if god was real why then do we have so many different religions? surely if one god created the world and us we would all follow the same religion?????? surley the fact that we have so many so called religions in the world condradicts the belief??????????? ( no im not a believer and yes i want proper answers not quotes from the bible)
127007
there r soo many religions because people..go on with their own values and beliefs..everyone is different..they believe what THEY WANNA believe
205142
Okay, I think I can answer this honestly because I do not practice an "Organized Religion".  \n\nMy heart says we are all the same and we all have the same Creator.  I feel that because our Creator is so vast his children exemplify a mere fraction of what is possible within Him, but it would explain why we come in many shapes and colors.  \n\nI feel that the many religions popped up because many prophets were sent to Earth to teach us.  After the prophet ascended to Heaven people took note and began to practice their teachings and this would explain why we have several different religions.  \n\nI feel we are simply here to serve and help one another and protect the earth.  I feel we must acknowledge our creator and praise him through prayer, giving thanks and by living harmoniously.  It is like you said, faith comes from within and it's home is your heart so I think as long as you acknowledge your higher self and your creator faith will lead you in the direction of the Divine.
669307
If you notice, everyone seems to have a different idea to so Fundamental a question. Everyone seems to have a different view. People can have different interpretations of the same book and this is the case of the Bible. Also the Bible has been passed on from one generation to the other by scripts who rewrote the book and made altercations on the way. No Original bible as such exists, the one we have now is a continuosly revised edition of the first. And the bible was not written in the presence of christ which is clear however you look at the fact. All Religions lead to the same end, heaven. As long as we have faith in our hearts, we dont have to worry about anything else.
4136
As a Hindu we are taught that God is big and vast. It is taught that there are so many religions because every person experiences God differently. These experiences, along with differing desired spiritual goals, are the main reason why there are so many religions.\n\nThere is a simple story told about four blind men who walk in a forest. Each of them comes across an elephant, briefly. One touches the trunk of the elephant, another only its ear. Another man touches the tail, and the fourth one touches the body. Each of these four men have had an individual encounter with an elephant. Each of them was only able to touch a part of the elephant for the brief time the elephant was passing. To each of them an elephant is a very different thing. The meaning is that God is like the elephant. He is big and when we reach to touch God, we can only touch a small part. There are different religions because each of us is touching a different part of the elephant, each religion has touched a different part of God. Religions don't all necessarily have the same goals, either. Yes they want to promote peace and unity, but think for a moment....some want to go to Heaven and be with their personalize manifested experience of God, like Jesus, Krishna. Some people want to just see their family and ancestors in Heaven and some want to experience the paradise of Heaven. Some aren't reaching for Heaven at all, but merely finding peace right now in this life and experiencing God right now, in this moment and not concerned with a future. These are all very different spiritual goals, all touching different parts of God. God manifested to them in various different ways and thus we react to the experiences that those manifestations bring.\nWhy do religions fight? It is usually over not being respectful of other's experiences and trying to force others to experience what they experience. Sometimes conflicts aren't even really about religion at all, but since religion is expressions of our deepest Self, these conflicts begin to get expressed by us in the only way we can understand such things, through our religion.
342806
If there is more than one god, you are at least worshipping one.  If there is no god, you are merely wasting your own time worrying about it.  If there is one god, you are arguing about a name.  God is god.  Do you think addressing God by the "wrong name" is going to get God upset?  Or using the "wrong" rituals or prayers?  That kind of god is too petty and insecure to deserve respect.  I suspect God is more interested in your actions out in the world.  Do you try to make life better for people or do you try to make people more miserable?  Sure, we may disagree on many of the details, but essentially, we all know what's right or wrong, church teaching notwithstanding.  And ignorance cannot be sin.
298794
What country you live in????\nGreat to discover, your fellow citizens don't believe in a so called "God" or "Other Gods".\nI'm glad I'm not the only one on this planert who's a non-believer.\nIn my country (i.e. Belgium), we have almost every kind of religion.
261091
I should imagine that God hates all religions.  Most wars have been fought in the name of one religion or another - and all in His name!  I should think he's fed up to the back teeth with it all.  All that is really required is for us to love one another; to treat each other with respect and compassion; to acknowledge God as our creator, and to have a personal dialogue with Him in the form of prayer.  To this end, I don't think He cares one iota where we choose to pray.
