A True Religion

Posted by Worldview Warriors On Friday, May 2, 2014 7 comments

by Charlie Wolcott

I will not forget a time when I was with a missionary group from Colorado going door to door in the sandy streets of a dirt-poor colonia of Juarez, Mexico inviting people to come to a local church for a “Vacation Bible School” event. One lady who answered our call came out with three books: A Bible, a Mormon Bible, and a Catholic Bible. And the lady asked us one question: Which one of these is true?

Let us be honest here. Every religion thinks theirs is the right one. Christians, Muslims, Catholics, Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, and Atheists. Yes, I do include atheism as a religion. Why? They will claim it is lack of belief, but lack of belief is not atheism. Atheism by definition is an affirmative belief in “there is no God”. The truth is, all these beliefs deal with issues that can only be addressed by one’s worldview. In February, I wrote a post about what a worldview is. Please review it. It deals with how you view your origins, your purpose, your identity, and your destination. And each person thinks theirs is the right one. This is something we always see. Every man is their own measure of truth. No one holds to a position they know to be wrong. The Christians truly think they are right. The Muslims truly think they are right. The Mormons truly think they are right. And the yes, the atheists truly think they are right.

So how do we sort all this out? Here are some observations we can make. Every one of these beliefs, every one of these systems is mutually exclusive. They cannot all be right. There big push to unite all religions. How many of you have seen the “Coexist” sign that spells out the word with each letter being a symbol of a different religious system? I’m sure most of us have. Is this concept even possible? Let us come compare a few tenants.

Christians believe that Salvation is achieved by grace alone. Catholics believe you can earn your way into heaven through your deeds, your sacrifices, your prayers, and even through purgatory. Christians believe there is nothing you can do to earn it. Muslims and Christians believe in one “God” and there are many out there that are trying to say that both worship the same God. Is this true? Muslims believe that Allah cannot be known. Allah is a distant god who you cannot know personally. Allah also calls for worldview conversion, but by force. The Christian foundation is on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Abraham was called a Friend of God. And Christians are called to multiply not by force, military or political means, but through relationships, through love, and through mercy. Christians, Catholics, and Muslims all believe in heaven and have standards of sin and of right and wrong. Buddhists do not have a belief in heaven. They believe we all return to a state of nirvana also known as nothing. Hindus believe in a huge multitude of gods. Multiple thousands of gods. And every one of them thinks that only theirs is right.

The list goes on. There is some commonality between some here and there, but ultimately none of them are compatible with another. With each religion, there are foundational differences that simply cannot be combined. And this forces us to conclude one of two things: Only one of these religions is true or none of them are. We here at Worldview Warriors believe in Christianity and this is true. Why do we believe this? What makes Christianity stand out from all the others? How can Christianity have all the answers that should have been lost throughout all time? And how can it be true when so many of its followers have such a hard time demonstrating it? While I can go on and on about a wide variety of things, let me list a few.

Christianity is the only religion that started out in a public setting. Everything Jesus did, he did in public. He had witnesses for everything. Lots of them. If any claim in the Gospels were found to be false, there were thousands of people would could come forth at the time and say “this is how it actually happened”. Christianity is the only religion that does this. With Islam, Muhammad had a private vision that he didn’t write down until long after he had it. No one else saw it, and no one else can confirm he actually had it. With Mormons, Joseph Smith had a private vision. No witnesses. His own family thought he was crazy. All the others had no public setting for how they launched. Yet, Christianity was done in public and if it was possible to refute it, it would have happened 2000 years ago. It would have taken no time for the Romans to produce Jesus’ body after claims of the Resurrection started. That is why they guarded the tomb. So such Resurrection claims could not take place….unless such claims were actually true.

Christianity has historical accuracy beyond what any other religion has. The Mormons have a historical document but no one has ever been able to find anything that can support the claims. The Bible’s historical claims have been confirmed over and over and over again. One historian claims that Genesis 10, the Table of Nations, is the most important historical document is all of history. Why? Because the majority of all of the world’s nations and cultures can be historically traced to one time and one location: the Dispersion from the Tower of Babel. There is more historical accuracy to the Gospels and the Life of Jesus than any other ancient historical figure including Alexander the Great, Hammurabi, or even George Washington. This would need a whole series of posts to do any justice.

Christianity is persecuted more than any other belief. This is not victim mentality. Across the world, no one is targeted more than Christians. But across the world, no other religion grows when persecution takes place. No other religion thrives and is strongest when the opposition is the greatest. When Rome tried to squash it in its early goings, Christianity exploded all across the world. It did not happen when things were rosy. The nation with perhaps the strongest Christian community? Not the US. It is reported to be China right now, where to be identified as a Christian can cost you freedom, or your life.

