FORGIVENESS: 2 An Introduction to the World’s Biggest Religion

Chapter 1.2

An Introduction to the World’s Biggest Religion

John 14:6

Week 1

► After reading this chapter, answer the following questions:

1. What did Jesus claim was unique about Him? What do you think?
2. What do Christians claim is unique about the Bible? What do you think?
3. Why do Christians claim their love proves they know God? What do you think?
4. What was especially meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

In his extensive study, What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?: The Positive Impact of Christianity in History, Dr. D. James Kennedy writes:

The morality of any society can be easily judged by the view it holds of human life. In 1844, H. L. Hastings visited the Fiji Islands. He found there that life was very cheap and that it was held in low esteem. You could buy a human being for $7.00 or one musket! That was cheaper than a cow. After having bought him you could work him, whip him, starve him, or eat him, according to your preference-and many did the latter.

He returned a number of years later and found that the value of human life had risen tremendously. One could not buy a human being for $7.00 to beat or eat. In fact, you could not buy one for seven million dollars. Why? Because across the Fiji Islands there were 1,200 Christian chapels where the Gospel of Christ had been proclaimed, and people had been taught that we are not our own; that we have been purchased with a price, not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. ^[1]

Christians believe that the demonstration of such life-changing power through belief in Jesus Christ is evidence that Jesus was telling the truth when He said:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

This is one of the most remarkable statements Jesus Christ ever made. No other leader of a major world religion has ever said anything like it. It is one of many things that are unique about Christianity and its founder Jesus Christ. This chapter’s main point is:

Christianity has a unique founder, beliefs, book, and love.

A) The unique person of Jesus Christ

A follower of Jesus asked Him how he could go to the Eternal Paradise of Heaven to be with God. Jesus said He was the only “way” to Heaven, that His teaching was the only “truth” about Heaven, and that He was the only one who could give someone eternal “life” (cf. John 14:5-6).

The Christian Bible says, “There is salvation [from the punishment of God] in no one else [but Jesus]! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And, “There is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus and His followers claimed He was the only way to Heaven.

Jesus made many unique claims like this. Therefore, if you take Him at His word, and consider His deeds, you cannot put Him in the same class as other leaders of major religions. For example, none of the leaders of major religions ever claimed to be God. But Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen [God] the Father” (John 14:9-10).

Buddha said, “I am only a teacher in search of the truth.” But over 100 times Jesus is recorded in the Bible beginning His statements with, “I tell you the truth” (cf. John 14:6).

Confucius said, “I never claimed to be holy.” But Jesus challenged even His enemies, “Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?” (John 8:46). And none could.

Mohammed knew he was a sinner and said, “Unless God throws his cloak of mercy over me, I have no hope.” But Jesus said He had, “the authority on Earth to forgive sins” (Matt 9:6).

None of these religious leaders were known for miracle working. But Jesus did amazing miracles everywhere He went. Jesus said:

“Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father” (John 10:37-38)

And Christians believe that the unique miracle-working abilities of Jesus Christ is evidence that He alone came from God and spoke for Him.

Of course the greatest and most unique miracle about Jesus was His resurrection. Every other religious leader in the world has died and is still dead. But Jesus said, “After three days I will rise from the dead” (Matt 27:63), and He did!

To a group of religious leaders Jesus said:

“You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. . . . Unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins. . . . I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!” (John 8:23, 51).

Statements like this led the Oxford Professor C. S. Lewis to remark:

I want to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing they often say about Jesus: ‘I am ready to accept Him as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Now it seems obvious to me that He was neither a lunatic nor a devil. Consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. ^[2]

Likewise, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte wrote:

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no comparison. Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but on what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. ^[3]

Mahatma Gandhi described Jesus as, “A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.” ^[4]

With such a unique and powerful founder, it is not surprising that Christianity is the largest religion in the world with over 2 billion claiming to be followers. ^[5] K. S. Latourette, Professor of History at Yale University wrote: “As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.” ^[6] We even divide human history by the birth of Christ (B. C. “before Christ” and A. D., Latin for anno Domini, “the year of our Lord”).

