Feb 12
Is the God of the Bible the only God?
GOD ON TRIAL : PART 2 ( The Uniqueness of God )
Last week I touched on the subject of God and the bible. Is the bible still true today? How can we tell if it is true etc? You can read it all here : The Bible…The Voice of God.. How true is it?
This week I will be looking at the topic of “Is there only one true religion?”
I mean face it, one of the biggest challenges we as Christians face in this Post Modern world is the fact that everyone is right, yet strangely enough, everyone else is wrong!
One of the “HOT” topics at the moment is : “There are many roads to God, no one is right.” No matter who you serve, you’ll get into heaven, so don’t stress. Well as nice as this sounds, it is as far from the truth as saying “there is no God”.
But before I get ahead of myself, lets take a look at what God thinks about sharing his glory.
God does not like too divide his glory.
Exodus 20 is a good place too start (it is after all God’s commandments too us).
Exodus 20 : 2-3 are quite clear on where God stands in the whole business of sharing :
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
The entire book of Leviticus is filled with things the Israelite weren’t allowed to do. Many of these rules were placed there because other religions of the day where doing these exact things, and God was basically saying “Hey, I don’t want you to be worshiping me as if I’m some other God!”
What about Jesus? God in human form, who came down to earth and supposedly preached peace and unity?
Well first off, Jesus did not preach unity, he preached “repent and believe for the Kingdom of God is near.”
This same Jesus also said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Does that sound like a Free For All to you? Who comes to the farther? (The farther who will have no other gods before him) Those who put there trust in Jesus, and follow him, only those will come to know the farther.
And post Jesus? What did the apostles preach?
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
1 Cor 6:19b-20 : “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
Right, so now that we got that all out the way, what about some of the tough questions people ask?
Questions like “exclusive religions are dangerous, it causes conflict!” or “there are too many good people who are not Christians”, or “all religions teach the same thing” and so on.
I’m going to tackle some of these question very briefly.
Exclusive religions are dangerous – cause conflict
Looking at the current situation in Gaza, people like to point fingers at religion and say that it is all religions fault, without religion this world would be a far better place! Well let me just point out the facts quickly.
In the 20th (Century which has also had more wars,and deaths by war than any century before it) the biggest wars have all been caused by Idealists who have wanted to get rid of religion. eg: Soviet Russia, Communist China, Nazi Germany, Khmer Rouge in Cambodia!
You think religion creates violence! Just look at what the parties above caused!
By the way, if you hold this view (the view that all religions are wrong and deadly) then you are being just as exclusive as the religions you criticize.
There are too many good people who are not Christians
Unfortunately this is sad but true. Luckily there is a simple answer for this. Christians are saved by grace, we do not need to earn our way into heaven. So being “good” is not going to save us (though it is expected). Other religions require Good deeds. Without good deeds you are useless and worthless, with good deeds you can feel superior to others.
As Christians we boast in the cross alone! “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” Gal 6:11-18
All religions are equal in value!
If you hold this view point, you must include ALL religions. You can’t just accept some, because then you would need to justify you exceptions. So if we have to accept that all religions are of equal value, we must agree that religions that sacrifice children are as intrinsically good in value as ones that don’t!
All religions are different parts of the one great spiritual truth
This is also know as the blind men and elephant theory.
Basically what this is saying is that just like each blind man can only touch/experience the part of the elephant they are currently in front of, and will never be able to see the full picture, so each religion is but a part of the GREAT truth.
See, the problem with this view is quite simple. For the person to make this statement they must accept the fact they are but an observer who actually knows what the elephant looks like. In which case, you hold the key to enlightening all of us!
See, you can’t claim that everyone knows a small portion of the big picture, if no one knows what the big picture looks like, or even exists! (especially when each of the portions are in no way related or even hint at a “bigger” picture)
Which brings me to my last objection.
All religions teach the same thing.
If you really believe this too be true, I suggest you study the table below.
