Though you generally won’t find courses in public educational institutions on “Learning the Bible” or any related topic, you usually can find a course on “Comparing Religions”. The course may be titled “Religious and Moral Instruction” or “World Faiths” or “The Many Roads that Lead to Salvation”. I’m sure you’ve heard of such courses.
Now I don’t doubt that there is a benefit in comparing religions – as long as the comparison is an honest one. There is one point of comparison that is often overlooked in most courses. Unfortunately for the students, it is the most significant point.
It will be found that all religions preach a gospel of love, kindness, respect and peace. They all detail man’s social and moral responsibility and his family obligations. Ethics and social behavior will be found to be very similar in all faiths. And that is usually as far as such courses go in their evaluation of the various religions. I’d like to take it one step further.
The expert that is never consulted in these surveys of world faiths – and everyone knows that an expert has got to be involved – is God. You would think that God might have an opinion on the comparisons made and the conclusions reached. Well, He does have an opinion and He cast His vote thousands of years ago.
If some of the world faiths were to choose one spokesman, the line up might look like the following: Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, Jesus Christ and Confucius. Now that’s a distinguished group if there ever was one! At a first glance when considering the various points of comparison suggested by most courses on world religions one might think they’re basically all the same. After all, they pretty much all preach the same message, don’t they?
Though it is not true that they all preach the same message, that is not the distinguishing factor – or the main element that is never compared. The fact is that only one in our fictitious line-up is still alive. God’s acceptance of one of these men’s lives was that He raised him from the dead – never again to die. The others are all dead.
Acts 17:31
“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead”
God marked out the Lord Jesus Christ’s life by raising him from the dead. He is the only man that has ever been raised from the dead and is still living. God never raised the others. You would think that the leading expert’s opinion ought to count for something when considering the various world religions. God accepted the work of Jesus Christ and has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Jesus Christ is a living savior.
Now that you’ve heard the concluding lecture on the course of “Comparing Religions”, you have to decide if God’s opinion of Jesus Christ’s life is worth something. Many intimate that all these representatives preached different ways to the same God. If that is the case, then why didn’t God raise the others from the dead? Why did He single out the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is left as an exercise for students.