How Can There Be Just One True Religion?

In a world full of choices, people are naturally skeptical, especially if you claim there is only one true religion. How can that be the case since there are so many different beliefs out there? Isn’t it kind of arrogant to say that they are all wrong and you, being Christian, are the only one who is right?

Sure, it would sound arrogant if it wasn’t true. 

Let’s compare this to finding a cure for cancer. If someone found a cure, would we reject it because there are so many other possible cures, or would we accept the cure and be healed? If the cure was proven to cure cancer, you bet people would be climbing over each other to accept it. In contrast, why does it seem so hard to believe there is one cure for the human soul? Do people need to be “cured” from something? Anyone who is even slightly observant can see that the human race has a problem. We can’t seem to find peace amongst ourselves, and we can’t stop hurting each other. Why is that?

Here is another thing people don’t like to hear – human beings have a sin problem. A sin is anything that intentionally hurts another person, and this includes immoral acts against God, our creator and moral lawgiver. Just like the laws of nature, there are laws of human nature, too.

Innately, most of us have a sense of morality, i.e. we know it is not right to kill an innocent person. And there are other moral senses that we live by rooted in the Golden Rule – a common principle found in many religions. However, just because the Golden Rule is commonly found in many faith systems doesn’t mean that these beliefs are 100% correct in all things. Some have just a part of the truth but the fullness of truth resides in the person of Jesus Christ. How can I make such a bold statement? I didn’t. Jesus said it first:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” John 14:6

Jesus Christ said he is The Truth. So, what is truth? Objective truth it is that which lines up with reality. Subjective truth is what an individual prefers, (i.e. chocolate ice cream is the best). To then apply this to a belief, if one religion is verifiable, not based on subjective feelings but on historical evidence, why not start with that one? 

1. Jesus was a real, historical person. Credible historians grant this, and along with this fact, Christ had a massive influence on the world. Does a simple Jewish carpenter have that much affect on culture and society if there wasn’t something particularly special about him? No ordinary man can affect such radical changes. 
   
2. The Resurrection of Christ really happened. This is hard for many people to believe today because culture has succumbed to a scientific mindset that does not believe anything supernatural is credible. Yet when examining all the facts of what happened the day the Roman soldiers crucified Jesus and buried him in a tomb, the best explanation of what happened was that Christ rose again, in a new, resurrected body. Here is a good point—if there is a God, then miracles are possible, the biggest one being why there is something rather than nothing.
   
3. If Jesus died and then rose again in a new, resurrected body, wouldn’t that be a good reason to consider the claim that Christianity is the one true religion? Personally, I would trust Jesus over some dead guru or other religious leader who still lies in the grave.
   
4. Christianity has the solution to humanity’s sin problem, and it’s an amazing gift! Why? Because Christianity is the only religion in the world that covers all of our sins through the perfect life lived by Jesus. He paid the price, living a perfect, moral life, and offered himself up as a sacrifice in our place. We just need to believe it by faith, and not blind faith. But faith based on evidence of what we know to be true from the eye-witness accounts of those who lived to tell the story in the Gospels.

Only Two Religions in the World?

When it comes right down to it, there are really only two religions in the world. • WORKS: One says that the answer to humanity’s problem with sin is man – being good enough; gaining enough karma; knocking on enough doors; keeping enough rules – the law; making the right sacrifices; it’s up to us to be “good enough.”

• FAITH (grace-based): The other says that we can’t save ourselves – that God had to come down in the person of Jesus Christ to bear humanity’s sin, take our punishment, and then offer salvation based solely on that sacrifice. We repent and believe that Jesus is good enough for the entire human race because only God could redeem the image of God.

The way to salvation is narrow,  but God’s love isn’t. Jesus loved people even though they had done wrong.  

Consider Zaccheus (Luke 19:1)… His name means “pure one.” Yet this man was anything but pure, until he received Jesus. By the meaning of his name, he should have been a puritan (in the best sense), but he was a tax collector. In ancient times, this was a job in which men were typically notorious swindlers, a subtle but griping extortioner, and a rich but wretched sycophant (a ‘yes’-man, or a brown-noser). But Jesus offered him salvation anyway.

What about the women at the well (John 4)? Samaritans had strayed from monotheism and occasionally worshipped other gods (that’s why the Jews avoided them).  In first century Palestine, a woman could not initiate divorce except in extremely rare circumstances. Therefore, the Samaritan woman’s five former husbands must have either divorced her or died. The main point is that Jesus paid no attention whatsoever to social stigmas that diminished the woman. He still offered salvation to her.
 
Jesus’ message was that nobody is good, everyone has sinned, and everyone needs a Savior (see Mark 10:18). God loves everybody and He is seeking everybody (Luke 19:10).

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

Christianity is inclusive but narrow. Anyone can be born again, through faith in Jesus Christ, to become saved (read John 3:1-21). If people cannot accept this, if they insist there must be another way, or they want more choices, then ask them why they believe that? Why must there be more than one way? We have a lot of things that are only one: one body, one earth, one sky… so why is it so hard to believe there is only one way to heaven?

If you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please contact me. I’d love to pray with you!