19420
God answers prayers of those people that have gotten right with God and have God first in their heart, Its a relationship. Signs of existance hmmmm how about us and the earth. Or do you think this was an accident, the human body is so complex it cant be just by chance!Have lots of doubts about God, Jesus, or the Bible? Most people who think about this do wonder "How do I know that what the Bible says is true?" At ---, we think that this is an excellent question deserving an excellent answer, and that's what we provide in our "Facts Behind the Faith" seminar. Contrary to what you may have heard, God doesn't ever expect us to have "blind faith." He has always proven what He has said, and He's done that conclusively. The only thing that separates Christianity from every other religion is that it can PROVE what it says to be true. No other religion can. We can prove logically, scientifically, and archaeologically that God must exist, that the Bible is directly from God, that Jesus was God's Son, and even that He rose from the dead. Sound impossible? Then you owe it to yourself to force us to prove it. We guarantee that you'll be amazed at what you learn, and you deserve PROOF. Let us give you some  Go to this site and check out the simnars
2105
I believe there are differences in religions because otherwise we wouldnt have so many problems affeecting mankind today....religion is about serving the grand creator....worship that is pure and is based on the principles from the bible and not mans thinking....religions today do not live by bible principles
354456
I think the truth is in all of these place and in none. I know that sounds like a bunch or philosophical garbage, but bear with me.\n\nLet's assume there is a God (or gods) who created the universe (and by extension, Earth and all of us). Let's further assume that the divine creator(s) decided to communicate some universal truth and wisdom to us, and that this is what actually made it into a holy book somewhere (meaning that there is validity to at least one religion, and that all religions were not necessarily created by power-grubbing people). Most religions preach that God is good and loves us. Most relgions preach that we should try as hard as possible to live in peace and harmony with one another. If this is the case, why would and God give the truth to one group of people and not another? If people are spread all through the world,then why would people thousands of years ago in, say, Israel or India be any more deserving of the truth than people anywhere else?\n\nFrankly, I don't think God "chose" one group of people to recieve the truth and misled (or allowed to toil in ignorance) all the rest. This would contradict the idea that God is good and wants us to get along. What would make sense (at least to me) is that the universal truth is way, way bigger than any mere mortal could possibly grasp, so God wouldn't try to give all that truth to one person (it would be like explaining to your dog how to build a house - you could lecture all day, but he still isn't going to understand!). And what primitive, stone-age people could understand would be much less than what we modern humans can understant (we just know more about the world and ourselves, learned through experience over thousands of years). An all-knowing God would understand this, and might give some part of the truth to one group and another part of the truth to another group. That way, both groups have a good start and neither has been deceived. And as an added bonus, when those 2 groups meet up in a few thousand years, they'll need to come to some kind of understanding as to the differences in what they believe. People from Group A will need to understand the beliefs of Group B and accept those as valid (unless they just want to fight with each other, which doesn't seem to be what God's interested in). Eventually, Group A and Group B could find a shared value system that encorporates both groups' beliefs, thus bringing both groups one step closer to the whole truth, and at the same time working together peacefully (which, as I said, seems to be a theme in most major religions). \n\nSo, where is the truth? It's in all the places you mention, because God inspired it to be there. But it's in none of these places, because no book could ever hold all the truth of God or the universe. The real truth comes in understanding as much as possible and not taking any single viewpoint as being the only correct one. Only God has the single, ultimate viewpoint, and no religion can mimic that. Look for what is common - common to many religions, common in many people, common in many societies and ways of life. This is where the truth lays.
