A Good Question

"Hi Ray, I have a sincere question: How do you know God is of the Christian variety? Equally devout Muslims disagree. If I'm on the fence, I need a better answer than 'I just KNOW. God has revealed himself to me.'"

Good question. The thing that makes Christianity utterly unique is the cross. For it to make sense you have to back up from Jesus to Moses. He was the one who received the Ten Commandments from the hand of God. The Law of Moses was given to reveal God's standard of "righteousness."

Now zoom forward about 1500 years to the time of Jesus. He was God in human form who came to earth to "magnify the Law and make it honorable." You can see Him do that in the famous "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). During that sermon He quotes the Seventh Commandment (about adultery) and then says, "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." So let's think about that one Commandment for a moment. If God is going to judge us on Judgment Day by that (very high) standard, who of us would be guiltless and avoid Hell?

So humanity has a problem. All of us have violated God’s Law. He is a perfect judge, and we are guilty criminals, heading for a just and terrible punishment for our "multitude" of crimes against His Law. So my prayers, my fasting, my helping others in that context aren’t "good" works. If we offer the Judge anything as "payment" for our crimes, the Bible says it’s an abomination to Him, because it is a detestable attempt to bribe Him, and He will not be bribed. Not for a millisecond. So the religion of "doing" things to merit God's favor is fruitless, in the truest sense of the word.

So how can we be saved from His wrath? Only by the mercy of the Judge. God Himself became a person in Jesus Christ, suffered on a cruel cross, and then rose again on the third day. That cross was the complete payment for our crimes against God and His Law. We broke the Law of Moses, but Jesus paid our fine. That means that the Judge can (upon our repentance and faith in Jesus) completely dismiss our case. Everlasting life is the free gift of God (see Ephesians 2:8-9). It can’t be earned by "religious" works, and therein is the uniqueness of Christianity. Take it or leave it, but do so at your own eternal peril. See John 8:31-32 and John 14:21 for more details:

"Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him..." (Hebrews 5:8-9)