A lot of talk recently on the internet about religion this and religion that.  I was kind of astonished last night when I was reading about instant turn offs for someone when they are looking for a mate.  One of the common threads was they didn’t like someone who followed an organized religion.  It just blew my mind in a lot of ways, and I was reminded that there are a lot of religions and denominations out there.  One of the pages that I am on is a Christian Bikers Group.  They talk about Christian only subjects.  Some of the most amazing and positive perspectives that I have seen are mentioned there.  It is where I first saw the comment: If you are going to put someone down, put them down on your prayer list”.  On this biker group of people, you get a lot of opinions.  You get Baptist opinions; you get Catholic opinions; you get Methodist opinions.  You know I am almost 69 years old and I have been around a lot of different denominations.  I’ve gone to Presbyterian church.  I’ve gone to Methodist churches.  I have gone to Baptist Churches as a little kid.  I’ve gone to Catholic Churches and so on.  It was the Catholic Church that glued everything together for me.  In my opinion, Baptist Churches are awesome because the fervor and fire in a Baptist Church is like nothing else except for maybe a Pentecostal Church.  The problem with the Baptists that I have is that I so often hear: “My Pastor says” or “my church says” and, to me, it should be the scripture says instead.  Catholic and Episcopal Churches have such wonderful ceremony and pageantry and such a pure and clean feeling.  Everything is carefully cleaned when dealing with the Body and Blood of the Eucharist.  The problem that I have with the Catholic Church is their tendency to advocate things and do things that are not mentioned in the Holy Scripture.  It is Pentecostal churches, however, that move me the most.  The feeling of nearness of the Trinity is like nowhere else.  It is so much more scripture oriented.  I have heard people talk bad about Pentecostals because they babble and talk to snakes.  But speaking in tongues IS mentioned in Scripture.  On the Biker page, there are lots of opinions about other denominations like some people think that if you look carefully at Catholics, you can see where their horns push up their hair as if the Catholics are demons.  They don’t even talk about Latter Day Saints or Jehovah witnesses who are also Christian denominations by the way.  Then you have my own personal opinions that have evolved.  It is all about scripture.  Also, I saw that thing this week where the Pope said all religions like Islam, Judaism, Hindu, and Christianity are simply a path to God and it is the same God.  I disagree.  My answer was

John 14:6-7.

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will knowmy Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 

If you read that in a red-letter Bible, that is in red letters because it is words that are quoted directly from what Jesus said.  That is Jesus’ words.  The only way is Jesus.  It makes you wonder sometimes why people, like the Pope, are twisting the words.  I call it the “pack” mentality.  Humans want to belong to a pack or group.  They want to belong to the biggest pack so they try and do things to attract more people like the Pope is saying here. 

Okay, I do have a scripture today.  You might ask: Christmas was a couple days ago.  Why are you not talking about that?  We are getting there.  For the scripture today, I used the Amplified Bible.  The scripture is: Matthew 28: 16-20

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted [that it was really He]. 18 Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

Still not feeling the Christmas link are you?  A few days ago was Christmas.  It was a new beginning.  A new birth.  My brain made a connection last night that the New Year is starting a week after Christmas every year.  It is also a beginning.  The beginning of a new year.  New Year’s Day is when we make resolutions to change things.  I have my workout clothes on today for that reason, I am going to kickstart my workout program today.  Still don’t get the connection?  It says 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  That was the new beginning of the resolution for the Disciples to follow.  We have a new year starting.  It is time for us to go forward and follow this commission given to us directly by Jesus.  We also need to do “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you”

The last connection is to the Christian Bike Group.  Something that I saw there the other day:  If you are going to put someone down (because of their denomination), then you need to put them down on your prayer list.  If you want to be a good Christian, it is not a competition to have the biggest pack.  It is a God given commission to “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  We have a new beginning again.  Let’s do it.