I have a question for religious people. Total n00b, uneducated question here since religion is not really a part of my life. No real opinion on it or God in general. But I have always wondered:
If there are multiple religions in the world, and I am guessing each one of them says it is the right one and none other, then how can you be 100% sure the one you believe in is... I dunno... Correct, or legit, or true or... You know what I am saying? That the one you believe in is the right one even though the other ones say it is not.
Legitimate question, but really off topic for this thread. We've sort of touched on this idea in a few different threads lately, but I don't believe there was one set thread that specifically addressed the question specifically as you worded it. Go ahead and start a thread on that if you want to discuss.
EDIT: Actually, probably better if I just split this off for you. Feel free to edit the title if you don't think the title I gave it is accurate.
Anyhow, the VERY short version for me is this: As to why I believe Christianity is the right religion, that is a long, detailed answer that requires a lot of discussion, but the simple version is that I believe that many of the claims made by Christianity are verifiably true and backed up by history, archaelogy, and the sciences, and should not be verifiable if not true. Add to that the fact that very specific prophesies were made and were verifiably fullfilled in exactly the manner they were foretold. The fact that such a large number of claims are verifiably true, and against all realistic odds given the sheer number of claims and the circumstances under which they are made, leads me to believe that those claims that are not verifiable are also likely true. In other words, to put it in more roughly biblical terms, because God has demonstrated to me that certain things that are true, I can have faith that those things that are stated or promised that I can
not verify are also true. That, in a nutshell, is why I believe Christianity to be true.
Your question also, to me at least, implies the following question: "how do you know that your religion is the
only correct one?" (forgive me if you were not implying that) The short version: Christianity claims over and over that the God of the Bible is the ONLY true God and that Christianity is the ONLY way to him. It tells of a God who created all of us and expects ALL humanity to serve him, yet also gives us the freedom not to and has allowed people to reject him and go our own way. I believe you are a Neal Morse fan if I recall correctly. The One album uses this as its central theme and puts this very poetically. I can write a longer post on this later if you indeed want to hear more on that subject.