What is the difference between Christianity and other
beliefs?
Everybody trusts in something or someone for answers to the big questions in
life: Where did I come from? Why am I here? How I can I have a meaningful
life? How can I sustain joy and contentment? What will happen to me after I
die--can I do anything about it? People put their trust either in someone
else, God, their own wisdom and goodness, the government, or things.
The important faith factor is not the amount of faith that one has, but the
validity of the object of the faith. Picture two tall buildings, with two
boards straddled between them. Two men, call them Randy and John, plan to walk
across the boards. The boards look the same, but are actually made of different
material. Randy is trusting in a board that is hollow with a thin exterior. John
is trusting in a board of solid hardwood. Randy has more faith than John; Randy
is fully convinced that the hollow board will hold his weight. Randy even speaks
very confidently about his faith in the board. But the truth is that Randy's
board is weak--it cannot hold his weight. Randy will fall to his death, but John
will walk across safely. Life is similar. The results will be based, not so much
on the amount of our faith, but the object of our faith. It is not
good enough to have faith in something. We must have faith in the truth.
Otherwise we are deceived.
The object of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is what makes
Christianity different than other religions. Described below are the specific
differences:
1. Jesus Christ for forgiveness and mercy
2. Jesus Christ as the source of joy,
contentment, peace, power to live righteously, and love
3. Jesus Christ as evidence
1. Jesus Christ for forgiveness and mercy
Most
religions--but
not
Christianity--are
based on human performance. If one's performance is
good enough, one will go to heaven or another desirable place after the earthly
life, and will have a good life on earth. If performance is substandard, the
person will be rejected by the higher being and go to hell or some other
unpleasant place. Christianity, by contrast, teaches that no person is good
enough to be accepted into God’s kingdom and, therefore, we can be accepted by
God only by God’s grace and mercy, which is possible through Jesus Christ.
Picture a court case. The prosecuting attorney contends that you are guilty
of wrongdoing, making you unworthy of God's kingdom. You can plead guilty or
innocent. Those who follow a performance-based religion are pleading innocent,
indicating to the judge that they have lived a good enough life—based on the
rules of their religion—to be worthy of entrance into heaven. Those who choose
to trust Christ are pleading guilty, admitting that they are not worthy of God's
kingdom based on their own "goodness." Thus Christians, pleading
guilty, are asking for mercy; but religious persons, pleading innocent, are
asking for judgment. The Judge judges those who plead innocent based on their
deeds. Every one of them are pronounced guilty--because "all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23)--and given the death
penalty. For the Christians, however, who have pleaded guilty and asked for
mercy through Jesus Christ, the Judge acknowledges that they committed deeds
worthy of death, but sets them free. The Christians are guilty of wrongdoing and
deserve the penalty, just as the others. But the Judge sets them free because
someone else--the Judge's own Son--sat in the electric chair on their behalf.
The Judge's Son took the death penalty for them. Although they are guilty, they
receive mercy and are forgiven. In fact, the charges are completely erased from
their record, having been nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ:
Col 2:13,14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having
forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate
of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He
has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Consider two questions:
1. How can God, who is loving, kind, and compassionate; reject a person,
sending him or her to Hell instead of Heaven? The answer is provided by the
second question…
2. How can God, who is perfectly holy, righteous, and just, allow humans,
who all have sin of some sort, to enter His holy kingdom and have fellowship
with Him?
The answer to the second question is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ brings
together God's perfect holiness, righteousness and justice; with His love,
compassion, and kindness. No person can enter God's kingdom on his or her own
merits--all have fallen short of God's perfect righteousness. So God provided
the perfect sacrifice--Jesus Christ, God the Son--as a payment for the sin of
all people. Jesus Christ is a gift, given by the perfectly just and
perfectly loving God. Forgiveness is appropriated to the person who acknowledges
his need for the gift, and receives Christ.
Ask God to give you understanding of the following verses:
Rom 3:23,24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus;
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Psa 85:9,10 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That
glory may dwell in our land. 10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
1 John 4:9,10 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has
sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John 3:16 "For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
To read more about forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ, see:
How good does one
have to be to go to heaven?
What is the Gospel?
What is salvation?
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2. Jesus Christ as the source of joy, contentment, peace, power to live
righteously, and love
Every person was designed to be filled with the Spirit of God and to have
continual fellowship with Him--to be in touch with his or her Creator. God was
supposed to be the center of our work and relationships. We were designed to get
our contentment and fulfillment from Him. Without the Spirit of God in us, we
are dysfunctional, like a two-legged table.
Think of a human as a glass. When God created Adam and Eve, they were
right-side-up glasses, in His image, filled with His Spirit. But when they
rebelled against God, they died spiritually; the glass was turned upside down.
