6. Christianity and the Other World Religions

So far, we have examined the differences between the three main branches of Christianity and the basics of the other three great world religions, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Obviously, our survey is brief and far from complete, but still even this limited analysis identified a number of areas where Christianity is absolutely unique among other worldviews. These unique areas make – in my personal opinion – Christianity not just another option, but the only choice.

Studying the Christian Bible is like studying history. It extends from the beginning of the universe and through the ancient ages described in Genesis. The birth, rise, and glory days of the Jewish people, all the way to the fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah are detailed in other books of the Old Testament. The New Testament gospels describe the birth and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and His death and resurrection. The Christian faith grew from the birth of the church into a world religion by reaching across and beyond the mighty Roman Empire as seen in the book of Acts. If we skip Genesis and begin counting with Moses, the Bible covers a period of 1,500 years, that can be verified by and compared to non-Biblical historical records. This was also the period during which the authors of the Bible books lived. They were writing their own history, as it happened. Only the Christian faith can claim such an extensive historical foundation.

Hinduism makes no historical claims.  It seems to have developed while riding the waves of various cultures of the people of India, influenced regularly by invasions from other peoples.  Siddhartha Gautama (Lord Buddha) was no doubt a historical individual. However, neither he nor his followers, seem to care about their world. Buddha’s teachings of suffering and its remedies are in a sense timeless, but also reveal a complete disconnection from the world.

Mohammed lived from 570 to 632 AD. His life had major historical impact. However, the Qur’an records only his revelations; it tells little of his life. These revelations do not resemble the narratives found in the Bible. The Qur’an texts are more spiritual and philosophical than historical. On occasion the historical background is clear, especially when it refers to characters known from the Bible, but it does not mention places, dates, names of rulers, customs, trade routes, and so on, as the Bible does. Additionally, Mohammed’s revelations started in 610 AD. Before the Hegira of 622 AD he received the majority of the text of the Qur’an. Mohammed died 10 years later, so at best the Qur’an covers only 22 years, compared to the 1,500 years covered by the authors of the Bible.

When asked by Pilate if He was the king of the Jews, Jesus answered: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). All through the gospel we read that Jesus turned the world upside down by what He did and taught. The beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10) tell how blessed His people are: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted. They are blessed in the kingdom of Christ , the kingdom of God . Not in our world. In our world these people may well be considered the losers. They end up with the short end of the stick. They get the bad deals. In the eyes of Jesus, in the economy of God, these are the winners, these are the people whom Jesus reaches out to.

Because of this, the Jews missed the Messiah. As we have seen, the Jews were waiting for the Messiah. They were ready. They knew the Old Testament prophecies and were expecting their Savior, but they were putting their stock in the world. They wanted to be liberated from the Roman occupation, reinstating Israel and Judah as independent, powerful kingdoms. So they did not like Jesus’ teaching nor His kingdom, and they rejected Him.

In the Eastern religions we see similar teachings by the Buddha and, for instance, by the best known Hindu, Mohandas K. Gandhi. Like Jesus, they were also uninterested in what the world had to offer in terms of power and wealth. They did not preach of the kingdom of God ; actually they did not believe in God, but searched for deeper meanings in the spiritual rather than the materialistic world.

Islam’s prophet Mohammed taught about spiritual and moral values, as he addressed and attempted to correct the immoral behavior of his contemporaries. A    bove all, he was a successful businessman and a ruthless warlord. His economic wealth and position (through his marriage to a wealthy widow) helped him gain followers. His army was at first almost destroyed, but ultimately he gained the upper hand and defeated the armies of Mecca . to take control of the city. He then expanded his military control to most of Arabia . Completely unlike Jesus, his worldly success enabled Mohammed to establish his religion. If it were not for Mohammed’s success as a military leader we likely would not be discussing Islam!  

Jesus was not confused about His own identity; He unabashedly claimed to be God.[1] But He also supported it by facts. Jesus performed many miracles; 35 are recorded in the gospels, including various nature miracles. One of the most impressive, the feeding of the five thousand, is attested to in all four gospels.[2] And Jesus fulfilled each of the hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah from the Old Testament with remarkable accuracy, all but a few outside his own control, and well beyond any statistical probability of chance.[3]

When it seemed that Jesus was defeated, that evil had won by crucifying and killing the Messiah, God revealed His greatest miracle of all: The resurrection of Christ.[4] The greatest moment of victory for the Evil One turned out to be the moment of his complete defeat. By the crucifixion, with His blood, Jesus purchased salvation for man.  By His resurrection He proclaimed in a most glorious way possible that He was the Son of God beyond the grip of death.

