123. All Religions Are NOT True (And Why That Matters More Than You Think)

“All religions are true” sounds like the kindest possible belief until you test it against reality. We sit with the uncomfortable parts of faith and ask a simple question with massive consequences: can truth be personal if different belief systems directly contradict each other about God, Jesus, sin, judgment, heaven, hell, and salvation?

We talk through why Christians feel compelled to evangelize, not as a power move, but as an act of love that refuses to cheer someone toward spiritual ruin. Using everyday analogies like a cliff on the highway or a financial scam, we unpack why “affirming your truth” can become avoidance, and why Scripture treats truth as objective rather than customizable. We also look at universalism, the modern obsession with inclusion, and the cultural push to treat discomfort as harm.

Then we go deeper into New Age spirituality and manifestation. If manifestation “works,” what does that actually prove and who is responding? We explore the idea that God is sovereign, not on-demand, and why spiritual experiences alone are a poor test for biblical truth. We close with what Jesus says about judgment, why the gospel is not works-based, and why the narrow gate is both challenging and life-giving.

If you’ve felt torn between being loving and being honest, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s wrestling with “my truth,” and leave a review with your biggest question about universalism or objective truth.

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Transcript

Why Universalism Is Spreading

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello and welcome to another episode of Counterculture Mama Podcast. I am your host, Danielle Venables, and today I want to address the growing belief that all religions are true, that truth is personal, and that what you believe shapes your reality even in the afterlife. I saw something recently on Instagram that inspired this podcast episode, and basically it was somebody going through, you know, what is truth. Every person is meant to have their own truth, and every religion is true, or every religion is the true religion, and basically that whatever religion and belief system you pick is part of your soul path, and you know what you experience in the afterlife will depend on what you believe in this lifetime. And I want to start off by saying I agree with some of that. I agree first and foremost that what you do believe in this lifetime will definitely impact what you experience in the afterlife. And the reason that Christians are so passionate and actually commanded by Jesus in the Bible to evangelize, to share the faith, to reveal the truth to other people and share it, of course, with grace and love, which I will address as well. But the reason that we're called to share that, the reason that we're called to shed light on incorrect teachings, on false teachings and false prophets, which the Bible does warn against, is because it affects the afterlife, right? It affects people's experiences. And the Bible straight up says that God is not slow to fulfill his promises, but he is patient because he wishes that none of us shall perish. So he wants us to have the opportunity to share the gospel. Not that he needs us, imperfect humans, to accomplish his mission, but he chooses to partner with us. He chooses to give us the opportunity to walk in faith in this lifetime and to share that with other people and to show genuine and honest concern, not only for what they're walking through right now, because God does provide a peace that surpasses all understanding in the right now, in whatever you're walking through in your life on earth. But most importantly, he wants us to have the opportunity to bring people to heaven with us, to bring people to the new heaven and the new earth that are coming. And so, yes, what you believe does affect what you experience in the afterlife. Now, what this person was hinting at was that maybe there were different, you know, afterlifts that you could kind of like pick your, pick your journey, maybe, you know. So if you follow Islam, then whatever their version of heaven and hell is. And if you pick Christianity, then you know, there's that version of heaven and hell. And if you deny reality and pick something like New Age, where you're believing in reincarnation and stuff like that, then you know, maybe you get to reincarnate again. And and you basically just get to like dictate whatever your your afterlife experience will be based on what belief system you adopt in this lifetime. And quite frankly, that is absolutely insane. And once again, as we've talked about many times on this show, is what it does is it starts to elevate us to a position of being God, right? It's like, oh, you have so much power that you just get to decide what your afterlife looks like because you are God, and that is simply not the truth. We did not create the universe, God breathed the life into us when he created us. So, yes, we are made in God's image, God breathed life into us, and he uses us according to his purposes and for his glory, but that does not mean that we get to pick whatever religion we want and that they all have their own version of heaven and hell. And as long as we follow those rules, then somehow we end up in that afterlife. You know, this isn't the metaverse. So I really want to tackle a lot of this because, quite frankly, I have seen so much Christian hate and just, you know, people in the new age and stuff saying, Oh, like not only are you so deceived, but you're so hateful for standing by your convictions, for having your own beliefs, and you know, for saying that anybody who doesn't believe what you believe is