here are the reasons for why Christianity stands out as the only true explanation for the worship of a particular GOD Why is Christianity the only true world Religion?
Many people who claim to be Christians believe that any religion one professes is all right. But if Christianity is not superior to other religions, then as Professor D.S. Sama has noted, "it just may as well join hands on equal terms as their friend and ally in a common cause".
The majority of the world's religions are more of a philosophy of life than a religion, and those that are religious usually incorporate many gods. In the Hindu religion, as an example, one can essentially do as he wishes; follow any ritual or custom he chooses, and still be a Hindu. They accept the principle that all religions are true and lead to the same goal. Then there is Buddhism. Gautama Buddha was married and had a child. At age 30, he abandoned his home and family never to return. This he supposedly did in answer to an inner craving that was not satisfied. He sought for inner peace through a life of abstinence and asceticism.
According to tradition, Buddha received enlightenment while sitting under a "bo tree" meditating. There is no way of knowing what part of Buddhist teachings came from Buddha himself since no record of his teaching seems to have been committed to writing for over 200 years. Then too, Buddhism in its original form was not a religion at all. It was more a system of psychological ethics. Buddha felt no particular need for a god. To him, worship was useless and prayer empty.
Confucius claimed to be an agnostic concerning the next life and the world of the gods. His mind was immersed in the affairs of this life. To him, human nature was naturally good. He did not object to ancestor worship. His primary interest was in society and the state.
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was married and had twelve or thirteen wives, not counting slave girls in his harem. He did teach the concept of "one God". He was active in civil, political, and military affairs. He led armies that in time captured the territory of Arabia. The teachings of Muhammad were soon recorded in what is known as the Koran. Of course, like Confucius, Buddha and others, Muhammad went to his grave and remains there.
When one turns to Christianity with Judaism as its forerunner, many things stand out by way of comparison. The first is a strict monotheism. Jehovah God is the Creator and the sustainer of the universe, of life and of all things. This is in striking contrast to a gross polytheism found in the majority of religions, Islam being an exception. Only in the Judaeo-Christian religion does one find a logical, sensible, and reasonable explanation of the creation. The accounts of creation found in other that the Genesis record are written on a low mythological plane with a sordid conception of deity. At times the gods plot and fight against one another.
Only in Christianity do we find a prophetic message heralding one who is to be sent out from God as man's deliverer and Savior; the only begotten Son, designated God with us and known as prophet, priest, king, wonderful, counsel-or, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace. (Read Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:21-23; Hebrews 3:1). This prophetic story has its setting in Jewish history centuries before the birth of Christ. Moses told how God would raise up a prophet to whom the people should listen. Deuteronomy 18:15. Micah said he would be born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2. The entire 53rd Chapter of Isaiah describes him as God's suffering servant, sent out from the Lord to redeem mankind from sins. Joseph was told, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21. This puts Christianity into a category all to itself.
When Jesus was born, numerous forces and factors converged on this event to confirm the message of the prophets. Ma ry, his mother, was reminded by an angel that her conception was divinely authorized. Read Luke 1:26-35. Joseph, who was engaged to Mary, was informed by the angel that her conception was of the Holy Spirit - Matthew 1:20. The angels announced his birth to the shepherds Luke 2:5-11. John the baptizer was commissioned to prepare the way for Jesus. Read John 1:23-34.
Jesus immediately affirmed His divine nature. He said He had come down from heaven to do the Father's will - John 6:38-39. He claimed to be "the living bread", John 6:51; "the light of the world", John 8:12; "the Good Shepherd", John 10:14; "the resurrection and the life", John 11:25. He supported His claim by miraculous works, even to raising the dead. Read John 11. The climax came when He was placed in the tomb and came forth on the third day. (This record is found in Matthew 27 and 28; Mark 15 and 16, and Luke 23 and 24).
