Can be verbalized as ONE of the Following …

Why There Can Only Be One True Religion

Many people accuse Christians of being arrogant when they insist that Christianity is right while others are wrong …

when WE claim that only through Jesus that one can reach God

The claim certainly has the appearance of being arrogant

The Christian seems to be saying to those of other religions  ‘My religion is better than yours’ ‘Mine is right, yours is wrong’

Some People say Christianity promotes exclusivism and has got to be replaced by inclusivism or pluralism

These people tend to say ….

All religions are right.

The pluralist holds that there are many ways to God that all the different religions are just different

paths up the same mountain

•

Yet, as Christians, we hold to what Jesus teaches us … He says “I am the way the truth and the life

No one goes to the Father except through me” John 14:6

The Bible insists that there is no salvation except through Jesus: “And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we

must be saved” Acts 4:12

There are people who claim they are: Catholic, Hindu and Buddhist at the same

time !!!!

This idea that all religions are right, was originally espoused by John Hicks in the form an analogy about

an elephant and three blind men.

John Hicks’ theory

rope

fan

wall

He said that if these blind men were trying to figure out what an elephant was by touch they would describe different things.

The one touching the leg would say it is a tree.

The one touching the ear would say it is a fan. The one touching the tail would say it is a rope

All three men were wrong!

It was not a fan, a rope or a tree that they were touching.

It was an elephant.

The Theory contradicts the law of non-contradiction, which says that something cannot be A and non-A at the same time.

The analogy only is possible if there is a fourth person in it –

one person with eyes who can see the entire reality

•Basically, the law of non-contradiction (LNC) states that two contradictory claims cannot be true at the same time and in the same sense. 

After-life FaithThere is life after death, a heaven and hell, and

faith in Jesus is key to going to heaven;

After-life: there is no personal identity after death … The goal in the afterlife is to

achieve “nirvana,” a state of enlightenment

 

So, it can’t be the case that all religions lead to the same God.

This is because the statement, “there is no such thing as truth” is itself either a true statement or a false one, there are no other options.

If that statement is false, then there is such a thing as truth.

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, ―What is this babbler trying to say?‖ Others remarked,

―He seems to be advocating foreign gods.‖ They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, ―May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.‖ 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. )

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ―People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 ―The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and have our being.‘ As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring.‘

29 ―Therefore since we are God‘s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. (the word ‘repent‘ here is metanoia‘, which means to reconsider or rethink. ) 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed (he’s speaking about Jesus here). He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.

1. St. Paul had built relationships with people of different faiths to his own. (And so should we.)

2. St. Paul had carefully studied other religions (notice how he had studied their idols). (And so should we.)

3. St. Paul was respectful not pushy in his proclamation of the gospel. (And so should we)

4. St. Paul affirmed truth and beauty wherever it was found, even in other religions. (so should we) … In his sermon he quotes two of the famous Greek philosophers

When we say that Jesus is the truth, we do not mean that we alone have all the truth. Christianity claims

that God has revealed himself to EVERYONE through JESUS CHRIST

But the main thing St. Paul does in this sermon is that he shows the uniqueness of our Lord Jesus

Christ

When you study all the great religions you realize that what makes Christianity so distinct is that its founder is so

distinct from the founders of the other great religions.

Confucius

Buddha

Gautama

All made no claim to being anything

more than

humans with

religious insight

Now right here the divinity of Jesus Christgrounded in the Resurrection becomes centrally

important

In no other religion does the founder claim to be God Jesus, unlike other religion founders … claimed to be God

Mohammed said I point you to the truth.‘

Buddha, before dying, said I am still seeking for the truth.‘

Jesus claimed to not only give the truth, but to be the very personal embodiment of it

What makes Christianity unique is the idea of GRACE Grace is undeserved

Only Christianity says you don‘t and can‘t deserve salvation and you will never

deserve it. There is nothing you can do to earn it.

It is a gift of GRACE النعمه .‘

Only Christ tells us that there is nothing we can do that can make God love us more – and there is nothing we can do

that will make God love us less.

All religions are essentially about humans pursuing God (or gods), whereas Christianity is about God pursuing us – and

taking us into relationship with himself, despite the fact that we don‘t deserve it!

Jesus, unlike other religion founders… started and sealed his life with the supernatural.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit … born of the Virgin Mary …

He claimed to be without sin … He challenged the people by asking them

“Which one of you convicts me of sin?” No one answered

In Jesus God became a human person …walked the shores of Galilee … healed the sick …

raised the dead … preached the good news of the Kingdom of God

and ultimately … rose from death to conquer it

All other religious leaders have a time and place where they died.

Only Christ has an empty grave

When the Christian talks about Jesuss/he is sharing what he is convicted to be a best

news for people

• If someone discovered a great restaurant s/he tells people about it

• It isn’t saying “I'm better than you because I know about the Restaurant and you don't”• No … we're merely happy to

pass on the news about the place

WE ARE INDEED HAPPY TO PASS THE NEWS THAT Jesus promised that after he would return to

heaven, he would give the Holy Spirit to those who trusted in him, so that we could actually

experience the presence and reality of Christ now.

True Christianity is not just celebrating and revisiting the memory of Jesus.

It is an invitation to an experiential relationship with him now.

D. T. Niles claims that “Evangelism is simply one beggar

telling another beggar where to find food”

Christians humbly make the claim that in Jesus Christ we have found the Living Bread … the

Living WaterSo COME ALL YOU WHO ARE HUNGRY

AND YOU WHO ARE THIRSTYTO ENJOY THIS ETERNAL AND SOLID TRUTH

Sources

Lee Strobel‘s interview of Ravi Zacharia in The case for faith‘

Tim Keller: The reason for God

Tim Keller sermon: http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/exclusivity-how-can-there-be-just-one-true-religion

Common Ground Church‘s website: tough questions section

An article by Michael Eaton on Christianity and other religions. http://www.slices.org.uk/

Tough Questions Christians Shouldn’t Dodge - Part 4How Can There Be Just One True Religion? 1 John 4:1–10 - 20 April 2008Andrew Lim

Why There Can Only Be One True Religion, By Chuck May

From (2 Chron 17 - 20)

& (Ezr 7 – 10),Define the Reasons of Success in the

Service

CCCA Fayed Conference will be from Friday the 11th till Sunday the 13th of Jan 2013

Cost is 300 EGP by bus, and 260 EGP by car, on full board basis

Reservation is available today (with a down payment of 100 EGP) and next Sunday (full payment)

Wednesday the 6th of Feb will be a Spiritual Day, for Reunion with Level one attendees (Reservation will start next Sunday for 40 EGP)

Last HW is today, and deadline for submission of the rest of HW is the 29th of December please.