Why Christianity?

Mark Dunagan
02/26/12 - Sunday Morning

Why Christianity?

“Are religions of the world simply different expressions of the same thing?  Is Christianity the counterpart to Hinduism, Islam, or Buddhism, and do these religions merely ‘complement’ one another?  Is Allah the same deity as Jehovah, and is Jehovah the same as the Hindu god, Brahman?  There are some who think that we are all trying to get to the same place, and simply call God by different names or approach Him in different ways” (Why Christianity?  Why the Bible?  Kippy Myers, Ph.D, www.apologeticspress.org).

Jesus and World Religions

If we were to choose an expert to ask whether or not all religions were simply worshipping the same God in different ways, what better expert could we inquire of than Jesus.  In fact, it would be a rare individual who would even claim they know more about God or religion than Jesus.  Jesus, unquestioningly, has a set of indisputable credentials to be the expert on the matter:

• His life is the subject of over 300 prophecies, written hundreds of years before He was born, Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, for starters.
• He worked miracles that even His opponents could not deny. John 11:47
• He was raised from the dead, and is to this day the only religious founder whose tomb is empty.
• He taught the highest moral standard known to the human race.

So what did Jesus say about the other religions in the world? He said...

• There is only one path to God:  Matthew 7:13-14
• He is Himself that single path to God: John 14:6; Acts 4:12
• Only the person who follows His teaching will be saved:  Matthew 7:24ff
• Only the person who believes in Him will be saved: John 8:24

Why is this so?  There must be a good reason why Jesus did not see any saving value in other religions.  Even since Old Testament times, there was only one valid faith, and that is why the prophets clearly condemned all the pagan religions that surrounded Israel.  The concept of "one faith" isn’t anything new.

They Do Not Agree

Only someone who has never really studied Christianity or other religions could possibly imagine that they are basically teaching the same fundamental principles. 

The Death of Christ and Islam

According to the New Testament, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  If Jesus was not raised, then there is no salvation (15:17).  By contrast, the Quran denies these basic facts.  “They slew him not nor crucified, but it appear so unto them; and lo!  Those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain, but Allah took him up unto himself” (Surah 4:157-158).   The Quran denies that Jesus was divine (John 1:1), but rather one of the great prophets, but that Mohammed is the final spokesman for God (Hebrews 1:1-2; Matthew 17:5).  Obviously there is no way to harmonize Christianity with Islam —for the core teaching of Christianity is that the blood of Christ is necessary for salvation (Colossians 1:20), while Islam teaches that the Jesus did not die on the cross and that His blood is not necessary for salvation.

The Authority of Scripture

In Islam, the Quran claims to be the final revelation from God.  It claims that the Bible is just a step in that direction (Sura 4:161).  The Quran teaches that if a person has only the Bible, it is not enough because they are rejecting the greatest prophet of all, Mohammed.  Seeing that the Quran condemns unbelievers, it likewise condemns those who accept only the Bible.  Whereas the Bible claims to have everything we need (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17), and to be the final revelation (Jude 3).  In fact, going beyond the Bible for another religious authority is condemned (2 John 9; Galatians 1:6-9). 

The Difference in Holy Writings

• The Quran

“Islam is based entirely upon the secret, private experiences of one man.  Mohammed regularly went alone to a cave and said that a Revealer delivered visions to him there.  He later identified this person as the angel Gabriel.  Only one person allegedly saw the angel.  Only one person allegedly heard a voice.  Only one person allegedly saw the visions.  The only way to become a Moslem, then, is to take this one man’s word for it.  In vivid contrast to this approach of having to take one man’s word for an entire religion—the Bible is rooted and grounded in objective historical events—things many thousands of people beheld.  Its specific times, places, people, and events can be located in history.  Archaeology, ancient history, geography, literature, etc.., corroborate its details” (Myers).  The Bible has a beginning, middle and end; a definite flow and theme (Luke 24:46).  The Bible was intentionally recorded for future generations (John 20:30-31).  By contrast, the Quran is very disjointed.  This is because Mohammed could not write an did not intend for his revelations to be complied into a book.  However, after he died and many began to question the legitimacy of his visions, his followers gathered together leaves, potsherds, etc.., on which his sayings allegedly had been copied by some of his hearers, and they were edited and gathered into a book.  By contrast, Jesus selected apostles, and told them that the Holy Spirit would infallibly inspire them to record everything He had taught them (John 14:26).

• The Hindu Scriptures

Hindu scripture is often referred to collectively as the Vedas.  “Despite the aura of holiness ascribed to the Vedas, the majority of Hindus have little access to these writings; they are massive, technical, and written in an archaic tongue…The corpus of Hindu scripture is enormous.  A person could spend a lifetime sorting through the millions of pages of sacred and semi-sacred texts…Most English translations of the Bible are on the reading level of a 6^th-12^th grader, yet this cannot be said of the Vedas.  Many of them are written in a style which even educated men find very difficult to understand…The possibility of interpretation is further hampered by the belief that the Vedas consist of sacred sound, not written text.  Hindu scripture is for all practical purposes useless to the average Hindu for these and other reasons.  This, of course, assumes that all Hindus have access to the scripture.  Traditionally, Hindu society is divided into four castes..The first three classes are known as the twice-born, and only the males of those classes are allowed to read the Vedas.  All women and males of the Sudra (outcast) caste are excluded” (An Investigation of Hindu Scripture, Alden Bass, Apologetics Press).  Thus, compared to the Bible, Hindu scripture is massive, too big to be studied, complicated, restricted to a few, and even then it is not viewed as authoritative.  Hindus do not unanimously accept any single text, or group of texts, as the authoritative body of eternal truth.  Thus, Hinduism does not rest on the authority of one book or one prophet, nor does it possess a common creed.

Specific Disagreements

• In Hinduism and Buddhism there is no teaching with regard to a need for a Savior.
• In Hinduism and Buddhism there is no Judgment Day.
• One lives many lifetimes in both of these religions until one eventually "gets it right."  In the Bible, one only lives once (Hebrews 9:27).
• Hinduism has many gods (thousands), and they are commonly worshiped by means of figurines and idols.  In the Bible the belief and worship of many gods is idolatry, and is condemned (Galatians 5:19-21).
• In Hinduism, God is not separated from the creation, rather, everything in the creation is part of God.  In the Bible, God is Spirit (John 4:24), while the creation is material, and will disappear one day (2 Peter 3:10).
• In Hinduism, this physical world is an illusion that must be escaped.  In the Bible, this physical world with all its suffering is very real.

Christians would love to live in a world where all are pleasing to their Creator, but to pretend it is so when it is not, is not an option. All must come to Christ in order to obtain the freedom that only truth can bring to our souls. Let us pray earnestly always for more souls to come to Him and more laborers to gather His harvest.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net