Questions of Faith: What We Believe & Why? Question Three… Is Christianity the only True Religion, all others False?

First let’s clear up a misunderstanding.  This happens a lot between Christianity and people of other religions.  When Christians claim that Jesus is “the Way,” the presumption is that all other religions are 100% false and Christianity is 100% true.  This is a mistake.

All religions have truth in them.  For example, just about every religion teaches very similar practices when it comes to right living and good moral behavior, such as being honest, having courage, being faithful and loyal, or to learn patience and develop self-discipline, things like that.  All religions also teach that people should regularly practice a form of Spiritual Discipline, things like praying, fasting and meditating.  So, in this sense Christianity is no different than most other religions.

In fact, this would be true on the negative side as well.  That is, all religions, including Christianity, can become stale, legalistic, and rigid with regard to their relics and their traditional practices, and become out of step and out of touch with the issues and challenges of a modern contemporary society.  So, not only do all religions have truth, all religions can also cause a great deal of misunderstanding and confusion among its followers.  This is also true with Christianity.

So, what IS unique about Christianity?  The uniqueness of Christianity is in the Person of Jesus. The person of Jesus is the dividing point between Christianity and all other religions.  Jesus is unique in the history of humanity—who He is, what he did, and… more.  Jesus is received and experienced as unique among all human beings.  Jesus stands out as a one-of-a-kind figure in human history.  There is no other like Him, ever.  He was born special.  He lived uniquely.  He died.  But most significantly and extraordinarily important of all, eye-witnesses claim that He Is Risen!   He did not stay dead, as all other humans who have ever lived on the face of this earth have.

So, it is not the religion of Christianity as such that is special or unique.  It is the Person, Jesus who is special and unique.  Christians believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures, the unique and specially Holy Anointed One of God.  Jesus the Christ is what is uniquely special about Christianity: Jesus, the Living Resurrected Lord, and as such, the unique bridge between humanity and God.