The exclusive truth claims of the Gospel must be considered when comparing Christianity with other religious systems. What this means is, we must take each claim as a good faith expression of what it describes and assess its reliability to our experiences, coherence with what we know about the world, and congruity within the system making the claims as a whole.
Each of these will help us to better determine which system of belief best leads us to the truth. The goal of belief should not be to satisfy some emotional need. The goal of belief should be to give us tools and structures of thought that help us live in this world.
When our belief system keeps us from living in accord with the truth, we become susceptible to lies and manipulations. The truth is the only antidote to the lies we are told. The truth is the only shield we have to protect ourselves from becoming puppets to another person’s agenda.
We do not have the time in this post to go through each of the criteria I shared above. But, there is a quality of the Gospel that gives it a “head start” on other belief systems.
Of all the religions and systems of belief, the Christian faith is the only one that argues for divine intervention as the initiating action in the relationship. What this means is that in virtually all other systems, we must work our way toward God. But in Christianity, God makes the first move.
What’s more, in Christianity, God comes and entered the human experience and provided a living example of what he desired. And while other religions may try and argue that this understanding of divine intervention exists, it does not compare to what Christianity claims to have happened.
The Gospel’s uniqueness is that God enters the world and calls all who hear to come to Him. The Gospel is a call to follow. Not to perform acts of righteousness to placate God. Not to say the right words in the right way to flatter God. Not even to go to a particular place in order to find God.
The Gospel says that God came to personally invite us to follow him. This is the difference between the faith of Jesus and all other systems.
We are invited to participate in a relationship initiated by God Himself. And here’s the best part, God even paid the price for us to be able to approach Him at all.
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