I can go on and on, but the point I am making here is that Christianity is completely unique in how it came about, how it can be verified, how it is taken by the rest of the world, in ways that no other religion can boast. Even C.S. Lewis describes Christianity as the One True Myth, and that was after years of trying to disprove it. Many have tried to disprove Christianity and none have succeeded. And it leaves us with one ultimate decision to make. “What will you do with Jesus? Will you accept him as the Son of God and as the Messiah to the World? Or will you reject him and continue trying to rule your own life?” The choice is yours.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If atheism is a religion, is theism a religion also? You are making a category mistake by calling either of them religions. Making one positive ascertain about any one aspect of a worldview does not make it a religion. There are theistic religions, and there are atheistic religions, but nether theism or atheism are religions. Thats like saying mamals are bears. You are confused, and confusing anyone who reads this blog.

Charlie said...

Ever heard of the "First Church of Atheism"? Atheism is pushed as a religion, dealt with as a religion, treated as a religion by the US Court system for the record, and it is defended as a religion. Everything about it is religious in nature. Here is just one source of a US court ruling atheism as a religion.
http://www.wnd.com/2005/08/31895/

I am not the one confused here. Every action by atheists in defending their position is no different than Muslims defending their beliefs. And there is becoming little difference in how they they advance their beliefs: by force. Atheism is NOT a mere "lack of belief". If you lack belief, you are NOT an atheist. You are an agnostic. I'm not the one confused. I have my terms right.

Bill said...

Nice article! Altho I think some Catholics may object to the start of the 4th paragraph as it implies they are not Christian.. Perhaps you mean "Lutherans and Protestants... by grace alone."

Charlie said...

Bill, I meant what I said. Salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. Some Catholics may object. Their issue is with Scripture, not me. There are many who call themselves Christians who are anything but in their lifestyle. Being a Catholic makes you as much of a Christian as being a Lutheran or a Protestant does: not at all. Only being born-again makes you a Christian. See my post about "Christian in Name Only" in March 2014's blog listings. And again, that's not my call to make. That is simply what written in Scripture. Jesus said in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must be born again. That is in the same passage as John 3:16 is found in. Can Catholics be born-again? Yes. Does being a Catholic make you be born-again? No. Neither does being in any church body.

Anonymous said...

Charlie,
Just because something is legally recognized as a religion, does not make it a religion. If the law defined pizza as a vegetable, would that make it so? When our legislatures and judges make such pronouncements, all it shows is that they don't know what they're talking about. Also, the "First Church of Atheism", as well as the "Sunday Assembly", are just places that atheists get together, or as a way to mock religion. To make the point that atheism is not a religion, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is in court at this very moment to return the money that was granted them because the law considers them a religion, which they think is false. The only thing all atheists must have in common, by definition, is no belief in God or gods. We have no unifying creeds, doctrines, traditions, or rituals. It isn't even a philosophy, and was never meant to be. It is simply a response to claim "God(s) exist." The sooner you guys start seeking to understand people with differing beliefs and outlooks than your own, instead of projecting your own straw man onto them, the better off you'll be.

Charlie said...

Okay, Anonymous, what would you classify "atheism" as then? A religion is more than just theological belief (or lack thereof). It does not necessarily mean having to gather together for "services". The Bible actually describes pure religion as taking care of widows and children and as keeping oneself pure and blameless. It is action based on belief. For many that includes gathering together on a weekly basis. How you act based on what you believe (such as "there is no God") is your religion. The religion is named off the belief. So when the belief is "There is no God", we have a religion.

JC said...

Charlie,

Thanks for the post. Christianity is true, and coexistence is a myth - Christ is the only way. But your post contains are very common error. You wrote:

"Catholics believe you can earn your way into heaven through your deeds, your sacrifices, your prayers, and even through purgatory."

This is false. The Catholic Church has never taught such a doctrine and, in fact, has constantly condemned the notion that men can earn or merit salvation. Catholic salvation theology is rooted in apostolic Tradition and Scripture and says that it is only by God's grace--completely unmerited by works--that one is saved. The concept or doctrine of "works righteousness" is Pelagianism and was condemned at the Council of Carthage in 418 AD.

I like to use a simple example to demonstrate how silly it is to think that one could earn or work their way into Heaven. Performing works for God solely to gain entrance into God's family is like me trying to work my way into your family by mowing your lawn, re-roofing your house, washing your car and so on. You might like that I do those things for you, but that wouldn't get me adopted into your family. Family bonds come through relationship, in our flesh, by blood; in our spirit, by baptism.

Unfortunately, so many Catholics are uninformed on this point that this error is rarely corrected.