going to hell. And honestly, if I'm being completely transparent with you, I still struggle with that. I still struggle to actually have the courage to speak the truth in love and say, if you don't give your life to Jesus, you will go to hell. And it's an uncomfortable reality for me to face because I love everyone. But at the same time, if you actively deny and walk away and turn your back on God and, you know, break his commandments and don't give him your life and don't live in submission to the creator of the universe, then the reality is you're making a decision, right? It's not that God is evil for sending you to hell, he is giving you the free will to make that decision, and you are making a decision to spend an eternity separated from him. And that honestly is horrific because hell was created to torture fallen angels. Hell was created to torture Satan and his fallen angels. So it was never designed for humans in the first place, but ever since the fall in Genesis 3, ever since you know, we started to be blasphemous, murderous, covetous, adultering people in general by nature, we were no longer flawless in righteousness enough to just inherit the kingdom of God. And so God had to send his son to live the perfect life, to be tempted as a human, to be tortured as a human and killed as a human so that we could be reconciled and adopted into that family again. There's a lot more that goes into that, but that is more or less the message of the Bible and the gospel. So when we start to adopt this tolerant behavior, this tolerant ideology of universalism is what it's called, where all paths lead to the same God, all you know, all religions point to the same God, they all have a degree of truth, but nobody can prove for sure, you know, all of that stuff. It's it seems tolerant, it seems loving, but if you think about it this way, if you're driving your car and say, you know, we're we're talking on the phone, we're in two different vehicles, but we're driving side by side on the highway, and there is a cliff up ahead, and you have to turn to avoid the cliff, right? Would it be loving for me to be on the phone watching you on your path, knowing that the cliff is coming up, and saying, Yeah, you're doing great, just keep going, stay on the path that you're on while I, you know, turned and avoided the cliff. Would that be loving? To watch you drive off the cliff and die just because I wanted to encourage you and make you feel good and feel that you were a good enough driver to make it to your destination. And I think I mean this it's a is a weird analogy because, like, in theory, you should see it coming, but spiritually, there's a lot of deception out there. And so, you know, if I see something that you don't, then it is my duty as somebody who loves you and cares about you to warn you and be like, hey, like, you know, slow down or make this turn, or you know, watch out for that cliff. You might want to go this way. And so is it actually loving to affirm somebody's somebody's truth, right? This whole idea that truth is is relative. Is it loving to affirm that if you see where it's leading? And for me, the answer is no, it's not. If I know that you're about to do something that is going to ruin your life in this present lifetime, and you're about to make a really bad financial decision, maybe you know, you got a text about a scam, and you were like, Oh my gosh, this sounds too good to be true. Would I be a good friend if I was like, Oh yeah, like you're so wise, you're so smart, just go for it. Like, trust yourself, follow your heart, you know, this, you know, this is your truth, like go for it. Or would it be wise if I saw like clearly that's a scam to say, actually, like maybe, maybe you shouldn't, maybe you should like do some research, or you know, maybe let's look for a more legit business opportunity or whatever. Like, what is the more loving thing? Is it affirming you into ruin, or is it telling you the truth, even when it's maybe not what you want to hear? Even when, you know, that would mean that you would have to face some really real, you know, realities about things. Maybe you would have to change the way you're living your life. But it is far more loving for me to be honest with you. And so what happens when we start affirming universalism? And let me be clear, the Catholic Pope is affirming universalism. So this isn't a unique, you know, just to me, like this is a widespread thing where the world is like, yes, affirm, affirm, affirm, love, love, love. Well, love doesn't equal affirming, love doesn't even equal tolerating sometimes. We have to be strong enough as Christians to speak up and say, hey, that's not that's not the truth, and that's gonna lead to ruin. And so the next piece is I really want to acknowledge this because I came from a background of universalism. I considered myself to be agnostic before really going down the new age rabbit hole, but you know, I always felt like, oh, like all religions are probably true, they're probably all pointing to the same God. I had never really like in-depth read like the scriptures, like I had never read anything out of like the Quran, let's say, but it sounded true, and it sounded true because it sounded good, right? It does sound right, it it feels inclusive, it avoids conflict, it sounds humble, right? Like I don't I don't have all the answers, so you know, maybe you're right. Like live your best life, and it it brings love and respect to the forefront, right? Like we are basically taught that let letting people do whatever they want to do and affirming them is loving and respectful. And you know, John in John 13, we are told to love one another. Genesis 127, it says that all humans are made in God's image, right? Like we are meant