Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha
A Christian response to the "problem" of other religions

Milford Baptist Church, 15 September 2002

John Tucker, Milford Baptist Church, 15 September 2002

You may have seen in the New Zealand Herald earlier this month an article about a Muslim mosque in Ponsonby that was built in 1979 facing the wrong direction. It's direction for prayer is 30 degrees out of line with Mecca. The building is to be renovated so that worshippers there praying in the right direction. You may have seen on television that one of the new MPs in Parliament swore his oath of allegiance not on the Bible but the Koran. He is New Zealand's first Muslim member of parliament. Islam. Buddhism. Hinduism. New Zealand is now awash with other religions. Behind the issue of suffering, this smorgasbord of religious options is second most common objection that people on Alpha courses raise against Christianity.  Why become a Christian? How is Christianity any different from Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism? Have you ever asked that question? Ever been asked that question? What makes Jesus unique?

Turn with me to Acts 4:8-12. Peter and John, two of Jesus' best friends, have just miraculously healed a forty-year-old beggar who was crippled from birth. A large crowd gathers. Peter and John are arrested and put on trial. They're asked, "By what power or in whose name did you do this?" And this is what Peter says...

What is unique about Jesus?

Firstly, Jesus is unique in his nature. According to Peter, Jesus is the "Christ" (4:10) and "the author of life" (3:15). The early church worshipped Jesus as God. That immediately sets him apart from all the leaders of the other great world religions. Muslims don't worship Mohammed. Mohammed himself wrote in the Koran, "Allah forbid that he himself should beget a son."  In early or classical Buddhism Buddha was not worshipped as divine. But Jesus was and is worshipped as the Son of God, the sovereign ruler of the universe.

Secondly, Jesus is unique in his achievement. He is not just the Son of God; the Bible says he is the Saviour of the world. Peter asserts, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (4:12). None of the other great religions even claim to have a Saviour. Mohammed is regarded as a great prophet, not a saviour. The Buddha is regarded as a great teacher, not a saviour. "Strive without ceasing" were the last words he spoke to his followers. Save yourself. By contrast, Jesus says, "You can't save yourself, and you know it. Let me. I died for you, in your place, to save you from the power and the penalty of your guilt and sin.

Thirdly, Jesus is unique in his resurrection. Peter described him as "one whom God raised from the dead" (4:10). In the Koran there is no suggestion that Mohammed rose to life again. The Pali Canon of Buddhism records the great entrance of Buddha into Nirvana, but there is no suggestion that he will continue to be present with his followers after his death. By contrast, Jesus is alive today. We can know him personally. Sadhu Sundhar Singh was an Indian brought up in a Sikh home. In his teens he abandoned that religion and became a follower of Jesus and later became an itinerant evangelist. One day he visited a Hindu college and was asked by a professor of religion what he had found in Christianity that he had not found in his old religion. He replied, "I have Christ." Yes, I know," the professor said a little impatiently, "But what particular principle or doctrine have you found that you did not have before?" "The particular thing I found," he said, "is Christ."

Jesus is unique as the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, the One who has risen from the dead, and is alive with us today. Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me" (John 14:6). He claimed to be the only way to God. But if Jesus is the only way to God that raises two major questions that all we need to ask. The first question is this:

What about the other religions?

Do we have to write every other religion off as totally misguided or demonic? The fact that Jesus is the truth - the ultimate standard by which all truth claims must be tested - does not mean that echoes of the truth cannot be found in other religions. The Bible suggests, in fact, that we should expect to find fragments of the truth about God in other religions, for at least two main reasons.

Firstly, God has made the world in a way that reveals his nature. The apostle Paul says: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what is made, so that people are without excuse" (Rom 1:20). Sir Isaac Newton, the brilliant physicist and mathematician, agreed. He said: "In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence."

Secondly, God has made human beings in his image with the ability to discern between right and wrong. Paul says of us that "the requirements of God's law are written on their hearts, their consciences" (Rom 2:15). So it's not surprising, for example, that the essence of the golden rule - "Do to others what you would have them do to you" - is contained in every major religion from Confucius onwards.

