Christianity is NOT Better; It’s Different

After hearing a lecture by Methodist pastor Dr. Sweet on how Christianity is not better but different, the radio program “Law and Gospel” spent the rest of the week on elaborating on that topic from a L&G perspective. You can listen to an archive copy of Thursday’s broadcast by going to kfuo.org and then “Law and Gospel” and the Thursday first hour on May 3, 2007. Those of you who have been requesting that the second hour be archived will soon get your wish. It should take place in about 2 months.

To show how different Christianity is, let’s start with the realization that there are only two religions in the world. Christianity and…everything else. Using a ladder as an analogy, “Everything Else” attempts to climb the rungs of that ladder to reach a god by various means including moralism, rationalism or mysticism. Christianity is totally different in that God climbs down the ladder, finds you, puts you on His shoulders and then climbs up the ladder carrying you all the way.

Most sermons that do keep you awake often do so by touting how much better is the Christian faith than other religions. That’s a consumer driven approach and will result either in disappointment or self-righteousness. It’s not true that the Christian God is better because of the grace dispensed to help you please Him and thus be saved. No, the Christian revelation is that God saves you without any contribution from you.

Your works are not only never part of the equation why God saves you but they also are never part of the equation as to why God regards you as remaining saved. In fact, only sinners go to Hell and only sinners go to Heaven. What then is the difference? The difference is that the sinners who go to Heaven trust in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior while those who go to hell are unbelievers.

This Blog attempts to interpret and apply the various lessons for each Sunday not just better than do other religions but totally different. That most Americans are ignorant of basic Christian facts is clear when surveys show that there are those who think that Joan of Arc was married to Noah! Just imagine what they understand about the theology of Christianity.

There is a growing understanding in the world that all religions worship the same god but just in different ways. Listen to the sermons delivered on the Day of Prayer recently and try to find even one that preaches about Jesus Christ as the ONLY way of salvation. One of the best examples as to how little people know about Christianity is the attempt on the part of Mormonism to consider itself not only as Christian but also as better than other Christian denominations!

That the world often is unable to differentiate between religions and Christianity is not just the fault of illiterate mindsets. It is also due to the lack of imagination by preachers in demonstrating the radical and shocking truths of Christianity that do not even come close to the commonsensical, reasonable teachings of all other religions.