to love one another, we are meant to, you know, love and support and cherish one another and encourage one another. That's a very biblical concept. Paul writes about that in his letters that we are to like encourage one another and spur one another on towards righteousness. So there's some fundamental things there that are true. But again, coming back to that analogy of if you're about to jump off a cliff or if you're about to send money to a scam, like is it loving for me to tell you the truth, or is it loving for me to affirm you and let you suffer the consequences in this case for eternity? And so it's because we love one another as Christians, it's because we see through the Christian worldview, we see every single person as created in God's image. Men, women, children, unborn babies, they are all made in God's image. And that fundamental principle alone takes everything off the table, right? Like all that's left is love. When when you love God and someone is made in God's image, you love them. Period. So let's get into a bit of like a logical breakdown of like testing the theory of can all religions be true? Because the thing about truth is there is an objective truth. And that right there, some of you in new age are gonna be so deceived that you're gonna be like, well, no, there's there's multiple truths, and this is all like non-duality, and you just have to like ascend above the truth, or you know, like whatever rationale you want to assign to this, I I've seen it all, I've probably said it all, honestly, at some point in time. But the reality is, in order for something to be true, it implies by definition that anything that is not that thing has to be untrue. So if we compare, you know, if we compare my truth, is that abortion is evil. That's that's my truth. It's and so somebody else's truth might be well, abortion is medical care and it's a woman's right, and it's loving to the woman to, you know, provide her with an abortion, and it's unloving to deny her the right to her own body. Well, I can say it's evil to deny a baby the right to its own right to life, right? It's it's also made in God's image. So there's always this like back and forth of like, well, my truth says this, well, my truth says that. And in things like that, we need to have an objective moral standard that we stand by to tether ourselves to, right? And what better moral standard than the God who created the universe? So, you know, if if we're gonna go down a rabbit hole of all religions are true, well, what about the religion that says that Jesus is the only way? Right? John 14, 6 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me. He is explicitly clear about that. And then other religions saying, Well, Jesus is not the only way. You can be a good person, or maybe they reject Jesus altogether, such as Judaism, right? Well, Jesus isn't the way if if you're a Jew, right? So, how can all religions be true if they literally contradict each other? And I mean, yeah, there's so many places I could go with that, but the other one for Christianity, Isaiah 45.5 says, I am the Lord and there is no other. There are like the truth, it is not a multiple choice test, it's either true or it's not. And so you can't, you simply cannot hold the truth if your truth, and I'm doing air quotes for those of you who are listening to this, but your truth is not true if it's contradictory to another truth. So automatically then nothing's true, which again gets you to a place of non-duality and and blah blah blah. Like that's why that exists, because Satan is a master deceiver. And if nothing's true, because it's all non-duality, then you know it that that argument falls apart. But the reality is this world and the universe was created by a creator who had an objective reality, and we cannot ascend above that because we are not God. Another argument that gets kind of thrown out there and that this particular post through out there was that, you know, all these scriptures have similar stories and prophecies, and you know, Islam talks about Jesus, but they see him as a prophet. He wasn't the Messiah, but they see him as a prophet. And so, oh, they you know, they love Jesus, but they don't love Jesus if the if they don't know if they're not telling the truth about Jesus, right? So how can multiple truths be true again when they contradict each other, where Christianity says that Jesus is 100% man, 100% God, that he died, he resurrected, and will come again, and Islam just says that he was just a prophet and he wasn't the son of God and he wasn't God. So, so what's true? So just because they both talk about Jesus does not mean they're talking about the same Jesus or telling the same story. So, how can those truths coexist? Like somebody's gotta have it wrong, therefore, some religions have to be wrong. Same with like flood stories, things like that. You see that all across history. And the the core beliefs underneath all of that are fundamentally different. The beliefs about God, the uh description of God's character. That is something if you study any other any other gods, you know, whether it's like Greek or Hindu or Egyptian or you know, whatever, the their gods are very radically different in essence. Even Allah is very different in essence in what is used to describe God's character, and so that right there is like it is not the same, quite frankly. Similar stories and prophecies does not equal the same outcome, it does not equal the same level of authority, and you know, so we've got uh 2 Peter 116 that says we do not follow cleverly devised myths, and then Luke, the the beginning of the gospel of Luke, he is actually writing to his friend who he wants to bring to faith, and he's like, I have investigated these claims about this Jesus