Re: Not True

The religions I have studied include Christianity, Islam, Mormonism (I have completely read the Bible, the Qur'an, and the Book of Mormon), Jehovah's Witnesses, Hinduism and some of its New Age offshoots, Scientology, Satanism, witchcraft, humanism, and many smaller cults.

Pseudo-Christianity
There are many groups claiming the name Christian who add to or subtract from the Bible's teaching of salvation by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. Salvation by works includes such requirements as penance, monetary or other material sacrifice, baptism, speaking in tongues, rituals, confessions, and anything else that is said to be REQUIRED for salvation. All the Bible requires is faith in Jesus' sacrifice, once and for all, on our behalf. Everything else is a "work".

Islam
Islam is very much a "works" religion, with strict REQUIREMENTS for "salvation". These requirements include ritual prayer 5 times per day, one month of daily fasting per year (Ramadan), pilgrimage once in one's life, the public recitation of the Confession of Faith, and almsgiving. That Allah is cold and impersonal is expressed plainly in the Qur'an in many Suras, which show him to be vengeful, violent, and completely unconcerned with individuals, contradicting his repeated claims to being "merciful and all-forgiving". His "judgment" will consist of putting people's deeds on a balance; if good outweighs bad he MAY allow that person into heaven. The Qur'an itself has a history of revision and corruption (see earlier thread in this forum entitled "The Reputation of the Holy Qur'an" for details).

Mormonism
Mormonism is another religion putting heavy emphasis on works REQUIRED for salvation. The Book of Mormon adds baptism, speaking in tongues, and keeping the commandments to faith as required parts of one's salvation. Although Mormonism claims to honor the KJV as God's Word, it values the BOM more, along with D&C and the Pearl of Great Price. These all paint a picture of a "god" (pick one) that is legalistic, not loving. The BOM itself has bits of the KJV interweaved with Joseph Smith's stories about an alleged American history with no physical evidence to support it. There are also clear contradictions and anti-Biblical teachings (I can send you a partial list if you want). No reputable scholars recognize the BOM as anything more than fiction.

Others
For more details on these and the others I mentioned, please see the links I provided earlier. I think it's much better to send you directly to the sources than to try to digest the material for you and post portions of it here.