Pros
update
02 Nov 06
This month we’re pleased to have our International Team Leader Alex Harris writing for us.
It wasn’t usual post-game chat! Mike had just launched the question…”What makes you so sure you can discover God through Christianity and not other religions?” Great question!
Colossians 3v9 gives us the answer. Christianity is the only way to fully discover God because Jesus himself is God!
For in (Jesus) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily… (Col 2v9)
What certainty is there that Jesus is truly God; that we don’t need to go elsewhere to discover God and true spiritual wholeness? After all in the world today it can seem like a supermarket, with the shelves stacked full of different belief ‘products’ all claiming different points of view on god and faith. Are Christianity and Jesus really so unique?
Yes!
1. Only in Jesus has God become truly human, born and living amongst people. Hinduism claims Vishnu appeared on earth, but the appearances were temporary and not in human form. Jesus’ incarnation is an unrepeatable event. There is nothing like it in other religions.
2. Only in Jesus’ death has God taken the penalty people deserve, freeing them from their rebellion and failure. Islam declares God as merciful but only to those who pray, give to charity, and fast in Ramadan. There is no message of salvation for the undeserving except in Christianity.
3. Only in Jesus’ resurrection does God defeat death. In non-Western cultures it’s not uncommon for witch doctors to claim to raise the dead, but only for them to die again in old age. The unending resurrection of Jesus, the lasting defeat of death, is unparalleled.
4. Only through Jesus does God welcome people into his domain. Buddhism suggests a Nirvana for the enlightened, Hinduism a superior incarnation, Islam a world of unfettered pleasures. But only Christianity unlocks eternal life with God himself, in God’s home.
Christianity is unique because Jesus is unique; no rival, peer or competitor; the only way of knowing God. That is why we can be so sure that Christianity is the only way to fully discover God, because Jesus is unique in incarnation, death, resurrection and ultimately access to God. Hence Paul says remain fast to Jesus alone; See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit but seek the things that are above, where Christ is (Col 2v8, 3v2).