Therefore, it would seem worthwhile to understand what is unique about Christianity, and what it says about obtaining eternal life and reaching a perfect paradise called Heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Christianity has a unique founder, beliefs, book, and love.

B) The unique beliefs & book of Christianity

Jesus Christ and His followers teach the following 10 things that are unique to Christianity:

1. The Christian Bible is the only sure source of God’s word to humans (cf. 2 Tim 3:16).
2. God is three perfectly united Persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (cf. John 1:1-3, 18; 2 Cor 3:17-18; Matt 28:19).
3. God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to Earth by being born as a man through a virgin woman by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Matt 1:20-23).
4. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, sacrificed His life to pay for the sins of others, and rose from the dead to prove it (cf. John 8:46; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Cor 15:3-8).
5. People cannot pay the penalty of their sins by doing good deeds (cf. Rom 3:20; Eph 2:8-9).
6. Trusting in Christ’s death to pay for your sins is the only way to be forgiven by God (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5).
7. Christians are given eternal forgiveness and life that can never be taken from them, and they can be absolutely certain they possess these things and will go to eternal Paradise (cf. John 6:37-40; 1 John 5:13).
8. Followers of Christ are permanently indwelled with the Holy Spirit, recreating them spiritually, resulting in a new desire and supernatural ability to obey God and love people (cf. John 3:5-6; Eph 1:13-14; 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 4:22-24; Gal 5:22-23).
9. There is an evil being called the Devil who, with his demons, invisibly deceives and rules the anti-Christian people of the world (cf. John 8:43-45; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 6:12; 1 John 3:8-10; 5:19).
10. Jesus Christ will come again, defeat all His enemies, and establish His righteous reign in a perfect Paradise on a New Earth forever (cf. Matt 24:29-31; 2 Thess 1:6-10; 1 Cor 15:20-28; Rev 21:1-5).

Some of these beliefs reveal another uniqueness of Christianity. It is a loving relationship with God based on grace and acceptance, not a harsh religion based on fear and performance. Your forgiveness and acceptance from God are based on that relationship, not on following rules.

What are the beliefs of Christians based on? The Christian Bible of which the Apostle ^[7] Paul wrote: “is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16). The Bible is by far the most printed book in the world with 3 billion copies. ^[8] It is also by far the most translated book, being read in over 2000 languages. This is because the Bible has transformed more lives than any other book on Earth.

Why should you believe the Christian Bible contains words from God? First, the history of the events recorded in it have been confirmed by historians and archeologists. ^[9] The people described in the Bible were real people, including Jesus Christ. Albert Einstein said, “No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” ^[10]

Secondly, nothing in science has disproved the Bible. In fact, the more you discover about Creation’s intricate design, the more evidence you have that God created the world just like the Bible teaches. ^[11]

Thirdly, scholars have concluded that there are 737 predicted events in Scripture. Scholars have also demonstrated that over 600 of the Bible’s predictions have already come true exactly when and how they were supposed to. No other book or writings of the major religions contain fulfilled prophecies like the Christian Scriptures. ^[12] This is because only the Bible was inspired by God who alone can predict the future.

Over 100 of the fulfilled predictions in the Bible were perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ. For example, around 700 B.C. the Prophet Isaiah wrote: “The Lord Himself will give you the [miraculous] sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (Isa 7:14). About 700 years later Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, claiming and uniquely proving He was God in a human body. ^[13]

All of this is proof that the remaining 130 some prophecies in the Bible will also come true. These primarily refer to the Second Coming of Christ to gather and bless His followers and judge the rest of the world.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Christianity has a unique founder, beliefs, book, and love.

