You may have heard this story before: Several blind men were led into a King’s courtyard, where they encountered an elephant. One felt a tusk and concluded that the elephant is like a spear. Another touched a leg and thought that the elephant is like a tree. Yet another bumped into the side of the beast and thought that it was like a wall. And so on. Then the King hearing the activity, came out on his balcony and told the blind men that they were encountering only a small part of the magnificent whole.
This lesson is meant to teach that different religious traditions of the world are all stumbling on only one particular aspect of the ultimate reality and are blind to the whole picture. But all religions are basically touching the same essential truth. However if all religions are basically the same at their core, why has there been so much conflict or quarrel throughout the years between them?
We tend to miss the most important part of this little fable. How do the blind men find out the truth about their encounter with the elephant? It is revealed to them from above by the King. So the profound question is, who is this King who can see all and reveal all the truth that we can’t see?
Unless there is some word from above that tells us that all religions are the same, there is no good reason to conclude that they are, because evidence says they’re not. Certainly we can identify common themes in many religions, like love, and how to live a good life, but most of the differences between the major traditions are very great.
Ironically, the other thing this fable assumes is that there is a King who oversees it all and has the truth. Of course Jesus Christ is the only figure in history who claimed to be God in the flesh and was able to prove it. He said there is only one way, one truth, and one God who is the source of salvation. In fact many religions don’t even believe in a need for salvation. Jesus is the only one who didn’t leave us with a blind faith, and Christianity becomes the only world faith that does not require performance for salvation or enlightenment.
So I’m going to cover the basic beliefs of the religions that we will most often come in contact with, and look at the differences between them and Christianity. Let’s start with the most notable one, the Muslim faith. It is the second largest next to Christianity and it actually came from the Judaistic beliefs as well. Their Holy book the Koran, is very similar to the Old Testament. They believe in one God, Allah who is in charge of everything.
They believe people are foolish sinners who need instruction from the Koran. Sin is seen as violations of man made Muslim taboos and prohibited behaviour given through the prophet Mohammed. They believe salvation from Hell is through utter devotion to Allah and diligence in the five pillars which are: daily recitation of creed, prayer, giving alms, pilgrimage to Mecca, and fasting on their Holy day of Ramadan.
They believe there will be a final resurrection of the righteous into eternal bliss in paradise, with all the physical pleasures of this life available. Infidels, those who do not completely submit to Allah go to a most torturous hell.
Muslims believe that God has sent prophets throughout history from Adam to Noah, to Jesus and ultimately to Mohammed, all with the same message: there is only one God, and he desires people to pursue good and prevent evil.
The Koran only sees three sections of biblical literature to be authentic, the Torah or law of Moses, the life of Jesus, and the Psalms of David. The Christians and Jewish scriptures other than this have been corrupted and then restored by Mohammed in the Koran. This all happened in about the 6th century AD.
They do believe that Jesus was a prophet and that he was born to a virgin, was sinless, performed miracles, and is coming again. But they don’t believe he was resurrected from the dead and is God. They also believe that the Holy Spirit who Jesus said was coming as a counsellor, was a prophecy about Mohammed.
So the key differences are that they don’t believe Jesus was God, and they don’t believe in resurrection of the dead. Many will say that they believe in the same God the Father as we do. And there are many similarities that can lead to this belief. But it differs in many ways such as, God is remote and not intimate, He doesn’t have a son, he is not a trinity, and does not love unconditionally.
Mohammed knew the whole bible and rejected it in the sixth century. He basically rejected the unconditional love and salvation of God (His true heart), also the divinity of Jesus, and therefore his ability to forgive and save people from sin, and he rejected the person of the Holy Spirit. That is not the same God we worship.
One more thing, what is Jihad? Individually it is a fight in oneself to conquer sinful behaviour. The more one suffers to conquer sinful desires, the more Allah approves of them.
We could probably do a little more of that, but it is not what is necessary for God’s approval. The scary part of Jihad is the corporate aspect which says that they are responsible for preventing and eliminating evil from the world in the name of Allah.
In the Muslim cultures one must pay a special tax if they do not believe in Islam, as a sign of submission. In Jihad warfare, only those who are blind, lame, or terminally ill are exempt from Holy warfare. They are supposed to give the infidel four months to convert or surrender. In one part of their Scripture it says there is no compulsion in religion, but earlier in that same chapter Allah says, “and slay them whenever you catch them and turn them out from where they have turned you out”. Obviously their scriptures are very contradictory, and you see that in the vast differences between professing Muslims themselves. The main guarantee of heaven in Islam is that when you die in Jihad, then you are promised heaven.
It is the very notion of free salvation that both allows Muslims to be persuaded to convert to Christianity, and also makes it difficult for them because they have been so trained in a salvation by works. It doesn’t make sense that God could forgive sins, He only punishes them.
We also need to look at what we call the North American cults of Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Again the thing about all religions is that the people of those religions follow a man who claimed to have a special revelation from God. Even we do, but we follow the only one who claimed he was God and where there is incredible evidence that he died and was resurrected to prove it. All the others leaders can be found in their grave.
