Why Christianity?

I Thought All Religions Were The Same:

The inference here is that we all worship the same God. The Christian faith is unique in that Jesus Christ claims to be the only way to God. Through historical records about Christ it can be demonstrated that Jesus Christ made exclusive claims to being the only way to God. Simply put; either Christ was the Son of God or He wasn't? He is who He claimed to be, or He isn't! 

Now as Christians we can be accused of being bigoted or presumptuous, but it is essential to remind ourselves that we are dealing with objective truth that has come to us from God Himself through the person of His son Jesus Christ. The most important thing in life is truth. A person's faith is only as valid as the object they put their faith in! The whole basis of a Christians belief is that God, in the person of Jesus Christ, entered world history in the form of a man. Fully God, yet for a brief time, fully man. The explanation as to why God chose to do this is explained in the next chapter 'New Birth'. Furthermore an absolutely integral foundation to a Christians faith is that; 'Christ was crucified, dead and buried and on the third day rose from the dead and now lives eternal'. Without the resurrection of Christ our faith is in vain. The apostle Paul affirmed this truth when he wrote 'And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins'! (1 Corinthians 15:15). See also (John 1: 14-17, 4:23, 8:31-32, 14:6, & Acts 4:12).

Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?

This is one of the greatest attested fact of history. The historical evidence is overwhelming in relationship to Christ’s resurrection. This is the event that sets Jesus apart as the Lord He claimed to be. It is what sets Jesus apart from the 1000's of Jews who were crucified in the times of the Romans (Mark l6:14-16, l peter 3:18, Luke 9:22, & Romans 1:4.). What genuine valid historical evidence is available that disproves Christ rising from the dead?

What happened to the body of Jesus?

There are five possible explanations for Jesus' empty tomb:

◊The disciples stole the body of Jesus and made up the story of the Resurrection.

●The tomb was guarded to prevent just such an occurrence (Matt. 27:62-66).

◊The Jewish or Roman officials secretly moved the body immediately after burial to  prevent its theft.

●The officials would have produced the body and ended the rumour.

◊The women went to the wrong tomb on Sunday morning and thought the empty tomb meant Jesus had risen from the dead.

●Someone who opposed the disciples would have corrected the mistake.

◊Jesus had not been dead when buried and left the tomb after reviving.

●Jesus had been stabbed in the side with a spear, this produced a flow of blood and water (John 19:34). It was not until late in the sixteenth century that doctors understood that a mixture of blood and water was a clear sign of death, yet John chose to record this fact, without realizing it’s implication. Jesus was pronounced dead by experienced executioners. He had been bound in many yards of linen cloth, saturated with 100 pounds of burial spices (John 39-40)His tomb was closed with a stone the women could not move (Mark 16:3) and guarded by soldiers who would have noticed a half-dead man making a getaway (Matt. 27:65).

The Best Explanation:

◊Jesus rose from the dead. 

●The apostle Paul wrote that more than five hundred witnesses saw Jesus in one of His post resurrection appearances and that most of them were still alive if his readers wanted to ask them (1 Cor 15:6). The best explanation is, He is risen. 

All the apostles were insulted by the enemies of Jesus Christ. They were called to seal their faith with their own blood. Is it conceivable that the disciples of Jesus, these same men who had scattered in all direction when Jesus was arrested, would be prepared to sacrifice everything for Christ if He had not reappeared to them after His death on the cross? Stephen was stoned to death, whilst at the same time asking Christ to pardon those who killed him (Acts 7:59). 

According to traditional statements, the fate of the apostles was as follows: 

Matthew suffered martyrdom by being slain with a sword in a distant city in Ethiopia. 

Mark expired at Alexandria, after being cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.

Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in Greece. 

John was put in a caldron of boiling oil, but escaped death in a miraculous manner, and was afterward branded at Patmos. 

Peter was forced to watch his wife being crucified, he constantly cried out to her “remember Jesus”.  Following her death he was then crucified himself, with his head downward.

James, the Greater, was beheaded in Jerusalem. 

James, the Lesser, was thrown from a lofty pinnacle of the temple, then beaten to death with a fuller's club.

Bartholomew was flayed alive then hung on a cross, where wild birds pecked at his flesh as he died. 

Andrew was bound to a cross, where he preached to his persecutors until he died. 

Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel in the East Indies.

Jude was shot to death with arrows.

Matthias was first stoned, then beheaded.

Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica.

Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Heiropolis in Phrygia.

Paul after various tortures and persecutions, was finally beheaded in Rome by the Emperor Nero.

The disciples preached Jesus and His resurrection so fervently that they paid the ultimate price of being killed for their faith. It is hard to comprehend that they would have been prepared to pay such a  price if they had not seen the resurrected Christ with their own eyes.

The penalties early Christians had to suffer were terrible beyond description. All the world knows of the Christians who were thrown to the lions or burned at the stake, but these were kindly deaths. Nero wrapped the Christians in pitch, set them alight and used them as living torches to light his gardens. He sewed them in the skins of wild animals and set his hunting dogs upon them to tear them to death. They were tortured on the rack; they were scraped with pincers; molten lead was poured hissing upon them; red hot brass plates were affixed to the most tender parts of their bodies; parts of their bodies were cut off and roasted before their eyes; their hands and feet were burned while cold water was poured over them to intensify the agony; eyes were torn out. These things are not pleasant to think about, but these are the very things that established and united the early church. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)

The consummate proof of the resurrection to me and to millions of other Christians around the world is that; despite our gender, our background, our education, our age, our race or our colour we have a personal relationship with the lord Jesus Christ. A relationship that means we speak to Him and He speaks to us every single day.

Minor Similarities: 

Many people would assert that the religions of the world are exactly like blind men groping after the truth about an elephant they cannot see, each one touching a different part of the whole. Such a viewpoint claims every religion grasps a different aspect of God's character and expectations of people. Accordingly, so it goes, adherents of all of the world faiths should admit their limitations and acknowledge that the other religions are also ways to approach the same God, understood in different ways. Very few followers of any of the religions of the world agree with this view. Even though Makrishna said, "Many faiths are but different paths leading to one reality, God;” Hindus don't go around rearing their children as Christians or Muslims. They still regard Hinduism as superior. 

Please consider this: Adherents of Judaism observe the Law of Moses and pursue an ethical life. Muslims perform the duties of the Five Pillars of Islam: recite the Islamic creed, pray five times daily, fast, give alms and make a pilgrimage to Mecca.  Hindus submit to karma, as they learn through a succession of reincarnations, to live ethically and submerge self in the divine. Buddhists seek to extinguish desire and achieve the nothingness of Nirvana as the conclusion of countless reincarnated lives. The Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path show the way to Nirvana!

The Major Difference:

Four great world religions are alike in that they point out spiritual paths along which men and women try to reach God by earning His acceptance. One world religion ‘Christianity’ is distinct because it teaches that people cannot reach God by their own efforts. Instead, God entered human history in the person of Jesus Christ and provided the sacrifice that makes salvation available as a no strings attached gift. Character formation follows salvation as its result, rather than preceding salvation as its cause. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9).

The most significant difference between Jesus and all other gods is that Jesus is alive.  We do not pay homage to a tomb or to a craven image but to a God who entered human history in human form. A God who died that we may live and who had the power to resurrect Himself, not for a brief period of time, but for eternity.

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