HISTORICAL EVIDENCE COMPARED
The historical evidence for the Christian faith as outlined in the previous page is especially astonishing when you compare it with the historical evidence for all of the other religions of the world put together! A few samples should suffice.
Only a few religions are actually based on a miraculous historical event. One such religion is Islam. In about 610 A.D. a man named Muhammad, when he was around the age of 40, began to hear voices and have visions. At first he did not know whether these voices and visions were from demons or God. He later became convinced they were from God. The book of Koran is the content of these revelations, as authored by Muhammad. Now to a pertinent question. Who else heard these voices? Who else saw these visions? Do we even have one witness, or one shred of corroborating evidence it was really God speaking to Muhammad? None! So here is a religion with 450 million adherents which is based on the say-so of one single individual who said it was God speaking to him.
There are many smaller religions and some Christian cults which are similarly based on the claims of one single individual who says he received special revelations or visions allegedly from God. But again, no witnesses, no evidence, no verification whatsoever. There are many people today who claim God speaks to them; some are charlatans with their own agenda to gain wealth and fame, and some are in mental institutions. Others are involved in the occult and speak of supernatural communications with other beings. While I do not necessarily deny the reality of the experience, the question is, does this experience point to truth or deception?
How does the historical evidence for Islam or other religions with similar origins (alleged unverifiable miraculous revelation to one person) compare with the tens of thousands of eyewitnesses to the miraculous events of Christianity?
The vast majority of non-Christian religions in the world such as Buddhism, Confucianism, or Hinduism, are based on the ethical teachings of its originators - not on a verifying historical event. Therefore they do not lend themselves to any methodology of determining the validity or invalidity of their claims. There is no way to determine which of the ethical teachings are true! Witnesses and evidence are utterly worthless as a means to validate the authenticity of a philosophy. When you get right down to it, a philosophy is nothing more than someone’s personal opinion. These are not prejudicial statements intended to deride other people’s beliefs. It merely reflects the reality of the historical record, based on the actual evidence present, which may be easily confirmed by any researcher.
Other religious opinions abound. Some, as espoused in the book Chariots of the Gods, believe we were put here by aliens from outer space. Others just have personal opinions that vary. I once told an acquaintance of mine who was an atheist, that if he lived his life consistent with his beliefs he should live life as if it did not have any meaning. Why make any moral sacrifices? Why strive for any worthy cause whatever, other than ones own self gratification? If there is no life after death and no judgment, it would not matter whether he lived his life as Adolf Hitler or Mother Theresa. We all go to the same compost pile when it is all over. Upon admitting he did live his life as if it had meaning, he saw the inconsistency. He then replied “well, how do you know we have not evolved to the point where our spirits continue to live on after this life, I believe that is possible.” But that, I told him, is blind faith. He then accused me of the same thing, to which I replied “but that is exactly the difference. You have no reason whatsoever to believe that. It is based totally on your subjective opinion. But there are good and adequate reasons for believing what I believe as a Christian.” While I do have a subjective opinion on it, the basis for Christianity does not depend on that. It depends on objective historical facts which can be verified totally apart from my subjective opinion. Anyone who objectively and thoughtfully compares the historical evidence for Christianity with the basis for all the other world religions cannot come to any other conclusion.
TEACHINGS COMPARED
The teachings of other religions show Christianity to be totally unique. Basically there are only two religions in the world. One, to which every religion on earth except Christianity belongs, teaches a concept of heaven and God, and the way to attain their concept of heaven is by your good deeds outweighing the bad deeds by the end of your life. Or, to put it another way, heaven is attained by man’s greatness.
Christianity on the other hand, teaches heaven cannot be attained by man’s greatness because all of us are wicked. Heaven may be attained because God became man and paid the penalty for our wickedness, to provide a way where we don’t have to pay it. In other words, Heaven is attained because of God’s greatness.
Further, all the other religions of the world denigrate both God and man as compared with Christianity. In most of the Eastern religions, man’s unique soul as made in the image of God is reduced to nothing. Death likens a man to a drop of water that goes back into the ocean. Individuality is extinguished. Practically, how does this differ from total extinction? A mighty poor hope to look forward to.
The godless religion of modern science likewise cheapens mans value. Its doctrine is that man is made in the image of the ape and is destined to everlasting extinction at death; only a little superior to a dog even in his moral nature, and not at all superior to a dog in his destiny.
As to God, the worlds religions run the gamut from the all powerful, yet cold, distant, and uninvolved Allah, or the impersonal force of eastern religions. I do not wish, if I can help it, to worship an unknown or unknowable God called the Absolute; nor a despot enamored with power, detached and uninvolved with his subjects.
If one at least believes in God, why not a living God, not a blind mindless force? The theology of Jesus is worthy of all acceptation. A God who enters into a world He had made (John 1:3,10-11,14; Philippians 2:5-8), “with no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Isaiah 53:2). An insignificant carpenter from an insignificant village. He was ridiculed, mocked, and spat upon by His own creatures. The Lord of angels, the Maker of worlds, the Everlasting King, is given a mock coronation with a thorn-bush crown and purple robe. Beaten, punched, whipped, and scorned; all that is possible for a Divine being to suffer in the way of humiliation and shame. Then the creature nails his Creator to a cross; a death reserved for the worst of criminals.
The glory and greatness of God consists not simply in being high, but in that He, the highest and greatest, can humble Himself in love to the lowest and the least. He bears the burden of His own sinful creatures; became a weary wanderer as they, and through the comradeship in suffering He gains the hearts of his followers. Only by ascending the cross could he subdue human hearts, and become Lord of men’s affections as well as their destinies.[1] He gained a type of sovereignty over human hearts not attainable in any other way; an unlimited moral power over them that is based on something other than mere power.
Kings of this world have their subjects die for them; they do not die for their subjects; they expect to be served, not to serve; they rule their kingdoms by might of their power; not by gaining a moral power that gains possession of hearts. It is interesting to note that if other religions conceive of a God at all, their God’s greatness lies in merely the fact of being high. These two ways of thinking mark the difference between the world and the Christian modes of conceiving God. Who can hesitate as to which is the more worthy to be believed?
[1]A.B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1971), p. 138.
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