don't forget, you can help support www.ginkworld.net with the green stuff - [click here]

this week we answer a question that comes to us from yesenya from utah   - "why does christianity discount other world religions and claim to be the only way?"

wow, yesenya that is a powerful and thought provoking question, and one i know a great many people are asking today.  i know that our claims of "being the only way" seem to be closed minded, narrow and intolerant but they are truly not.  we could defend our selves based on the fact that all religions teach they have found the truth, and christianity is no different.  i see that as "begging the question" and not answering with truth and honesty.

yes, christianity truly does teach "we got it right."  we claim this because of the unique nature of jesus and the teaching he gave directly too us.  for example, buddha never claimed to be a "savior;" he claimed to be a "teacher."  muhammad never claimed divine honors of responsibility.  so, what makes jesus so unique?  i believe we can see his uniqueness in three ways.  

first, because of who he was:  peter, in the book of acts (starting on page 246 in the message), called jesus "the holy one."  he stated that jesus was the one spoken about by the prophets of the hebrew scriptures.  peter called him "the messiah" - our savior; the one who willingly died for us, and all the world.  jesus never claimed that what you did would save you, because no one could ever do what it took to be saved.  no matter how "good" we are, we all fall short of pure goodness.  so, knowing that the law would do nothing for us, jesus willingly died for us - so very cool.

second, because of what he did for us:  none of the others who have received the honors of being named a founder of a religion was willing to die for their followers, none.  in fact, stories of them running from their enemy's abound in stories of there lives.  jesus never ran, in fact he stood his ground and spoke boldly of who God was and how we could connect with God.  he was unconcerned with with earthly power, money or status.  he never benefited from his teachings in a monetary way.  what he did, he did because he loves us.

third, because he lives:  jesus lived for us, died for us and rose for us.  imagine willingly dieing for those you love, but do not know; could you?  would you willingly die if you knew your death would save the world, but required people accept you and follow you?  if not, you would have died for no reason.  then, imagine being raised from the dead - crazy, yea - but oh, so true.  jesus died for you and i, and rose from the dead to prove that death has no power over the teachings of God.

yes, christianity does claim to be the only "true" religion, but if you believed in something so strongly and so powerfully would you not claim it to be truth?  but in our claiming that "jesus is the only way" we must not force others to follow.  God does not desire followers based on force or violence.  while i pray all will see jesus as their savior, i will never force another to follow him.