CHRISTIANITY VERSUS RELIGION

     Jesus Christ did not come to this earth to make man religious,
but rather to show man how to be right religiously. This is the very
purpose of the New Testament. If we follow its teachings without
addition nor subtraction we will be right or correct religiously in
that which we do. In fact, it is the only way that mankind can
determine what is right religiously. Man, by creation, has within him
a longing for a higher power and a desire to worship that which is
higher and greater than he. That fact has been demonstrated by the
well known truth that no nation or group of people has ever been
discovered who did not have some conception of a higher being of some
kind.  Therefore, when Jesus came to this earth made in the likeness
of man, He found man deeply religious already. But, man needed
guidance to be right in his religion. To worship is not enough, one
must be right in that worship.
     Christianity is a religion but all religion is not Christianity.
The religion of Christ Jesus is but one of many world religions.
Christ came and gave us the authority of Heaven, a worship and service
approved of by Heaven. Jesus Himself stated, "All authority hath been
given unto me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).  How is one to
know that Christianity is true and that all other religions are false
and that their gods are idols. What proof does Christianity have that
other religions do not have? Surely it must have such if it is the one
and only religion for us today.
     This theme, of course, is entirely too broad to be covered in the
few moments we have at this time. It would take months, even years of
serious study. However, I would like to suggest to you one convincing
and convicting difference between the religion of the New Testament
and all other religions of today throughout the world. Please notice
very carefully. No other religion in its introduction and beginning
appealed to miracles and prophecy as proof of its founder. Let me
repeat that statement. No other religion in its beginning appealed to
miracles and prophecy as proof of its founder. Christianity stands or
falls as to the truthfulness or falsity of its own miraculous and
prophetic. If the miracles recorded in the New Testament did not
occur, then Christianity for that very reason is not a true religion.
If one prophecy of the Bible could be disproved or if you could prove
that the prophets of the Bible did miss it just one time, then and
there you have disproved Christianity. Jesus offers His religion to
you and bases it upon the facts of the miracles and of fulfilled
prophecies. The many prophecies and multitude of miracles performed
which are recorded in the Bible are truly the credentials of Christ
Jesus as the Son of God. Let the enemy of the Bible today disprove one
of the Bible's prophetic statements or disprove that Jesus and His
followers did the works contained in the New Testament, and the whole
system of Christianity falls. Consider all other religions of today,
excepting those based upon the Bible, Judaism for the Jews before the
coming of Christ and Christianity for Jews and Gentiles today, and you
will find that no other religion offers miracles and prophecy as
credentials of that religion. Why do other religions not have miracles
and prophecy in their beginnings? This can be easily explained and
understood. No uninspired man establishing a religion of his own is
going to make a guess of the future and then base the truthfulness of
his religion upon that guess. That would be the height of foolishness.
Since the founders of all other religions were uninspired men and
therefore could not prophesy and since they did not want to risk the
success of their movement upon a mere guess of what would happen
generations after their day, they therefore did not prophesy and do
not offer prophecy as a proof of their religions. Prophecy, the kind
one finds so abundantly in the Bible, has no place in false religions.
Miracles, the kind recorded in the Bible, are not found in connection
with other religions. Wouldn't it have been foolish for one of the
founders of false religion to fake a miracle and then base his
religion upon that?  His enemies could so easily have denied and then
successfully proved that he didn't work a miracle. The few claimed
miracles attributed to other world religions do appear ridiculous and
foolish when placed beside and compared with Bible miracles that were
performed in the open before sometimes thousands of people with no
possible chance of fake or mere sleight of hand tricks.
     Did you know, for instance, that it was 600 years after the death
of Mohammed before his followers attributed to him the working of
miracles? In his own Koran, the book which they follow, here is what
he says, "Nothing hinders us from sending thee with miracles except
that the former nations have charged them with imposture." Note that
he didn't give them miraculous power. Of course, he had an alibi for
this failure but the truth remains that he couldn't give this power to
them.
     About himself Mohammed said, "Signs are in the power of God
alone. I am no more than a public preacher." Thus, this founder of one
of the world large religions admitted that only God could work the
miraculous and that he could not perform them. The few supposed tales
originating centuries after Mohammed's own day were not even at best
public performances with witness as is true about the Bible miracles.
These same statements could be made and applied to every other world
religion. If they have invented a few supposed miracles centuries
after the death of their founder, these miracles so called are not in
the same class with the authentic miracles of God's Word.
     Please note very carefully these following statement concerning
miracles. Neither Jew nor heathen denied the miracles of Christ and
His Apostles for at least 400 years after New Testament days.  They
endeavored to try to explain how the miracles were performed, but they
never denied the fact that they occurred. Note Acts 4:16, "What shall
we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been
wrought through them, is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem, and
we cannot deny it." Some claimed that Jesus did His works by the power
of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Matthew 12:24). But, they never
denied that these miracles were done by Christ. Too many witnesses saw
Him perform them. The miracles had to be admitted. Their only course
was then to endeavor to explain by what power He was able to perform
them. This they did; but they did not deny He did them.