Lets just look at Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as examples :
| God | Jesus | Sin | Salvation | |
| Christianity | God is personal. He is Trinity, Farther Son and Spirit | Jesus is the son of God, fully human and fully devine who died, rose and ascended to heaven | Sin is independent rebellion against God. It makes you his enemy | Salvation is found in Jesus alone. He died for our sins to reconcile us to God |
| Islam | There is no God but Allah | Jesus is only a human prophet, less than Muhammad. He didn’t die on the cross. | Sin is failure to do the will of Allah as outline in the 5 pillars of faith | Man must earn his own salvation. You can never know if you have done enough to please Allah |
| Hinduism | ‘God’ is a formless abstract being. It takes the form of millions of lesser gods | Jesus is just one of the many forms of God, he is no more god than anyone else. He didn’t die for sins. | Sin doesn’t exist. Whatever helps is good, whatever hinders is bad. Reincarnation is your second change | You reach the ‘infinite’ through devotion, meditation, good works and self control |
| Buddhism | There is no personal god | Jesus was a good teach, but less than Buddha. He can not save you. | Sin is anything that hinders man’s progress to achieve nirvana | To reach nirvana you must save yourself by the ‘Eightfold Path’ |
Wow, now that is what I call an incompatible list!
So if any of you had reserves about the fact that they might all teach the same thing, I hope this has helped you in that!
But what too make of all this evidence?
If religions of this world, do not say the same thing, and are all radically different(which they are). Then there is a choice to be made, and it is definitely important enough to investigate.
If the bible is right (which the first article helped to prove) then the wrong choice will have serious consequences!
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As an outsider of all religions I often think of the following scenario:
Take a devotee of your four listed religions and put them in the same room, each will think the others are wrong and they have the secret recipe for heaven after death. Surely you can see the problem here and the arrogance of any of the 4 to say that they are right over another? And I’m not sure the often heralded trump card of Christianity (Christianity is better because God sent his son Jesus) is really a big tie breaker as all religions speak of Jesus the man.
Until God comes and taps me on the shoulder and speaks to me in person (and I have prayed for this) and not though some “miraculous” sign like surviving a car accident or something – I’m afraid I remain on the fence.
And if any of you are just covering your bets in case somebody is right you know deep down that is a cop out.
oh, and your eBible api key has expired
Hey
I think my headline might be a bit misleading.
The article was more to show that each religion is unique, and because of this only one can be right.
So yes, taking the four listed religions and shoving them in the same room would potentially spell disaster.
So, the question/investigation one must do is to find out which one if any of them is true? And is there a litmus test that one can do?
Unfortunately no litmus test exists, but like part 1 indicates, the bible is historically true. And if what the bible say is true, then that in itself should make you wonder if Jesus was more than just a man?
The problem with today’s view of Christianity is that peoples perception of Jesus and who he was, compared to the Jesus of the bible is so far apart that it starts to make Christianity look like a man made pile of goo.
If people had to go back to the gospels, and people were to investigate the true Jesus, they might find that the claims he made are more believable when it isn’t tied down with hidden political and sociological agenda’s.
And it includes all the “fine” print.. ie : You will suffer as a christian, and life doesn’t get easier! And he won’t magically heal you if you have enough “faith” etc..
Anyways, the only way to truly know if what the bible claims is true, is to study it
See how from the OT God has planned this. That since the beginning of time everything was geared towards one moment in history
Just a break down of the four gospels :
Matthew : Main aim is to show the Jews that Jesus is the promised king
Mark : Show that Jesus is the servant and savior
John : Jesus is the son of God
Luke : A historical biography of Jesus said to be of the highest level (according History Professors in Oxford)
Oi! I’m sick and have an excuse for writing comments on blogs, you however should be working you day job!
The bible being historically true is up for debate but I’ll save that for a later debate.:-)
Accepting Jesus as your personal saviour is a miracle in itself (nobody wants to give up control of their lives to someone or something else). The mere fact that you read and comment on this blog shows that you are perhaps not satisfied sitting on the fence and searching for answers or a tap on the shoulder.
I will be honest with you, answers aren’t suddenly made known and a lot of questions won’t be answered, however I have to agree with UL that once you start to study the Bible things do become clearer. As you have probably realised I am a Christian but wasn’t always – infact I was a paganist, I didnt believe all the religious stuff about needing a God and saviour, but I still had questions and I found the more I investigated the more it made more sense than the paganist lifestyle I was living (which was meaningless in the great scheme of things). It didnt happen overnight (obviously) but the more I asked and really investigated the more I discovered. I am in no way trying to win you over or even try and prove to you that this is the only way, its God who does the work and that I cant even begin to try and explain
I agree with you that if people are only being “religious” to cover their bets, then the only person they are fooling are themselves.
