Today, I just happened to see this video on YouTube in which a young man (who looks like a South Indian) with a Hindu background in the United States asking a Christian Preacher the following questions,
Q1-"Why is it that the person who calls himself Christian murders and says sorry to Jesus and is being accepted and will go to heaven, and then a person who did all good moral things but did not accept Jesus will go to hell ?" Is it fair? Does the good person following morals and values don’t deserve to go to heaven?
and
Q2- "Why is it that YOUR GOD is true and our god is false, why is it (Christian) GOD and not some other gods?"
I perceive this young person as intellectual and innocent, who wants to understand the truth behind what he hears from preachers and his Christian friends. He notices the lifestyle of his Christian friends and acquaintances, which does not match their morals and values, and he follows as being taught by his non-Christian family background good morals and values, yet they claim that Christian God is alone is GOD and only those who believe in Christ will go to heaven and others even if they are good will go to hell.
Like this young person here, some of you, perhaps many of you, have this kind of question: Why is this exclusivity being preached in Christianity? Why do they claim that Christianity alone leads to heaven or Moksha?
I began to ponder on these questions of this Young Person. Several questions ran across my mind and the answers for them as well. First, let me try to deal with the second question and then I will dwell on the first question. This explanation will be in 2 parts of writing – part 1 and part 2. Part 1 will deal with the second question and part 2 will deal with the first question.
Who created Religion?
First of all, God never created religion. Religion is man-made. Christ did not come to establish a religion called Christianity. It is documented in the Bible (Acts 11:26) that the disciples of Jesus Christ were called "Christians" for the very first time in history at a place called Antioch (presently located in Turkey) by the locals of that region. The term " Christian" was coined by the non-Christian Gentiles of Antioch in the Roman Empire. This nomenclature (naming) happened many years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The term "Christianity" was first recorded as used by Ignatius of Antioch around 100 AD.
Similarly, there was no such name called Hinduism in ancient days. The term "Hindu" originated around 515 BCE when the Persian king Darius the Great annexed the Indus Valley to his empire. The word "Hindu" comes from the word Sindhu, which means "river." The Persians mispronounced the word and called the land around the Indus River "Hindu".
The earliest record that refers to "Hindoo" or "Hindu" as a religion may be the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by Xuanzang.
In the 16th century, the Persian-speaking Mughals conquered northern India and called the country Hindustan and its people Hindu.
In the 17th century, the British began to use the term Hindu to describe the people living in the subcontinent.
The term "Hinduism" came into common use in the 19th century.
From the above historical facts it is understood that religion is man-made.
One God? Why not many Gods? And What is His Intention?
Father, Son or the Word and the Holy Spirit are One God. Triune God. God created man in His image and likeness. Like the Soul, Body, and Spirit of a person. All three comprise a man.
Other than this Sovereign, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, creator of the universe there is no other God.
Jesus says in Mark 12: 29-21
29 Jesus answered The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord;
30 And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.
Also, polytheism, or worship of more than one God or many Gods is man-made. There is only one God who is the creator of Heaven and Earth.
God did not intend to establish a religion. But what God did intend to establish was HIS KINGDOM, to mend mankind's broken relationship with their Creator and establish a Covenant Relationship with Mankind by saving them.
Jesus, when He was living in the region of Israel, preached “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.” (Matthew 3:2) The word "repent" is mentioned as metanoeite in Greek, which means "to change one's heart and mind." More literally, it means to change direction, to stop going the wrong way, and to start going in the right way. This was done during the times when the religious activities of the Pharisees and Sadducees were at their peak, and they were oppressing the common people with their twisted interpretations of the laws of Moses and the Torah. Jesus Christ was telling everyone, “ Change your mind, you all are going in the wrong direction. See, the Kingdom of God has come very near to you. Leave this kingdom of darkness and religion mindset, and come into the Kingdom of God.” When Jesus was asked by the audience “Where is the Kingdom of God as we don’t see it? He said the Kingdom of God is not in plain sight, it is inside you. When you allow God to reign over you by accepting the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you come into the Kingdom of God. This is mentioned in Colossians 1: 13-15
13 [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins.
15 [Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation.
Religion, laws, sin, and the results of sin enslave a person and make a person far from God, while Christ came to liberate and bring people into a relationship with God.
Why Should I Accept a Foreign God? God of the Jews or Christians?
The only Almighty God, the Creator of all, chose a sample of an entire population of the past, present, and future world – the descendants of Abraham with a Covenant, his son Isaac, and his son, Jacob, and the 12 tribes of Israel to demonstrate His covenant relationship with humankind and also to fulfill the salvation plan of the entire mankind. That is the reason God chose Israel. But that does not mean that salvation pertains only to Israelites. Since Jesus was born in Israel, he is not a Jewish God. He does not belong exclusively to Christians or the God of Christianity. He is the God of the entire universe, galaxies, and undiscovered parts of the creations of all ages.
Colossians 1: 16 and 17
16 For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.
17 And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).
Why Preach Jesus Christ?
Through the Bible Scriptures, it is revealed the Salvation of Mankind through Jesus Christ; there are two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness. The mandate is given to the disciples of Jesus Christ to preach what Jesus Christ taught and make disciples of all the nations.
Matthew 28: 18-20
18 Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).
This is the reason, many followers of Christ preach about Jesus Christ and accept Him as the Lord and Savior of their lives.
The truth is that those who accept Jesus Christ will receive eternal life.
John 3:14-17
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],
15 In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!
16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him
John 3:36
36 And he who believes in (has faith in, clings to, relies on) the Son has (now possesses) eternal life. But whoever disobeys (is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is not subject to) the Son will never see (experience) life, but [instead] the wrath of God abides on him. [God’s displeasure remains on him; His indignation hangs over him continually.
What is Eternal Life?
Eternal life is the everlasting life. Jesus Christ defines eternal life in the following verse-
John 17:3
3 And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.
Eternal life is being given to those who accept the Lord Jesus Christ while living on this earth. It is not something that is given only after the death of a Christ-believing, Christ-trusting, and Christ-relying person. Life continues into another dimension.
What is Salvation through Christ?
Romans 10 says
8 But what does it say? The Word (God’s message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,
9 Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation.
11 The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him [who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him] will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.
What is Heaven?
Many religions say that Heaven is a realm of the afterlife that is rewarded to those who did good in their previous life. In some religions such as Hinduism, if the deeds of people are good, they will break their rebirth cycle and enter into Moksha. There will be no rebirth for that soul.
Is it right to preach Jesus as a Ticket to Heaven?
Many religion speaks about life after death. It is by far believed by all religions that Heaven is a place given to good people and hell to bad people. Those in the Christian world also preach about heaven and that those who accept Jesus will go to heaven.
The Bible says that those who are saved by believing, trusting, and relying on the Lord Jesus Christ, their soul is saved and receive eternal life and they are already seated in the heavenly places with Christ. The realm which is unseen now and will become more real in the afterlife.
Ephesians 2: 6
6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Yes, Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY to receive eternal life, be with the Father God, be co-heirs with Christ, and have access to all earthly and heavenly blessings.
To Be Continued.....
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