World Religions and Cults

► Why does religious conflict exist? Is religious conflict necessary, or can it be avoided?

► After brief discussion about these questions, the class should look up the following Scripture references: 1 Timothy 3:15, Jude 3, 2 Timothy 2:17, Matthew 16:6 and 16:12, Titus 1:9, and 1 Peter 3:15. Discuss briefly what these verses imply about religious conflict.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that a problem with the Samaritans' worship was that they did not know whom they worshipped (John 4:22). A man's concept of God is his most important characteristic and certainly the foundation of his entire religion. There can be no more serious error than to be wrong about what God is like.

It is impossible to worship God without believing something about him. If a person has the wrong concept of God, he will honor characteristics that God does not have and fail to honor the characteristics that God does have. The worshipper’s own character will change to match the character that he thinks God has.

A person cannot put his faith in Jesus for salvation without believing something about him. If a person believes the wrong things about Jesus, he has a doctrine that does not support the gospel. He may believe a false gospel that cannot save him.

The church has the responsibility to establish truth. The Apostle Paul said that the church is “the pillar and foundation of truth.”[1]

To establish truth, the church has the responsibility to explain and defend it. The Apostle Jude tells us that when people are teaching wrong doctrines, we are to “contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”[2]

False doctrine is like a disease that spreads its results.[3] Doctrine is compared to yeast, which gradually affects a loaf of bread.[4]

God calls pastors to be leaders in the defense of truth. Paul said to Titus that a pastor is supposed “to be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince those who contradict.”[5] He also said that because of deceivers, whole families were being taken away from the truth.

This course is not about the doctrines that divide different Christian churches into categories such as Methodist, Baptist, or Pentecostal. These churches generally agree on the essential biblical doctrines referenced in the Handbook of Doctrine in the back of this course. Instead, this course looks religious groups that deny doctrines that are the foundation of the Christian faith.

In this lesson we will study seven important parts of preparation for Christians to face religious conflict.

[1] 1 Timothy 3:15

[2] Jude 3

[3] 2 Timothy 2:17

[4] Matthew 16:6

[5] Titus 1:9