Uzbek,
Peace and thanks for your stimulating questions. Your English is very good, considering your background and your questions are ones that cause us all to think deeply about our faith.
In your last post you said
IMHO what is happening is that the person who leaves is seeking after a close relationship with God. Anyone can be religious and follow a set of teachings and behaviors, but only a relationship with God will satisfy the hungering spiritual soul of man.
Right. It seems to me that a lot of people do not satisfy with the concepts of their religions and seeking more appropriate way to approach to God. So if you trace the rise of Islam you can see that more and more people embracing this religion. For example after 9/11 only in USA in 2001 there were 34 000 converts to Islam (Source: Terror in America, Muslim American Leaders: A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11," MERIM Special Dispatch, November 16, 2001)
If one looks at statistics, one can always find justification for the position they hold. I could turn to any website now and quote you statistics showing thousands of converts to Christianity from the Muslim world .
May I say something that may surprise you though? I don't believe all those conversions are genuine. You see, in many countries, a person doesn't make a decision alone to convert. Often, and especially in African countries, conversions are family or whole village affairs. In many cultures, the decision made by an elder or leader, will decide the direction of the rest of the clan.
Genuine conversion is one which changes your life and leaves you in relationship with God. As I said in my previous post, man has an in built hunger for God, that HAS to be satisfied.
When God created us, He didn't just create us as physical beings. He created us to be spiritual beings.. or more correctly, to be able to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. This is what makes humans different from every other created being. In the New Testament, it says even Angels look at our relationship with God and wonder about it .
10Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
(1 Peter 1: 10-12)
It says in Romans chapter 1, that God has placed a knowledge of Himself inside the heart of every man. Man though has chosen to worship the created being rather than the Creator. This means, not only the idols that man makes, but even religion can take the place of God in our life if we spend more time worrying about how to meet the requirements of religion, rather than focusing on God Himself".
Well If I understood you correctly religion can not help one to approach God. This is very confusing for me. If not why on earth I need religion? Isn’t that sound to live without shelter.
You are right uzbek, religion can not help you to approach God. In the Old Testament this is what God said to the Jews who tried to approach Him by religion.
"
6 A voice says, "Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever."
9 You who bring good tidings to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, [3]
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
"Here is your God!"
10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and his arm rules for him.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
and
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD ;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Righteousness is not a behavior that is in accordance with an ethical, legal, psychological, religious, or spiritual norm; neither is it conduct that is dictated by human or divine nature.It is not an action appropriate to the attainment of a specific goal; neither is it a ministry to one’s fellow man.
Rather, righteousness in the OT is the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship, whether that relationship be with men or with God...Each of these relationships brings with it specific demands, the fulfillment of which constitutes righteousness…There is no norm of righteousness outside the relationship itself. When God or man fulfills the conditions imposed upon him by the relationship, he is, in OT terms, righteous.
You see Uzbek, you asked if we should not want to shelter in the arms of God, and I say to you .. YES!!!! but religion will never bring that about. No amount of good deeds will help you shelter in His arms. Only as you are in relationship with Him can you do that, and the very God who created the universe welcomes you into that relationship where when you are weary you will find rest, you will find tenderness and be carried close to His heart."
May we all find Him like that no matter where we live in this world
Carol