The Fight over Religion

Religion is man's attempt to explain God. Mankind is not capable of reaching God on their own. Only God can reach out to mankind. This has not prevented man from trying as he was born with a desire for God that can only be satisfied by coming to know Him.  Recently, I heard a story of a man who was held prisoner from the time of his birth until his escape from a communist country.  The type of government he lived under had no impact on his life since for all practical purposes he did not exist.  He was born into a prison society that existed primarily to maintain a populous to do needed work.  This man's life goal was simply to continue to survive.  He stole food from anyone including his own mother.  This meant nothing to him because the whole concept of what we typically think of as a mother meant nothing.  He displayed no innate moral compass.  Now there are those today who would say that his own inner sense of morality would take hold and that people who are not exposed to a God are still moral.  This has long been unproven.  Children raised by thieves tend to be thieves.  Their own inward morality does not kick in.   Children do not need to be taught to lie, they need to be taught to tell the truth.  Just as a yard left alone will not become a beautiful garden, the heart of a child must be taught to do what is right.  In a civil society, manmade laws and peer pressure put upon one another forces individuals into conforming to certain moral standards. The irony is that as the society changes so do the efforts of man to shape it.  Although religious institutions can endeavor to push back at society, it seems that the opposite is true.  The same pressures that change society at large serve to shape all manmade institutions including religious ones as well.  I know of no religions that have held to the original principles on which they were founded instead many have changed their views gradually over the years until today they would be unrecognizable to those who originally founded them.  King David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant to its original home.  His intentions were good but he disregarded the instructions of God on how the Ark was to be moved.  This proved to be a terrible error as it costt the lives of those who attempted to move it.  This is why reaching God cannot be through the efforts of manmade religion.  It is through a living Relationship with the man that God sent to reveal to us His true nature, His Only Son, Jesus Christ.   You may think that following Christ is just a sign of a weak minded individual who is easily swayed, but I would say to you that the only way to God is through the pathway he gave us.  "I am the way, the Truth and the Life and no man cometh to the Father except through me." Jesus stated.  That my friend is the Real Truth.