Religious Differences
Every religion teaches a lot of good things,
but it is from the bad things that we can discern its true origin:
divine or diabolical,
there is no middle ground in religion.
It is the bad teachings written in 'Holy or Sacred Texts' that allow
religious enthusiasts to act in evil ways.
(Here personal opinions are expressed with the purpose of encouraging the followers of these religions to question the morality of their written and oral teachings)
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Last updated
November 2023
Discerning Islam
Religious Differences
The Koran tells Muslims that it is right to kill people that are not, and do not want to be, of their Faith. They believe that killing "infidels" is in accordance with God's Will and therefore they do not feel any remorse in doing so and suicide bombers become martyrs and go straight to heaven, according to the teachings in the Koran.
The following passages are taken from the Penguin Classics Edition of the Koran, translated by Mr. N. J. Dawood, and we have chosen them to demonstrate the inner religious believes of Islam, as stated in their own holy writings.
Which is the true religion and who are the true believers?
"The only true faith in God's sight is Islam" Imrans 3:19
"He that chooses a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him and in the world to come he will surely be among the losers" Imrans 3:83.
"The true believers are those that have faith in God and His apostle (Mohammed), and never doubt; and who fight with their wealth and with their persons in the cause of God. Such are those whose faith is true" The Chambers 49:14.
"Unbelievers are those who declare: God is the Messiah, the son of Mary." The Table 5:15.
"Unbelievers are those who say: God is one of three" The Table 5:70
Eternal division between Islam and other religions:
"Say: Unbelievers I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I shall never worship what you worship, nor will you ever worship what I worship. You have your own religion, and I have mine" The Unbelievers 109:1.
About war and fighting the unbelievers:
"Fighting is obligatory for you as much as you dislike it" The Cow 2:216.
"If you do not go to war, He will punish you sternly, and will replace you by other men. You will in no way harm Him for God has power over all things (...). Whether unarmed or well-equipped march on and fight for the cause of God, with your wealth and with your persons. This will be the best for you, if you but knew it" Repentance 9:37 ; 9:40.
"God revealed His will to the angels saying: 'I shall be with you. Give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers'" The Spoils 8:12
"When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly..." Muhammad 47:1.
"We (God speaking) will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. They serve other deities besides God for whom He has revealed no sanction. The fire shall be their home; evil indeed is the dwelling of the evil-doers" Imrans 3:148-153.
"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them" Repentance 9:121.
"When the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them" Repentance 9,5.
"Believers, retaliation is decreed for you in bloodshed: a free man for a free man, a slave for a slave, a female for a female (…) In retaliation you have a safeguard for your lives; perchance you will guard yourselves against evil" The Cow 2:178.
"Idolatry is more grievous than bloodshed. Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme" The Cow 2:178-193.
"Therefore do not falter or sue for peace when you have gained the upper hand. God is on your side and will not grudge you the reward of your labours" Victory 47:34.
"Make war on them: God will chastise them at your hands and humble them" Repentance 9:14.
"Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given as believe neither in God nor in the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His apostle (Mohammed) have forbidden, and do not embrace the true Faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued. The Jews say Ezra is the son of God, while Christians say the Messiah is the son of God. Such are their assertions, by which they imitate the infidels of old. God confound them. How perverse they are!" Repentance 9:27.
"Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends" The Table 5:51.
"Believers, do not make friends with any but your own people" Imrans 3:118.
Threats and warnings for those who do not believe in all that is written in the Koran:
"We (God speaking) will surely punish schismatics who have broken up the scriptures into separate parts, believing in some and denying others" The Bee 15:89.
"Those that suppress any part of the Scriptures God has revealed in order to gain some paltry end shall swallow nothing but fire into their bellies. On the Day of Resurrection God will neither speak to them nor purify them. Woeful punishment awaits them" The Cow 2:174.
The rewards for believers:
"As for those who are slain in the cause of God, He will not allow their works to perish. He will vouchsafe them guidance and ennoble their state; He will admit them to the Paradise He had made known to them" Muhammad 47:1.
"The righteous shall dwell amidst cool shades and fountains, and feed on such fruits as they desire. We shall say to them: "Eat and drink, and may every joy attend you! This is the guerdon of your labours" Those That Are Sent Forth 77:41.