For a period of 40 days after His resurrection, He appeared to His apostles instructing them about His coming Kingdom. Read Acts 1:1-5. At the end of this period, He ascended into heaven. Acts 1:9 reads, "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." Verses ten and eleven inform us that two men in white clothing stood beside them and said: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven." Here, briefly stated, is why we choose Christianity. It is validated by a risen Lord.
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here is something by a apologist on why he feels the way he does, Maybe it will answer some questions some have:
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Why Christianity rather than Judaism or Islam?
#421
May 10, 2015
Why Christianity rather than Judaism or Islam?
Hello Dr. Craig,
I have always wondered about your claim that Christianity is the only true religion (based on historical evidence as you say). But how can you be so sure when Islamic and Jewish scholars claim the same claim?
As a former atheist and now an agnostic, the question of which religion to choose is essential. I'm very well acquainted with Islamic Theology and unlike your claim. Islam affirms that Christians, Jews and Muslims worship the same god ("Allah" is not a special god for Muslims rather it's the term for god in Arabic).
So what is your position on Islam? (And I would really like to know from who do you get your information on Islamic theology).
I also would to invest some time in Christian theology, would kindly recommend some introductory books?
Thank you,
Sultan
United States
The short answer to your question of why Christianity rather than Islam or Judaism, Sultan, is Jesus of Nazareth. While Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the world’s three great monotheistic faiths, genetically related and so having much in common, what divides them is their account of Jesus. I think that neither Judaism nor Islam gives a satisfactory historical account of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth.
My interest in Islamic thought was sparked by my study of the history of the so-called kalam cosmological argument, especially its development by medieval Muslim theologians like al-Ghazali. In fact, it was due to their contribution to the development of the argument that I dubbed this version of the argument, which goes back to the pre-Islamic Christian era, the kalam cosmological argument (“kalam” being, as perhaps you know, the Arabic term for Islamic doctrine). You can read about their contribution to this and other forms of the cosmological argument in my The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz (London: Macmillan, 1980).
My interest in Islam thus awakened, I chose Islam as one of my two side areas of specialization on which I was examined for my doctorate in theology at the University of Munich. Both the teachings of the Qur’an and the dogmatic history of Islamic theology became subjects of fascination for me. I never dreamt at that time that some day I would have the privilege of debating Muslim apologists in the U.S., Canada, and South Africa and lecturing on Islam and Christianity, not only in North America and Europe, but even at Muslim universities in Turkey and Tunisia.
While you’re certainly correct that “Allah” is just the Arabic word for God, being used even in the Arabic New Testament, it doesn’t follow, Sultan, from common vocabulary or words that Muslims and Christians have the same concept of God. No Muslim would concede that God is a Trinity of persons, as Christians believe, and, as you must know, the Qur’an condemns to hell those who claim that Jesus is God’s Son, as we Christians believe (V.70).[1] Similarly, I have argued that the character of the God of the New Testament is fundamentally different from the character of the God of the Qur’an. The God of the New Testament loves unbelievers with a love that is unconditional and universal (Matthew 5.43-48), whereas the God of the Qur’an has no love for unbelievers but loves only those who are faithful Muslims (III.25; XIX. 95).
But the real Achilles Heel of Islam is its portrait of the historical Jesus. It is ironic that the Qur’an chooses to deny the best established fact about Jesus, namely, his crucifixion (IV.157). Not only is there not a single shred of evidence in favor of this remarkable hypothesis, but the evidence supporting Jesus’ crucifixion is, as Emory University New Testament scholar L. T. Johnson puts it, “overwhelming” (The Real Jesus [San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996], p. 125). Paula Frederickson, whose book From Jesus to Christ inspired the PBS special by the same name, declares, “The crucifixion is the strongest single fact we have about Jesus” (Society of Biblical Literature meeting, November 22, 1999). The crucifixion of Jesus is recognized even by the sceptical critics in the Jesus Seminar as--to quote Robert Funk--”one indisputable fact” (Jesus Seminar video).
