E106 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Christianity compared to world religions
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #106
Title: Christianity vs the World’s Religions
Date: May 15, 2023
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verses: Romans 10:2, 3, 9
VS 2 – ‘For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
VS 3 – ‘For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.’
VS 9 – ‘that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.’
Intro: A 2012 study by the Pew Research Center estimates 5.8 billion religiously affiliated people around the world. [The link is in the show-notes appendix, along with a pie chart.]
Atheists deny there is any validity to religious beliefs; however, if well over 5 billion people believe otherwise, it leads me to believe there is something valid concerning worship.
Of the major religious systems, we’ll examine 5: Christianity – Islam – Buddhism – Hinduism – Judaism.
Devotion focus: The Dividing Factor between Christianity and other major religions: One is free for the asking – the others are works based.
If, as a Christian, you were asked what makes your beliefs different from the religious beliefs of others, what would you say? Can you define your beliefs and defend your faith?
I take for granted anyone claiming to be a Christian believes the Bible is GOD’s Word, and so could you give verses in the Bible that reveal the foundational truths of Christianity?
First, let’s go over the primary difference between Christianity and the others being considered.
Christianity is a free exchange between anyone who wants to establish a personal, one-on-one, relationship with GOD. Well, it is free to us, although it cost the Son of GOD much in the way of pain, shame, and agony. This is very basic, but we don’t have to earn our way into GOD’s favor. The way to GOD is already earned and offered to us. All anyone has to do is turn from their way of current thinking that’s in opposition to GOD’s teachings in the Bible; this is called repentance, to turn.
And then, according to one of the key verses, Romans 10:9 – ‘that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.’
It is a heart issue between the person wanting to be saved, and GOD. But saved from what? Jesus said in John 3:17 – “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” It is inferred to be saved is to be delivered from GOD’s Holy wrath against sin. This is also known as being born again. Jesus had this to say about the new birth in John 3:3 - "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
So when GOD restores the relationship between Himself and anyone who ask for it in faith, it takes a new spiritual birth to enable this to happen.
Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – (I’ll paraphrase it) ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that one is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.’
Bottom line: In Christianity, GOD did the work of offering reconciliation to us by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross as payment for our sins. After we pray asking to receive the forgiveness of GOD through the cross and we are born into GOD’s family spiritually, then comes the work involved in Christianity. Not works to earn salvation, but works proceeding from the effects of becoming a child of GOD and wanting to serve Him somehow.
There. Now, the other religions can be divided between work-based salvation, to earn GOD’s forgiveness and those systems which teach enlightenment as the goal of living a good life. Enlightenment is somewhat works based, but generally, becoming enlightened isn’t to please a deity, but rather to become a better person. Hindus know one lifetime isn’t enough to become perfect so they came up with reincarnation as the answer. The cycle of reincarnation is known as samsara and the only way to escape this cycle is by becoming perfectly enlightened.
Buddhism also teaches reincarnation and they too seek to escape the cycle of samsara through enlightenment and doing good for others.
Islam is a works-based system. According to a BBC United Kingdom news article, “Muslims believe they get to Paradise by living religiously, asking Allah for forgiveness and showing good actions in their life. These good actions will be rewarded on the Last Day. Therefore, obeying the rules set by Allah is of ultimate importance.”
Even then Muslims, those who follow the tenets of Islam, don’t know for sure how to earn their way to GOD, and so additionally came up with the 5 pillars of Islam.
From Crest Research: The five pillars: the declaration of faith (shahada), prayer (salah), alms-giving (zakat), fasting (sawm) and pilgrimage (hajj) – constitute the basic norms of Islamic practice. They are accepted by Muslims globally irrespective of ethnic, regional or sectarian differences. https://crestresearch.ac.uk/comment/islam-five-pillars/
Orthodox Judaism is also a works-based system, although they believe their Messiah will one day restore them to the Promised Land and usher in peace. This is to name only a few of the blessings they hope for.
Trying to find a clear and definitive system of belief for Judaism online proved to be nearly impossible. I was surprised by this. Regardless, I copied an article by MidwestMessianic.com. (Link is in the notes)
For those Jewish people who do believe in a literal heaven the way you get there is by good works. They call them “mitzvahs.” A mitzvah is anything that you do that benefits somebody. Mitzvahs come in many shapes and sizes. The thing that is universally believed among Jewish people who believe in heaven is, by doing mitzvahs and praying, etc. one will enter heaven. It’s really not all that different from what your average unsaved Gentile believes. They too believe that heaven is gained by what we do. A good verse to show your Jewish friends that teaches that one cannot get to heaven by good works is in Isaiah.
Isaiah 64:6 – “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
The problem is, from God’s perspective, no one who is unsaved can do good works. They are not able to because of their sin.
Psalm 14:2-3 – “The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
(Note: this is echoed by Romans 3:10 – ‘As it is written: "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE; and Romans 3:12 – ‘All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”)
Summary: There is Christianity, there is works based beliefs, and there is enlightenment systems of belief that also are works based. So the billions in the world who are hoping to find heaven when they die are placing their eternal destinies into a belief of some sort. The question then becomes, which is the correct belief system?
Action to consider: Read John 3:1-21. Read it slowly, carefully, considering what Jesus had to say about Himself and His mission on earth. Either He was wrong, or those in the world at large are wrong about life after death and their lives are hanging by a thread, dangling over the yawning abyss of Hell.
Next week’s devotion: 3 People who inspired my Christian life and how they did it.
Appendix: