"You Can’t Prove To Me That Your Religion Is Any Better Than Any Other!"

Almost everyday someone shouts out this question, "Why is Christianity any better then Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam?"

Indeed, it is fashionable in western culture to chuck Jesus out and pay lip-service to another world religion. This would even be applauded as truly multi-cultural. In the sixties, all the flower children, including the Beatles, hit the hippy-trail to India, seeking a guru to enlighten them. Today, 61% of college students in America believe Islam is favorable to Christianity.

At the moment it seems Buddhism is in vogue, where a year ago it was Islam. This is a very popular spiritual placebo on western campuses. This is probably due to the fact that Buddhism never specifically requires you to believe in God—they do not believe in heaven, hell, or even a personal soul. Rather, all is one. Good and evil are actually one and the same. How conveniently this fits into the relative truth paradigm that is the only really acceptable belief on campus. If there is no heaven, hell, or God to answer to, then you can continue to pursue your self gratification and sin!

I find few, if any, western kids who actually live devoted lives to these trendy eastern faiths. What they really love about these beliefs is not so much that they can pursue them with an earnest heart, but rather in their mind they negate Christianity’s requirements. So they think to themselves, If nothing is required of me, I can continue a life of debauchery and get away scot-free.

However, we can answer the question, "Why is Christianity any better than Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam?" There are two basic reasons why faith in Jesus Christ is more credible than the world’s other major beliefs.

First, the Person of Jesus Christ is unique among all other major world religions. He made claims no one else even comes close to. He was literally Immanuel, God with us! He was the Word made flesh dwelling among us. He was the pre-existent Creator of the entire universe. Jesus’ earthly life was the visible image of the invisible God! Buddha never claimed such things. Buddha himself needed to be reincarnated from a series of imperfect lives. One of the chief features of Buddha’s stories was his seeking enlightenment.

Mohammed only claimed to be a prophet; he never claimed to be Allah in the flesh. The Koran says Mohammed himself was told to ask for forgiveness for faults, sins! (Koran, Surahs 47 and 48)

Hinduism worships 330 million different deities! That in itself makes Hinduism a rather muddy mixture if one is seeking a relationship with the One true God. However, Jesus claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Krishna certainly can’t claim that, with millions of competitors even within his own faith.

Jesus spoke from an entirely different perspective than Mohammed, Buddha, and Krishna, as John the Baptist so aptly put it, The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard" (John 3:27, 31-32).

Secondly, Jesus alone made the ultimate provision for our ultimate need: forgiveness of sin. Even if I believed all other world religions were truly noble and only sought to help us live better lives, I would say they are hopelessly incomplete to deal with our most critical issue—entanglement with sin, evil, and guilt. All world religions basically say, "Here is a list of rules, teachings, or laws. If you want to please God, you must keep them." Even the most devoted followers of any of them fall short; none can claim they have followed them perfectly.

Only the Christ of Christianity actually lived a pristine, unblemished life, and then sacrificed Himself on the altar of God’s judgment! He bore our guilt and shame on Calvary’s cross and provided forgiveness for all our sin. Mohammed, Buddha, nor Krishna ever sacrificed their life for the sins of mankind, only Jesus did that!

Now, what the seeker must investigate is, Does Jesus really live up to those unique claims? That is why the central question of every human heart is the one Jesus Himself asked, "But what about you, who do you say that I am?" I believe anyone who searches this out earnestly, will fall on his knees before Jesus Christ and cry out, My Lord and my God! (John 20:28).

In short, no matter how sincere, all of the world’s major religions were founded by flawed, mere human beings. By their own admission Mohammed, Buddha, and Krishna, in their scriptures, record their lives and struggles. Only Christ was God wrapped in flesh, living as a perfect example and giving His life to redeem humanity.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col. 1:15-20).