Okay so that was my 5c worth
Hope you get better soon!
Believe it or not I have studied the bible and am actually married to a Christian who is an endless source of information if prompted. However as much as I’ve tried going to CU camps, attending church and reading I cannot see the difference between the hysteria of religion (speaking in tongues, falling down) and a U2 concert. Group belief is powerful stuff and I personally find the group singing particularly enjoyable but then in the end it would be hypocritical of me to call myself a christian just because i like to sing with a bunch of people.
I guess what I’m saying is that the “sitting on the fence” is not through lack of trying nor through ignorance. The fact that I read and comment on this blog also doesn’t mean that I’m unsatisfied in my choice but more interested in why other people choose it because it makes no sense to me.
And of course you are trying to win me over, its the Christian motto isn’t it?
Quick question mumblingchristian and zoe : What faith do your parents follow?
Nice to meet you Zoe, if you are the Zoe I think you are.
Simon
Touché to your comment about religious hysteria and a U2 concert. I did say “perhaps unsatisfied” with your choice of sitting on the fence, I couldn’t possibly try and understand your choice without knowing you as a person:)and now i know its through your curiosity, which is fair enough.
I can promise you I am not trying to win you over, simply because I don’t have the power to do it, however the Bible does encourage Christians to share the gospel with others, but again at the end of the day the choice still remains yours. I am sure your wife has told you the same
My parents aren’t religious, I suppose you could call them new age, they believe all good people go to heaven and there is no such thing as hell…and also that there is a possibility of coming back in another life.. so I guess its a mix of many religions/ideals. I guess that’s probably why they didn’t have a problem with me being a witch…as long as I was a good one! HA HA
Nice to meet you too Simon, who I am now guessing I know too! How random – if you knew me as a person this is very out of character for me!
Good luck with your search/curiosity, I can only pray that your curiosity will lead to something meaningful.
Hey Simon,
Not to get into a debate about things that are of no concern here.. But I am very strongly against this notion of “speaking in tongues”, and claiming that they are extra special message from God.
Falling down and what not, is not what Christianity is about. The role of the spirit (according to Jesus, and the rest of the NT(and OT)) is to show us to Jesus. It is not so that we can flop down on the floor and “experience” ‘gods’ awesomeness. No, that is just false religion feeding our emotional need to be special.
I’m not saying that those who do such things are not Christians, I’m just saying that they are confused and not understanding the point of the Holy Spirit.
Beside, you are an example of how “damaging” these acts of “the spirit” can be. It’s just chaos and scares new comers away.. Not the church God designed at all
But, I won’t deal anymore with that subject. Just so that you know where I’m coming from.
My folks are both Christians, and thankfully, they have always taught me that Christianity is not something you inherit from your parents, but a relationship you need to establish on your own. No one else can do it for you.
So, I was quite lucky in that regard.
To answer you question about the Christian motto ..
A biblical response is that we are sinners saved by grace, and that it had nothing to do with us. We can’t save anyone else, and we can’t save ourselves.
We can tell everyone about Jesus, and what he has done for each of us, but we can’t “win” them over, only point them in the right direction.
Because in the end, it is a relationship they must establish.
Hope that clarifies up somethings from my side, and how I see “Christianity”. People might call me old school, and too conservative. But in the end, I believe what the bible says, and if people have an issue with that, they should take it up with the author.
Heya Simon
hope you have recovered and you are back to your healthy self 
uhmps in response to the last comment that you posted today. . .what exactly makes no sense to you about Christianity (if I may ask)??
mmmmmmmmmmmmwa*
[...] God of the bible ( the true God ), is a loving and compassionate God, but also a righteous God, and because He is just and [...]
Heya Simon did you type the above??why all the ellipsis dots?I don’t understand your question. . .please elaborate?
thanks:)
mmmmmmmmmmmmmwa*