One objection that people have to Christianity is that it is too narrow. Aren’t all religions pretty much the same when you get right down to it? They’re all trying to get to God, right?
Many popular thinkers will use the story of four blind men and the elephant. These men came up to an elephant. One grabbed the tail and thought it was a snake. The other grabbed a leg and thought it was a tree. One grabbed an ear and thought it was a piece of paper. One grabbed the trunk and thought it was a hose. The application is that all the different religions are like these men, each having a glimpse of truth, but none with the whole story. We do our best to explain from our perspective, but we are all actually talking about the same thing – God.
But this story backfires when you realize there is a storyteller who isn’t blind. He knows it’s is an elephant. The blind men are wrong. There is a truth that must be known and it must come from someone who can see it all.
It might surprise you to learn that every major religions claims to be the only way to God. The top five religions (from smallest to largest) are: Buddhism, Hinduism, ‘Non-religious,’ Islam and Christianity.
So if you take away the 850 million people who have no religion, what do the top 4 say about God?
Buddhism. 376 million followers, 6% of the world. According to Buddhism, God is beyond description. However, through ‘enlightenment’ you can be free from pain and suffering in this present world. Your life is temporary and after death you can be reborn into a better or worse existence. These states are temporary and we will eventually rise and fall throughout eternity.
Hinduism. 900 million followers. Brahma is the universal spirit. It is the unconscious, impersonal force that governs everything. So Hinduism is pantheistic. They believe God is in everything. Braham is the great circle of life that ordains everything and puts everything in its place. Like Buddhism, it believes in a transmigration of souls, or reincarnation, where all life rises and falls based on its level of goodness in previous lives. American Hinduism teaches that we are all gods, continually rising upward. The goal of Hindus is to live a life of good karma, so they will progress faster on their reincarnation journey. Eventually, we can be elevated out of physical existence into a state of semi-godhood and become a spirit. We are part of Brahman. This is called ‘Nirvana’ which means ‘blown away.’ When you achieve Nirvana, you lose all sense of consciousness and become absorbed into the consciousness of the universe.
Islam. 1.5 billion followers. 21% of the world. At the time of its founder, Arabs were polytheists, believing in many gods. Allah was the moon god, the crescent moon is still the chief symbol of Islam. Mohammed received revelations and claimed Allah was the true God and he was his last and greatest prophet. His goal became to conquer by sword all others. In at least 18 places in the Koran, Allah commands his followers to fight and kill their enemies. To get to God, Muslims must faithfully perform the five pillars: 1- recite the shahada (There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.). 2- Pray five times a day facing Mecca. 3- Give alms to the poor. 4 – Fast during the month of Ramadan. 5- Perform a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once.
Christianity. 2 billion followers. Christianity believes in grace. Because of sin, mankind is separated from God and every culture and age has tried to be united with Him in some way. Christianity teaches that shed blood will forgive sins. So God sent His Son to shed His blood to pay for our sins. To all who believe in Jesus and receive Him as their Savior, God brings them into His family. The relationship with God is restored. So this means that every person in the world is only a prayer away from a relationship with God.
Each religion has a different view of God:
- Buddhism: God is an impersonal force
- Hinduism: many gods
- Islam: Allah
- Christianity: One God.
Each religion has a different way to God:
- Buddhists: 8-fold path.
- Hindus: live and die, live and die forever.
- Muslims: five pillars.
- Christians: grace.
Because all religions are different, they could be all wrong, but they can’t all be right. Many believe as long as you are sincere, you should be okay. But you can be sincerely wrong.
Of the four religions, three believe you must practice a very specific behavior and follower very specific rules to get to God. All of them believe their way is the only way. But only Christianity teaches that God loves us enough to make the way for us by sending His Son. Only Christianity teaches that God forgives based on His grace and wants us with Him because He loves us.
In some ways, Christianity is not even a religion. If religion is about people reaching up to get to God, Christianity is about God reaching down to rescue us. All the other religions require that you DO certain things to get to God. Christianity is the only faith system that believes that God has already DONE what is necessary for you to reach Him.
Have you ever considered that if God exists that He would be, by nature, unreachable. Think about it. How do you expect to reach God unless He first wants to be reached? In fact, if you think God is someone that you can reach purely through your own effort, perhaps you need to rethink just how big your view of God is.
You see it’s important to understand that it isn’t Christianity that is exclusive – it’s truth itself. By its very nature, truth excludes everything false. Think about our story about four blind men and the elephant. It was an elephant. The four blind men were wrong. They may have sincerely thought it was a snake, tree, paper, or hose. But they were wrong.
Since all religions are different, we have to make a choice. Which of them matches how life seems to work? Which of them offers the most believable description of God and how to get to Him? Which of them matches what your heart tells you is true?
Read more: God Questions.