Allah, Zeus, Jesus, Brahma, Buddha. The world is full of gods and religious figures. Who do you choose to follow? One of them? All of them? None of them? What’s the determining factor?
Many claim that it simply comes down to where you live in the world and what your parents believe. But is faith really that subjective? Or are there good reasons to choose one way over all the other ways? With all the options available, and with diverse religions showing dominance in different regions of the world, what makes one faith better than any other?
An area of high concern is the 10:40 Window. This term refers to the area between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator, extending from North Africa to the Philippines.
In that window lies almost two thirds of the world’s population, and 85 per cent of them are among the poorest on the planet. Most are Buddhist, Hindu or Islamic. Several of the nations are close to 100% Islamic, and in many cases the government operates under Islamic law.
From a Christian perspective this is the least evangelized part of the world, with only three missionaries for every million Muslims. It is also the most dangerous area. One Christian is martyred every 3 minutes in this world, and most occur within that window. One and a half billion people have never even heard the name of Jesus, and the majority of them live in that window.
But there’s a difference between being unreached and being unreachable. For example, in 1989 there were only four known Christians living in all of Mongolia. Today, there are over 40,000. The message of Jesus is powerful and produces incredible results. Even in this very closed and dangerous part of the world, it is possible for the message of Jesus to have a dramatic impact.
The question is, should it? Should Christians be actively promoting their faith in areas of the world that predominantly rejects Christianity? Is there validity to global evangelization? Even in the West, should Christians be sharing the message of Jesus and presenting Him as the right choice?
That is certainly not a new question, but in recent years there has been a mounting belief that no one way is better than any other. They are all equal, so no religion should present itself as the right choice.
But Christians maintain that Jesus is not only the best choice; He’s the only choice. He is the only true way, and people everywhere need to place their faith in Him. Because of this assertion, Christians have frequently been accused of being arrogant, intolerant and exclusive.
However, Christians are not the ones making this claim. Jesus Himself made that claim and Christians are merely repeating it. Jesus said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6, New Living Translation)
In society, it seems permissible to make exclusive statements in any area of life except in the area of faith. You can say, “Coke is it. Can’t beat the real thing,” and no one is going to get angry. There may be disagreement, but there will not be accusations of intolerance, arrogance and exclusiveness. Yet as soon as Christians makes an exclusive claim in support of faith in Jesus, they become a target for ridicule.
Consider this: If you were traveling down a road and you were heading for a bridge that had been washed out, would you want someone to tell you? Or would you rather they commend you for your choice of roads and encourage you to keep going your own way?
How about political ideologies, such as Communism, Marxism and Democracy? Are all ideologies equal? Or would you say one way is superior to the others?
Isn’t it possible that one faith is superior to all the others, too? With 21 major world religions on this planet, plus thousands of minor ones, isn’t it possible that one is better than all the others? That one is right and the rest are flawed or misguided?
Some people have the misconception that all faiths are essentially the same. They acknowledge superficial differences, but judge all religions to be fundamentally alike. But in reality, the opposite is true. Faiths may be superficially similar but they are fundamentally different.
Consider some of the differences:
Jesus is God or He is not God. That’s a pretty fundamental difference. There is nothing superficial about it.
When a person dies, he or she ceases to exist, enters into a universal consciousness, is reincarnated as something or someone else, or faces the judgment of God and enters into Heaven or Hell. Again, these are fundamentally different beliefs.
A person is saved through good works or a person is saved only through the grace of God in response to faith. These are completely incompatible beliefs.
There is no God, there is one God, there is a hierarchy of gods, or there are hundreds of thousands of gods (as some Hindu branches believe). Mormons even believe that every male has the potential to become a god. These conflicting beliefs are core issues when it comes to the validity of faith.
It is logically impossible for all religions—all faiths—to be true. They are fundamentally at odds with each other. Only two possibilities remain: either all faiths are false, or there is one that is true and the rest are false. There can be no other option.
If something is true, then that truth cannot be compromised in order to make a person feel good about believing something that is false. When a person believes in a lie, it is still a lie regardless of the strength of the belief. A person can be sincere and be sincerely wrong.
Jesus claimed (and Christians maintain) that He is the only correct choice. He is the only way to God the Father. Perhaps that claim does sound exclusive, but truth by its nature is exclusive. Plus, while that claim itself may be exclusive, the overall message of Jesus is completely inclusive.
Jesus rejects no one based on nationality, skin color, socio-economic position, gender, or background. None of that disqualifies a person from choosing Him. Jesus invites every person to accept Him as the way, the truth and the life.
Written by Greg Hanson
Pastor, author and freelance writer
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