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Pastor Survey Answers

I was thrilled today when I opened my e-mail and I had received my first response from one of the experts that I surveyed: the pastor. His answers mirror my own beliefs so there were no surprises there, only validation. I have attached his survey answers in a screen shot; I will deliberate on them here. I have not yet received any answers from my other two experts so today, I went on a search for some new hard resources. I found these in Muhammad and Islam by Marchant, Kerena and The Kingdom of Cults by Walter Martin. Both gave me new information on Islam and Buddhism; two of the world's largest religions.

There were two answers given by the Christian pastor that I feel spotlight the differences in Christianity and other faiths: Q1. What are the main beliefs of the Christian faith? A: "Many religions have similar ethical teachings such as love and forgiveness. Of course Christianity shares those teachings with others. But there are major distinctives of Christianity. Christianity is the only religion in the world that has as its primary feature the humiliation of its deity. And every other religion teaches that man achieves bliss in the afterlife by living a good enough life here and now. Every other religion teaches that "heaven" is a reward for a good enough life. Christianity contradicts that and says no one is good enough to achieve or earn an afterlife like that. All of us fall short of God's standard for acceptance and we all deserve condemnation."

Q2: What role does faith play and how is it defined in the Christian faith? A2: "Faith is believing, trusting, and acting based on what we believe about God. If we believe He is truthful, powerful, all-knowing etc. we will act on what He said. We will obey and be zealous to please Him." "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6) Faith is never blind. It acts, believing the promises and character of God. He loves it when we show we trust Him."

The pastor went further to state that in reality Christianity is not so much a religion as a relationship. A relationship with the Creator of the universe. This is another distinctive between other religions. Few other faiths believe that it is possible to have a personal relationship with their god (God).

On the role of prayer, he stated that it is really healthy communication with God. We listen to him through the scripture and we communicate back to him through prayer. In my next blog, I plan to contrast these tenents with Buddhism and Islam. Until then........................