Jesus

I recognize that the title of this article itself may evoke anger in some readers, but please hear me out. I think we would all agree that two diametrically opposing assertions cannot both be true. I’m not talking about assertions for which we don’t have all the data. I’m referring to simple truths.

But when it comes to religion, we seem to be willing to throw all wisdom, common sense, and logic out the window. Our culture encourages everyone to find their “own way.” But in fact, not all roads lead to Rome, nor do they all lead to God, because He says they don’t.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” – Proverbs 14:12 ESV

Even those religions that claim to accept others of any faith are speaking out of both sides of their mouths. When you study the tenets of their faith, they invariably contradict those of other religions. One might ask, “Why can’t they both be right?” Because two plus two equals four every time. There are absolutes and there still is such a thing as truth and lies or falsehoods.

Jesus Christ claimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] but through Me.” (John 14:6). His claim is bold and exclusive. And as C.S. Lewis pointed out years ago, one cannot merely shrug their shoulders and suggest that Jesus was a good moral teacher and not believe that He is the Son of God.

Jesus claimed to be God, that’s why the religious leaders of the day crucified Him. Lewis goes on to explain:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

How to Spot a Phony Religion

I base the following on the assumptions that: universal truth and morality do exist and are knowable, and not every point on this list is true for every phony religion. Given that introduction, below are some ways to spot a phony religion:

• It persecutes those outside of its faith
• Its sacred writings are cryptic and self-contradictory
• It demands personal atonement for sin
• It is neither characterized by love or joy
• It rewards its true followers when they harm its enemies
• The ends justify the means
• Life is cheapened, even disposable
• Prayer is a work, a penance, and a duty to fulfill
• It views the poor, sick, and infirm as receiving their just due
• It keeps its followers in line through fear and intimidation
• It cannot be fully integrated into daily life
• It has an infatuation with death
• It exploits its people and others outside its faith
• Rather than seek to influence culture, it seeks to overrun it
• It views the wealthy among its followers as the most pious
• Its god is unknowable, impersonal, and demanding
• It cannot reconcile evil in the world, especially when it affects its followers
• It claims to supersede all other religions that came before it
• Its god is capricious and unpredictable in character
• Its sacred writings are full of fanciful legends void of historical basis
• Its followers are imprisoned by their beliefs rather than set free
• It offers no eternal hope but only continual striving
• Its beliefs are cloaked in superstition
• Its clergy are considered enlightened and favored above its followers
• Morality is fuzzy, often blending extremes of the moral and immoral
• It feels counterfeit based on the actions of its followers
• It promotes self-aggrandizement and self-focus
• It is unable to mesh with everyday life, work, play and relationships
• A false god cannot defend him/herself, therefore its followers must defend their god

My purpose is not to slander anyone of another religion, but to plead with them to turn to the one true God and Jesus Christ His Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIV)

©2019 Rob Fischer