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ARE ALL RELIGIONS EQUALLY VALID? The World Wide Web has made the occupants of this planet into one big happy family. At least that is what many would like to think . . . we still have some big differences among us. Not the least of those differences is religion. To some, the economics of this new world community are so attractive that they will give up nearly any dearly held belief in order to participate. Enter the age of inclusivism. Probably all but the very most secretive Christians have been told that they should not try to force their beliefs on anyone else. "You must not prostelytize," we are told. We might offend someone who is of "another faith." After all, ALL RELIGIONS ARE EQUALLY VALID! It appears to me that there may be several factors which would cause a person to make such a statement. The first and most obvious reason a person might hold this view is because EVERYBODY ELSE SAYS IT. It seems to be pop culture wisdom and so we adopt it as our own in order to gain acceptance among our "peers". We would urge these folks to think for themselves. But what if a person really believes that all religions ARE equally valid? We must, then, dig further into thier thinking. I say this because most people who make such assertions do so dishonestly. What they are actually saying is that they feel that all religions are equally invalid. In other words, they do not really believe in any religion. A wise man once said that, "tolerance is the virtue of a man with no convictions." Thus, to an atheist one religion is just as deluded and mythical and silly and invalid . . . ooooops . . . I mean valid as any other. It is highly inappropriate to allow this type of unbeliever to dictate the rules of theology. Then perhaps there is the comparative religions guru who might say that he sees so many similarities in the various religions that he must conclude that "there are many paths to God" and they are all valid. To this argument we would reply that the only similarites that exist between Christianity and all other religions are those which relflect the most superficial issues. This idea would lead us to consider a religion which sacrifices virgins to a volcanoe to be equally valid with all others! While other religions feel that man is basically good and capable of working his way into heaven, Christianity affirms that man is totally effected by sin and incapable of saving himself. Other religions think that man must placate their god, Christianity recognizes that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. If one were to compare all of the major religions except Christianity, it would appear that they ARE all fundamentally the same. Why then is Christianity different? The biggest single issue one must face when comparing, is that history attests to the truthfulness of Christianity while adherants to other religions have only the word of their leaders. Those who believe in Jesus Christ have not taken some blind leap of faith. We have the record of the Bible, the church and the early historians to validate our belief that Jesus Christ is an actual historical figure. In fact, there is more evidence for the existence of Jesus than for the existence of Plato! But don't take my word for it. If you want to know if Jesus of Nazareth is really God, go look at His tomb. Why? Because He is not there. He rose from the dead to prove that He is God. The proof is in the reaction of the Jewish leaders of His day. They had everything to gain by stopping the talk about His resurrection. All they needed to do was open His tomb and show case His body. But alas! The tomb was empty. Flavius Josephus, a historian of the first century, attested to the fact that Jesus had risen. Having established that Jesus is God, we must hear what He said on this issue. Jesus said, "No man comes to the Father except thru me". John 14: 6. The Apostle Peter said of Jesus that " there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4: 12. We are left, then with this: All of the major world religions really are very, very similar . . . except one. Christians have proof sufficient for any reasonable person to conclude that Jesus is God. He calls us to have a personal relationship with Him. He offers us forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. This offer is an absolutely free gift because of His love for us. Are the other religions equal to this? We, as Christians are told to love our neighbors. We hold the truth which would set people free from sin and the threat of an eternity in Hell. We cannot even pretend to love our neighbors if we do not share this truth. By the way, Jews prostelytize; Christians evangelize. |