About Christianity I mean.
People will mostly say yes, but also feel that tolerance and acceptance of other religions must surely be acceptable. There must be more than one way to God... since so many ways exist!
The message of today, especially among younger people, is that you are being intolerant if you actually think that a particular view might be true and that all other views are wrong. The viewpoint that all pathways to God should be equally acceptable is widely held by people today. No one wants to offend anothers religion or give the impression of condeming anothers beliefs. While I can certainly understand the concept of tolerance and inclusion, I don’t think this point of view can be true. Boldly stated... Christianity is the one truth path to God.
There is no other way, no other path, no other plan of salvation. It’s God, Jesus Christ and their inspired communication to humanity –– the Holy Bible.
How can we know Christianity is true and we are not deceived?
There are a lot of competing belief systems in the world. How do we know that as Christians we are believing what is true and not being masterfully deceived? The answer is three-fold.
First, Christianity is only as true as the person of Jesus. He fulfilled prophecy, claimed to be God in flesh, performed many miracles, died, and physically rose from the dead. Christianity is about Jesus, his claims, and his deeds. It is based on him and it is only as true as he is true. Second, Christianity is consistent with reason, facts, and aligns with evidence of God's inspiration in the Bible. Third, all other religious systems are either unverifiable or irrational in their teachings and emanate from flawed human experience.
The person of Jesus
For the Christian, the ultimate expression of truth is found in the person of Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the father but through me..." (John 14:6). Jesus, who claimed to be divine, performed many miracles, and rose from the dead said that he alone was the truth. He was either right or wrong.
There is no in between. If Jesus is wrong, then Christianity is a wrong. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we should abandon our faith because he would be no different than anyone else. If Jesus is not God in flesh, then we should denounce him as a madman because you can't claim to be God and be sane -- unless the claim is true. Therefore, if what Jesus said about himself is true, then Christianity is true.
You see, Christianity is only as true as Jesus is true. If it can be shown that Jesus lied, failed to perform miracles, was not God in flesh, and did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is false and we are indeed deceived.
Reason, Logic and History
There is nothing within the scope of Christian teaching that denies reason. The doctrine of the Trinity may be a mystery, but it is not illogical. The incarnation may be paradoxical in that the person of Jesus is both divine and human, but it is not impossible. The resurrection of Christ may be enigmatic, but it does not defy logic -- unless you deny the miraculous to begin with. Christianity is reasonable; that is, it does not violate logic. It may contain mysteries and paradoxes, but there is nothing within its body of teaching that contradicts reason.
There is nothing within Christian teaching that denies the facts of history. History and archaeology confirm the Bible. We have many non biblical accounts of New Testament events and people confirmed in the historical record. Josephus a Jewish historian who lived during the period of the rise of the first century church mentioned John the Baptist and Herod as well as Jesus and James in his work the Antiquities of the Jews. There are even Roman historians, such as Tacitus and Thallus mentions who write of the events of the life of Jesus.
Archaeological discoveries also confirm the Biblical record. Various cities mentioned in the Old and New Testament have been discovered. Cities such as Bethel, Capernaum, Dan, Ephesus, Gezer, Hazor, Jericho, Nineveh, to name a few. The existance of the Hittites have been verified, as have the stables of Solomon. The point is, there is nothing in archaeology that contradicts Biblical truth. It agrees with and is consistent with archaeology and history.
Other religions are unverifiable or irrational
There are other beliefs systems that claim to be valid, but they cannot be verified historically, and their teachings are irrational and illogical.
Where would you go to find a belief system truly comparable to Christianity? Mormonism clearly contradicts the Bible. It teaches that God was a man on another planet, married to a goddess wife. It is a religion of “pride” teaching that its adherents can become gods. The book of Mormon cannot point to any historical evidence to validate such claims. Therefore, Mormonism can't be true.
Islam teaches that the Quran is the absolute truth revealed from their god Allah. It further states, and this is critical, that if one fact in the Quran is incorrect, then Islam is not true. The Quran boldly says “it’s all or nothing” about it’s own teachings. With that statement in mind, consider what The Institute of Islamic Information and Education says.... "Muhammad is the very last Prophet of God to mankind. He is the final Messenger of God. His message was and is still to the Christians, the Jews and the rest of mankind. He was sent to those religious people to inform them about the true mission of Jesus, Moses, David, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham." No matter how intellectual, civilized, or scientific Islam is made to appear, it is still a religion which embodies "another gospel... which is no gospel at all..." (Gal. 1:6-7). The Lord declares any other gospel and those who preach it... eternally condemned. (Gal. 1:8). Islam teaches that Muhammad is the summation and the culmination of all the prophets and messengers that came before him. He purified the previous messages from adulteration and completed the Message of God for all humanity. He was entrusted with the power of explaining, interpreting and living the teachings of the Quran. Where can you find any historical fact to support such claims? You can’t. Since these claims cannot be proven by history, reason or logic they are not true. Islam is a false and deceptive religion.
Atheism, Reincarnation religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism and the New Age Movement also cannot be validated by history, reason or logic. They offer subjective, unverifiable human experience as the underlying framework for their theological foundations. Even though the components that comprise these belief systems are little more than illogical absurdities, millions, in fact billions of people are held captive by these religions of deception.
These simplified and brief analyses of various systems demonstrate that their claims must be verifiable in some way (archaeology, ancient documents concurrent with verifiable history, etc.) and rational. When a theological system cannot be verified using either normal historical examination or internal logical consistency, how can it be assumed to be true? It can't.
Where else would we go?
Jesus had a discussion with his disciples about this very question. Recorded in John chapter 6... He first speaks about “he being the bread of life” and then affirms that no one can come to him unless it was granted by the father (John 6:65). It was at this time when many of his disciples abandoned him. Jesus then said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" That was a “dividing” moment among the followers of Jesus. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”
Peter's answer is extrememly important... then and now. If you are contemplating leaving Christianity, where will you go? What better offer can anyone make that would be of greater truth than the words of Jesus? Where else would you go? To Islam and learn to kill everyone who doesn’t accept your religion? To Mormonism, to answer the call of pride in order to become a god? To Atheism which offers nothing except moral relativity and inconsistencies? To Reincarnation religion with its seemingly endless cycle of incarnations and suffering? What is better than Jesus? Where do we go? To whom should we go if we abandoned Christianity?
If anyone has anything better to offer than the claims, the deeds, and the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, then perhaps we would have an option. However, no one else has anything better to offer than Jesus. No one else has fulfilled prophecies, claimed to be God in the flesh, performed miracles, raised people from the dead, died, and physically rose from the dead himself, and promised to return for his people at the second coming. ALL verified and validated as true. Therefore we are compelled by logic, reason and the evidences of history to continue to believe in Jesus, his teachings, and the truth that Christianity represents.
Christianity is true and we are not deceived. All other religious systems are either unverifiable or irrational... thereby disqualified as being true.
