Learning about other religions

Being a Hindu, I studied several religious texts like Bible, Koran, Buddhism, Zorastrian, Jainism. In fact, I wrote an article on Jainism. I visited important churches, temples belonging to other religions. What is important is to keep our ears and eyes open to new things in life which we have not heard of. Doing good for others, being honest, indulging in hardwork to earn the livelihood are tenets of good religion.

All religions teach their followers to shun the beliefs of other religions and follow one particular religion only. Dabbling in other religions makes you a less devout follower and believer (so says the religious texts). If you are a Hindu (as I am), you are expected to look down upon Christians and Muslims as non-believers. You are expected to uphold the glory of Hinduism and spread and follow its rites and rituals and the same goes for all other religions. We all know this. However, humans are logical rational animals. It is upto us to question, read, search and probe all religions of this world to improve our knowledge and forge a better bonding of humanity. Just reading the Bible or the Koran doesn’t make me a Christian or a Muslim, just as it doesn’t lessen my Hindu identity. What it does instead is to make me understand these religions better and learn the values propagated by them.

The part she was talking about is in the Bible, I think it is in Psalms and refers to David praying and praising God and not mentioning the name of any of the idols that were worshiped by the nations around him. It does not mention anything about anyone saying "I was in Gath and do you know what I saw going into the temple of that idol Dagon, Jacob the son of Uriah the Carpenter!" So your mother is probably afraid that there will be a Muslim speaker who will put a wonderful spin on the story of Islam and try to lure many from the Church. You have to find out the reason why the pastor wants you to learn about Islam? Is it because of the dangers missionaries feel and are there some in the congregation who want to go into the Mission field? That would be the only reason.

The closest thing to what your mother believes is the commandment that says you are to worship only G-d. It doesn't say don't learn about other religions.By learning about other religions , your beliefs become stronger and you can see what other religions have in common with your own.I'm sorry your mom won't go to the classes, she is missing a great experience.

Take heed to yourself lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going,lest it be a snare in your midst.But you shall destroy their altars,break their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a Jealous God. The above verse appear in the Exodus chapter 34:12 & 13 please read and come to a conclusion.

The beautiful thing about the bible is that people can twist it to mean anything they want it to.

I hope you find your answer here, I am curious too. Personally I like to learn about other religions. I have my own beliefs, but who I am to say my beliefs are the right beliefs. My beliefs are the right beliefs for me, I feel it in my heart. I do not put down other religions, its not my place to do that.

I don't agree with your mom's point of view. When God made the world he did not even know that there were going to be some many religions. Beside Bible is written by a human being, a simple man like you and me. I studied in India and there in school I learned about HInduism, Islam , christianity Buddisum , sikh religion , everything together. It is very interesting to know about customs of variuos religions and their preaching. Mostly all religions are preaching same things. I will advice you to go forward and fulfill you wish. Learning and respecting other religions can never be a SIN

Really I am not sure what she is talking about. Maybe what she is concerned with is found in Deuteronomy 12 (I am sure it is elsewhere too but can't think of it right now); where God warns us not to worship in the ways of others. Maybe she thinks that learning about another religion somehow violates this or is a form of worship. Not sure really but that's my best shot at it.

I know that the bible says for us not to serve or worship any other Gods but the almighty. I also know that there is also a scripture that talks about "trying the spirit" to see if they are of God. (I hope you know what that means). I cannot tell you where right now because I'm getting ready to leave for church and my bible is in the car, but I will get back to you asap. God bless.

I can't remember that there is a passage in the bible that God doesn't want us to learn about other religion.What I know is that God warned us of false religions/false teachings...I think it is essential to study other religion so that we would be more effective in reaching them out...

There are many passages in Exodus and Deuturonomy to not serve other gods or let the names come from our mouths. However, we must put this into the Christian perspective of the New Testament. The passages written in the Old Testament were directed to the Jewish people. The Jewish were the chosen people of God and the only ones offered God's promises. Therefore, there was no need for the Jewish to learn of others gods because their God was supreme. In the New Testament, the Jewish rejected Jesus as their Savior, so God's promises and Jesus' salvation was opened up to all peoples, Jews and gentiles alike. He gave the command to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to all nations. This ministry of the gospel cannot be accomplished without understanding of the religions practiced by the people. The early church fathers understood this very well. One example would be the date of Christmas, or Christ's birth. It is impossible to pinpoint the exact date by our modern calendar that Jesus was born. So early church leaders set the date of the celebration to fall on the same day as an already-existing Pagan ritual. By celebrating the Christ Mass on the same date, an alternative was offered to followers of the Pagan religion in an attempt to draw them into the Christian faith. Without an understanding of this other religion and the important rituals, the early leaders of Christianity could not have offered the gospel of the one true God in place of the gods already worshipped. Understanding other religions is essential to effectively sharing the Christian gospel.

my view is that interpretation of the bible is based on each personal interpretation of whoever is reading the bible,.... if i may say something about your mom, i think she is so much into her faith, and she believe that their is no true faith but her own, for me nothing is wrong with that, i am not a baptist but i respect each other's faith

The rules of God are pretty much summed up in the commandments that Noah brought down from the mountain and in the Sermon on the Mount. I don't remember anything about learning about otber religions. true Christians are supposed to convert others to their faith, that would be much easier if you understood what they believed.

I could not know who should know God A Boy or a Girl. ??? If A Girl then I could not know if sayings of my mom is right or wrong ?? I could not know.................

I have never heard of that but I haven't read the bible completely so I don't know. I guess if your pastor says he doesn't know anything about that then it's not true. After all, he would know if it said that.

I think that she is just telling you because it might create questions in your faith. I haven't read that opinion in the Bible and haven't heard anything like that from our preachers and other believers of Christ. I think that's it ok to learn other religion as long as you have a firm foundation on your faith and not easily convinced with other teachings. There are so many cults around and many people are blinded by this truth because they are not careful and do not have a good foundation in their faith and relationship to God.

I have no ideé where your mom got that from, I would learn anyway because it is very fun and fashinating stuff

"Seek the true worship" Love is a distinguishing feature of true worship. Jesus likened finding true worship to finding the right road and choosing to walk on it. It is the only road that leads to everlasting life. Jesus said: "Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off inot life, and few are the ones finding it." (Matthew 7:13,14) Only one body of true Christians walks unitedly with God on the road of true worship. Therefore, it does matter which religion you choose. If you find that road and choose to walk on it, you will have found the best way of life, for it is the one way of love. --- Ephesians 4:1-4

Here is the idea, as a human we always need the truth and we seek for the truth. It is not bad if you want to learn other religion because there are things in our mind that needs an answer, an answer that can satisfy you. If your religion can't provide the answer you need then better find another one that really satisfy you. Try to learn other religion and ask them about your questions. I was once like you because I am open minded person I did not hesitate to ask other religion about my question until a religion gave me a great answer. The religion is Jehovah's Witness, they can answer your questions based on the bible and they can explain everything from the bible.