Are these Americans right or wrong? Mahatma Gandhi of India once said:
“The soul of religion is one, but it is encased in a multitude of forms.”
Is this true or false?
“In reality, there is only one religion, the religion of God. This one religion is continually evolving, and each particular religious system represents a stage in the evolution of the whole,” claims the Bahá'í faith on its official Web site at bahai.org.
Are the Bahá'ís correct or incorrect? What about the Hindus?
“In whatever way men approach Me, even so do I go to them.”
—quoted from the Hindu scripture by Swami Chidananda of Divine Life Society
Is Christianity's claim of uniqueness and exclusivity misleading and baseless? Or is it necessarily true?
Even a cursory examination of comparative belief charts and data* quickly reveals that make very different truth claims on a number of even basic issues. And they do so in a definitive manner. In other words, as any knowledgeable student of comparative religions will tell you, every religion—not just Christianity—claims exclusivity.Here are a few examples:
Nature of God
| — Monotheistic, personal | |||
| — Monostic, impersonal | |||
| — Monostic, polytheistic |
Identity of Jesus Christ
| — Deity incarnate | |||
| — human only |
Dr. Michael Green is an internationally respected author, speaker and scholar. He is currently Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, England. He recently authored the text “But Don't All Religions Lead to God?,” Navigating the Multi-Faith Maze (Baker Book House, 2002). In this book, Dr. Green writes:
“Jesus is unique among religious leaders in claiming to bring God to our worl in His own person and making good that claim by such powerful evidences.”
Green says that no other spiritual leader or teacher but Jesus Christ…
- ever claimed to bring God to human
- dealt radically with our wickedness
- Broke the final barrier of death
- offers to “live inside” His followers
Apologist and author, C.S. Lewis said that when it comes to the categorical claims of Jesus Christ regarding His Divinity…
There is no half-way house, and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him, 'Are you the son of Brahah?' he would have 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 had gone to Muhammad and asked, 'Are you Allah?' he would first have rent his clothes and then cut off your head.”
Sin
| — real moral trespass and condition of indebtedness before a holy, infinite-personal God | |||
| — ignorance; susceptibility to illusion; unprofitable behavior |
Crucifixion and Resurrection
| — historic fact | |||
| — deceptive myth |
Salvation
| — a gift of God's grace | |||
| — only by observing Pillars | |||
| — Dianetic counseling |
Again, Dr. Michael Green writes:
“Perhaps the greatest difference of all [among religious views] lies in the Christian assertion that and make ourselves acceptable to God, try as we may: all the other faiths assert that by keeping their teachings a person will be saved, fulfilled or reborn.”
Authority
| —the Bible alone | |||
| — the Bible plus | |||
| — the Bible plus | |||
| — the Bible plus | |||
| — the Bible plus | |||
| — the Bible plus | |||
| — the Bible plus | |||
| — the Bible as per flawed New World translation |
Author: Daryl E. Witmer of AIIA Institute
