Christianity is Unique

Published by DonDavidson on

The modern secular paradigm says that all religions are the same. They are not. As I explain in chapter one of my book, Beyond Blind Faith, Christianity is different. Here are a few of the ways.

In other religions, the gods are powerful and immortal, but in all other respects they resemble their flawed human admirers—the gods think like humans and behave like humans. For example, in Greek & Roman mythology, the gods murder, rape, get married, have children, commit adultery, kidnap, steal, and exact revenge. Even in monotheistic Islam, Allah punishes unbelievers with cruel tortures in Hell for eternity (contrary to popular belief, the New Testament does not support such a view of Hell).

Other religions sound like something a human would invent.

But then there’s Christianity, with its counter-intuitive notions like “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44), “bless those who persecute you” (Romans 12:14), and “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Who thinks like that? More important, who would invent that?

In other religions, people must earn the gods’ favor through offerings, worship, genuflection, obedience, and/or righteous living. Only Christianity offers God’s favor and forgiveness as a free gift merely because a person asks for it. In other religions, the gods are like a judge, deciding whether your efforts are worthy of their favor, but in Christianity God is more like a loving parent embracing a wayward child who seeks forgiveness.

One of the primary things that makes Christianity unique is what its leader said about himself, for Jesus made claims that no mere human could rationally make:

1. He thought he was perfect. (John 8:29)

2. He claimed to be eternal. (John 17:5)

3. He claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God. (Luke 9:20-21)

4. He taught that following or rejecting him was the same as following or rejecting God. (Luke 9:24-26)

5. He said he’d come from Heaven, and spoke about Heaven as if he’d been there. (Matthew 18:10)

6. He predicted his death and resurrection. (Mark 8:31)

7. He believed his death was necessary to save the world. (Matthew 26:28)

8. He claimed the authority to forgive sins—not merely wrongs committed against him personally, but all sins. (Mark 2:5)

9. He didn’t bother to cite authority for what he said (Matthew 5:21-22: “You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you.”)

Buddha and Muhammad never made such claims. Indeed, both denied that they were divine. Jesus embraced it.

There are only four explanations for Jesus’ claims: (1) he was joking, (2) he was insane, (3) he was lying, or (4) he was what he said he was.

In the Gospels, Jesus doesn’t come across as a crazy person, nor does he give any indication that he was less than perfectly serious.

So did he lie? Well, if he rose from the dead after being crucified, then we have our answer. And how do we know he truly rose from the dead? We’ll talk about that in my next blog entry.

You can find a description of my book, Beyond Blind Faith, here, along with a list of contents and excepts from each chapter. The book is available on Amazon.com, in both print book and e-book formats.


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