The Jehovah’s Witness story is incredible. Their founder Charles Taze Russell was a real crook who started the watch tower organization. He reacted against the doctrine of eternal torment and from 1879 to 1963 the Awake magazine had gone from a circulation of 6000 to about 64 million. He was in court a lot, early on for a fraud scheme about miracle wheat that he claimed would produce five times as much normal wheat.
He was known for his hypocrisy and over time his name has been detached from the watch tower society as much as possible. I can’t go into all of it, but the story of the early founders of this movement is quite ridiculous if you want to read about it. I have a book called Kingdom of the Cults that goes into detail about it.
Their teaching has been very inconsistent over the years, but the fundamental belief is that the Bible is the absolute word of God and they should base all their beliefs on it. Yet their teaching is contrary to the Bible and so they created a doctored version called the New World Translation. This was not done by Bible scholars. Their main problem with the New Testament is that they believe the word Lord (Kyrios) was added by apostate scribes instead of sticking with the name Jehovah for God.
They have translated John 1:1 to say that Jesus was a god, formerly the archangel Michael who was the first creation of Jehovah, but the Father Jehovah is the true God. They also believe that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force emanating from Jehovah. The JW’s believe that no one can understand the Bible without the help of their leaders.
They also believe that when unsaved humans die, they cease to exist. There is no intermediate state of the dead and no eternal punishment. They are simply annihilated. They also believe that God raised Jesus as an angelic spirit and deny that he will return visibly and personally to earth.
As far as salvation goes, they believe Jesus death provided a “corresponding ransom” releasing all people from condemnation due to Adam’s sin. His death opened the way for salvation but didn’t pay for sin, only by a person’s following the teachings of the organization can a person’s salvation be merited. To have eternal life people must not only accept Jesus’ ransom, but also prove themselves worthy by their works. They go so far as to believe that any doctrine that comes from the Bible that does not agree with their interpretation is satanic, such doctrines as the trinity for instance. (talk about little boy at the park).
The final three possible destinies of people are annihilation in a literal lake of fire where they will cease to exist. The redeemed are then divided into two groups, the “little flock” of 144000 will live in heaven sharing the divine nature of Christ, and in effect becoming gods. And the other sheep who weren’t quite good enough, live on a redeemed paradise earth forever.
One thing I want to say about these religions is that they all have an emphasis on works for salvation. I think maybe Christians as a reaction to these 19th and twentieth century so called versions of Christianity, have gone to the extreme in claiming that works are not necessary at all even after we’re saved. We need to be careful about this, because the Bible definitely says that our salvation will result in good works and obedience.
What about the Mormons or Latter Day Saints? They use the KJV bible, but have added as authoritative three other books written by a later day prophet Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith is said to have re-established the true church with his teachings. Again his story is quite odd.
They believe there are many gods and the trinity is comprised of two physical beings and one spiritual being. The Father is an exalted man who was granted rule over our world (I’m not sure by whom). He himself has a father, mother and wife. He is the creator of all spirits who will eventually be born on earth.
They believe the original sin was not that serious but opened the way for perfection. Humans do commit sin but they can be overcome by lives that please the Father. Jesus was the oldest spirit child and was conceived through the physical union of the father and the virgin Mary. Jesus lived a perfect life, was married and had children, and was exalted to godhood at his resurrection.
Christ’s death cancelled the penalty of death but did not actually purchase salvation, it only comes into play when we do all we can to merit eternal life. The future consists of three realms plus hell where Satan and his angels will spend eternity with those who do not accept the Mormon faith or become apostates.
The other realms are the telestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom and the celestial kingdom. Only the celestial kingdom is actually heaven and is open only to Mormons.
Mormons are not monotheistic, they believe in more than one god and they don’t believe in the trinity of the Bible, therefore cannot be considered Christian.
To me these three religions are the most dangerous to our faith because they all claim some connection to what we believe, they all use either the whole Bible or parts of it, and they all focus on following the writings of a modern man, rather than Scriptures alone. But notice what they all have in common. They put man in control rather than or at least with God. We have to work to be right with God, so in effect they all blaspheme the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
You can see why they’re popular because they exalt man’s efforts, and some even downplay hell. It’s all about doing good, earning points basically to get to heaven, even becoming gods ourselves, and that is so much in line with the philosophy of Satan and the world. The primary sin of the Bible is trying to be independent of God, being in control of our lives, so when someone comes up with a religion that allows this and gives us new rules to live by, it’s appealing. That is essentially what Judaism, and to some degree Catholicism does as well. It also allows us to be very judgmental of people.
Now one other that is quite different from these, and one I am quite familiar with, is Buddhism. Buddhism is a beautiful way of life. I hesitate to call it a religion, but most do. The reason is that it is basically atheistic. They follow the teachings of Buddha who really didn’t talk about gods per se. They are more like saints or departed people who best presented the way of peace and reached enlightement, they call them Boddhisatvas.