When we think that the Qur’an was written by a man living in Arabia 600 years after Jesus with no independent source of information about him, it really isn’t so surprising that his view of Jesus was distorted. Whatever else one might say about Islam, its view of Jesus is erroneous, and so this religion cannot be true. There is good material on this site about Islam and Christianity; for example, www.reasonablefaith.org/who-is-the-real-jesus-the-jesus-of-the-bible-or-..., www.reasonablefaith.org/media/craig-vs-ally-canada, www.reasonablefaith.org/media/craig-vs-badawi-university-of-illinois
As for Judaism, again I should say that the decisive consideration is Jesus’ claims to be the Jewish Messiah and his subsequent resurrection from the dead. Jewish scholars are coming to recognize the historical facts undergirding Jesus’ resurrection and are hard-pressed to explain those facts apart from the resurrection. Indeed, one of their number, the late Pinchas Lapide, whom I heard lecture at the University of Munich, declared himself convinced that the God of Israel raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. He also thought that Jesus believed himself to be the Messiah. As Prof. Dr. Wolfhart Pannenberg, my Doktorvater, mused at the time, Lapide seemed strangely unable to connect the dots. If you’re interested in how a Jewish scholar responds to the evidence, take a look at my debate with Peter Zaas, Who Was Jesus?,ed. Craig Evans and Paul Copan [Louisville, Kent.: Westminster-John Knox Press, 2002]).
You ask, “How can you be so sure when Islamic and Jewish scholars claim the same claim?” Well, because they can’t explain the evidence concerning Jesus as well as Christianity. I’d invite you just to look at the resources I mentioned and judge for yourself. For more on Christian theology, I suppose I’d recommend Bruce Milne’s Know the Truth, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove, Il.: Inter-Varsity, 2009) or my own lectures on Christian doctrine at www.reasonablefaith.org/defenders-2-podcast .
Notes
[1] Qur’anic verses numbered according to the Arberry translation.
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William Lane Craig is a well known bullshit artist.
Nyarlaathotep Which of his arguments do you find inaccuracies about? I`m just trying to play the devils advocate here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
s̶c̶i̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶r̶, s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶g̶n̶o̶s̶t̶i̶c̶, s̶k̶e̶p̶t̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶c̶h̶r̶i̶s̶t̶i̶a̶n̶, a̶g̶n̶o̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶e̶n̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶e̶n̶e̶r̶, n̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶s̶t̶, whatever name you are using today:
Five days ago you were telling us that god exists. A day ago you were telling us that god doesn't exist. I see you have flipped yet again. What is this the 5th or 6th flip you have made in the last year or so? Each time changing your name, each time refusing to acknowledge that you have flipped. WTF is going on with you?
Anyway, if you want to know what is wrong with Craig's stuff, I could write a complicated post trying to explain it; but why not read what you wrote about him instead?
If you are still agnostic, and simply just playing "devils advocate" here, you need to work to make that clearer in your long post.
Craig tells people the world is 10k years old or less. He thinks climate change is a hoax, and he creates tourist attractions for people that buy into all that. Every christian should be ashamed to have someone like Craig advocating for their belief system.
The sun god and creator Ra has tenure over your Jesus. In fact, many gods were spoken of before the written word was created and they would have to have seniority over your Jehovah. Jesus is just a Johnny-come-lately, Ra is the true creator. Of course, He gets His orders from Mafdet, though.
These Gods that you just cited aren`t in the class of the worlds major religions here. What are there followers and who are there followers? what is there numbers, like we know that there are about 2.3 billion followers of Christianity but how about the ones you cited. Did they come down to planet earth and become a man like jesus was born into? did they minister to people did they die and supposedly was raised to new life? You give me no characteristics of your supposed Gods.Please be more clear here.
How should I know? I don't read Egyptian hieroglyphics. Do you read Aramaic?
Why would your god watch the Egyptians worship a false idol and never reveal himself as the true god? Just because he needed people to punish for not believing in him?