"They shall be served on silver dishes, and beakers as large as goblets; silver goblets which they themselves shall measure: and cups brim-full with ginger-flavoured water from a fount called Salsabil. They shall be attended by boys graced with eternal youth, who to the beholder's eye will seem like sprinkled pearls (sic!). When you gaze upon that scene, you will behold a kingdom blissful and glorious. They shall be arrayed in garments of fine silk and rich brocade, and adorned with bracelets of silver" Man 76:9.
The promise of a celestial harem:
"They shall reclined on couches ranged in rows. To dark-eyed houris We shall wed them" The Mountain 52:13.
"As for the righteous they surely triumph. Theirs shall be gardens and vineyards, and high-bosomed [!!] maidens for companions: a truly overflowing cup" The Tidings 78:31.
"They shall sit with bashful, dark-eyed virgins, as chaste as the sheltered eggs of ostriches" The Ranks 37:48.
"There are two gardens planted with shady trees. (..) Each bears every kind of fruit in pairs. (..) They shall reclined on couches lined with thick brocade, and within reach will hang the fruits of both gardens. Therein are bashful virgins whom neither man nor jinnee will have touched before. (..) Virgins as fair as corals and rubies. (..)
"And beside these shall be two other gardens (..) of darkest green. (..) In each there shall be virgins chaste and fair. (..) Dark-eyed virgins, sheltered in their tents, (..) whom neither man nor jinnee will have touched before. (..) They shall recline on green cushions and fine carpets" The Merciful 55:52-66.
International expansion and domination:
"Say to the desert Arabs who stayed behind (from war): 'You shall be called upon to fight a mighty nation, unless they embrace Islam. If you are obedient, God will reward you well. But if you run away, as you have done before this, He will inflict on you a stern chastisement" Victory 48:13.
It is to be noted that in these religions there is always a god who encourage men to kill other men and in this way to be gods' instrument of the killing.
"It was not you who killed them, but it was Allah who killed them. And it was not you who launched when you launched, but it was Allah who launched. That He may bestow upon the believers an excellent reward. Allah is Hearing and Knowing. The Spoils 8:17.
Revelations given by a god which encourage men to kill other men are to be rejected without doubt. Mohammed, who may have started as a prophet, became a violent and murderous statesman as Islam forced its way across the world, and all this is reflected in his writings (the Koran).
Discerning Hinduism
Religious Differences
==After the double line there is the same discernment but with the exact quote numbers==
In Hinduism one of the most cherished and holy Scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gita. It describes a seer (Arjuna) who has an encounter with 'god', the Brahma, the greatest god in Hinduism, others call him Krishna or whatsoever, it does not matter.
He assures the seer that he has an infinite number of forms (all the gods that Hinduism knows). The seer, Arjuna, asks to see him as he really is, and the god gave him a divine eye for this purpose (the famous third eye). From then on, the seer was frightened to death and his hair stood on end. He describes a horrific form, fiery in colour and radiance, which seemed to have no end. It had many heads, diadems, arms, mouths and jaws. Human beings were streaming into his mouths and their heads being crushed between his jaws! Arjuna asks this god his name and he answered: "Death, the Destroyer", the one who is about to destroy the world of men. You will find this vision in chapter 11 of the Bhagavad-Gita in any one of the innumerable web-site links; here is one: https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/1 (then choose the verses on the table on the right handside).
From the Christian point of view, we can compare this vision with the one in chapter 12 of the Apocalypse or Revelation of Jesus Christ. There St John describes a fiery red dragon with many heads, horns, diadems and a huge tail, and called the ancient serpent, the devil and Satan, the one deceiving the whole world. He was waiting to devour the child of a woman who was about to give birth. Finally, he is thrown into the abyss. In chapter 9 it is given the name of the angel of the abyss: the Destroyer (Apollyon in Greek, Abaddon in Hebrew).
There is a remarkable similarity between Arjuna's vision of the god, and St John's vision of Satan: they both have many heads, fiery colour, many diadems, a huge form; both eat human beings. Since in the Revelation Satan is thrown into the Abyss there is a close relation between him and the angel of the Abyss who bears the same name as the god seen by Arjuna: 'Destroyer'.
