Buddhism
Buddhism and Christianity both aspire to very high
ethical standards. Both religions call for all people to show love to each
other and avoid hurting anyone. Buddha's teachings are certainly commendable.
If everybody followed his example then the world would be a happier place.
Likewise, if everybody followed Jesus then this would be a much
better place.
Existence of God
Creation
However
Christians and Buddhists disagree on the fundamental issue of God. Christians
firmly believe that God exists, and that He is responsible for creating the
world and everything that is in it.
By
looking around us we can see the great beauty of Nature. This is the work, not
of chance and luck, but of a great, kind, wise God. Christians believe that the
great world in which we live is the result of Creation.
Justice
Christians
believe in a fair and loving God who will show justice to everybody. When we
die in this world we are judged by God according to what we have done.
Christians do not believe we are reborn
on Earth after we die. Christians believe that when we die we pass into an
after−life of either Heaven or Hell. Our souls are immortal and will stay in
one of those places for eternity.
Perfection
No−one
is perfect
Christians
believe that we will never be perfect, nor will we ever achieve
"enlightenment" by ourselves. We can never achieve inner peace by our
own means. No matter how much we try we will always fail in this respect.
The
great news is that it does not matter. God says that he will forgive us
even though we are not perfect. He will save us simply because he is so kind.
He loved us so much that he sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.
Instead of each of us being punished for our sins, Jesus Christ suffered in our
place.
All that we have to do is
to ask God to forgive us. It is so simple. Everything that we have done in the
past is forgotten. We will have a new beginning in our lives, and when we die
we will go to Heaven. Jesus Christ is our way to salvation.
Philosophy
There
are many religions in the world today, most of them claiming that their
religion is the only way to find God. So why should anyone believe the
Christian religion and not those other religions? To answer this question we
have to go back to the very basics. We must examine God and human nature and
try to understand the relationship between them.
God
A Creator is the natural
answer to the existence of the Earth, life and human consciousness. It is only
because some people reject God for philosophical reasons that the theories of
Big Bang and Evolution were formed and are believed. For more information on
this topic go to
Evolution and Christianity
Also remember,
as Blaise Pascal wrote in his wager, we have nothing to lose by believing in
God. If he does not exist, then we will die and become dust, never knowing that
he does not exist. If he does exist and we believe then we will go to Heaven
and experience eternal bliss. Even if we cannot be 100% sure in the existence
of God we do have a sufficient burden of proof to give him the benefit of the
doubt.
Assuming that
God does exist, we must accept that he is perfect and wise. To have created
this Earth in all its beauty and to have planned the future of the Universe
required an all−powerful God.
Human
nature
Opposed to this
great and magnificent God we have people. The Christian religion paints the
only true and clear picture of human nature. It says that all men are sinful
and unhappy in our natural state. The evidence for this is that we will do
anything to avoid thinking about our own spiritual condition. We will absorb
ourselves in work and entertainment just to keep us diverted from our own
misery.
I
will again use the words of Blaise Pascal to re−enforce this point:
Men are
entrusted from infancy with the care of their honour, their property, their
friends, and even with the property and the honour of their friends. They are
overwhelmed with business,
Thus
they are given cares and business which make them bustle about from break of
day. It is, you will exclaim, a strange way to make them happy! What more could
be done to make them miserable?−−Indeed! what could be done? We should only
have to relieve them from all these cares; for then they would see themselves:
they would reflect on what they are, whence they came, whither they go, and
thus we cannot employ and divert them too much. And this is why, after having
given them so much business, we advise them, if they have some time for
relaxation, to employ it in amusement, in play, and to be always fully
occupied.
How hollow and full of ribaldry is the heart of man!
The Solution
The
solution to this misery is what makes Christianity unique. Every other religion
in the world says that we can work our way to Heaven and into God's favour.
Christianity says that our works are useless because they are motivated by self−love,
and the desire for approval and applause from others.
The
only way to Heaven is by asking God for forgiveness. It is not by works, but by
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we are saved and forgiven. Jesus Christ died
and endured our punishment so that we could go free and not be held guilty. All
that God asks of us is that we are sorry for our sin, and that we believe in
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
This
is the real reason to believe Christianity. It makes sense. If God exists then
we must accept that he is perfect. Man is naturally miserable and motivated by
lust. So how can we please God by our own works? The answer is that we cannot,
so God does not ask us to. All that he asks is that we turn from our old sinful
way of life and believe.
