Question: Why is religion such a big issue? Why is it such a big controversy in the world? If people just stuck to there own basic beliefs wouldn’t they be happier? Why is it considered an honor to die for your religion?

Thank you for your insightful questions. I can sense your passion and sincerity in them. Allow me to begin with this: I think all of this “religion” stuff is such a big deal because religion seeks to answer the biggest and most common questions that each human has faced since the dawn of civilization: Who am I? How was I created? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of life? Where am I heading? Is there life after death?

I think because these questions are so deep and so basic and so universal, that anything that tries to answer them is a “big deal”. However, at the heart of all your questions lies the biggest question of them all: What is Truth? And I don’t mean an opinion about Truth, but what is Truth itself?

Religious belief gets controversial because people are raised to believe in different things. Compounded with today’s cultural emphasis on relativism, tolerance and political-correctness, it has become even harder to find the answers to these “big” questions. We often get so confused because we are told that one religion can’t be right and one wrong, so we end up saying that all are fine and all are Truth, but yet when faced with the reality of people flying airplanes into buildings for their religious beliefs, we see how that cannot be Truth. I would say that the terrorists who “stuck to their basic beliefs” in order that they would become martyrs and enter heaven for killing “heathens” did not make us happier or the world a better place. Would you?

It is not so much an honor to die for your religion, as much as an honor to lay your life down for Truth. Jesus said that He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” and that no one could enter heaven except through Him. When we lay down our lives for love of Him or others, then we imitate His own sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice that opened the way for us to gain entrance into heaven. At this climactic moment, we see the convergence of Truth and Love—the true cornerstone of authentic religion.

If you are struggling to day with the idea of Truth, or God, all you need to do is to daily ask God to reveal Himself to you. In time, your eyes will be opened to His love and to the universal Truth that comes to us through His Son Jesus.