Which religions are good religions? If you have ever wondered or haven't learned, be assured that there are in many cultures and in many religions a curious blend of similar stories about creation, the Creator, and The Creator's relationship with human beings. Many cultures have a punishment by flood as well as stories about mortal women giving birth to the sons of gods.
The Impression we receive is that every human being will hear Creation's primordial song--at least once. We cannot avoid hearing it. It is a primordial song with a complex melody and a constant refrain. The Impression we receive is that even though Creation plays the same music to all human beings, we do not hear the same song. Each people, for reasons we apparently don't understand hear a diferent meter, varying tempos, and a different verse.
It is the destiny of some of us to hear the verse of Jesus Christ, Son Of God, born of the Virgin Mary. Ours is a story of The Christ who was the final human sacrifice to an Eternal God. He is the savior who came to die for human sins so that the immortal souls that we are can have eternal salvation. The destiny of other people is to hear a different verse. Which verse is correct? Can only one verse be correct? Can they all be correct?
One thing is certain. We are required to believe in something. The something we must believe in is the primordial song Creation has played for us since the beginning of humankind. We are required to acknowledge and not ignore The God Of Creation, by whatever name we call Creation. We are required to acknowledge our creator with exaltation and adoration. We are required to treat the rest of God's human creations with dignity, justice, and civility. How we accomplish this is a function of which verse of God's Music it is our destiny to hear. There is one constant.
God will have in His Eternal Kingdom the immortal souls of His human creations who acknowledge Him, believe in Him and who, because of those beliefs, abide by the edicts of The Ten Commandments and the behavioral guidelines of Eve's Simple Realities. For the rest of humanity, He has no need.
So, which religions are good religions? How can we be sure? We restate what cannot be overstated. Our God Of Creation is responsible for human existence and everything we survey. Our Creator desires that we share Symbiotic Intimacy with Him and with ourselves. Our reward for sharing Symbiotic Intimacy is the gift of Symbiotic Grace while we exist in mortal flesh and Eternal Grace after we are relieved of the weight, restrictions, and liabilities of mortal flesh.
If Symbiotic Intimacy with Creation is the purpose of a mortal life, then Creation gives the eternal soul of that life the knowledge he or she needs to cultivate that soul while it existe in mortal flesh. And that life will be able to do it without finding it necessary to denigrate and vilify other religions or relegate them to some backwater swamp.
Whatever transactions take place between God and another person, another culture, or another people--whether through some religious construct or some personal philosophical construct--is a matter between God and that person, that culture, and that people.
Selah