The Big Question 83: If Christianity Is Special, Why Is It Special?
Sep 1, 2021 2282
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If Christianity is special, why is it special?
Well, it’s pretty obvious that I think that Christianity has something special going for it. At the end of the day, I’m not a Christian for no reason.
There are a lot of people who say that all religions are basically just the same, but while I respect people who choose to believe differently to me, or believe nothing at all, I definitely don’t think that all religions are all the same.
In fact, the way I see it, the Christian faith stands far apart from any other faith system or philosophy in the world. There is simply nothing like it that human beings have ever put their minds to.
In most other religions, humans have to go up to God through our efforts. When you consider the ancient religious traditions, they all involve some way of human beings climbing up into the heavens to be with the gods. Through whatever means, human beings had to get up to where the gods lived.
But Christianity teaches us that God came down to us, became a man, and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In many other religions, god only reveals us the way to salvation and then we have to find it and fulfil the requirements to be saved ourselves. You have to discover the way yourself, and then do the right things to be saved.
But Christianity is completely different. The Christian faith teaches that God himself has opened up the way for us to be saved, and fulfilled the requirements on our behalf. We simply receive salvation as a gift. And then, because we have been saved, we live out our lives in gratitude, following Jesus.
Christianity teaches that the love of God is so great that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, gave his life so that we might be saved. In fact, through the resurrection of Jesus, God has overcome even death for us.
But other faith systems have a very different understanding of love. They see love more like a business transaction. If you behave yourself and perform the way that pleases God, then he will love and forgive you. Otherwise he will reject you. It’s a conditional kind of love. But Christianity teaches that God loves us with an unconditional, no-strings-attached kind of love.
Other faith systems and philosophies make human beings the centre of their belief. The religion ultimately ends up being about our behaviours, our obedience, our performance of rituals, our beliefs, and so on.
However, Christianity makes Jesus Christ the heart of everything. Even more than that, the very centre of Christianity is the great saving act of Jesus in dying and rising for your salvation. Everything we do is simply a response to the Cross.
That’s what Christianity is about. And that’s why Christianity is different.
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