Why Christianity?

After one has accepted that there is a god, how does that person find the God?  There are to many religions to list, or count for that matter, as some say that there are as many religions as are individuals on Earth, each haveing his own personal belief.  Where can you find the truth in all of this?  First, you have ruled-out many religions by accepting that there is a Creator who sustains His creation.  But now what?  I cannot rule-out each false religion one-by-one in this setting, but I will pose a few questions which you must consider.

First, would this creator, which existed before time, nay, created time itself, be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient?  I say yes! If He made all then certainly there is no power greater than His, and nothing He could not control?  If He created time and space, could He be restrained by either time or space?  Again, if He created all, can there be anything He is unaware of?


Now let us continue this line of thought a bit further.  If we conclude that this god is omnipotent, would we expect Him to be able to control heaven and Earth in order to fulfill His will?  I would.  If we have concluded that this god is omniscient, would we expect Him to reveal himself as the one true God through prophecy?  I would.  If we conclude that this god is omniscient, would we expect God to be able to know our hearts and thoughts?  I say certainly yes.

I am no professor of religions, but I know of no other god who could fit these qualifications other than the Judeo-Christian God.  If an individual can show me a religion where their god does meet these qualifications I am more than willing to investigate that religion with an open mind, not because of my lack of faith but because I am confident in my faith. So now we are left with Judaism and Christianity.  So, what separates these two religions when they both serve the same God some may ask.  In a simple answer, a new covenant made between God and man, sealed by the sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God incarnate.  Any serious research will reveal that Jesus was indeed a historical figure, and as stated by Dr. Geisler:

 The primary sources for the life of Christ are the four Gospels.  However there are considerable reports from non-Christian sources that supplement and confirm the Gospel accounts.  These come largely from Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Samaritan sources of the first century.  In brief they inform us that:

1. Jesus was from Nazareth
2. he lived a wise and virtuous life;
3. he was crucified in Palestine under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tibrius Caesar at Passover time, being considered the Jewish King;
4. he was believed by his disciples to have been raised from the dead three days later;
5. his enemies acknowledged that he performed unusual feats they called 'sorcery';
6. his small band of disciples multiplied rapidly, spreading even as far as Rome;
7. his disciples denied polytheism, lived moral lives, and worshiped Christ as Divine.

This picture confirms the view of Christ presented in the New Testament Gospels.  (Geisler, Norman L. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.  Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998 p384-385)

Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, although denied by many Jewish leaders.  Consider now, we have great evidence that Jesus was a true historical figure, he was accepted by many Jews and Gentiles as the promised Christ, but rejected by the religious leaders.  Why would this be?  I surmise that these leaders rejected Jesus because of what He represented, a new era that would overturn their religious government which had become corrupted.

Now, Jesus as the Christ identifies Christianity as a unique religion, one in which man no longer makes sacrifices to a god or gods but where God has made himself a perfect sacrifice for all mankind, all we must do is to accept the blood shed on our behalf.  There are volumes of information pointing to the Judeo-Christian God as the one true God, as well as for Jesus being God incarnate, self-sacrificed for our salvation.  These volumes are to tremendous to document in this format, but if anyone should have specific questions I will either address them in the comments section on this page, or choose to post a new entry on this blog on the subject.