This horrific dragon told Arjuna not to have remorse, but to fight and kill his own kinsmen. Arjuna was told he was simply the instrument for putting into effect the killing that the 'god' had, to all intents and purposes, already carried out. (Comment: Satan does not have any power except what men give him by being and acting bad).
Finally, Arjuna is so frightened that he asks the 'god' to show himself to him in the more benign form of the being with many arms (Shiva). As we said before, all the Hindu gods are but one and the same. "Om" being the way by which one should call this god, i.e., Satan, according to the instructions this god gave to Arjuna.
As pointed out before, revelations of gods which encourage men to kill other men, and which destroy humans by crushing them between their jaws, speaks volumes about the kind of god that is revealing himself. Even though these may be metaphors and symbols, there is not much doubt about the spiritual truth that they convey. Further proof of the diabolical origin is the morality that arises from this god, which is to be found in the system of 'castes', taught in the same Bhagavad-Gita as a 'divine' order.
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In the Bhagavad-Gita look for chapter 11, and check these verses. Here you are: https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/11 (then choose the verses on the table on the right handside).
So chapter 11 verses:
9 starts with the seer Arjuna, having a vision of Krishna, of his real divinity form.
23 See how Krishna looks like. Do not idealize it, be literal an clear. It is a horrible dragon with many bellies, many heads horrible frightening teeth... you will see it more clear later on and what is his purpose.
24 Seen the vision Arjuna says that his heart shakes with terror and that his peace left him. This speak tons about the nature of this being and the revelation is giving.
27 and 29 describes human beings rushing into his jaws and going between his fearful fangs (horrible teeth) and their heads being crushed between them... and just remember that this is Krishna the Almighty God of the Hindus.
32 He reveals his name and what is he doing. His name is destroyer and had come to destroy all peoples and the world of men!!!!
Can you now compare with what we are taught in the Bible, in chapter 12 of the Apocalypse? He is Satan, no way is anything else.
You may read nice passages in the Bhagavad-Gita because otherwise no one will believe him anything. But seen who is revealing all these, one just do not want to know. You will find a mix of good and bad, and people then do not know how to discern.
33 He reveal the victory that Arjuna will have. That Krishna has doomed all his enemies to die, but that Arjuna has to be his instrument and go and killed them. HE DOES NOT HAVE ANY POWER he puts men to do evil things for him, incite them to kill, and not even to give victory as he says (he is a liar) since before we read when he reveals his name -destroyer- that he is going to destroy both sides of the battle warriors and only Arjuna will be saved!!!
Please note that from verses 45-49 Arjuna pleads Satan (Krishna) to stop this frightening vision and to show himself again in his more benign form with many arms (Shiva, if I am right). In verse 5 Krishna explains that all the Hindu gods, all are he himself: Satan.
And let me quote this verses fully:
"53 Not by the Vedas, or an austere life, or gifts to the poor,
or ritual offerings can I be seen as thou hast seen me.
54
With this verse one really would think that this is beautiful and is almost what Christianity teaches. But it is not until after next verse that we realize what he is getting at.
"55 He who works for me, who loves me, whose End Supreme
I am, free from attachment to all things, and with love
for all creation, he in truth comes unto me."
To work for him you have to do evil, you have to kill other people and that way you show your love for him and you will be free from attachments....
With this kind of teaching Satan was working when he was in heaven, deceiving men... but since the advent of Jesus Christ Satan was thrown from heaven and his teachings can not stand the truth.
Chan + Zen
Discerning Buddhism
Religious Differences
There are many sound teachings in Buddhism, but we are disturbed by the one that forms the centre of this religion and the main aim of its practice. It concerns the achievement of 'nirvana', "the deathless state", in which one "has destroyed all thirst (tanha) for existence..." (Dhammapada, Song XXVI, 411, 415, 416). In Buddhism, the best state man can wish to attain is the one in which he does not desire to live any more. According to Buddha, the greatest good is a state of complete and utter alienation from the natural creation, human society, and all family responsibilities:
"All forms of existence are unreal (an-atta); he who perceives the truth of this gets disgusted with this world of suffering. This is the path to purity." (Dhammapada, Song XX, 279).
"He who has not any attachment to name and form (mind and body), and does not grieve for what does not really exist - he, indeed, is called a real bhikkhu" (Dhammapada, Song XXV, 367).