Hinduism had no founder, so there are no claims of deity.  Gandhi was a humble man of integrity and had great care for other people. Yet he never claimed to be God. Siddhartha Gautama (Lord Buddha) did not claim to be God, nor are there serious claims that he performed miracles during his lifetime or that there was a resurrection. “The original accounts of Buddha never ascribe to him any such thing as a resurrection; in fact, in the earliest accounts of his death, namely, the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, we read that when Buddha died it was ‘with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind.’” [5]

The prophet Mohammed expressly claimed merely to be the prophet of Allah. Mohammed, also, fulfilled no prophecies nor is there even a single credible account of a miracle he performed. Many Muslims protest that the writing of the Qur’an is the greatest miracle of all.  Others argue for some miraculous accounts about Mohammed deeply rooted in tradition, but these are not supported by history or reliable scriptures. But even if this was evidence for Mohammed’s divine inspiration these claims look pale next to the miracles and prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. Mohammed died June 8, 632 AD at the age of 61 in Medina , where his tomb is annually visited by thousands of devout Muslims.[6] Later legends claim that he did not die but ascended to heaven in Jerusalem (at the location of the modern day Dome of the Rock).  However, no credible evidence for this claim has been presented. Whatever Mohammed’s destiny, nobody has ever claimed he rose from the dead.

Christ alone claimed to be God.  Christ alone provided evidence to support His claims!

We have seen that Christianity is grounded in history, but also that the Bible is a historically reliable book. The accounts in the Bible are not generic stories. They are richly detailed in time, place, and people. They name cities and nations, mountains and oceans, rivers and valleys, customs and idols, rulers and families. We can trace the historical record. Numerous confirmations come through archaeological discoveries of buildings, artifacts and inscriptions.[7] Questions raised by skeptics and non-believers are not about the historical background of Christianity and its ancient roots in Judaism. These questions always seem to point to details such as a name or a date. They attempt to verify or disprove a particular aspect of the account. As we have seen, although we will never be able to prove through archaeology and history that everything exactly happened as described, no one has been able to disprove even one Bible account.

Compare this to the sacred books of the other religions. The Vedas and Tripitaka are collections of teachings and wisdom, wholly generic of nature and neither allowing nor requiring historical confirmations. The Qur’an covers some historical ground, but is not even presented as a historical document by Muslim apologetic scholars.

Trick trivia question: How many books did Jesus write? The answer is, none. Jesus did not write even one book or letter in the Bible. Of all the 66 books in the Old and New Testament Jesus penned none. He is the indirect subject of the entire Old Testament, as the prophecies prepare for His coming and the main character in the New Testament as the gospels record about His life and teachings.  The remainder urges readers to follow His example and to obey His teachings. Yet He did not write any of these books. Is it not amazing that the New Testament is written by nine different writers? These nine men, all but a few eyewitnesses to the resurrection, did not write their books while sharing a large room where they could coordinate their stories. Some might have had access to material of others, but most wrote their accounts independently of one another. They wrote at different locations and at various times, but they told a solitary story, they gave one consistent testimony to the deity of Christ, and they preached one plan of redemption.

Islam claims that the Qur'an is not only God's Word, but also the final revelation to man. It comes from the "mother of all books" (Surah 43:2-4). Muslims maintain that the Qur'an is an exact word-for-word copy of God's final revelation founded on original tablets that have always existed in heaven. They believe that the Qur'an is an identical copy of the eternal heavenly book, even so far as the punctuation, titles, and divisions of chapters are concerned. They claim that the prophet Mohammed “spoke” the Qur’an. He was the sole author (or the medium through which Allah communicated). These claims can neither be proved nor disproved, and their authority is derived solely from the Qur'an itself.

It is not known who the authors of the Hindu Vedas were.  The Buddhist Tripitaka is claimed to have been written by the Buddha (and/or later added to by Buddhist monks).

The Bible claims time and again to be the “Word of God.” This is not necessarily a unique claim; other books claim that as well. Only the Bible supports these claims with factual and objective evidences, just as we have extensively presented[8] scientific revelations, fulfilled prophecies, unity, transformed lives, and so on throughout the previous chapters.

Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism claim their writings are divinely inspired.

What about the Qur’an? It also expressly claims to be the “Word of God.” The Qur’an asserts this in even more clear terms than the Bible, as it is supposed to be the actual words of Allah given by Gabriel to Mohammed. Can it support this claim? Muslims believe that the self-authenticating miracle is the unity and literal style of the Qur'an itself. Iranian Islamic scholar Sayyid Hossein Nasr wrote: “Many people, especially non-Muslims, who read the Qur'an for the first time, are struck by what appears to be a kind of incoherence.... It is neither like a high mystical text nor a manual of Aristotelian logic, though it contains both mysticism and logic….The Qur'an contains a quality which is difficult to express in modern language. One might call it divine magic.” [9]

Some Muslims also claim that the Qur'an is a miracle because Mohammed himself was illiterate.  For someone unschooled and illiterate to “speak” the Qur’an can only be mastered by divine powers. However, it is unlikely that Mohammed indeed was illiterate. In his days writing skills were not difficult to acquire, and given his economic position and experience it is more than likely that he could both read and write.  Even if he was illiterate, he would have had access to scribes to assist him.