A little while ago I was travelling with Lorraine on a dusty old train through Morocco. Sitting across the carriage from us was a very severe looking Muslim by the name of Mohammed. He was reciting - and memorising - the Koran. At first glance I remember thinking, "He looks like a hardened, merciless Muslim fundamentalist." We got talking. We discussed his faith. He was one of the most gracious, winsome people I've met. There was a lot of good, a lot of truth, in what he said. I didn't need to feel threatened by that. We should expect to find pockets of truth in other religions. But having said that, it would be illogical to say that all religions are equally true. How, for example, can religions that deny there is a god and religions that assert there is a god both be equally true? If there is a contradiction between religions there must be error somewhere. And Jesus is "the truth," the standard by which to determine what is right and what is wrong. But that raises one other question. If Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, the only way to God...

What about the people who have never heard of Jesus? 

Are they all damned? Is there no hope for them? That doesn't seem fair? How can God punish the vast majority of the human race for not believing in Jesus even though they never had a chance to believe in him? What does the Bible say? It doesn't answer this question directly. We can't know for sure what will happen to people who have never heard about Jesus. But some things we do know.

Firstly, we know that whatever happens on the final judgment day, God will be just. Abraham, the father of the Israelite people, asked God the rhetorical question: "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25). The answer is, "Of course he will."

Secondly, we know from the Bible that it is possible to be saved through faith in God even without a precise knowledge of Jesus. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3). So too Job and Jethro and David... God judged them - and judges everyone - on the basis of the light they had received and whether they responded to that light in faith and obedience.

And thirdly, we know from the Bible that God is going to win the battle in the end. Paul assures us that the vast majority of the human race will be saved because Christ's work in bringing salvation will be more successful than Adam's efforts in causing ruin (Rom 5:15-21). Do you know someone who maybe didn't really ever hear the truth about Jesus but who responded to the light they had received? You may yet see them again in heaven.

One of my all-time-favourite books is The Last Battle. It is a story about the land of Narnia, a magical land ruled by the great Lion, Aslan. In the story, enemy Tarkaan armies invade Narnia. The Tarkaans don't serve Aslan, they serve an evil god called Tash. At the very close of the story, Aslan appears in order to close down Narnia and judge its every inhabitant. When one of the Tarkaan soldiers comes before him, an incredible, utterly unexpected thing happens. The great Lion bends down his golden head and touches the soldier's forehead with his tongue and says, "Son, thou art welcome." In awe, the man stammers, "Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash." And Aslan answers, "Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me...For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him." You thought you were serving another god. You were really serving me. It is quite possible that people who have not heard the name of Jesus, but responded in faith and obedience to the light God gave them, will be in heaven.

But if that's the case, you may be asking one final question: why bother, then, to tell people about Jesus? Without knowing about Jesus no one can have the assurance of God's love and forgiveness. And it's only through knowing Jesus that anyone can really experience the fullness of life that God offers us here and now. Jesus is not only "the way" and "the truth." He is also "the life". So we have a responsibility to look for opportunities to share - with humility and respect and courage - the good news about Jesus with people of other faiths, people with no faith, people who haven't yet heard.

I'm reminded of a scene in the movie, Saving Private Ryan. A squad of GIs, led by a captain played by Tom Hanks, undertakes a daring mission to find and rescue Private Ryan, whose three brothers have already been killed in World War II. The assignment is a dangerous one behind enemy lines. Several of the rescuers die on the way. At the very end of the movie, Private Ryan, the main object of the entire mission, comes across the captain lying mortally wounded, dying. The captain looks around him at the devastation resulting from an entire battle fought to save this one man, and then he looks Private Ryan in the eye and says: "Earn this." They are the last words of the film. "Earn this." In other words, make it count. Live in a way that proves worthy of this sacrifice on your behalf. And that's what Jesus says to each one of us: "I came for you. I died for you, so that you might live, really live. I love you. And I love them too. Your friend, your neighbour, your workmate, I died for them too. So make it count. Let them know. Live in a way that proves worthy of my sacrifice."
 

Study Questions

1. How would you answer someone who asks you why they should follow Jesus rather than Mohammed or Buddha? What do you think it is that sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world? See Colossians 2:9.

2. C.S. Lewis said, "If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth." Do you agree?

3. How would you answer someone who says: "What happens to all the millions of people who have never heard the truth about Jesus?" What do you think happens to little babies that die in infancy?

4. Are you interested in doing some further reading on this topic? Try Nicky Gumbel, Searching Issues (Kingsway, 1994, ch 2); John Stott, The Contemporary Christian (IVP, 1992, ch 18), Clark Pinnock, A Wideness in God's Mercy (Zondervan, 1992), C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Collins, 1952, pp.39-42).