...) and that He shares His glory with no other (Isaiah 42:8). This means that God wants all our worship and honor and glory to be exclusively to Him.

 

God makes a very strong and deep emphasis in the Bible against idolatry. Idolatry is condemned by the law, the prophets, Jesus Christ, the Apostles etc ... The overwhelming number of verses that are condemning the worship of other gods, makes us see the importance of this act. Idolatry is something that was present both in biblical times and today (Isaiah 44:9-20, Isaiah 46:1-13 and Jeremiah 10:1-10 shows us, among many other passages, the folly of idolatry).

 

When Paul was preaching in Athens, a different culture, his spirit was provoked by the idolatry that existed in the city (Acts 17:16). He called the Athenians to repent and follow the one true God, and to depart from images and man-made gods (Acts 17:29). This is a clear example of how the culture to which we belong or family traditions do not exempt us from obeying God's commandments.

 

Differences between Christianity and other religions

 

If we scrutinize the beliefs of religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc ... we discover that the redemption (salvation) of our souls depend on our works. In other words, if we do good works we will be saved and if we do evil deeds, we will not be saved. In these religions salvation depends on man and it is won by merits.

 

Christianity, however, presents a totally unique system that differs from all other religions that exist. While for all other religions salvation is obtained by works, Christianity teaches that salvation is by grace (freely given). Salvation does not depend on our merits, our works, or our efforts, because we could never be good enough to earn it. The salvation of our soul is completely free and is given to us by God when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior and repent of our sins.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9: "... 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest anyone should boast ...."

 

While other religions present similar gods and beliefs, Christianity presents a different God, a forgiving God that forgives our sins (Isaiah 44:25), who loves us (John 3:16), superior than others, creator of all existence, unique, perfect, the first and last (Isaiah 43:10), has no image (Isaiah 40:18) .... etc.

 

Conclusion

 

Now that we know the truth, we must now expose it to as many people we as can. This will allow them to put their faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone for the forgiveness of their sins and salvation of their soul. It will also allow them to follow God’s way and His will which is written in the Bible. 

 

Note: If you have any doubts on what you have read or if you have any questions about anything that was not clear, please contact us, we will answer any questions and give you all the information you require.