What makes the Judaeo-Christian tradition different from all other world religions or philosophies? There have been dozens of philosophies and religions through history. The current popular philosophy is Relativism, where all creeds and beliefs are considered equal. Whatever suits you is truth!
Here are my list of reasons making Christianity unique:
Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-11 Salvation is a gift of “grace” from God, independent of human effort. Almost all other belief systems require effort of some kind to attain salvation. Other beliefs say you must be good to be saved. Christianity says come as you are and Christ will impute to you his goodness (righteousness).
Matt 28:17-20; 9:2-6 Its central figure is the only religious leader in history who claimed to be God, and yet was not considered crazy by his contemporaries or even his enemies. [Next study will deal fully with these claims]
Luke 1:1-5; Daniel 1:1-2; Dan. 2. It is the only religion that ties ‘truth’ to history in a way that guarantees the meaning of these ‘truths’ will not change meaning with the passage of time. All other philosophy changes meaning with the passage of time because its meaning and teaching is not rooted to anything that will guarantee its integrity. History and archaeology can verify facts and circumstances, & normal rules of literary study can ‘nail down’ the meaning of texts. History is more than important to Christianity’s claims, we can actually say that with the Jews history was invented. Linear time for Israel, compared to 'cyclical' time for all other ancient cultures. Jesus is inextricably linked to the Jewish scriptures, and it is impossible to understand him or salvation apart from Judaism and its scriptures.
1 Cor 1:22-25 Other religions base their claims to recognition on the teachings of their founder, but Christianity distinguishes itself from all others by the importance it assigns to the prophecy, circumstances and significance of the death of its founder. It actually boasts of the death of its founder, even when its proponents admit that this death is a “stumbling block to Jews,” its original target audience, and “foolishness to Gentiles,” that is, the rest of the world.
Judaeo-Christianity is the pinnacle of all religions, acknowledged as such not just because its lofty principles stand out from all other religions, but because its worldview out-classed all other ancient worldviews. Its claim that there is one God and he is preeminent was a bombshell in an ancient world riddled with lascivious and malevolent gods. This God has a purpose he is working out on a linear based time frame, beginning at the creation in point of time, and moving to a climactic judgement at the end. This was completely novel. Not only was this world created with one set of unified natural laws (the sole factor that allowed scientific study), but this God has one unified moral law which applies to all mankind. This was the basis of our modern Western justice system and the cradle of democracy. This God loved mankind enough to forfeit his own self to redeem his creatures. Compare this with the effects of Hinduism on Indian culture (the state of life in India is the result of Hinduism); the Muslim faith on its culture, politics & justice; Buddhism; and so on…
One Solitary Life
A child is born of a peasant woman in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter's shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life.
He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He simply gathers a small group of followers about him and teaches them his way of life.
While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. His friends run away. One denies him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When dead he is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend.
Those are the facts of his life. Today we look back across two thousand years and ask, What kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the leaders that ever reigned are absolutely inconsequential in their influence on mankind compared with this one solitary life…
Adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis found in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”). You can read the original version.
Image: The_descent_from_the_cross_(Rubens_1600-1602)
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