Christianity - The Only Way?
There is no doubt that there are a great number and variety of religions in the world. It appears that humans are incurably religious; even if not following one of the major religions of the world, many people will have things that they follow and participate in that are done in a religious way (just look at football fans!). We have a God-shaped void in our lives and religion is an attempt to fill up that hole.
So, how can Christianity arrogantly assume to be the only road to God? Why can't all religions be equally correct? Surely that is the fairest way?
Why Christianity is distinct among the other religions
of the world?
Obviously, Christians believe that Jesus is the only true God and
Saviour of our souls; but don't all other major religions teach
roughly the same things but just about different people (Buddha,
Mohammed, etc?). Most, if not all religions believe in the
existence of a Supreme Being, with whom they hope to make contact
either in this world, or the world to come. Religion is the
attempt to reach God. It is the belief that somehow we can do
something that will put us in contact with God. However, the
Bible, unlike almost all the teachings of other religions, states
that there is NOTHING man can do by himself to reach God. Our
efforts are in vain, so no amount of effort or works can enable
us to climb up and reach God. Most other faiths teach that a man
can reach God by following their teachings, doing good works,
attending their meetings, etc., etc. Christianity says that none
of these things are good enough.
Our only hope is that God would somehow come down, forgive our
sins and inability to reach Him, and pull us up to Himself. And
this is exactly what Christianity teaches! This is what makes it
distinct among the other religions of the world. It is not a
system to be followed but more like a rescue plan to save us; not
man in search of God, but God willingly coming down to our level
in order to rescue us and restore the relationship we can have
with Him. It is not about our works, but trusting in the work God
has already done - it's not about DOING something, but about
something already DONE for us. (There is more discussion on the
uniqueness of Christianity in the other section).
Ultimate Truth?
Some people will say that despite the uniqueness of Christianity,
it is maybe only ONE way of understanding the truth; perhaps all
religions possess truth but just understand it in different ways.
Well, if all religions are as true as each other and eventually
all lead people to God, then Christianity is as true and correct
as any other religion. If that is the case, then all that Jesus
says about Himself is also true and correct. But if THIS is true,
then all the other religions and beliefs in the world must be wrong
because Jesus said, "I am THE way, THE truth and THE life.
NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me." (John
14v6, emphasises mine; see also 1 Timothy 2v5). If all
religions are true, then it follows logically that if one says it
is the ONLY true one , it either is, or NO religion is true -
it's one or none. So some people believe that all religions are
equal because none of them have ANY truth. They believe that
there is no ultimate truth to be found, everything is relative so
Christianity is okay for some people but not for everyone.
However, this belief actually contradicts itself; if a person
believes that there is no ultimate truth in the world then what
they are saying is that the only thing that is true is that there
are no truths! Effectively, the ultimate truth is that there is
no ultimate truth - a self-refuting claim, from which we can
assume that there must actually be some truth, somewhere. For
example, many years ago some people believed the earth was flat
and others that it was round. Unpleasant as it sounds, someone
had to be wrong - the earth couldn't be flat AND round at the
same time. It couldn't be round for some people and flat for
others, and they were okay to both believe their own truths.
Of course there are some other issues involved and some of these
are discussed in the next section but an analogy will perhaps
illustrate best why Christians believe Jesus is the only way.
Imagine a man drowning at sea; on the shore are many religious
leaders and groups all shouting instructions at him to try and
help him out of his predicament. Despite all the good advice the
man is incapable of rescuing himself and swimming to shore.
However, Jesus out of love, dives in and rescues the man but in
so doing, He has to give up His own life. This is a very good
illustration of how Jesus rescues us - but of course, in real
life Jesus didn't stay dead but was resurrected, proving Himself
to be the true Son of God! Romans 5v6-8 says, "You see, at
just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died
for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
but for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God
demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us."
We hope you have benefited from reading this and will read some more of what is written. If you have any questions, criticisms or comments at this point or after, or you would like to discuss some of these things a bit more with someone, please feel free to e-mail the following address which is totally confidential.