"azwiley1" <azwiley1@cox.net> wrote in message
news:PtjVg.1729$v43.657@fed1read02...

Thank you. Unlike, Miles, theguy, and T-bone, by knowing where you're coming
from helps me to know what to say to answer your questions. I'm honored that
you chose to ask me and I'll try to be honest and accurate for you.

I will be giving you a couple Christian websites for references, ok?

It's sorta funny, but anyone, theguy, T-bone, etc. that wanted to discuss
this topic with me could have gone to email, but I think there was a need to
try to make me look bad in public forum. Oh, well.

I was a novice Hindu after spending 20 years as an agnostic. I became a
Christian when my wife of now 29 years insisted I go to church with her.

Are they really older? From the historical records, yes, they are older than
"Christianity", but are they older than Christian beliefs? I'm trying to
explain this as best I can and it's a bit long.

Let's start by assuming the Bible is accurate, historically and
scientifically. Most of this information if not all can be found at
www.carm.org along with answers to most Christian questions. I've checked
Matt Slick, website owner, and his quals and I heartily recommend the site.
Btw, for info on the Genesis record, check out
http://www.answersingenesis.org/

IIRC, in the Catholic faith, you're taught that Adam and Eve were real, then
it falls apart. Evolution has made it's way in but that doesn't fit with the
Bible record. Evolution or something like it would be needed to allow for
"older religions", but the Bible says that everyone divided  into ethnic
groups (not races! We're all one race, the Human Race) at the Tower of Babel
about 150 years after Noah's Flood, which killed everyone except Noah's
family.

From there, as they journeyed away from the group that would later become
the Hebrews, when prayers didn't get answered, they looked, as humans do,
for gods that they thought would answer their needs. Satan, that old devil,
was right there to do his worst and pretend to be a god. So you get other
religions that are not as old as the worship of Jehovah.

In fundamental Christianity, we don't count our existence only back to the
time of Jesus, but all the way back to when God said' "Let there be light.".
To us, Elohim ( Hebrew for the Three-in-one Godhead) is God. Jehovah is God
the Father. Jesus , the second person of God, became 100% flesh and 100% God
to become the only sacrifice, sent by Jehovah, the Father,  for the sins of
ALL mankind then rose in His physical body to bring Eternal Life. Then God
(Elohim) sent the Holy Spirit to comfort all that accept Christ as their
personal Savior.

Salvation is a free gift, period. You just need to ask for it. Look at it
like this: in the original language, the thief that hung beside Jesus on the
cross did not go to a "paradise", he went to Heaven, no baptism, no weekly
confessions, no tithing, no "works" or traditions.

Now, why are the other religions  "wrong" . . . .Let's look at basic
Hinduism, as an example. I spent more time studying it than anything else,
before becoming a Christian.

You seek to achieve higher and higher reincarnations until you reach the
top, Nirvana, iirc. Screw up and you're an ant to be stepped on. The rules
to follow are stifling and improbable at best. You have to earn your next
step up, so your "salvation" is not easy, not a gift,,and you drag your sins
with you until you hit the top.

They deny a source of protein that would reduce / eliminate hunger, cattle
because they don't want to eat cousin Herby. They divide their country into
castes (curiously, whites are always in the highest caste when they become
Hindi regardless of their prior status elsewhere) and deny basic rights to
the lower castes.

Is this the way to treat your fellow man?

Buddhism, I believe, doesn't offer any form of salvation but teaches you how
to feel better about your sins. I didn't look at it much because it didn't
offer much to me.

Does this mean Christians can't learn from them? No, but Christians need to
be real careful about what they consider acceptable. If a teaching conflicts
with God's teachings, God is always right.