"He who did not go too fast forward, nor was left behind, having seen that all this in the world is false, that Bhikkhu leaves this and the further shore, as a snake (quits its) old worn out skin." (Uragasutta, 9).
"Having laid aside the rod against all beings, and not hurting any of them, let no one wish for a son, much less for a companion, let him wander alone like a rhinoceros." (Khagga Visanasutta,1).
"Having left son and wife, father and mother, wealth, and corn, and relatives, the different objects of desire, let one wander alone like a rhinoceros."(Khagga Visanasutta, 26).
"Look upon the world as a bubble, regard it as a mirage; who thus perceives the world, him Mara, the king of death, does not see."(Dhammapada, Song XIII, 170).
"...for there exists no place in the world where one will not be overpowered by death."(Dhammapada, Song , 128). "He who has abandoned all human ties and transcended even the celestial ties; who is truly free from all attachments - him I call a Brahman" (Dhammapada, Song XXVI, 417).
"He who has all knowledge concerning the death and rebirth of all beings, is unattached, who is content in himself (sugata), and enlightened (buddha) - him I call a Brahman." (Dhammapada, Song XXVI, 419).
"Companions are pleasant to have when a need arises..." (Dhammapada, Song XXIII, 331).
Success in the Buddhist search for immortality results in a state of detached superiority (true arrogance?) over the rest of God's creatures:
"When the wise person drives out heedlessness with heedfulness, having climbed the high tower of discernment, sorrow-free,
he observes the sorrowing crowd - as the enlightened man, having scaled a summit, the fools on the ground below" (Dhammapada, Song II, 28). This state of detached superiority is maintained by attitudes which alienate the subject even from his own body:
"Behold this illusory human image, embellished (by rich attire and jewels), full of corruptions, a structure of bones, liable to constant illness, full of countless hankerings, in which there is nothing permanent or stable."(Dhammapada, Song XI, 147).
"This frail form is a nest of diseases. It is fragile and putrid. It disintegrates and death is the end of life." (Dhammapada, Song XI, 148). In brief, the aim of Buddhism is 'nirvana', a 'deathless state', i.e. without death. The enemy of life is death, and the goal of life, according to Buddhists, is to escape death. They say this can be done by refusing to participate in life, and by practicing self-detachment through one's own efforts. God's original intention was that men would not die if they remained in union with Him (Eternal Life). When this union was ruptured 'death entered the world'. The union was ruptured by man's disobedience of the divine Will, as a result of the devil's temptation (original sin). By contradicting God's warning that man (Adam) would die if he ate the forbidden fruit, the devil tempted him by saying "Surely you will not die!", thereby promising him immortality even though he had disobeyed God's will. Re-union with God is the only way in this life to conquer death, and it is only attainable through Jesus Christ. It is only through the power of His Resurrection that death, suffering and sickness will finally be completely overcome. It is God's plan for mankind that "death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things passed away" (Rev. or Ap. 21,4). This salvation will not come by alienating ourselves, or by living solitary lives detached from others, but by doing God's Will revealed to us by Christ. In Christianity, personal salvation is directly linked to the salvation of mankind. In Buddhism, on the contrary, personal 'salvation' is totally divorced from the salvation of others.
The road to salvation that Buddhists pursue involves a totally consuming preoccupation for oneself matched by a total absence of concern for others - the reverse of the situation in Christianity. It offends the basic principle of love, by advising adherents to break all human bonds and regard fellow humans as ignorant fools.
In philosophical terms, this most fundamental and determining principle of Buddhism amounts to what is called 'nihilism' (Webster's: a view point that all traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that all existence is senseless and useless, a denial of intrinsic meaning and value in life, a doctrine that denies any objective or real ground of truth, a doctrine that no reality exists). Out of a selfish concern for himself (self-contentment, self-enlightenment and in order to 'escape' death), the Buddhist must reject every kind of love, attachment, responsibility or compassion towards one's fellow:
Nevertheless, when there is a selfish need, friends should be sought:
Are Buddhists really escaping death, or is their path to immortality as much, if not more, of an illusion than the world they think they are escaping from? Death is indeed an enemy to be overcome, but not in this way.