Not
only does philosophy show that Christianity is correct, there are also signs
from the life of Jesus Christ who lived on this Earth 2000 years ago. by
examining his life we can see that Jesus was special.
As
you are probably aware, Jesus had twelve disciples. Of these disciples, four
have written an account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection which are
recorded in the Bible. These gospels are not exactly the same. Matthew may
leave out a parable which Jesus told while Mark includes it. Luke may not
record a particular miracle, but John has.
It is accepted that there
was no collusion between the writers. They did not sit around a table, create a
plot and then write about it. We can assume that these writers saw what Jesus
did and then recorded it later based on their own memory. I believe that these
records are a fair representation of Jesus' life. Therefore, from these records
I will try to show why Jesus was special.
(I
strongly recommend that you download a copy of the Bible. It covers the subjects which I have to summarise so much. A preacher once said
that if a man spent only 10 minutes reading the Bible he would be convinced
that Jesus was the Son of God.)
Miracles
Jesus performed
dozens of breathtaking miracles on this Earth. He healed many, many sick
people, he walked on water and he turned water into wine. There are many, many
more examples but I hope you will accept that Jesus performed supernatural signs
and wonders.
These signs had
to be done with the power of God. Jesus was not an ordinary man. He had special
powers which we do not have.
Prophecies
The Old
Testament, recorded by the Jews contain hundreds of prophecies about the
promised Messiah. This was to be someone who would save Israel from her plight.
Jesus fulfilled
every prophecy regarding the Messiah. These were made hundreds of years before
Jesus lived, yet they describle with amazing clarity, Jesus' life. Again I
believe there was a supernatural power, namely God, which revealed these
details to the prophets thousands of years ago. (For a more in depth look at
some of the prophecies which Jesus
Teachings
The teachings of Christ are the
blueprint for a satisfied life. They show how we should live and what we should
avoid. While other religions put an emphasis on actions, Christ taught us to
consider our thoughts as much as what we actually do.
From my
personal experience I can assure you that these laws work. They are a framework
for healthy and enjoyable relationships between ourselves, others and God.
In my opinion
they could not be the produce of a human mind, they could only have been made
by God.
Christ's
Death
Jesus was
crucified. I believe that this was an event planned by God which allowed us to
be saved from our sins. The true signifance of this act is developed at a later
stage. At the moment my only purpose is to show that God and Christ were acting
as one so I will not dwell on the amazing mercy and kindness which God shows
us. For more info on this please go to Christ the substitute
When Jesus
died, God showed his power. He brought darkness over the world for three hours.
"The earth shook and rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of
many holy people who had died were raised to life. They ... went into the holy
city and appeared to many people."
I
firmly believe that Christ rose again from the dead. Firstly, it is recorded in
all 4 gospels. These writers saw Christ risen again.
Secondly,
Paul, who did not actually see Christ risen, wrote an interesting letter to the
Corinthians. He says that he believed that Jesus was risen. His evidence of
this was that Jesus had first been seen by Peter (a disciple), then by all the
other disciples, and finally by over five hundred people. If we had been alive
in those days we could have asked any of these five hundred people and they
could say that they had seen Jesus risen from the dead.
Finally
I believe that the disciples must have really seen Christ risen, or else they
would not have been so committed against persecution. It is hard to believe
that these men would have endured such pain if they knew that this was a lie.
If we accept that Christ
rose from the dead then we cannot really doubt that God was not only involved
but the reason for it.
Blaise Pascal again has the most profound summary of this:
We
know God only by Jesus Christ. Without this mediator, all communion with God is
taken away; through Jesus Christ we know God. All those who have claimed to
know God, and to prove Him without Jesus Christ, have had only weak proofs. But
in proof of Jesus Christ we have the prophecies, which are solid and palpable
proofs. And these prophecies, being accomplished and proved true by the event,
mark the certainty of these truths and, therefore, the divinity of Christ.
In Him, then, and through
Him, we know God. Apart from Him, and without the Scripture, without original
sin, without a necessary mediator promised and come, we cannot absolutely prove
God, nor teach right doctrine and right morality. But through Jesus Christ, and
in Jesus Christ, we prove God, and teach morality and doctrine. Jesus Christ
is, then, the true God of men.
But
we know at the same time our wretchedness; for this God is none other than the
Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well by knowing our
iniquities. Therefore those who have known God, without knowing their
wretchedness, have not glorified Him, but have glorified themselves.