guy, and here's what I found. And so he goes, he talks to eyewitness testimonies, he you know, goes to the historical events that actually took place, and it's rooted in historical claims, and all of those can be verified. Like there is such a degree of precision in the descriptions of different locations and different events. When Paul's writing his letters, he says, like, you know, don't just take it from me. Here's a list of other people that the resurrected Jesus appeared to. Go see for yourself, like go talk to them yourself. Like, there's you know, here's here's 500 people that he's appeared to. So it's it's historical claims and it's inviting people, like they were evangelizing in that time, right? Paul was evangelizing to people in that time, saying, This is true. This man is the real deal. And by the way, he was the one that was off killing Christians in the beginning until Jesus appeared to him in resurrected form and said, like, you need to spread the gospel. So all of that to say, like, these are like historically rooted accounts where there has been evidence upon evidence from non-Christian historians, you know, we've got the Jewish historian, we've got Roman historians, we've got all of these different groups of people that are all pointing to the same verifiable facts. And so, how would a script like that or a scripture like that be so precise if it was just made up just like all the other ones? And again, like the other religions, their texts do not have that degree of verifiability, and that is something that we really have to look at because it's so easy. And honestly, even me, before coming back to Jesus, I was like, Yeah, like, okay, you believe in this Jesus guy. I did believe that he lived. That was something I think there's sufficient, like mainstream proof about that that, you know, there was kind of no doubt about that. But I was like, you know, he just showed us what it meant to ascend to Christ consciousness and and blah, blah, blah. And I would like explain these things away. And at the end of the day, the deeper you go into the Bible, the more verified claims you're gonna find. And it instead of it falling apart like you would expect it to, it all actually comes together. And paints a very clear, very secure picture of what happened. And in those times, that would not have been something that would have been easy to like make up and make it corroborate, right? Like these scriptures were written over the span of I think 4,000, no, not 4,000 years, 2,000 years, 1500 years, and by 40 different authors in like I want to say three different continents or something. Like it was wild. And so why would all of these things click together in the way that they do and be verifiable geographically and politically, and you know, all the details be gotten right if it was made up? And the next argument is they knew things they couldn't have known. And this argument is used across many religions, and so it can't validate all of them. And the reality is truth is not validated by mystery and it's not validated by impressiveness. It is validated by alignment with God's revelation. And so, like I was just explaining about being able to verify these historical facts and stuff, he's revealing those things to us even today. He is giving us evidence of what occurred 2,000 years ago so that we can believe. God does not leave a single promise unfulfilled and untouched. And even in the prophecies of like the end times and things like that, there are pieces of those prophecies that have already been fulfilled since the time of Jesus. And so there are all of these pieces working together and like it's happening. It's like if you if you don't, if you don't know that, like, okay, so for example, this just popped into my head, but there's a in the Bible it talks about when Jesus is crucified and he finally dies, and then there's an earthquake. And there there has actually been, I think, relatively recent evidence that on the mountain that they suspect was the one that he was crucified on, there's evidence of an earthquake that occurred between, I want to say, 26 and 36 AD, which map lines up precisely with when Jesus would have been crucified. So, like, there's all these different things, and it's like those types of things, those types of studies, again, are not necessarily coming from Christian scholars, these are coming from modern day people who are just like, oh yeah, it looks like you know there was probably something there. And so it's worth paying attention to that. The next thing that I really want to address and touch on is this whole like choose what resonates with you. If you choose this belief system or that belief system, like it's just part of your soul path in this lifetime. And this really makes truth subjective, which again I've explained why truth cannot be subjective. There has to be an objective moral and physical truth, right? You know, is the sky blue or is it not? That that's an objective truth. You know, is is the ocean salty or is it not? That is an objective truth. That truth cannot change and shift and form depending on if someone's like, oh, I hate salt, the the ocean isn't salty to me. It doesn't work, right? Or that doesn't align with my belief system. So I'm gonna say that there's no salt in the ocean. Or I'm gonna say that the sky is orange, you know, barring sunsets, obviously, but but on average that the sun or that the sky is orange. You know, those kinds of things. They're objective truths. And so why would we all of a sudden think that we're so awake and we're so evolved and we're so ascended beyond the need for spiritual truth when we're literally living in physical truth every single day? I don't see people denying those things, and yet somehow when it