Are you really prepared to say that you hold no beliefs that are subjective in nature? You have objectively proven everything you believe?

The “Truth” is, God is not much interested in our “religion”, either. Our supposed acts of zeal…our attempts at wisdom…our manufactured laws to abide by…all of these things are just self-exalting. It’s a historical fact that man has repeatedly made religion a man-centered thing, rather than a God-centered thing. If there’s not something in it for us, then it’s “see ya later!”

Think about it…”Hey, look at me! I crashed a plane into the side of a building for God! I’m devout.” “Hey, look at me. I wrote a book about God and the Bible that has sold millions of copies, and it’s a New York Times bestseller! I know the Truth.” “Hey, look at us! We follow the true ‘God’. Look how he has blessed our religion above all the rest.”

If God wanted us to exalt ourselves, He wouldn’t have done anything to draw attention to Himself. The Truth is, He has done everything to draw attention to Himself. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To HIM be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36) That’s saying that everything comes from Him, everything occurs through Him, and everything is due to Him. It is HE whom we should exalt. Sounds pretty God-centered to me, does it you?

I think any religious system would do good to weigh their doctrines and practices against this verse alone. Although it would be difficult for most, considering the vise-grip we like to have on our prior knowledge.

I, too, am a math man, with a degree in Mathematics and a Certificate in Linguistics. I taught math for 2 years, but now I am living overseas (as you are), studying French, with the hope (Lord willing) of doing linguistics research in Cameroon, where there are 270+ languages.

But, my main love and passion is the study of the Bible. I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Bible is the complete Truth in written form. But, every once in a while, I come to face the very questions you pose above. I see Muslims who are not militant, but rather the opposite: kind, gentle, joyful, and (for lack of a better word) harmless. I look at the various denominations of Christianity and I wonder why I attend church where I do. I see non-adherent, non-religious folks who prosper well in this world and exhibit the same things I listed above for the Muslims I have met.

But, the problem is, what we see in any one person or religion is a non-issue with God. What is on the outside can fool us, but not God. He knows what is inside. He knows whether or not we are genuinely seeking to worship Him, and not ourselves.

Jesus was able to say to God with full confidence: “I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.” (John 17:4) He knew he was right with God, not only because of his outward works, but because of his heart. Romans 10:10 begins with, “For with the heart man believes…”

As a fellow mathematician, I have noticed some striking things about the “equations” and “conjectures” you have made in your post: “Two close, but conflicting religions = man tends to be self-delusional”; and, “I can’t expect to know the Truth, therefore I will stay out of religious business”, and, finally, “there is no way to definitively know what is and is not true”.

I think men are very self-delusional. The Bible says so: “For as he thinks in his heart, so he is…” (Proverbs 23:7) However, the Bible does say we can know the Truth: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally.” (James 1:5) “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you…” (Matthew 7:7) Staying out of ‘religious business’ is not too bad an idea, because the Bible says this about religious organizations that find truth in laws and ordinances: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16)

Your last conjecture, though, may be a tough one for me to answer satisfactorily. It all depends on whether or not you are still paying attention, if the Bible verses above have not turned you off, and if I haven’t proven to be too narrow-minded. If you can lend me just one more moment of circumspection, perhaps I can persuade you by this.

You say, “there is no way to definitively know what is and is not true.” This is certainly true for carnal man: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) A man without God is a man who is spiritually ‘dead’. Such a man will struggle with Truth, because it doesn’t match up with his own personal understanding. The problem there is this: God is not like men. He is altogether perfect, holy, wise, etc. We are none of those things. So, that creates a problem when it comes to understanding God’s truth.

But, the Bible offers the solution to our knowledge-of-God-and-Truth problem. “Jesus said unto him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.’” (John 14:6) If you want to know God – if you want to have peace with your Creator – if you are searching for the absolute Truth…Jesus says you must go through him.

What does he mean by that? He means that you must believe that when He died on the cross, He became a sort of “sacrificial lamb” for you and I (before Jesus, as you may well know, there were laws in place in which people had to sacrifice an animal for their sins. This is because any one sin against God is punishable by death, but God allowed for men to kill an animal in their stead).

We deserve to die an eternal death just for one sin (Romans 6:23), but God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect and holy life (which none of us could do), and to therefore be a perfect, holy, and spotless sacrifice on the cross (to die in our place).

If you believe that what He did on the cross paid for your sins, and you give yourself wholly to a life of worshipping God and seeking to know Him through prayer and the Scriptures, you will be saved from an eternal death in hell (I know ‘eternal death in hell’ is strong language, and nobody likes to talk about it, including me. But, that’s the death that we all deserve, even just for one sin. That’s how miserable a state we’re all in without Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross).

No ‘religion’ can bring you salvation from the flames of hell. Only faith in Christ can. The apostle Paul said it plainly: “for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:21) To put our trust in some law-abiding system of religion is to say to God, “Thanks for the kind gesture (sending Christ to pay the price for our sins), but no thanks. I think I can fair much better if I just stick to all my religious rituals and laws.”

I am bound to give God’s Word the last say: “For if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart, man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

HAZEM
http://www.jordan4ever.com/LiveTv/

I’m wondering what kind of job field you’re working at where you don’t get to have (as a Project Manager) your own PC. Sure planning by pen and paper is easy when there are just a few tasks, but the moment there are more than 4-5 tasks, and one single change, that paper can get really messy!

Believe me, I’d like to. The problem is the specs for the certification are imperative and granular: “You will do X” or “You will maintain Y”, etc, that it’s hard to say, “Oh, fixing these problems will get us worthwhile value and those won’t, so we’ll do these and ignore those.” Every one of those action items directly addressed something which could be the basis for decertification because of the way the specs are written. Sure, the inspectors realize the standard is nearly impossible, but that doesn’t change the reality: any given member of the team can decertify us simply by pointing out a couple items which we fail to meet 100%. Combine that with a requirement to prove you meet specs (as opposed to them being required to prove you don’t) and it’s game on.