C) The unique love of Christianity

The religion that has the most love is the most likely to be from God. Christians have proven to be among the most loving people in the world. Christians have started, served, and funded more hospitals, schools, orphanages, and relief agencies for natural disasters, famine, women’s rights, slavery, and poverty in the world than all other religions combined.

In the historical study quoted above, Dr. D. James Kennedy repeatedly documents his claim: “Despite its humble origins, the [Christian] Church has made more changes on earth for the good than any other movement or force [or religion] in history.” ^[14] For example, it was Christians like John Newton and William Wilberforce in England and Abraham Lincoln in America that ended slavery in their countries and Christians are the most aggressive at working to end slavery around the world today.

History confirms that other religions often produce stagnant societies and even violent ones. But Christian nations are by far the most peaceful and prosperous. The example of Christianity’s impact on the Fiji Islands was described at the beginning of this chapter. No other religion in the world can claim even one such example. Not Buddhism, Hinduism, Humanism, Islam, Marxism, or New Age. And the history of Christianity can boast of a multitude more of testimonies of transformed lives.

Jesus foretold to His followers: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples [followers]” (John 13:35). Perhaps you have experienced the unique love and kindness of a Christian. Of course there are too many people who claim to be Christians but do not act like it. As we will see later in this study, God forbids anyone to claim they are a Christian if they do not love people. Real Christians are the most patient, kind, hard-working, honest, and loving people you will know. C. S. Lewis described them in this way:

[Christians] are dotted here and there all over the earth. Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, and more radiant. They love you more than others do, but they need you less. ^[15]

Christians believe all of this is proof that they uniquely have a power through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that radically changes them into people who radically love other people. And their unique love gives Christians a reason to claim they know the only way to God and Heaven.

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Accordingly, Christianity has a unique founder, beliefs, book, and love.

► Return to the beginning of this chapter and answer the questions there.

1. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?: The Positive Impact of Christianity in History (Thomas Nelson, 1997), 27. ↑

2. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Harper Collins, 2001), 54-56. ↑

3. Napoleon Bonaparte, “On the Divinity of Jesus Christ, at Saint Helena, 1820,” http://www.godtheoriginalintent.com/PDF%20Chapters/Napoleon20Bonaparte.pdf. ↑

4. “Mahatma Gandhi, “Fasts for Communal Peace” online at http://www.mkgandhi.org/g_communal/chap25.htm. ↑

5. According to the World Religion Database, in 2010 there were about 2.3 billion followers of Christianity. This is compared to about 1.5 billion Muslims, 1 billion Hindus, and about .5 billion Buddhists. See online at

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups. ↑

6. K. S. Latourette, online at http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/jesus-christ.htm. ↑

7. Apostle (meaning representative) is the word in the Bible to describe a man who was chosen by Jesus Christ to write the New Testament of the Bible. Much of the Old Testament was written by Prophets. ↑

8. For a list of the most printed books in the world see online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-printed_books. ↑

9. For explanations of the historical accuracy of the Bible see online at http://www.icr.org/biblical-record/ ↑

10. Albert Einstein, quote taken from “What Life Means to Einstein,” The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929; http://www.jewishvoice.org/who-is-yeshua/quotes-about-jesus/ ↑

11. For explanations of the how the Bible’s description of creation is confirmed in modern science see online at http://www.icr.org/bible-genesis/ ↑

12. For an examination of some claims that the Koran contains fulfilled prophecy see online at http://www.answering-islam.org/Responses/Shabir-Ally/q14_prophecy.htm ↑

13. J. Barton Payne in his detailed study, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy documents these figures (Harper & Row, 1973). For a description of several of the most important and amazing biblical predictions that have come true see Kurt Jurgensmeier, God’s Prophets, chapter 9.8 “The Divine Record of Biblical Prophets” online at: https://trainingtimothys.org/books/book-9-gods-prophets. ↑

14. Kennedy and Newcombe, 3-4. ↑

15. Lewis, 223. ↑