This search for immortality, without reference to God's Will, seems to characterize the aim of the Buddhist religion. With his whole view of the world poisoned by original sin, the Buddhist earnestly seeks to find for himself the immortality promised by the devil, an immortality divorced from God's will and plan of salvation for mankind. God really does not desire humans to disdain his creation, and pursue their own salvation in a selfish, contemptuous, uncaring and inhuman way. This is the path envisaged by the devil, who would have men think they can procure salvation for themselves without the need of help and guidance from God. It is no surprise that there is a close relation between Hinduism and Buddhism.
Religious Differences
In the case of Zen, there is an obvious attempt to imitate the Judeo/Christian religion. It has ten 'Grave Precepts' while in Judeo/Christian tradition there are 10 commandments:
| Zen 1. Not Killing 2. Not Stealing 3. Not Misusing Sex 4. Not Lying 5. Not Giving or Taking Drugs 6. Not Discussing Faults of Others 7. Not Praising Yourself While Abusing Others 8. Not Sparing the DharmaAssets 9. Not Indulging in Anger 10. Not Defaming the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, which not only connect Zen with Buddhism but also with Hinduism) |
Zen tries to appear as a very enlightened religion with supposedly very deep thoughts. There are no written books to confront them with, but there is enough material to be able to point out their 'wisdom'.
Their rituals for the dead, whose aim is to stop the dead from influencing the living, and their ideas about reincarnation and the meaningless of this world, are very similar to those of Buddhism; Chan and Zen are in fact branches of Buddhism.
Zen is defined by some sacred verses of Bodhidharma (an enlightened figure of Zen): "A special transmission outside scriptures; No dependence upon words and letters; Direct pointing at the soul of man and seeing into one's nature and attainment of Buddahood." (from: Sacred Texts, Zen Sayings)
This is an example of their wisdom:
"The blue mountains are of themselves blue mountains; "The white clouds are of themselves white clouds". - Zenrin Kush? (The Way of Zen 134, 222)
Or
"Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters. -Ch'uan Teng Lu, 22. (The Way of Zen 126)
Let us 'let go' this kind of wisdom without words.
Discerning Judaism
Religious Differences
In the Torah or Law (The Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament of the Bible) there is an account of how God appointed Moses to take the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, to lead them to a land that He promised to their ancestors.
God gave Moses 10 commandments on Mount Sinai and He did not add anything more to them according to the account written in Deuteronomy (Dt 5,22).
Moses had to rush down from the mountain with the tablets of the commandments because his people were worshiping a golden calf. On seeing this
he broke the tablets. God told him that He was about to destroy the Israelite people, but thanks to Moses' plea God refrained from destroying them. However, God was not going to go with them any more to the promised land and told Moses to take the Israelites by himself. Moses pleaded to God again and He agreed to send an angel with them (Ex 33,3). From now on Moses would speak to the angel of God and not to God Himself. This angel will be the responsible for the huge law system given to the Israelites and for all the laws about war and killing of enemies. In these accounts of the giving of the laws, we are told that the 'Lord' (not God but his Angel) had already put the surrounding nations into the hands of the Israelites; they only had to enter the city and do the killing themselves (Joshua 10:19).
All these laws and statutes were given by the Angel of God as a temporary measure for this people, because they were still very primitive and the ten commandments were not enough to guide them to live according to God's will. The violence in the Old Testament cannot be denied and as it is recorded there (e.g. Num 31:6-18), it was never intended by God: "The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes"(Dt 1:30). However, it never happened this way, because the Israelites opened their way to the Holy Land by themselves.
With the advent of Jesus Christ these laws and statutes, including all the sacrificial system described in the Old Testament (particularly in the Torah) became obsolete since Jesus Christ fulfilled them with His Death and Resurrection. With His blood, as written in the Book of Revelation or Apocalypse, Jesus has freed us from our sins (Rev 1:5, 5:9), there is no more need for a sacrificial system. The Laws of Judaism were fulfilled with the advent of the Son of God. In fact, authentic Judaism does not exist any more, there is no need for the temple and sacrifices: love took the place of all the laws. Judaism fulfilled its role to make known the only one God who created heaven and earth. With Jesus Christ, God's salvation has reached not only to Jews but also all humanity.
What is called Judaism today will be the seat of the Antichrist, the one who will rebuild their temple in its original place.