From that point on, humans have felt and experienced the emptiness of a glass
that's upside down. Trying to force things into the glass, while it's upside
down, won't work. What's needed is to turn the glass right-side-up.
Jesus Christ is the only solution to the problem. He makes our glass
right-side-up when we place our trust in Him for forgiveness of sin, and fills
us with His life, making us whole. What's more, through Christ we can have
continual and meaningful fellowship with the Father, which provides joy,
contentment, peace, power to live righteously, and love. Jesus Himself is the
life--He gives life to those who place their trust in Him:
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I
am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who
believes in Me will never thirst.
John 7:37-38 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried out, saying, "If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38
"He who believes in
Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of
living water.'"
John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I
am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness,
but will have the Light of life."
John 10:10 "I came
that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
John 11:25-26 "I am
the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he
dies, 26 and
everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe
this?"
John 14:6 "I am the
way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through
Me."
When Jesus said, "He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who
believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35), He was not talking about
food and water; He was addressing the emptiness—the want and discontentment—that
we have in our hearts. Only Christ can fill the void in a heart.
Jesus said that He has overcome the world. This applies to our desire to get
fulfillment through things and circumstances in the world. Jesus gives us
victory over the never-ending chase. Think about these verses, picturing your
heart as a glass that needs to be turned right-side-up and filled. Before you
read the verses, ask God to give you wisdom to understand them:
Psa 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is
fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there
is no want.
Rom 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
John 15:11 "These
things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be made full.
John 16:33 "These
things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world
you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
John 14:27 "Peace I
leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
To read more about Jesus Christ as the source of joy, contentment, peace,
power to live righteously, and love, see:
What does
Jesus have to do with contentment?
What is the Gospel?
What is salvation?
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3. Jesus Christ as evidence
As stated above, Christianity is based on the belief that those who entrust
their lives to Jesus Christ receive forgiveness of sin and new life. Only God
can forgive sin. Only God can create life. Therefore, the foundation of
Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God. If Jesus
Christ is not God, then His death on the cross was not sufficient payment for
our sin, and He cannot give us life. The validity of Christianity thus depends
on evidence that Jesus Christ is God.
The resurrection is the evidence. The resurrection of Christ proves that He
is God, and validates all that He said. Although Jesus performed many miracles
on earth, and amazed people with the wisdom and authority of His teaching, the
primary evidence for His deity is the resurrection. The Bible even says that if
Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is worthless:
1 Cor 15:14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is
vain, your faith also is vain.
1 Cor 15:17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless;
you are still in your sins.
Says E. M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics at Auckland University, "I
claim to be a historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you
that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history."
(McDowell, J. "Evidence for the Resurrection," Josh McDowell Ministry,
1992.)
For more information about Jesus'
resurrection, go to riverpower.org's web page entitled
Facts About the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Randy and John, whom we discussed at
the top of this article, were
contemplating walking across boards straddled between two tall buildings. Randy
was trusting in a hollow board; John in a solid board. Randy had more faith than
John, but Randy's faith was in the wrong object. Had they both tried to walk
across, Randy would have fallen to his death but John would have made it. The
point made was that the soundness of our belief is based, not on the amount of
our faith, but on the validity of the object of our faith.
But let's say that John was not willing to walk across. Even though he
believed that the board was solid and would hold his weight, he was not willing
to walk across it, so he never made it to the other building. Similarly, to
receive God's gift of forgiveness and new life, one must not only believe that
Jesus Christ is God, but be willing to entrust his life to Him-- to not only
believe the board will hold his weight, but to get on the board and walk across
it.
Consider the word believes in the following verses:
John 5:24 "Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has
eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death
into life.
John 7:38 "He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow
rivers of living water.'"
The book of John was originally written in Greek. The word believes in
the above verses was translated from the Greek word pisteuo that appeared
in the original manuscripts of the book of John. Pisteuo belief amounts
to more than intellectual acknowledgement of a fact. It is belief that involves
a willingness to commit to, trust in, or follow. Parents may believe what is
said about a babysitter's qualifications, but will not leave their children with
her unless they really believe (pisteuo) in her. John may say that he
believes the board will hold his weight, but will not walk across the board
unless he really trusts (pisteuo) in it.
The word believe (or believes) is found 69 times in the
Gospel of
John. John wanted the readers of his book to entrust their lives to
Christ. For this reason he provided much evidence that Jesus Christ is one and
equal with God, and the only way to new and eternal life. John clearly stated
the purpose of his book:
John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His
name.
Consider reading the book of John. Ask God to reveal truth to you. Tell Him
that you do not want to be deceived into trusting in the wrong person or thing.
Ask Him to clarify whether or not you should entrust your life to Jesus Christ.
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