Therefore the evidence of the divine inspiration of the Qur’an is limited to the “miracle of the Qur’an” itself. Not convincing, and a pale comparison to the evidences for the authority of the Bible.

Christianity does not leave loose ends. The plan of redemption[10] goes full circle. God is holy and our sin separates us from Him. God’s justice demands a price to be paid, the price of death by the shedding of blood. God’s grace allows a substitute to pay the price for us. God’s love dispatched Jesus, His Son, to earth to pay that price with His blood. By accepting Jesus’ payment for our sins, we can be reconciled to God during this lifetime as well as after our deaths, when this reconciliation is fully realized.

This plan of redemption is what the Bible is all about. It is unveiled and unfolded throughout the early history of man. It leaves no open ending. If we accept the gift of Jesus by faith, we can be assured of our salvation. If not, we can be assured of our damnation. It’s as simple as that.

Other religions do not offer a similar complete plan.

Hinduism claims that one needs only “improve” through numerous cycles of reincarnation. Yet the believer will never know with any certainty how successful he or she is in achieving that objective. One never knows upon death if the soul will have reached Moksha, or if another cycle of rebirth, life, and death is required.

The situation with Buddhism is similar. When is one truly free of suffering? How do you measure that, and how do you know? You die, and then what? Do you disappear into Nirvana or be reborn as a human being or as some other organism. Like Hinduism, it seems to leave many questions unanswered.

The Muslim believes that after death he or she will face the judgment of Allah. And the believer will be judged on the account of his life as an obedient and submissive Muslim and the balance of his good and bad deeds. “Then those whose balance [of good deeds] is heavy, – they will be successful. But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they abide” (Surah 23:102-3). However, when are there enough good deeds to outweigh the bad deeds? How does this economy or scale work? When will you reach a point in life that you can die with the certainty that you will enter heaven? Muslims will always face that question with uncertainty. The Qur’an hints that the believer can be confident of his or her eternal destiny, but there is no guarantee. Even Mohammed himself was uncertain of his own salvation. So Muslims strive mightily to reach paradise, but they continually live with the fear that Allah will judge their arrogance and send them to hell.[11] Only Muslims martyred in a jihad have certainty of heaven.[12]

What does a Christian need to do in order to pay for his or her sins and earn salvation? The answer is that we do not need to do anything. Salvation is a gift from God. In John 3:16-18 Jesus taught:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Our salvation is not based in the least on our merit, but entirely on the grace of God. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:17). The penalty for sin; death by the shedding of blood, has already been paid by Christ for all sins in the past, the present, and the future. That’s why His last words on the cross were: “It is finished” (John 19:30), meaning the debt has been paid, paid in full, there is no outstanding balance. The only action left for us to do is accept this gift of salvation.

The Christian view on salvation seems too good to be true. It seems illogical. How can we get the most important thing in life, a ticket to heaven, for free? Nothing in life is free and when something is offered for free there is usually a catch. So what is the catch? There is no catch, because it is free for us, but it came at a dear price for God. He Himself had to pay the price for our sin by sacrificing His Son for us. We can not even imagine how much of a sacrifice this was. Perhaps a parent can imagine how it would feel to have to sacrifice one of their children. So, salvation was secured, not by human achievement, but by divine accomplishment.

All world religions promise some kind of path to liberation or salvation. Interestingly all these plans are based on something the believer has to do to earn it. In Hinduism you earn liberation by living according to certain principles plus meditation, you can improve your next life and ultimately reach total liberation by achieving Moksha. Buddhists work hard to implement the eight-fold path to reach Nirvana. Muslims believe that by working hard to do good deeds and adhere to the letter of the five pillars, they have a chance to tilt the balance in their favor and be judged by Allah worthy of heaven. But notice, they all have to do the work and are never sure whether they have done enough.

Even Christians struggle with the gift. Therefore, we see pseudo-Christian cults such as Mormonisms and Jehovah Witnesses adding additional instructions and qualifications one has to meet in order to earn salvation. We see the same in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches who accept the sacrifice of Christ as a first step, but then demand the addition of works and sacraments to fully earn and achieve heaven (and limit one’s time in purgatory).

God did it all for you! He already did the work; we only need faith in His grace. God already loves you, you just need to start loving Him.

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