There can be as many answers to this question as there are people on this planet... There is the Muslim god, the Hindu god, the Mormon god, the gods of every other religion there have been, past and present, etc. And then there is God, the real one! Which could be any of those gods mentioned previously or none of them. But who does actually know that god, and is genuinely close to him? You see, people cannot maintain a close, intimate relationship with someone they do not even know. The same is true regarding God. Therefore, are you sure you know who God really is? Looking at all the different religions of the world, we can see that there are all kind of contrasting beliefs and doctrines. Consistency is a basic characteristic of truth, so there has to be a real problem here. Challenging your own religion and beliefs is a good idea if you want to find the true God!


Although man is a social being, he is not particularly good at maintaining relationships with others; wars, genocide, racial discrimination, divorce, etc. are just a few examples of this problem. Since Christianity is a very relationship oriented religion, maintaining a great relationship with Jesus should be the main goal of the Christian faith. But American Christians also seem to have problems maintaining good relationships with others, and with Jesus. The divorce rate in the United States stands around 50%. It is very high, and the divorce rate among Christians mirrors the country as a whole. Jesus compares the Christian church with his bride. Is that relationship any better? It is not! Studies and survey after survey show that Christianity in the United States suffers of many defects. (There are many articles in this web site explaining them)

The way we accept religious ideas is another problem of our human nature. Most religious doctrines and beliefs of every religion must be accepted by faith alone. But faith is not a guarantee of accuracy, so the possibility of errors is very high. And in fact, most of those beliefs are inaccurate. Under close scrutiny, problems arise with most religious ideas. For instance, what happened to the gods of all those ancient religions that exist no more, like Jupiter, Marduk, Osiris, Thor, etc. Nothing, they were never real. They were part of a culture, the product of faith and belief. They disappeared with the culture. Another example: thousands of human sacrifices were offered to the Aztec gods. Those human sacrifices were made for the protection and prosperity of the Aztecs, based exclusively on faith and belief. But those gods certainly did a terrible job protecting the Aztec people from the European invasion. Today that religion is for all purposes dead. where are those gods now?

The modern educational system teaches people to think logically and a logical mind has a hard time with the inconsistency of the religions. Nonetheless, even many educated and logical people still have a tendency to bypass rationality and accept foolish, unreasonable ideas without questioning them. Skepticism is a healthy solution to our gullibility. But that does not mean that atheists have it right. Atheists need more faith than everyone else. In order to categorically deny the existence of one or more gods, they need to have the absolute knowledge that nowhere in this vast universe supernatural beings exist, whose actions and characteristics are what a god would posses. Atheists, of course, are not even close to having such knowledge. They simply cannot rule out the possibility of God. They just have faith in their own logic, and much arrogance!


Regarding God, there are two types of people:
- Those who believe to have a mediocre or no relationship with God and accept it the way it is, although they might claim a desire to improve it.
- Those who believe to have a good to great relationship with God. They desire an ever improving relationship with God and make an effort in that direction. Many of these claim to love God deeply.

Who is closer to God? The first group or the second one. For many that is an easy question. A common answer would be that the second group should, since they are making an effort, while the other group is not. But the reality is that most likely neither one is. That is because most people from both groups share the same essential problem. 

If a person wants to go from one city to another in a limited amount of time, this person should first determine the best alternative for getting there. Gathering information is the immediate, essential step to take in order to make the best decision. He has different options: different roads (some faster and more direct than others), train, bus, airplane, etc. An error in choosing the best alternative will have a cost in time, money and extra effort and it might even deny an eventual arrival to the desired destination. Anyone trying to go from this life to heaven (or maintaining a good relationship with God for that matter!) face a similar process? And errors in our quest for God, in fact, have  a very high price. Therefore, determining what is the best road to heaven or a great relationship with God would be a good beginning. But that is not what most people belonging to the second group do. Most of their beliefs in God were accepted as children, without much mental effort nor through a reasoning process. The validity of that information and its source was never questioned; although in general the beliefs of many religions lack logic or sense. We are not critical thinkers. Our universal problem is that we assume (believe) too much, without ever challenging the information at hand for accuracy. We assume to have a good relationship with God, we assume to know the way to God, we assume that the information we possess in our minds regarding God is accurate, etc. The great majority just keep on assuming all their lives, but in the end most never arrive to heaven.

If we do not really know the way, it is foolish to assume that we can get there. If we just follow instructions from others or from questionable sources, (monkey see, monkey do!) but no effort is made by ourselves to find truth and validate the information for accuracy, and a real effort is not made to discover what God actually thinks and wants, the chances are small that we will ever arrive in heaven or that will be able to really maintain a great relationship with God. And that is people's behavior from most of the religious, devoted group. Therefore, if we ask God what group achieved the goal of getting to heaven or maintaining a great relationship with him, what would he say? The answer is that neither group really got close to God and heaven. But the group of believers are wasting their time and effort if they omit the first and essential step of getting the correct information. It will cost them dearly. Some might say that faith is enough, that God will show them the way, but isn't that just another assumption? Without a sincere effort to discover who the real God is, and what God's truths are, should we expect the true God to forgive and forget? Who is ultimately responsible for getting to heaven and who damaged the relationship with God in the first place? The plain truth is that our behavior is the reason why we are not in heaven. We are responsible for it! Do not bother excusing yourself.

