Don’t worry; this article does not have anything to do with politics. Guess who wrote the following words? "I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity..." I know what you are thinking; this is probably from some conservative religious leader like Billy Graham. No, it was said by someone who tried to conquer the world in the early 1800s, namely ….. Napoleon Bonaparte. For you teens, that is not Bono’s full name or Napoleon Dynamite’s dad. For you seniors, Bono is the lead singer for U2, which is a music group and not a military U-boat, which for you millennials is ….. never mind, I can see this could go on forever. However, he did have a similar comment on Larry King (that would be Bono, not Mr. Bonaparte).
One night on Larry King’s show, Bono was telling Larry about his commitment to Jesus Christ and how he was trying to live out Christ’s love in the world. This prompted King to ask, “What makes Christianity different from all the other religions of the world? What does Christianity have to offer that the other religions do not?”
Bono paused for a moment, and then said, “All the other religions of the world, in one way or another, teach karma. Only Jesus offers grace. In all the other religions of the world, people end up having to pay a penalty for their sins. Only Jesus Christ, by His grace, makes it possible for people to be delivered from the consequences of the sins they have committed in this life.” (Stories That Feed Your Soul, Tony Campolo, p. 25.)
I long for the days when we were smarter than our phones!
What is “grace”? It has been defined as God’s Righteousness At Christ’s Expense. In other words, it is not something we can achieve or work for on our own through our religiosity! It is a free gift from God, which we can choose to receive or reject (John 1:12).
I do believe Jesus is the unique, divine son of God ..... God incarnate here on this planet, which puts Him in an entirely different category than all the other religious prophets and leaders. However, for just a moment, let's say that He is not divine and is merely one of the many religious founders. Let's say for a moment that He was at an extremely high level of inspiration like Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammed, Buddha, etc. Some people want to make the argument that it is a purely subjective decision as to which is “best” (i.e. just pick the one that makes the most sense to you and fits into your personal view of the meaning of life).
Take colors for instance. Two different people can easily have different colors as their favorite and neither is right or wrong. We can hardly even explain why we like one color over another, but because of our unique personalities and preferences, it is easy to see that different people prefer different colors. This isn’t a matter of right or wrong, but rather subjective preference.
However, if you change from "colors" to "modes of transportation for 400, Alex” it definitely does make a big difference as to which you choose. If you need to be in New York tomorrow and find yourself in San Diego today, the mode of transportation you choose is very important. If your choices are a.) your feet (walking or running) b.) bicycle c.) automobile and d.) airplane, then the only correct answer is d. It is physically impossible to walk from San Diego to New York in one day; in fact, most of us would not make it at all, no matter how long we had. Even if Lance Armstrong was riding the bicycle, he cannot make it in one day. Practically speaking, none of us could make it in the car either, except maybe Jimmy Johnson or David Letterman. If you want to get cross-country in one day, the only correct choice is an airplane.
This is the same type of decision we're faced with if the final destination of our journey is eternal life (Heaven). If we are truly serious about our spiritual journey, we need to seriously weigh the options to determine if we are possibly being deceived & have made the right choice for all eternity. This decision is much too important and significant to merely pass off as a subjective preference like one's favorite color.
I know it is not the politically correct thing these days to compare religions or religious leaders, but this may be a very tricky, deceptive spiritual delusion to keep people from finding the truth. On top of that, I've found that, sadly, as a human race these days we can be quite gullible. So let's look at a couple of these religious leaders and compare them on the merits of what they taught and how they lived.
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) never set out to form a religion and did not claim to have a unique connection to God. People pretty much made up a religion on the teachings of Buddha and Confucius after they had died. Mohammed's claim to fame was conquering a village of people and forcing others to follow God. I receive a monthly magazine published by "Voice of the Martyrs," which details accounts of Christians being tortured and put to death for their faith around the world. Muslims do the vast majority of the torturing. Just today as I had the idea for this article, I cut out two articles from our San Diego newspaper that reported Christians murdered and their places of worship being destroyed. The first article, dated Jan. 10th, 2011, reported that since Dec. 31st, the fourth Christian church in Malaysia was hit by a firebomb thrown by someone of the Islamic faith. The article right below it details a drive-by shooting that left six Christians dead in Cairo, Egypt.
Here in America, many have the mistaken view that we are simply choosing door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3. Most of us, by virtue of being born in the US, choose the door labeled Jesus Christ and call ourselves “Christian” without truly learning and following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus is interested in disciples, not decisions that merely involve punching the Jesus election-voting card (being baptized or joining a church, etc.).
I have written other articles, which you can find at LarryBubb.com in these archives, that detail some of the incredible evidence that Jesus was God incarnate and how He proved it by rising from the dead. However, my point in this article is to encourage you to consider that even if you do not believe He was God come to Earth, His life is worth following and His teachings are worth heeding above all the other religious leaders this planet has witnessed. My advice to you is to seek with all your heart (in Jeremiah 29:13 God says, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart”) because the outcome of your eternal destination might just depend upon it!