I
hope that I have convinced you that Christ was the Son of God. It does require
faith to believe in Him, but I would really urge you to think on these things.
There
now follows a short series on why we need to be saved. If we believe that Jesus
is the Son of God then we have to accept Him as part of our lives. I will try
to cover why everyone needs to be saved, and how you CAN be saved.
There
may be a few people who consider themselves to have led a blameless life. I
have never met you, and I know nothing about you but I do know that everyone,
even the most proud, will realise that they have done hurtful things to others.
We try to keep these instances out of our mind or try to excuse them in some
way, but please do not close up your heart on this occasion.
Most people will feel that
they are not perfect. You will realise you have done things which you regret.
This is natural because there is no−one flawless. We have all done things in
our past which we wish we had not done.
Good life
Now
you may be saying that you have done some things wrong in the past, but overall
you have led a very good life, helping and caring for others. To answer this I
will use the words of John Calvin:
For,
since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of
righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself.
And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very
great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human
pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as
if it were most pure. Just so, as an eye, to which nothing but black had been
previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue,
to be perfectly white.
By
human standards we may be above the common level, but this does not mean we are
perfect. Rather than comparing ourselves to others, we should compare ourselves
to what we could be if we were completely innocent.
Justice
It
is true that God will punish us for what we have done, unless we ask Him not
to. To be saved really is that simple, we simply have to ask God to forgive us
for all those moments in life that we regret and wished had never happened.
Some
people say God is cruel if he lets anyone go to Hell. But God is treating us
fairly for our sin. Justice is one of the greatest virtues that there is.
Imagine a world where no−one is punished for the things they have done. Murder,
theft and rape would be out of control.
God has also provided a very simple way of escape. It is not his
fault if we do not accept it.
Forgiveness
We
are not perfect, and we are not capable of pleasing God through our own works.
But God still loves us and will forgive us if we ask him to.
Even
if we could be saved through the good things that we do, why would this be any
better? The great beauty of Christianity, is that God tells us that he does not
want payment for our sins. He offers free forgiveness. You do not have to save
up for thirty years of your life to pay your debt to God, you can have the
total certainty of salvation at this very moment.
We
have all done things which are wrong, which we deserve to be punished for.
However God loves us, so he has provided a way to avoid any suffering. He cared
for us so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.
Jesus Christ came to this
Earth to take our place, and suffer for our sins. Instead of each of us being
punished as we deserve to be, Christ endured our punishment for us.
Jesus Christ died for us
Jesus
Christ suffered the punishment which all of our sins deserve. He died a
terrible death, so that we could be free. He gave himself to die for us and yet
we continue to reject him.
He
died nailed to a cross made of wood. He wore a crown of thorns that dug deep
into his head. He felt the piercing nails through his hands and feet. He went
through the slowest, most painful death imaginable, not because he had sinned,
but because we had.
Just
take a few seconds to think of the pain he endured because he loved us, and yet
many still refuse to accept him as our Saviour.
Resurrection
But
Christ conquered death. He defeated it, and on the third day rose from the
dead. We know that he rose from the dead because of eye−witness accounts. We
are told that over five hundred (500) people saw Jesus after he rose again. If
we had been living at this time we could have asked any of these people and
they could tell us that he had risen again.
Christ
died and rose again. He suffered a terrible death so that we could find
salvation. We are not good enough to please God by our own works, so God does
not ask us to. All that we have to do is to ask God to forgive us and try to
follow him. This is so simple, but so important. Ask God to forgive you today.
Do not suffer the punishment for your sins when Christ has already offered to
take your place.
Turn away from your sins
Repent
Admit
to God that you realise you are a sinner, and that you are angering Him while
you remain like that. You must be sorry for the things that you have done in
the past, and you must try not to repeat them in the future. You cannot have
Christ as your Saviour if you deliberately continue to break his laws.
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.
(Acts 3:19)
Believe that only Jesus Christ is able to save you
Faith
Recognise
that we cannot please God by our own works. The only way that we can be saved
is by having faith that God will forgive us, because Christ died in our place.
Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see
life, for God's wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)
God's Assurances
If you confess and turn
away from your sins and believe that God will save you, He will. If you ask God
to be your saviour he will not refuse you.
Whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (John 6:37)
God will forgive us, but first we must want him to
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