World Religions and Cults

Recently Bible Studies for Life presented a handout on the world's religions and cults.  Here are their findings:

WORLD RELIGIONS

2.2 Billion People:

God is the personal, eternal, infinite Creator of all that exists.  God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is God incarnate.   

Jesus is fully human and fully divine.  He lived a sinless life and died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.

Sin is the nature of all people to be disobedient to God and his will.

Salvation is deliverance from sin through Christ's death and resurrection.  It is received through repentance and faith in Christ.  [The sincere desire to change from old ways to God's ways and diligently not abandoning the struggle to do so.]

The Bible (Old and New Testaments) is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the sole authority for faith and practice.  

Eternal life in Heaven, in the presence of God, is for those who have trusted in Christ as their savior and Lord.  

This is Christianity.  

 1.6 Billion People:

God is the only one true, eternal, and infinite creator.  The trinity is rejected.

Jesus was a great prophet, but not the Son of God.  He did not die on the cross, but was taken to heaven.  He didn't rise from the dead since he didn't die.

Willful disobedience to Allah's will is sin.  Sin is caused by human weakness or forgetfulness, but is not inherited.

Salvation requires strict obedience to the Five Pillars of the religion and upon the good works of the individual.  There is no assurance of salvation.

The holy book of this religion is the inspired word of God revealed to his prophet who lived between 571 and 632 AD.  The angel Gabriel dictated the words exactly as they were given to him.

Paradise is where the saved will have all their desires met  Men will have the companionship of young and beautiful women.

This is Islam. 

376 Million People: 

Not concerned with the existence of God, this religion is mostly atheistic.  The founder, in 560-480 BC) mad no claim to divinity.

Jesus has no part in this religious tradition.

Humans are bound by the "law" that good works will accrue good and that evil deeds will accrue bad. 

Salvation is through attaining a total loss of all craving.

Various texts are held as scripture, the most authoritative are compiled in the Pali Canon.

There is no heaven or hell.  There are continual cycles of reincarnation and the quality of accrued good or bad works determines the level of rebirth after death.

This is Buddhism. 

900 Million People:

Generally believing in monism (that all is one), and in pantheism (that all is God), many acknowledge three main deities, but there are 330 million gods in this religion.

Jesus has no part in this religious tradition, though some may regard him as a great leader.

Humans are bound by the "law" that good works will accrue good and that evil deeds will accrue bad. 

Salvation is attained by three paths: the "way of works", the "way of knowledge", or the "way of devotion."

The oldest writings are the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita is the most popular text in this religion.

Reincarnation is a cycle of rebirths and  the quality of accrued good or bad works determines how one climbs to the higher casts, finally achieving release from reincarnation.

This is Hinduism. 

SOME CULTS

(a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.) 

14.8 Million People:

God is an exalted man with a physical body.  Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate gods.

Jesus was the physical offspring of God born of a mortal mother and an immortal father.

Sin is disobedience to God's laws.

Regarding salvation, Jesus' atonement provided immortality for all people.  Exaltation (godhood) is available only to Mormons through obedience to LDS.

The KJV Bible, the book of their religion, the doctrine and covenants of their religion, and The Pearl of Great Price are taken as scriptures.

Heaven is a celestial kingdom for their followers, a terrestrial kingdom for righteous non-followers, and a "celestial kingdom" (far away kingdom) for the ungodly.

This is the Latter Day Saints initiated in 1830 AD. 

8.4 Million People:

God is a "spirit-being", invisible and eternal, but with a spiritual body.  The Trinity is denied.

Jesus was created by God in pre-human existence as the "Word" (Michael).  Jesus became the Messiah at his baptism.  Was executed on a torture stake and rose again spiritually.

Humans are born innocent but inevitably fail to obey God's laws. 

Salvation comes through exercising faith in Jesus's "ransom sacrifice."  It also requires baptism by immersion, active association with their religion and there is no positive assurance of salvation.

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is the only authoritative version as interpreted by the leadership of the religion.

Heaven is reserved only for the 144,000 most faithful of God's witnesses.  Others live forever in "Paradise on Earth."

This is Jehovah's Witnesses started in the 1870s AD.

 400,000 People:

God is incorporeal, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.  Trinity is redefined as life, truth, and love.

Jesus is the "way-shower" and there is a difference between Jesus the man and the "Christ Principle."

Since only ideas that reflect God's nature are real, then sin, death, disease, and pain are not "real", but only illusions.

Since sin and death are illusions, salvation involves overcoming the false idea that they exist with a realization of our divine spirit and mind.

The Bible is interpreted metaphysically in life of their 1880s founder's writings.

Death is only an illusion.  It is a transition from the illusion of the material to ultimate reality of immortal spirit.

This is Christian Science founded in 1879. 

 SUMMARY

This list incorporates some 3.8 Billion people, or approximately 49.8% of the population of the planet.

The population of earth exceeds 7.63 Billion people.

3.83 Billion, or approximately 50.2% of the people on this planet, do NOT fall into one of the religions or cults mentioned on this list.

• Christianity comprises approximately 28.8% of the population of the planet.

• Islam comprises approximately 21% of the population of the planet.

• Other religions and cults comprise approximately 17% of the population of the planet

• All other faiths, or lack of faith, comprises approximately 33.2% of the population of the planet.