The Confusing Path to Salvation

"Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart. If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no religion. All the holy prophets were as doctors to the soul; they gave prescriptions for the healing of mankind; thus any remedy that causes disease does not come from the great and supreme Physician."

-- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921), eldest son and successor of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.

What religion do you ascribe your belief set to?  What makes your choice more right than another's?  All Christian sects believe their way is the right way, so what makes one more right than the others?

  

Religion and spirituality is a matter of deep personal choice.  Can you choose poorly?  Well, did the victims of Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple choose poorly?  I think so; after all, they died and Jones shot himself in the head like the true coward he turned out to be.  But, choosing poorly is not necessarily the end all to salvation.  The congregation of the Peoples Temple didn't lack faith in God; they were simply showing extremely weak personalities and poor judgment to follow an insane, suicidal, sociopath.  I'm fairly certain most of them found the salvation Jones promised.  I'm equally certain, if there is truly divine justice, Jones is roasting in hell for his wanton slaughter of innocence.  Why would I possibly think these 909 men, women, and children found salvation?  

"…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

-- Romans 10:9-11

Romans 10:9-11 would seem to be a "get out of jail free card" for the weak and stupid.  Does it mean that you can do whatever you want and you will be righteous in the end?  I don't think so.  I think what it means is, as in the case of Peoples Temple congregation, if you believe in your heart and mind you are doing right by the Lord, there will be special dispensation from God for those that truly believe.  Matt Slick, President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, defines it this way: 

"Two words are worth introducing here: ascentia and fiducia. Ascentia is the mental assent--the mental acknowledgment of something's existence. The demons acknowledge and believe that God exists. Fiducia is more than mental acknowledgment. It involves a trust in something--a giving over to it, a complete believing and acceptance of something. This is the kind of faith that a Christian has in Christ. A Christian, therefore, has fiducia; that is, he has real faith and trust in Christ and not simply an acknowledgment that He lived on earth at one time. Another way to put this is that there are many people in the world who believed that Jesus lived: ascentia. But they do not believe that He is their savior, the one to whom they should look and trust for the forgiveness of their sins. 

Ascentia does not lead to works. Fiducia does. Ascentia is not of the heart. Fiducia is."

"If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act."  It seems to me as if most of today's religions would be best withdrawn from for the sake of our own salvation.  As a matter of fact, I have constantly proffered the thought that Christianity went south when the Christ put His faith in a man with personal agendas, and Islam followed when Muhammad's family split the faith into what would ultimately become two factions, vastly diverse in their interpretation of the Qur'an.  Christianity, since it's inception, has been splitting into various factions of its own for the same reason - interpretation.  "All the holy prophets were as doctors to the soul; they gave prescriptions for the healing of mankind; thus any remedy that causes disease does not come from the great and supreme Physician."  Pardon my bluntness, and with all respect to religious "leaders"... No shit.  Is it really so hard to understand?  It must be, if the major religions of the world keep missing the damned target.

Maybe the real problem here is religion itself.  "For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no religion."  Perhaps it would be best if we stopped interpreting and reinterpreting the holy scriptures of our religions.  Perhaps we would all realize special dispensation if we simply concentrated on the cure; if we came together in the "cause of love and unity... unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart."  Have you ever thought that maybe the path to God is not as convoluted as our religious leaders would have us believe?  The road signs seem pretty straight forward, as they should.  

God has made the route to the kingdom easy to follow, the "great deceiver" continues to move and change the guideposts.  Mistakes will be made; we are only human, after all.  God, the omnipotent, understands this more than we do.  When it comes to our own salvation we are truly, as my uncle might say, like pigs staring at a wristwatch; we don't seem to have a clue.  But if we are trying, if we truly believe in Christ and God, if we have fiducia, the "real faith and trust in Christ and not simply an acknowledgment that He lived on earth at one time," the road to heaven will never be closed.

But, what of those that don't have fiducia?  What if they are agnostic, atheist, Wicca, Buddhist and the like?  What if they only have ascentia?  Well, it certainly doesn't make them demons.  If they have no doubt in their heart that what they believe is true, I guess I'd have faith in some dispensation for doing good works in life.  I believe as my mother does:  We all know what evil is, so don't buy into it; do good deeds in the world.  We all know what is right and wrong, so do what is right, always.  We all know what is moral and immoral, so be moral.  Be humble and honest, loving and understanding, firm and fair.  Teach, mentor, and lead by example.  Be a beacon of light in the darkness and that very light may show you the way home.  Again, we must have faith that the path to heaven is never closed.  More difficult for some, and perhaps a bit longer, but it will be there... always!

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."