The main teaching of Buddhism is that life is suffering that arises from human desire, even the desire of good things. The goal then through meditation is to be released from suffering or to experience what they call enlightenment, which allows you to cease all individual desire. This state is called Nirvana and is essentially entering a state of non-existence, which allows you to get off the cycle of reincarnation. Until you achieve this state in life, you are reincarnated at increasingly higher levels until you experience Nirvana and then you cease to be and don’t have to come back anymore. That really appealed to me so I was trying to get it right the first time so that I could get out of here and never come back.
Essentially if we call it a religion, it is a religion of works, but God is not the focus, nor is salvation. Buddhists are encouraged to follow an eight fold path including right speech, right effort, and right mindfulness. It is essentially a process of detaching from self and having no desire, simply being in each moment. And really the only way to accomplish this is through a monastic lifestyle.
I believed that this was the true way for many years, and it helped me through an awful time in my life in my late teens. But it took a great deal of time and discipline. It very much produces what Paul talks about when he says that he has learned to be content in all situations.
Zen Buddhism which is primarily a practical form of Buddhism, is very old and there are probably about 200 million people practicing it around the world. Since the 1960’s it is also one of the fastest growing religions amoung North American people, often combined with some New Age beliefs.
It’s hard to criticize or disagree with much of what Buddhism says about life and how to overcome the suffering of it. If everyone was a practicing Buddhist it would be a peaceful, albeit boring world. And many of the philosophies and practices of Buddhism can be an aid to Christians. For instance getting rid of ego, decreasing the power of our own desires, living in the moment, being kind to all living things.
However it is a very self-centered way, and if you look around the world where Buddhism has thrived you see some of the worst living conditions and immorality in the world. I realize now why it appealed to me. I certainly believed life was suffering, and I was one of the most selfish people I ever met. To detach from this world was very appealing to me, but it also causes a person to not make anything matter.
“Life is suffering, get over it, meditate more, detach”. And most importantly, it denies God. So a world of practicing Buddhists would be a world of the living dead. And it negates the greatest commandments which are to love God and love other people.
So what we can offer the Buddhist is life. An escape from the recurring drudgery of existence through reincarnation, an escape from having no joy in this world, and the possibility of an eternity in paradise with God.
Those are the only religions I am going to talk about today, because they are the ones we will most often come in contact with, but in the end they are all the same in terms of how they view or don’t view God, and what is necessary to earn His favour. None of these or any others are like Christianity. I do not include Catholicism because at its core, they are Christians in what they believe about God and salvation. They have just piled so many man made things on top of it all. But I think you can be a saved, born again Catholic.
True Christianity is the only religion that requires only that you receive a gift from God, that there is nothing you can do to earn his favour, but that by receiving the gift you will be changed and become a better person. Why then is the world so anti Christian? To me this is one of the huge reasons I believe it’s true, there’s no logical reason for people to dislike Christianity other than the fact that some so called Christians have soured all the apples, but that can be said of any religion.
If this is good news and requires very little of us compared to other religions, why is Christianity so scary? I’ve come to believe that it is because it hits us at the place of the original sin. Christianity is the only one that takes the power and control away from us, and puts it entirely on God. Even if other religions see God as all powerful, they still support human activity as a means for being on his good side.
You would think Christianity would be a relief to people, but it actually attacks the core of Satan’s influence over man from the very beginning. Man has an ingrained desire to make himself God and have control over his life apart from God. That’s the threat, and even we Christians struggle with it daily.
We want to be able to do it ourselves, through our own effort, and it’s also about our crazy desire to be better than others. That we are doing a better job so we will be looked higher upon by God and get more rewards. It’s our competitive nature. “That person doesn’t deserve God’s favour, look at how much better of a person I am than them”. The parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew chapter 20 is about this attittude. I think that is especially why it is so hard for people in Europe and North America to buy in. We have such a competitive, consumeristic, survival of the fittest, reward for your efforts, work for your dreams kind of culture.
Unfortunately these attitudes do not evaporate when we become Christians and we need to work on keeping them at bay. All humans are equal in Christ’s eyes, and His gift is available to all, and we should desire it for all.
And let me close with our only Scripture for today from John 14. People want to say that all beliefs lead to the same place, that there are many paths to God. But Jesus says in (John 14:1-7)… Jesus is the key ingredient, he is God, and though many religions believe he existed, only Christianity believes he did what he did and that what he did accomplishes what he says it did. Why be confused? Let other people from other religions know that there is a way that doesn’t require them to earn their way.
Let them know about the overwhelming evidence of his death and resurrection, and help them to know that the Bible in its original form is truly God’s word, not man’s opinion. We’ll cover that in the third message of this series.
In the meantime remember that the best way to deal with criticism about your faith, is to control your emotions, be patient, and educate yourself about your faith and others. Remember people are not attacking you, they are attacking what you believe. And trust that the Holy Spirit will give the words to defend your faith.
Next week we will cover the Trinity because it seems to be one of the hardest things for a Christians to understand and probably why every other pseudo-Christian faith does away with the idea.