     As an example, the Jewish Talmud says that Jesus stole the right
pronunciation of the name of God from the temple and by using this
name He was able to work miracles. The name of God was sacred and was
never pronounced by a Jew. To them this was a plausible explanation of
Jesus' miracles. The Talmud is accepted as authoritative. Yet, it does
not deny the reality and actuality of New Testament miracles. And,
remember the Talmud was written by those who were enemies of
Christianity. The Babylonian Talmud mentions Matthew, James, and John
and that they worked miracles. It mentions Jesus' crucifixion and even
the hour of it confirming the Bible record. It tries to explain that
these miracles were but the works of magic. But, our point here is
that it does admit that they occurred exactly as the Bible states.
Even the scholarly enemies of the Bible admit the authenticity of the
book of First Corinthians. In other words, they believe that Paul
wrote this book during the New Testament era. Yet, that book affirms
the resurrection of the dead and of Christ and states that about 500
witnesses of Christ's resurrection were still then living.  It would
have been so easy for the enemies of Christ and Christianity to
disprove His resurrection while these witnesses were still living if
that resurrection was a farce. Yes, Jesus had been raised from the
dead to die no more. 500 had seen Him in that resurrected state and
were willing to face death for their conviction. Their enemies did not
deny their testimony. And it is indeed too late to do so now. The
Bible is the inspired Word of God, confirmed with miracles and the
word of prophecy.
     Look at prophecy as it appears in the Bible. A man writes down
something in detail concerning an event which would happen hundreds of
years after his death. His detailed description of the events
prohibits his statements as being mere guesses. And, then for that
event to come about hundreds of years later, exactly as he predicted,
in the most exacting manner, with all of the details complete--that is
prophecy, as only the Bible contains. There are many examples, but let
us look at a couple. The Jewish historian Josephus dates the book of
Daniel back to at least the time of Alexander the Great, 325 B.C.
Josephus says that when Alexander came to Jerusalem in about 325 B.C.,
the priests in Jerusalem showed him the book of Daniel. Thus, outside
testimony dates the book of Daniel before the year 325 B.C. Daniel
foretold in detail the division of the kingdom of Alexander after his
death. Daniel foretold the coming of the Roman Empire years and years
after Alexander's day. Since the priest had the book of Daniel in 325
B.C. it undoubtedly was written at least a few years before then. By
what power did Daniel know these things concerning Alexander the
Great, the dividing of Alexander's kingdom, and the coming of the
Roman kingdom? These events all happened many years after Daniel's
death. How could Daniel know?  Only by inspiration from Jehovah. These
events could not have been mere guesses. Daniel spoke as the Spirit
gave him utterance, or words. Daniel revealed the mind of God and thus
foretold the future events in detailed language.
     David was a king in Palestine. He lived many hundreds of years
before the coming of the Roman empire and the customs of the
Romans. Yet, in Psalms 22:16, David foretold of the death of Christ
and stated that His hands and feet would be pierced. The piercing of
the hands and feet was a part of crucifixion as practiced by the
Romans.  The act of crucifixion was not known nor performed during
David's time.  It was a Roman practice that did not appear until
hundreds of years after David wrote about it. How did David know?
That is what inspiration is all about. To be able to tell of some
event  hundreds of years into the future. And to tell of it in easily
understood language so that it could not be misunderstood. This is
Bible prophecy. This is inspiration. You cannot find examples like
this anywhere else except in the Bible. Prophecy is unique to the
Bible. It alone records such events that happened hundreds of years
after the predictions. Other religions do not have this feature.  If
time permitted, I could call event after event to our attention that
would verify the point that I am making just here. Prophecies
concerning Babylon, Nineveh, Egypt, and on and on we could go.
Prophecies that are very detailed. Yet, all of them fulfilled hundreds
of years after the prophecies. Such proof is irrefutable. The Old
Testament as we find it in the book we call the Bible came from God.
It contains hundreds of references to the Christ. All of these
references were fulfilled when Jesus came upon the scene and lived in
the flesh.
     Jesus came to earth nineteen centuries ago to establish His
kingdom, which He did. Jesus did not come to just give another
religion, but to establish the true religion of Heaven for all people
of all times. It is the religion found in the Bible, God's revealed
truth. It came from God. It is of divine origin. It is that truth that
today saves mankind, when one believes and obeys it.
     As we began our study this morning, we close with the same
statement, Jesus did not come to this earth to make man religious; He
came to make man religiously right. In the words of those who saw and
heard him, "Never a man spake as this man." You, my friend, must
listen to Him. Search His will and then with a willing and believing
heart, obey His commands.

Return to Index
Home