227952
"One, every single person has a different god and each religion prays to a different god, how do you knowyour religion is right and how can you know there is your god if so many others believe there is another one."\n\nI'm a Hindu. Hinduism teaches that there is one God but that humanity calls God by different names and has different approaches to God. There is a story that explains this concept a bit. There are three blind men walking in a forest. The first blind man comes across an elephant and touches its trunk as the elephant passes. The second blind man comes across an elephant and is only able to touch its tail as it passes. The third blind man also comes across an elephant and is able to touch the elephants body as it passes. Each of these blind men make their way back to their village where no elephant has ever been seen and each tells them about their experiences. Which one is right about the elephant? God is like that elephant and we are like those blind men. God is so big and vast and infinite that our minds can't fully experience all of God, instead we can only experience small portions of God. Another example: picture the ocean. It is a vast body of dihydrogen monoxide (H20) or water. The water evaporates and forms clouds and then when the clouds become too full, the water falls back down in the form of rain. The rain falls down the mountain tops and forms streams. The streams form rivers and the rivers merge back with the ocean. We are the individual water molecules and the ocean is God. The streams paths that form religions and the rivers are the various religions, but ultimately all rivers merge into the ocean. The water returns to its source. There is no 'wrong' religion. Any person, regardless of religion, geography, age, gender, or any other differences can discover the universal truths that are inherent of our inner nature. The proof is written by all those who became enlightened throughout the world's religions. St. Terese of Liseaux a Christian, Rumi a Muslim, as well as others from all traditions.\n\n"Also, if "god" is so bloody "great" then why did both world wars happen? rape? murder? kidnap? 911? the list goes on..and if you really think being gay is a "sin in the eyes of so called god" then why would he let this happen if he really did exist???"\n\nWars, murder, rape, kidnap, 9-11...these things happen because of karma, both individual and collective karma. Karma is sanskrit and simply means "action". Our "actions" bring about actions. Now, you're probably thinking "how did a person deserved to be raped?" and the answer is that they probably didn't deserve to be raped, they were just karmically supposed to have a bad day. However, if the culture is lenient on rapists or helps to foster and promote an enviroment where rape can happen (think of the US and all the violence on TV, movies, and videogames for example) then that person's bad day has to play out through the collective karma of the culture the person resides in. Karma is created by our actions, for which we have free-will. It might not sound great, but that's the answer. Therefore, Hindus don't usually blame people for the troubles they have, they look at themselves. Most of the time its karma from a past life, sometimes it is definately karma from this life. And it's not as if karma is fixed. Fixed karma is rare. There is so much flexible karma and Hinduism tells us of atleast ten ways we can bend the effects of karma. And karma isn't technically bad or good. It simply is. Bad and good are perceptions of the doer and receiver. I act in a way that I believe is good, but that others think is bad because that is how the experience the results of my action. Or vice versa. When the karma cycles round, how I experience the karma, as bad or good, will again depend on my own perception of what is playing out.\nHindus are di
146133
As it is in life, different religions cannot live in harmony. I personally belong to no religion, and find it easy to tollerate and co-exist with people of other religions. Maybe this is a lesson the children of the future need to be taught.
345920
I agree. God is one Krishna Allah Jehovah, etc.  One God many religions.  Krishna Says in the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) " Whenever their is a decline in religious principals and the truth appears to be lost, I appear again and again or send my representative to reestablish the Truth."  So now we can see why their are so many religions with so many misunderstandings.  Go to http://www.stephen-knapp.com for universal truths
229069
If only. Wars used to be fought because someone didn't worship someone else's god. Then the Crusades started the trend of fighting wars because someone didn't worship God in what seemed to be to someone else the right way. Chirstians, Catholics, Muslims, these and many other religions don't worship a different God, they all worship the same God, the only difference being that they just worship God in different ways. So who's way of worshiping God is the right way to worship God? Who's to say. Each religion claims that they are right. Atheists claim that everyone is wrong. Who's to say? I personally am supposed to be a Presbiterian, but I haven't been in a church, let alone a Prebiterian one, for quite a while. I'm more spiritual than religious nowadays. I see inconsistantsees and problems with many religions, so I do what I think most people should do. I worship God not in a way told to me by man, but rather, in my own way. My God is a manifestation of my beliefs, as opposed to most people who believe, for the most part, in a God of someone else's beliefs. I too ask myself, "why can't we all have a common God?" And I am answered with, "because of our differences that, though for the better and making us all unique, is what ultimately keeps us apart." Yes, it WOULD pave the way for mankind if we all beleived in a common God, but as I stated with my very first sentence, if only. Do we need a religion for worshipping God? Some do. Most do in fact. But I don't.
322924
The short answer is YES. Look at it this way: if there is really only one God, why are there so many versions of the bible and why are there so many variations of Christianity? If you really want the answer to your question (and I dare say you DON'T) check out the two book below.
264678
I don't have a religion...I see no proof that a god does exist so until I see proof I choose to not believe...There are way too many bad things happening in the world to think that somewhere there is a god/higher being that could make it be better and just chooses to do nothing.
468506
Good luck getting a good answer for that. I don't believe that God as a supreme being exists. It doesn't make sense. There are way to many things in this world that have come and gone and it didn't affect us in the least. To believe that this world was created purely for our experience is ridiculous.