comes to spirituality, we're so deceived that we think that there's multiple truths, or that all truths are equally true, or that my truth and your truth and you know, grandma's truth. It doesn't, it doesn't matter. That's not truth then. That's opinion, that's feelings, and we don't do feelings. I mean we do, but we don't we don't base our reality on feelings. In fact, Jeremiah 17, 9 says the heart is deceitful. So this whole advice of like follow your heart, just go with what you're what you're feeling. Uh the heart is deceitful. And then Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is a way that seems right, but leads to death. You know, what feels right is not always true, and we really need to be keenly aware of that as we are navigating life. Because, like I said, there's a way that seems right, but it leads to death. That is a fact given to us by God. This other one about the afterlife depending on what you believe. This again assumes that we are God. This assumes that belief creates reality, this elevates ourselves up to the position of the creator, which I know for some of you new agers is not going to be the most problematic belief in the world because you know, there's all this talk with the manifestation and stuff of like, oh, co-create your reality, and you know, you're co-creating with the universe, and blah, blah, blah. The thing is the universe is also a creation, and you know, there there are created things. I want to word this carefully. So I don't want to deny the fact that manifestation quote unquote works. Because I know a lot of you who will be listening to this have successfully manifested something before. And so you're like, well, what do you mean? Like it works. Like you can't just say, like, oh, I'm not co-creating my reality. And the thing that you need to understand, and I've talked about this before, is that God does not operate on demand. God is not a genie, God is not a vending machine, God is a sovereign God who is going to give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it, both in provision, but also in challenges and hardship and affliction to bring you closer to the purpose that he intended for you. So he is not just there sitting back saying, Okay, what do you want and how can I please you today? Right? He's looking at the big picture. He is looking at what do you need to bring you closer to me, to teach you a lesson, to, you know, strengthen your faith through hardship, or maybe to break apart your entire belief system and cause you to question everything. Hello, he did that to me, so that you you come back to him, right? Like there's all of these different things that he will do and he will orchestrate in our lives. And so if God is not a vending machine and manifestation works, then what forces are at play in your manifestation? And this is something I really had to reconcile and like sit with and you know, think about and read scripture about and sort of dive into because I was like, well, you know, if if if my healing sessions were so bad, if my divination was so bad, if my Akashic Records stuff was so bad, like why did it work? And the reality is there's God and you know, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then there's unholy spirits. And in Exodus during the plagues, I know I've referenced this before too, but it showed that the pharaohs' magicians had some power, they were able to manipulate creation to an extent within the parameters that God placed on them. They had limitations, but they were able to manipulate things to an extent to basically in that story, it's you know, they did that, and then the Pharaoh's heart heart hardened, and he was like, Well, they can do it too. Like, you're not that special. That doesn't prove that you're, you know, God's people or whatever. And and that was how the story went. And he he hardened his heart and and away he went. And Pharaoh ultimately ended up meeting destruction in the end. So, you know, with that, we have to remember there are spirit, there are there's the Holy Spirit and there are unholy spirits. And if we are not able to channel the Holy Spirit on demand for our every wish and our every desire and our every, I'm gonna call in a 10k month or a 30k month or a hundred K month or a million dollar year or whatever you're going after, then who is bringing those things to you? And if it's an unholy spirit, then you're communing with demons. And is it worth it? And so I'm just gonna like leave that with you. And again, it's not to condemn you, it's a lot of the realizations that I've had since coming back to my faith and since really deconstructing a lot of the new age stuff and and looking into the nuts and bolts of why did this work and why was I so deceived, and you know what all went into that. So I'm leaving this with you to let you think about it, to give you the opportunity to think about it. I'm not condemning you, I'm just sharing, and you may or may not be ready to hear that yet, and that's okay. Just skip over it if you're not. But so with all of that, so manifestation works. That's like the trap, right? It's like, oh, well, like, you know, I did this and I manifested a hundred bucks, and then I did this, and I manifested 10k months, and then I did this and I manifested a million-dollar business, and that gives you like this illusion that you are the co-creator. And then once that belief sinks in of like, oh yeah, I am a powerful manifestor and I can create my reality and I am affirmations and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then it's like nothing's off the table for creating your own reality, right? It's like, it's like a slippery slope. It's like, oh, I, you know, commanded$100 to show up in my bank account and it did. That's amazing. And then