Reasoning Book Flashcards
Are all religions acceptable to God? Specifically to other gods?
Worship to other gods is not acceptable to God.
Judges 10:6, 7
And the sons of Israel again proceeded to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, and they began to serve the Ba′als and the Ash′to·reth images and the gods of Syria and the gods of Si′don and the gods of Mo′ab and the gods of the sons of Am′mon and the gods of the Phi·lis′tines. So they left Jehovah and did not serve him. At this Jehovah’s anger blazed against Israel, so that he sold them into the hand of the Phi·lis′tines and into the hand of the sons of Am′mon.
Matthew 4:10
Then Jesus said to him: “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’”
Are all religions acceptable to God? Is it enough to say that you believe in God?
- There are people who profess that they believe in God, but they are considered hypocrites if they teach doctrines of men (instead of the Inspired Word of God). Thus their hearts are not really with God and their worship is in vain.
Mark 7:6, 7
He (Jesus) said to them (Jewish pharisees and scribes): “Isaiah aptly prophesied about YOU hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honor me with [their] lips, but their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men.’
- Even if people have the zeal for God, if they do not have accurate knowledge, or seek to establish their own knowledge, they do not know the righteousness of God, and thus cannot properly obey it.
People may know about the Bible, but may lack accurate knowledge of what it contains because they have not been taught properly.
Romans 10:2, 3
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge; for, because of not knowing the righteousness of God but seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
- Do not just hear the words from the Bible but do them, otherwise you can deceive yourself with false reasoning.
James 1:22
However, become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves with false reasoning.
- Faith without works, is dead.
James 2:17
Thus, too, faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.
- Not everyone just believing/acknowledging/do things in the name of God or Jesus has God’s approval. They must do the will of God. These people will not be acknowledged by Jesus or God because they can still be considered unrighteous/doing what is bad.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew YOU! Get away from me, YOU workers of lawlessness.
- We should not imagine/represent God with materials made from this earth or made by man. Even though God has overlooked the times of such ignorance, he wants all mankind to repent.
Acts 17:29, 30
“Seeing, therefore, that we are the progeny of God, we ought not to imagine that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and contrivance of man. True, God has overlooked the times of such ignorance, yet now he is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent.
Matthew 7:15
Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to YOU in sheep’s covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves.
Titus 1:16
They publicly declare they know God, but they disown him by their works, because they are detestable and disobedient and not approved for good work of any sort.
Jeremiah 14:14
And Jehovah went on to say to me: “Falsehood is what the prophets are prophesying in my name. I have not sent them, nor have I commanded them or spoken to them. A false vision and divination and a valueless thing and the trickiness of their heart they are speaking prophetically to YOU people.
1 Timothy 1:3-7
Paul to Timothy:
…so I do now, that you might command certain ones not to teach different doctrine, nor to pay attention to false stories and to genealogies, which end up in nothing, but which furnish questions for research rather than a dispensing of anything by God in connection with faith. Really the objective of this mandate is love out of a clean heart and out of a good conscience and out of faith without hypocrisy. By deviating from these things certain ones have been turned aside into idle talk, wanting to be teachers of law, but not perceiving either the things they are saying or the things about which they are making strong assertions.
2 Corinthians 11:14, 15
And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. But their end shall be according to their works.
2 Timothy 3:2,5
For men will be…having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away.
How do we know what teachings originates from God?
Test out any inspired expressions.
Every inspired expression that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh originates with God.
1 John 4:1-3
Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.
YOU gain the knowledge of the inspired expression from God by this: Every inspired expression that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh originates with God, but every inspired expression that does not confess Jesus does not originate with God.Furthermore, this is the antichrist’s [inspired expression] which YOU have heard was coming, and now it is already in the world.
Why are there so many religions?
God made it possible for humans to seek him and see whether they can find him.
Acts 17:26, 27
And he made out of one [man] every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth, and he decreed the appointed times and the set limits of the dwelling of [men], for them to seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him, although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us.
Is it true that there is good in all religions?
It may appear that there is good in all religions because Satan and his ministers keep on deceiving people with other false religions that appear to be righteous or enlightening to deceive them. But in the end they will get what they deserve for what they did.
2 Corinthians 11:14, 15
And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. But their end shall be according to their works.
If godly devotion can be seen as doing good, even though people may seem to have this devotion, they actually do not.
2 Timothy 3:2,5
For men will be…having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away.
