Irreconcilable DifferencesSome

Some people believe that regardless of what people believe the way they practice their religion, we will all wind up in the same place and find their way to God. Each group would find God in their own way,the Muslim in his way, the Hindu in his and the Christian in his own way. Let’s kind of run with that view point for a while.

One day I’m walking and I meet another walker. We exchange greetings, and he mentions he’s on a religious pilgrimage to the The Little Chapel of the West. Now, I know the chapel is on the east of us and he’s headed west, but I’m not going to rain on his religious parade. He’s entitled to his opinion. And really, it’s the journey that matters, not the destination.

This scenario is rather ludicrous. In the name of tolerance, I’m doing this man a great disservice. Isn’t this same as the view of the tolerant God? According to a recent poll by George Barna, 40 percent of American adults believe when Christians, Jews, Buddists, and others pray to their god, they’re praying to the same god, but still using different names for that diety.

Magatma Gandhi of India would have agreed. He once said, “The soul of religion is one, but it is encased in a multitude of forms.” Is this true? In actuality, the word god means different things within different religious frameworks.

• Hinduism says that everything is God. You’re God . I’m God. This blog is God.
• Islam believes Allah and his prophet Mohammed. It denies that Jesus is God and He died for our sins.
• Buddism is atheistic, believing there is no objective god or gods
• Christianity says there is one eternal God who created the universe and exists as three persons; God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit who came to earth as Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man.

Of the world’s major religions, Jesus is the only leader who claimed to be God in the flesh. Not Moses or Mohammed or Budda or any other leader of a religious group claimed to be God. C.S. Lewis wrote, “There is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Budda and asked “Are you the son of Bramah” he would said, ‘My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.” If you had gone to Socrates and asked, “Are you Zeus?” he would have laughed at you. If you asked Mohammed, “Are you Allah?” he would first tear his clothes in anger and then cut off you head.

Dr. Michael Green is an internationally respected author, speaker, scholar, and is currently Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He recently authored the book, But Don’t All Religions Lead to God? Navigating the Mulit-Faith Maze(Baker Book House, 2002) Green wrote, “Perhaps the greatest difference of all(among religious views) lies in the Christian assertion that none of us can save ourselves and make ourselves acceptable to God…all the other faiths assert that by keeping their teachings a person will be saved, fulfilled or reborn.”

With the exception of Christianity, all religions have an established set of religious rites, commands, and ethical principles that, if followed, lead to salvation. Their human origins are evidenced in that salvation is humanly attainable.

In contrast, the Bible sets its moral and ethical standard as the very holiness and perfection of God Himself, demanding nothing less for salvation. No man would invent a standard so utterly impossible for man to achieve. Christ alone offers salvation by grace, received only through faith in Him. True Christianity is not a religion, but a person—Jesus Christ. He is the world’s Creator and its only true Redeemer. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”(Acts 4:12)

Every other religion is based on trying to win favor with God. Jesus taught the opposite of what other religions teach. He said we can’t get to heaven of our own account. We’re all guilty of wrongdoing and it is what separates us from our holy and perfect God. Because God is a righteous judge, oour wrongdoing has to be paid for. So our of His love, Jesus voluntarily offered himself as our substitute to pay the penalty that we owed for our sin. When we receive His sacrifice, we are reunited with God for eternity.

Other religious leaders offer wise and helpful insights, but none of them ever offered themselves as payment for our wrongdoing. Only Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, was qualified to sacrificially offer Himself as our substitute, paying the penalty for our sin and guaranteeing salvation to all who come to Him. Now does that sound like an intolerant God?

Not all religious are the same. In fact, Christianity is distinct from as the rest. Every religion advocates a system or rules or principles for man to earn God’s approval. The Christian gospels proclaim God’s love and favor for all who believe.

Read John 3