Why didn't your god just wait until we all had camera phones before coming to Earth?
Ok, So which christian subgroup is right.
Thanks for enlightening me, clearly hou are more well versed on this topic than I. I do have some questions though.
With over 43,000 different sects of Christianity, is all of them good, or is there one specifically that it the true Christianity?
Here's a list of just a few.
AME Church (African Methodist Episcopal Church)
Anglican Denomination
Amish Religion
Assemblies of God
Assyrian Church of the East
Born Again Movement
Brethren Churches
Calvary Chapel Movement
Christadelphian Denomination
Christian Doctrines
Christian Reformed Church
Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist)
Congregational Church
Coptic Orthodox Church
Disciples of Christ
Emerging Church Movement
Essenes
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Evengelical Lutheran Church in America
Foursquare Gospel
International Circle of Faith
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jesus People USA
Mennonite Church
Messianic Jewish Movement
Methodist Church Nigeria
Moravian Church
Nazarene Church
National Baptist Convention of America
New Apostolic Church
Presbyterian Church
Primitive Baptist Church
Quakers Denomination
Roman Catholicism
Salvation Army
Seventh-day Adventists
Unitarian Universalism
United Church of Christ
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Pentecostal Church
Unity School of Christianity
Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
Vineyard Movement
Wesleyan Church
Willow Creek Church
Word of Faith Movement
If only one is correct than why are there so many? Was god not clear in his communication.
And if he wasn't clear in his communication, how can you be certain that a particular sect, or even the entire religion is correct?
William Lane Craig!! Pmsl
That's up there with asking for parental advice from josef fritzl.
simple agnostic
Can you prove that your god is real? Can you prove testable evidence, that will pass peer review?
Oh for crying out loud! Simply Agnostic or whatever the hell he is calling himself today (did he take his meds?), has rediscovered the ultimate propaganda bullshit artist Craig!
Christianity is in no way superior to any religion. The idea of monotheism isn't even christian originally. The flood story, the resurrection myth, all the fucking miracles, are from other religions. The OP has NO merit or credibility.
Oh for crying out loud. This exercise in comparing religions is being based on quotes and verses from religious documents that have no bases in truth or validity. There is no, no empirical evidence that any religious document, letter or book is based on facts. All of these religious articles were written well after what is describe in them, hundreds of years later. All consisting of folklore stories handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth until some ambitious religious psychopath wanted, needed a means to control their group. All religions are based on stories designed to explain the unexplainable of the time. With knowledge comes understanding and we leave behind our superstitious beliefs. Or I should say some of us do.
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I let theists argue about which of their belief systems and their gods are correct. My favorite gods are of course Aquaman (breathes underwater) and Wonder Woman (the outfit)
Just playing here the devils advocate, I never said that Christianity claimed to be monotheism, Judaism I believe was the first, So Christianity comes out of Judaism.As for the great flood that was from the Torah not part of the new testament. Concerning the resurrection story that is unique. There is no simple explanation for how the body of jesus disappeared. The jews said that the body was stolen, but even this shows an empty tomb.How did Saul of tarsus if he didn`t have an conversion experience on the road to Damascus change his name to Paul and then go on to plant churches in Asia minor and Europe.The whole Christian message would never have originated if something likes these developments didn`t happen.
So christianity is not monotheistic? You don't believe in or follow the old testament? Maybe Saul changed his name to Paul to escape the law.
You misunderstand I was stating that Judaism was the offspring and originator of monotheism, and what followed was Christianity with the teaching of the trinity. Also I Accept the old testament that`s why we call ourselves Judean Christians. I accept all 66 books.They reveal God in one way or the other.
So you think your imaginary friend is the best one?
Cool, I hope you have an adequate supply of tin foil.
Judaism is nowhere near the first monotheist religion. Ra is the first known but that is not to say it was even the first. Only the first documented. There were many monotheists religions before judaism, maybe thousands.