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Christianity: The Unique Religion
See these excellent "apologetics" books for laypersons...ordinary people...defending the truth of who Jesus the Christ is, HERE. Quoting George Will's op ed newspaper column of 24
Dec. 1998, "Truth survives Christmas in America", "A sardonic British skeptic of the late
19th century suggested that three words should be carved in stone over all church doors:
'Important if true.' " Did you know that the Bible never records Jesus telling a
sinner that, "You are going to hell!"? It is said that "religion" reflects man's
attempt to link up to God, while Jesus (and the derived Christianity...preceded by Judaism)
is God's divine revelational effort to link up with man (other religions are not based on
actual divine revelation). "Jesus" means "Jehovah's deliverer". For those needing apologetics convincing, the study is a setting for the invitation to the club of "the sinners for whom Christ died": the FULLY SAVED!
Here are unique features of
the key figure and the religion:
Key Figure, Jesus of
Nazareth:
- incarnation: the only religion claiming that God became a
man, Jesus. Jesus came as a king to establish a kingdom in peoples' hearts...His message asks
for a person's heart.
- savior: the only key figure claiming to be divine, to
have all authority, & a savior...He both paid the sin debt for all humans
and brings The Way to salvation & a true, moral life...& the only
person ever recognized by a significant segment of mankind as a savior!
- sin: the only key figure claiming to be sinless, able to
help a follower turn from sin, & authorized by God to forgive sin.
- he
lives: the only key figure who left no bones because he was resurrected &
lives...His resurrection validating His claim to being God as man
- grace-based: the only key figure who did for you what you
didn't deserve & couldn't do for yourself (atone for your sin before God).
- judgment: the only key figure who, in the place of God the
Father, renders a final & eternal judgment of each human.
- bones: the only key figure whose followers have uniformly claimed Him to have been resurrected; in spite of being the object of intense scrutiny from adulthood until the present day, His bones have never been found!
- legacy: the only key figure evr in the world's history with impact affecting billions over a span of 2000+ years who had (1) no positive political backing (in fact, He was uniformly opposed by the "powers that be") and (2) no large financial backing (in fact, for the initial over 300 years, there was no financial backing at all)!
The
Religion:
- incarnation: has the only key figure of any religion
claiming to be both God and a man
- savior: the only religion claiming a savior as The Way to
both a saved, true moral life on earth & eternal salvation
- sin: the only religion claiming a sinless key
figure
- he
lives: the only religion claiming a resurrected, living key figure (savior). The
resurrection of
Jesus from the dead is the event that dramatically sets Christianity apart from all other
religions...Christianity being actually more about a living relationship (you &
Jesus) than about being a "religion".
- grace-based: the only religion about what God did for you
through Jesus rather than what you must do for God.
- judgment: Jesus is the Son of Man & can relate to each
one that He is judging; and, as the Son of God, He can relate to God's concept of justice.
Jesus is the perfect mediator.
Warning!! John 18: 37, "Everyone on the side of truth
listens to me [Jesus]." 1 John 4:2-3, "Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is
the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."
Beware of those who speak of the "Cosmic Christ" or those speaking for such as the "Jesus
Seminar"...they are not talking about Jesus of Nazareth, God as the Son of
God!
[***Go much deeper here: take a quick
peek***]
(posted 7 September 2002; last updated 4 September 2016)
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