Sincerity and Faith are what is important. Is that True?

Some people tell me that they believe that all religions worship God, and it really doesn't matter, providing we are sincere and have faith. Just let us look at a couple of practice examples of that type of thinking to see if it is right. Our first picture is that of an English ship, called the "Dunbar" that crashed into the cliffs off South head
(pictured), at the entrance to Sydney Harbour on the night of 20 August 1857, killing all but one of its 122 persons on board. Captain James Green sincerely thought that the spot he was aiming his ship for in the dark was the entrance to the harbour. His sincerity and faith in his beliefs were not enough to save him, or his ship, because he had his facts wrong.

More recently, with all the modern navigation information available to him, the Captain of the "Costa Concordia", with hundreds of passenters and crew aboard, sincerely believed the water he was navigating his ship through was deep enough, but faith in his beliefs didn't save his magnificent cruise ship either. One life was lost, hundreds of people had their holiday ruined and the ship had to be sold for scrap. We could find hundreds of examples to show that, unless our faith is based on the firm foundation of something that is true, then that faith is futile. Consequently, if we depend on Atheism, or any man-made religions and rituals, we are lost.

This is where Christianity is unique, it is not a religion; instead it is a personal relationship with the risen Saviour, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross as a substitute for all the world's sinners, so we don't have to perform certain rituals in order to try and win favour with some God and thus endeavour to earn a place in some after life, because Jesus was able to stand in for us as "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." You see, Jesus was completely man and completely Divine. (born as a human to a mother who was a virgin, so he was completely human and to be "tempted like we are and was yet without sin," but as His mother was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit of God, He was also the "only begotten Son of God" Indeed He said: "I and the Father are one"; pointing out his unique relationship with God and therefore could proclaim that "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me."

Jesus is also a Historical figure, His remarkable life and his miracles are well documented, His coming was announced in great detail, hundreds of years before He came. He finally accepted crucifixion so He could substitute Himself for us and delete our sins. (That is, if we are prepared to repent and believe on Him.) He was buried in a tomb, but rose again, an now, as a Spirit, is available to help us at any time. Leaders of world religions mostly have burial sites that can still be visited, but they were not resurrected as Jesus was.

Jesus' followers bear witness to the fact that, after they ask Jesus to take over their lives and use their bodies for a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, they become "A new person, old things are passed away, behold all things have become new." I can confirm this from my own personal experience, because my likes and dislikes changed incredible, and "His Spirit beareth witness with my Spirit, that I am a child of God." This, of course, is the experience of the millions of Christians worldwide. Right from the beginning, those who knew Jesus and followed Him were willing to die in preferene to denying Him and that is the case in many countries of the world right now, as many Christians are being  persecuted for their faith, and even put to death. Christianity's two main Commandments as spoken by Jesus are "to love God and love your neighbours as you love yourself" and when you do that you automatically keep the 10 Commandments, because it is impossible to steal from your neighbours if you love them, you cannot take their wife or husband, you cannot bear false winess against your neighbour, and so on because those would not be loving things to do to them. To become a Christian, the only thing that we have to do is Repent and Prayerfully accept God's forgiveness for our sin, in Jesus' name, (and endeavour, in the future, to live our lives, as set out in the New Testament). Nothing else is necessary, it is a  done deal and any person can accept it, whether rich or poor, educated or not. 

That is why we celebrate Christmas (Jesus' birth), and Easter (His crucifixion where He deleted the sin of anyone who is prepared to believe on Him.) How wonderful it is to know that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans - Chapter 8, Verse 1)  Regards, Tom.