kenken wrote:
Why jesus and not muhammad or budda?
Christianity is not just a belief system like other religions. To be a Christian is to be in a relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ through the infilling of the Holy Spirit. In other religions, you will see that God is regarded as an impersonal being who is somewhere out there, but you can't get to know him personally.
Other religions are man-made attempts to reach out to that impersonal God. But when it comes to Christianity, you see that God reached out to us by sending Jesus Christ to earth to live among us and allow us to get to know him.
The big difference between other religions and Christianity lies in the issue of salvation. Here's how and why Jesus and Jesus only saves:
God cannot have sin in his presence in heaven. He is holy, sin-free, perfect. All men are sinners, unholy, imperfect. Therefore, as he is, no man can enter heaven. Unfortunately, no man can make himself sin-free. No man can make himself holy as God is holy. Therefore, man cannot get into heaven by his own means. Atonement is needed for his sins, atonement that he cannot secure by his own methods.
Only man can atone for man's sins, but a sinner cannot atone for his sins and all men are sinners. Think of the Old Testament where only an unblemished animal was good enough to sacrifice. Animal sacrifices only covered sins. They didn't remove them.
So if only a man can atone for the sins of humankind and that man must be sin-free in order to do so, we are left with the problem of finding a man who is sin-free. The only way a man could be sin-free like God is to be both God and human. You and I and all other human beings who have ever lived and who ever will live are not God. Therefore, we cannot atone for anybody's sins, not ours, not those of others.
That's why God sent Jesus. Christ as God Incarnate came to earth as a man. He is the only sin-free man to ever live and is therefore the ONLY man who could atone for our sins and the ONLY man to offer salvation because, while he was man, he was also God at the same time!
If you look at other religions, salvation is works-oriented. People have to try to obey rules and do good works to earn salvation. But, as I pointed out, God will not have sinful man in heaven with him and no matter how many rules a man obeys or how many good works he does, he cannot make himself free of sin.
Christianity is the ONLY religion in which salvation is a gift given by the only being who could give it, that is, Jesus Christ. He takes our sin and gives us his righteousness in exchange. That's why it's only Jesus and not Buddha or Mohammed or anybody else. Jesus, as God Incarnate, died for us, rose from the dead, and lives. Buddha and Mohammed, as mere mortals, are dead. They did not have the power to save anybody.
Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, puts it this way: Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. I repeat, Buddha and Mohammed did not and could not have the power to do that. If you would like to learn more about this, I would suggest reading Ravi Zacharias' book entitled Jesus Among Other Gods. It explains why Christ and Christ alone saves in great detail.
kenken wrote: I have a hard time believing that any god that created us would slaughter this number of people. If what the bible says is true will this many actually die?
To that, I respond: God doesn’t slaughter people. He gives everyone the same option – to choose Christ or reject Christ. If people choose to reject Christ, then they choose to spend eternity separated from God.
You can say, “But what about those who have never heard about Jesus?†God knows the heart of each individual. If someone wants to know him, then he will always make himself known to that person. If God knows that someone will never come to him in love and acceptance, but will always remain hard-hearted and live in rebellion to him, then it is immaterial whether that person ever hears about Jesus.
Bear in mind that, while God gives Christians the privilege of witnessing to others, he doesn’t need people to spread the Gospel. He has reached out to many Muslims through dreams and visions to make himself known to them in countries where Christian missionaries are not allowed. You will find many testimonies of ex-Muslims who are now Christians who had the Lord reach them in that manner. Be assured that anybody who wants to know Jesus can and will. God is just and God doesn't make mistakes.