it gets darker and darker and darker, and you become more and more and more deceived, right? Like that's like the mask going on that's covering your eyes. And then you just keep walking down that road kind of blind because, oh, it works. And the thing is, when you start to tie that belief to the afterlife, when you start to tie the belief into reincarnation, into, oh, if I believe in this God, then this is what the afterlife's gonna look like, or if I believe in that God, then that's what the afterlife's gonna look like. You know, I'm co-creating my own afterlife reality. That's not how that works. And Satan is completely happy to let you walk down a path of deception all the way to hell. And again, it's not this combative. I mean, at times it can be, but for the most part, it's a very smooth deception. It's a, I'm gonna tie a lot of truth to it so that in your heart it feels so true, but I'm gonna put just like a seed of deception. And that seed of deception is then gonna grow to the next seed of deception. And then it's gonna, it's gonna grow and it's gonna grow, and then it's gonna crowd out any truth and any bearing on reality and on objective truth. And then once you're untethered from truth, I can have my way with you. That's how Satan works, that's how deception by Satan works. And so, tying this back to scripture, Hebrews 9.27 said, Man is destined to die once and after that face judgment. And then in Matthew 25, I'm gonna pull this one up for you. I should have had it up already, but Matthew 25, verses 31 to 46. We go into the sheep and the goats. So it says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne, all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on the right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you? The king will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on the left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was the stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and you did not look after me. They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger and eating clothes? He will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. So that's Jesus' own words. That is him telling the parable of what's going to happen on judgment day. And that reality is already established. That is God telling us this is what's going to happen. And I don't like leading with the idea of hell. I really don't. This episode is actually extremely difficult for me to record because of that, because there's still a part of me that wants to affirm people that, you know, I was so turned off with the idea of like, you know, Christians guilting you into believing because, oh, you're gonna go to hell and you're gonna burn up and you know, all that stuff. Like, I had a strong aversion to that. And but at the same time, these are examples of Jesus specifically telling us. So there's this Jesus that is misrepresented in these other religions that's seen as a prophet or seen as Christ consciousness or seen as whatever. But he's straight up saying, like, follow my moral code and give your life to me, or we're done here. Like in eternity, I'm not I'm not gonna pull through for you. So that places us in a very objective reality of like it, it's do or die, right? It is believe and give your life or don't. But as a Christian, what that does is that binds your conscience and and the spirit moves you to make sure you're evangelizing and to share the truth because it's the afterlife is not a pick your own adventure. It's not, oh, I believe in reincarnation, so I'm gonna reincarnate, or I believe in Christianity, so I'm gonna go to heaven or hell, or whatever. Like, you don't get to pick that. It's already created, it is already a thing. And the scriptures have warned us over and over and over again. And the thing that I want to like really distinguish here, because when we're talking about hell, it can sound very hateful, it can be very challenging to, you know, face that face the idea that there is a hell and that there is a possibility of going there and having to face that stuff. I just want to say that Christianity is the only religion, the gospel is the only sacred text where you do not earn your place in heaven. The whole purpose of Jesus coming down to earth, living a perfect life, dying on the cross, and resurrecting from the dead was to atone for our sins. It was to cover us for our shortcomings. And yes, good works come from, you know, clothing the people who are cold and feeding the hungry and all of those things that we're just talked about in that passage. All of those are important, but they're not how you earn your salvation. The core message of the gospel is that you can't earn your salvation. There is nothing that you can do to not only earn your salvation, but there's nothing you can do to even contribute to your salvation. Jesus did that. That is the finished work on the cross. And so while all of these other religions may have, you know, some similar ideas or sound similar, especially if you don't study them in depth, all of these other religions have in common that your works and the way that you act is gonna get you to heaven. Even in Mormonism, there's like these levels of of heaven. And you know, if you want to get to the top level, then here's your to-do list, basically. And Christianity is the only one where it's like you can't. Like, yes, there are rewards in heaven, that is spoken about in the gospel, but as far as actually getting there, you just have to profess Jesus Christ is Lord and to the best of your ability, walk in in servitude to Him. And that is how that is how the gospel works. And so there is massive freedom in that, right? Because I think a lot of people, like and myself included, right? It's like, oh, you know, you