Need help with an answer

[Kate]

I received the following questions from a member in our Bible study and I’m hoping to get some help in answering her.

“What do you think when you read in the secular press about people who say, “there is one God and it really does not matter how you talk/pray to him”. This is said in order to justify that one religion is the same/good as another. Statements like this always get to me. I think I know how a Christian would answer this statement, but there are so many people in the world. Does God hold us all to the same standards?”

Thanks so much for any insight you can give.

 

[DARichards]

I received the following questions from a member in our Bible study and I’m hoping to get some help in answering her.

“What do you think when you read in the secular press about people who say, “there is one God and it really does not matter how you talk/pray to him”. This is said in order to justify that one religion is the same/good as another. Statements like this always get to me. I think I know how a Christian would answer this statement, but there are so many people in the world. Does God hold us all to the same standards?”

Thanks so much for any insight you can give.

Kate,

There is no cut and dry answer on this issue. I have heard the same question and asked the same question. First of all, we have to realize that God will only hold us accountable for the knowledge that we have and how that knowledge is applied. In this light, only God knows what you truly know and how that is applied. For many years as a Protestant, the common question was: “What about all the people in Africa that are praying to …”
The answer is that if they are doing the best they can with the information that they have, then we have to trust in the mercy of our Lord.

Now comes a more sticky point. If one has truly heard the Gospel of our Lord and chooses to reject that Gospel in favor of his own “god”, then that definitely puts him in much more of a culpable position. However, this is something that only our Lord knows. This does just show how as Catholics/Christians we have a responsibility to allow our Lord to use us to call people unto Himself.

The fact of the matter is that God has prescribed our Salvation and we must conform to His ways, we cannot take a cafeteria approach to Christanity and assume that everyone is on the same plane.

I hope this helps some.

 

[VociMike]

Probably depends on which God they mean. The Christian God? A generic God?

If the Christian God, we are told that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. To love a person (Person) we must know that person. How does God choose for us to know Him? He has given humankind a revelation of Himself and His Law, and He has given humankind a Church. So we will know Him best, and love Him best, if we seek out that revelation as properly understood by the Church, and if we talk/pray (worship) Him as His Church tells us.

Everything else substitutes, to a greater or lesser degree, our own ideas and desires about what God should be, for the truth of what God is has He Himself has revealed it. Everything else substitutes a God who is partially a human creation for the real Creator.

 

[rwoehmke]

" Luke 12:48 Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."
Those of us with more knowledge of Christ and His Kingdom will be held to a higher standard. For those who are ignorant the barrier is lower. God is all Just and reads the human heart. He is not deceived by fine words and those who would call out “Lord, Lord” while ignoring their brothers and sisters in need…

 

[Kate]

Thanks so much for all your thoughtful answers.
I knew I could count on this forum.

 

[Liberian]

Kate,

Hello and welcome to the active part of the CA Forums! I see you’ve been lurking for quite a while but only have three posts … plus however many you lost in the Great Crash of '06.

Cardinal Newman, I think, said it very well to a Protestant: “You worship God in your way and I will worship God in His way.” God has told us how He wants to be worshipped; we ignore His commandments at our peril.

• Liberian