CHAPTER IV

WHY SHOULD WE HAVE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?

First, I observe that each of us has had a beginning. We are not infinite in
existence. Because we did not exist before our beginning, we could not, and did
not give ourselves the life that we have.

That means that we are vulnerable to, and dependent upon a power greater
than ourselves.

Religious beliefs involve what we believe about those powers that are
greater than ourselves.

Each individual person responds differently to their vulnerability and

dependency upon a greater power.

A power greater than oneself is generally regarded as a god.

Some deny their vulnerability and dependency upon a god. Their god is
themselves. They are selfish, proud and vain.

Others seek a god who will help them against other powers that might seek
to harm them.

Still others assume that all gods are self-centered and selfish, and so they
seek ways to pacify any anger that those gods might have toward them.

Our religious beliefs are what we believe about those powers that are greater
than ourselves.

Because we had a beginning, and are dependent upon a greater power even
for the life that we have, we cannot escape having some kind of religious beliefs.

WHAT CAN BE THE BASIS FOR OUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?

Many simply accept the traditional beliefs of their ancestors just as they
have been passed on from generation to generation without doubting them at all.

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 Others idolize some charismatic person, and accept their teachings and
writings as the basis and authority for their religious beliefs.

Still others believe that the God who created them cared enough about them
to cause chosen men to write those things about Himself and themselves that they
needed to know, and that they could comprehend. The Holy Scriptures are clear
that God breathed into those chosen men the things that He wanted them to write.
What they wrote was not a product of their own minds.

The apostle Peter wrote in II Peter 1:20 & 21:

Vs. 20 --- Knowing this first, that, no prophecy of the scripture is of any
private interpretation. (That is, it is not the product of any man’s own mind.)

Vs. 21 --- For the prophecy did not come at any time by the will of man, but
holy men of God spoke (wrote) as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul also affirms this in II Timothy 3:16 where he wrote:

II Timothy 3:16a --- All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, ---

Inspiration means that God breathed those things, that He wanted them to
write, into the men who wrote them.

The Holy Bible can be the basis and authority for our religious beliefs.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE BASIS FOR OUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?

Since I believe that the God who created us did breath into the men who
wrote the various books of the Bible those things that He wanted them to
write, I believe that the Holy Bible should be the sole basis and authority for
our religious beliefs.

This brings us to the question, “What is the basis and authority for your
religious beliefs?

I will write in greater detail why I believe that the Holy Bible is God’s
message to all mankind in chapter V.….

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