have to go to church and you have to be a good person and you have to be generous and you have to be whatever, and like I'm not really that, or I'm not really able to commit to that, or what if I fail and then I go to hell anyway? So there's no point in even trying, I'm just gonna do what I want and live in sin. And all of those thoughts have have have circulated in my head at one point or another. But when you can accept the fact that there is no earning your place in heaven, it doesn't matter if you're a good person. It doesn't matter, and I'm not saying that as in, like, yeah, that's a license to sin. Like Jesus also says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Well, his commandments were to love one another and to love him. So, you know, if if you love Jesus, you will love your neighbor, you will want to be obedient to him, you will want to please him, you will want to bring other people to get to meet him because what an amazing savior. Because look at the way he's transformed my life. So of course I want to share that with somebody else. You know, so it's not it's not to say, like, oh yeah, once you're saved, you can just do whatever you want. It's like, no, but the way that you act and the way you show up is a result of your salvation. It's not something you're putting towards your salvation. I hope that makes sense. It's like you, you literally can't earn it. You can't, you can't buy it, you can't, whatever you're already bought and paid for, and you are just living a life that reflects the love of Jesus and the message of the gospel out into the world. And that happens through a process called sanctification, which I can get into in another episode. So I'm gonna close this out by talking about like this whole feel good false teachings thing. So we've got 2 Timothy. I think it's this one I second Timothy four. And this is important because it just kind of like puts a bow on everything. So 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 to 4 says, For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. So this is a very clear warning that false teachings are what you want to hear. It's what you want to believe. It's what's easier to believe than the truth. And our sinful human nature points us in a direction. Of wanting the easy, convenient, wanting the free pass for our sins, wanting to believe that, okay, well, I was a mostly good person, so I should end up in the right place and seeking out teachers, hello, new age, that tell you that that's how that's gonna go. It's like, oh, like, you know, if if you're a good person and and whatever, then you should be fine. And quite frankly, that's not true. And then Colossians 2.8 says, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. So it warns that there will be false teachings, that those false teachings might even be enticing. In fact, more often they are enticing because they remove discomfort, they center the self, and we are very self-centered, egotistical people by nature because of the fall. And these false teachings sound peaceful, but just because they sound peaceful and appealing does not make them true. So the key takeaway here is like truth is not determined by popularity or inclusivity, right? Like again, and we're we're so deep in it right now with our the state of our society where it's like, oh, affirm this and affirm that, and affirm that, you know, kids are born in the wrong body, and you know, affirm that, you know, oh yeah, you can you can change genders if you feel uncomfortable, right? Like affirm all these things. It's like, no, we're not going to affirm that because it's not true. And what happens, and I think as a society, we're starting to see that. I did see something recently that one of the like spearheading doctors in gender-affirming care in Canada is now backpedaling and saying, actually, I don't think we should be treating kids for this, because she is seeing the harm that affirming sin and affirming delusion is having on kids and their long-term outcomes. So we can't affirm deception and then expect it to go well. We we can't, we we just can't, we can't affirm lies and expect that nothing, nothing bad is gonna come of it or that we're not gonna have to answer for those crimes. So just because it sounds inclusive does not make it true. Again, truth is objective, truth has to be determined by God Himself, the creator of the universe that we live in. And we we just have to live in submission to that. Like, quite frankly, we can we can believe all the lies and deception we want, but again, that just leads to ruin. And it is not loving to lead people to ruin and let people engage in things that you know are ruining them, not only right now, because sin leads to death, but also ruin for an eternity. That's that's not loving. So I'm gonna close this off by reading Matthew 7, verses 13 to 14. It says, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. So I just want to let that sink in because universalism is the wide gate, right? It's the wide path, it's appealing, it's inclusive, and the narrow path is the truth. And the truth can be hard sometimes, it can be hard to grasp, it can be hard to want to walk down, and it is exclusive, and that's okay, but it's life-giving. So just be very aware. If a belief system feels loving and affirming but removes truth, it is a false teaching. And without truth, love loses its foundation. You know, in John 8, it says the truth will set you free. And that's that's true. So I'm gonna leave it at that. I hope you have the most amazing week ahead. And remember that love without truth isn't love, it's avoidance. And we don't we don't lie to people just to avoid our own discomfort in in that around here. So have a great week, and I'll talk to you next time.