What's The Difference ?

'YOU'VE GOT to remember, we have more in common than we have dividing us. '

I often hear that statement. I hear it from members of different religious groups. One Hindu lady told me, 'Our religion is just the same as any other, except we're more traditional than you are!"  

What this tells me is that basically all religions are the same. They all believe in a good God, they all teach the brotherhood of man, they all have the Golden Rule. So why argue about our differences when we have so much in common? Isn't religion just man's search for God, and can't each one of us make that search in the way that's most meaningful to us?

Yes, it's true that religion is man's search for God. Because God made us to know and love Him, we are all naturally religious-even if we try to hide it! One famous theologian put it this way, 'Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our souls are restless till they find rest in thee."  

But if religion is man's search for God, there is one religion and one religion alone that is God's search for man-the religion of the Bible, Christianity. All other major religions are man's attempt to reach out to God, to be acceptable to Him. Only in Christianity does God reach down to man, become himself a man and descend to the depths of human need that He might raise men up to be like Him.

That's exactly what happened when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. That's why angels sang of 'glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward all men' (Luke 2:14 ) That's why wise men came from the East bringing gifts to the baby lying in a manager-and worshipped Him (Matt 2:1-12 ). God has come down to men!

Do you have problems believing the claims of Christianity: that Jesus was not just a good man and a great teacher, but that He performed miracles, that He died and rose again and that His death brings eternal life to all who trust Him as their Saviour from sin? Do you find all that just too much to accept? If you do, you have failed to grasp the most astounding fact of all, that Jesus was God as well as man. Once you understand that, everything else falls into place.

No, Christianity is not just another religion. It's the true religion. It's not just another form of self-improvement, another of man's searches for God. It's God's search for man. The God of Christianity is not just another mode of expression for the Supreme Being to whom men's spirits aspire. He is the intensely personal creator of all, who cares about His creation. He cared enough to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to save men and women, boys and girls from their own man-made religions and show them the only way God (John 14:6 )

That's the difference between the Christianity of the Bible and all other religions. And it's vastly more important than all the things they have in common.

If you have been blessed by this tract, please share your testimony by writing to us:

Calvary Tract Ministry
Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church
201 Pandan Gardens Singapore 609337
Tel: (65) 6560 3885 | Fax: (65) 6566 3806
Email: calbp@pacific.net.sg
Website: http://calvarypandan.org