Updating a Religion.

Imagine that a very rich and famous person has given out invitations to a spectacular and unmissable party, and that this party is to be held exactly two years after the invitations are sent out. There is a condition to the attendance: anybody wearing red or yellow should expect to be immediately escorted off the premises.

When the time of the party is near, people begin to question the conditions: are they to be taken seriously? Do they still apply? Some people, although having heard nothing different from their host, begin to change the conditions to suit their own personal taste: some say that wearing yellow is OK, but red is not to be worn; some say red is OK, but yellow is not; some claim that blue should not be worn; and others say that you can wear whatever you like, and that there are no restrictions.

Until the day of the party, people can say and believe whatever they like. The original rules of the party may be ignored or treated as if they were not intended to be taken seriously. Some people may be treated with contempt, or even accused of discrimination, if they suggest that those wearing red or yellow shall get thrown out.

Even if 99% of people decide to wear red or yellow, on the day of the party those wearing these colours are going to find themselves turned away.

There is only one truth, and there can only be one truth. Whether or not you believe it is of no consequence: disbelief doesn't make it any less true.

In the same way, either one religion is true or none of them are true. If one religion is true then what is thought or said about it is not going to change it; and if anybody attempts to alter its rules they are really showing their disbelief. If 99% of people decide to change the rules of a particular religion, and this religion is indeed the only true religion that offers eternal life, they are disobeying the original rules and doing nothing more than condemning themselves to damnation.