Therefore, how does one go about having a close, personal and intimate relationship with God? Most religions propose a routine, a formula, or a magic bullet in the form of doctrines. But in reality, a successful personal relationship with God exclusively entails knowing and sharing his mentality and accepting his truth. Compatibility of mentalities is the keyword. For instance, if God is Truth, we better seek for truth in all of its forms. That is not what most people do. In fact, although God is the author of all truth, most people's religious beliefs are lies.

The mind defines the person. A person's mentality determines the quality and type of relationships that he/she establishes and maintains. That applies to our relationship with God too. God has a mind. We maintain a relationship with God from mind to mind. We need to renovate our minds with God's mentality and partake in it to be able to maintain a successful relationship with him. This renovation is achieved by replacing false and inaccurate beliefs and doctrines for validated information. But understanding the mind of God in a world with so many contrasting religious doctrines and ideas can be a confusing task. Therefore, we should seek for the mind of God beyond religion and faith and reform our minds with accurate information, instead of endorsing and embracing questionable beliefs and suppositions. Interestingly, Jesus commands us to repent. The word repentance in the original Greek Scriptures is "metanoia", which means to have a radical change of mentality; a reform of the mind. Points for Jesus, for showing us the way to God.


Religions are made by man. And man is often irrational. Therefore, mindless or irrational ideas in most religions' doctrine abound. Today's Christian religion is also based on emotions and absurdity; where the engagement of the mind is forbidden. But Christianity, as intended by Jesus, is based on the use of reason. The New Testament writers used the Greek term "logos" to describe Jesus. The word logos in Greek philosophy means logic, human reason, and the mind of God. As far as I know, that differentiates Christianity from every other religion there has ever been. No other religion offers a more rational way to a close, intimate relationship with God. Through Jesus as the logos, we can understand the mind of God; and we can find God through the use of reason. But the altered message of today's Christian religion with its distorted doctrines should be rejected in favor of the original Christian mentality of the New Testament. That includes a priesthood of all believers, instead of today's clergy and lay system that creates a group of passive, under motivated and lukewarm believers.


Several things can be done to help you replace the Christian religion for an authentic Christianity in your life:

- Decide if it is important to you:
The present state of Christianity is the direct result of the collective indifference, blindness, and attitude of Christians. The only one we can never fool is God. But religious people are the most guilty of trying to convince God and everyone else of how good and saintly they are. Be honest with God. Unless you actually understand what the problem is and you care to fight it because you know it is wrong, do not even start. Do not fight the situation because you believe you are special, righteous, holy, a saint and the chosen one. You are not! Salvation is God's grace alone. Fight it simply because it is wrong and it offends God.

- Start with yourself.
Realize that to a degree everyone has been negatively influenced by a widespread distortion of the original message given by Jesus. Convenient interpretations and the acceptance and teaching of distorted messages and ideas have made it very difficult to identify and reject the incorrect doctrines of the deceivers and their fallacies. So, start with yourself. Reprogram your mind with accurate information. Return to the original message.

- Educate yourself:
Knowledge is power. Ignorance is the best friend of lies and mistakes. Learn as much as possible about a subject before taking a stand. Be as objective as you can possibly be. Do not rely on the convictions of others, but use your own capacity for reasoning. Do not be impressed by reputations, looks, or titles in anyone. Rather focus on the logic of the ideas offered by the speaker and the message itself. The truth is the truth, no matter what.

- Challenge and test everything:
The Apostle Paul recommends us to test the spirits to see who is who and what is what. Do not commit yourself to accepting any doctrine before critically analyzing it. Do not bend to loyalties or pressures from the majority. Use logic to guide your thinking and behavior. Jesus was so effective at using logic to respond that people were constantly amazed with his rationality and his enemies eventually realized that testing him was a bad idea. One of the most important tips in this web site might be this: whatever you do, NEVER let pride influence your reasoning ability.

- Get the right attitude:
Attitude drives behavior. And attitude is the result of the information and ideas that are present in the mind. Review all the information already in your mind for accuracy. Inaccurate information will create the wrong attitude in us and drives us to make the wrong decisions. Become an objective, critical thinker. Do not let emotions and loyalties cloud your vision and impair your judgment about any subject. Reshape your thought process.

- In conclusion, repent:
Jesus started his ministry with a call to repentance. In fact, that is the only thing he demands from us. As it was said earlier, the word repentance in the original Greek is "metanoia". For many people the word repentance means to feel sorry. But the original word used, metanoia, actually means to experience a radical change of mentality; a reform of the mind. We maintain a relationship with God from mind to mind. Jesus wants us to renovate our mentality with God's mentality. He wants us to reprogram our minds with truth and with God's mind. Then, and only then, you will be able to effectively contest the present system and its distorted doctrines and diluted message.