Читать книгу Many Infallible Proofs - Dr. Henry M. Morris - Страница 7
ОглавлениеChapter II
The Uniqueness of Christianity
The Exclusive Claims of Christianity
If Christianity is regarded as only one religion among many others, each possessing an uncertain mixture of truth and error, then, of course, the study of Christian evidences is futile and pointless. Acceptance or rejection of Christianity in that case becomes merely a matter of personal convenience, not conviction. Whether it is true or false is not even a relevant question.
Unfortunately for those who would like to view "religion" in such a detached manner, this option is not possible in the case of biblical Christianity. Its structure is such that it must either be absolutely and uniquely true or else be completely and grossly false. An attitude of indifference is precluded where Christianity is concerned, for here indifference is the same as repudiation. A few of these claims to exclusiveness and uniqueness are as follows:
The God of the Bible is claimed to be the only true God. Jeremiah 10:10-12 is typical of a host of Scriptures to this effect: "The Lord is the true God, he is the living God and an everlasting king …The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion."
Christ claims to be the only way to God, to salvation, and to heaven. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
The Bible is claimed as the only true revelation from God. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20). The canon of Scripture closes with a fearful warning to any who would presume either to augment or delete any of the words recorded therein (Rev. 22:18-19).
The way of salvation presented in the Bible is claimed to be the only way. Peter said: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Paul warned: "If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:9).
The Unique Historical Basis of Christianity
Alone among all the religions of mankind, Christianity (including its Old Testament foundations) is based upon historical acts and facts. Other religions are centered in the ethical and religious teachings of their founders, but Christianity is built on the great events of creation and redemption.
For example, the Moslem faith is based on the teachings of Mohammed, Buddhism is based on the teachings of Buddha, Confucianism on those of Confucius, and so on. Christianity, however, is founded not on what Jesus taught, but on who He is and what He did! His teachings indeed were wonderful. "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46). But it is not His teachings, but Christ himself, who provides salvation.
This unique feature of biblical Christianity is a strong evidence of its truth. Since all other religions are based upon the teachings of men, there is necessarily a strong subjective element in all of them. No matter how intelligent or compassionate a man Mohammed may have been, or Zoroaster, or Buddha, he was still a man, beset by the same physical and mental limitations as other men. His teachings may have been ever so brilliant and satisfying, but the only assurance of their reliability is their personal appeal to us. Thus, such religions are subjective religions, both in their origin and in their acceptance by individual followers.
Christianity, on the other hand, is based on objective facts, not subjective pressures. Its truth or falsity stands on the validity of the great facts of creation, fall, redemption, and resurrection, the historical records of which are subject to examination by the ordinary criteria of objective investigation. Thus, Christianity is the one and only religion which offers even the possibility of objective certainty concerning the question of its validity.
Its Unique Account of Origins
In trying to distinguish the truth about such basic issues as these, the question of origins is fundamental. Where did everything come from, and how did it get like it is? It is obvious that this question must be answered before any teaching concerning purposes and destinies can be more than pure speculation.
Strangely enough, the various religions of men all in effect confess their utter ignorance on this point. That is, although they all propose certain cosmogonic myths, none really is able to go back to the absolute beginning of things. All are basically evolutionary in their cosmogonies, beginning with matter in some form or other, and then trying to explain how this primeval matter may have gradually been transformed into the present world.
Thus, the famous Babylonian cosmogony Enuma Elish began with a primeval chaotic mixture of three kinds of waters. The ancient Egyptian cosmogony also assumes an initial watery chaos out of which everything else evolved. Likewise the early Greek myths, as transmitted by Hesiod, Homer, and Thales, drawing largely from the Sumerians, indicate a chaos of water at the beginning. So do those of many animistic tribes. Roman writers such as Lucretius assumed that in the beginning was a universal blind interplay of atoms, the Orphic myths suppose that the universe developed out of a primeval world-egg, and so on. Modern theories of evolution supposedly are more sophisticated, but they likewise begin with eternal matter in one form or another. Thus, no extra-biblical cosmogony, ancient or modern, is able to go beyond the present order of things to a real First Cause. In effect, therefore, they all end by confessing that they really do not know how the universe began. All begin with space, matter, and time already existing.
The Bible, and only the Bible, starts with the special creation of all things by an eternal, omnipotent, personal God. This is an eminently reasonable solution to the problem of origins; an infinite and eternal God is an adequate cause to explain space and time; an omnipotent God can account for the vast sources of power and matter in the cosmos; an omniscient God can explain the innumerable evidences of intelligence and order; a personal God is capable of creating life and personality in His creatures; but primeval chaos and colliding atoms are capable of explaining none of these things.
The Person of Christ
Biblical Christianity is also absolutely unique in the nature of its central personage and founder, Jesus Christ. There is none other like Him in all history or even in all literature.
Some writers, of course, presume to place Christ as merely one in a list of great religious leaders, but this is grotesque and absurd. He stands in contrast to all others, not in line with them, not even at the head of the line. His uniqueness is illustrated in the following partial list of attributes.
Anticipation of His Coming. His coming was prophesied in fine detail, as to lineage, birthplace, time, career, purpose, nature of death, resurrection, and many other things, hundreds of years prior to His actual appearance. Of no other religious leader — indeed, of no other man — in all history was such a thing true.
The Virgin Birth. Although tales of demi-gods, the progeny of unions between men and the gods (actually demons) are common in ancient mythology, the narrative of Christ's virgin birth stands entirely alone; nothing like it was ever imagined elsewhere. God himself took up residence in embryonic human form in a virgin's womb, thence to be born in a fully natural human birth, with no actual genetic connection to human parents, even though legally the natural heir of a human father and embryologically the seed and fruit of a human mother. No other human birth was ever like this, in fact or fiction, yet it was uniquely and ideally appropriate and natural when God became man.
The Divine-Human Nature. Though men have often thought of themselves as children of God, Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God. Although there have been power-crazed dictators and fanatics who have claimed to be God, even these individuals recognized and acknowledged that their assumption of divinity was only relative — they hardly imagined that they had created the stars or even their own mothers! But Jesus Christ was God in the highest sense, the Creator of all things (Col. 1:16), and He claimed to be God on many occasions and in many ways. He was also man in the fullest sense, except that He had no sin. He was not half-man and half-God, but rather all man and all God, in a perfect and indissoluble union. No other man was ever thus — indeed, no other man ever claimed to be thus.
Sinless Life. Of no one else in history could the claim ever be made in seriousness that he lived a whole lifetime without one sin, in thought or word or deed. But this very thing was claimed by Jesus' closest friends, by His worst enemies, by the greatest of the apostles, and by Jesus himself. Peter said, "[He] did no sin" (1 Pet. 2:22), and John said, "In him is no sin" (1 John 3:5). Judas said, "I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Matt. 27:4), and Pilate said, "I find in him no fault at all" (John 18:38). Paul said, "[He] knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21), and Jesus said concerning himself, "The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him" (John 8:29). Jesus Christ was the one man who never sinned; He was the unique, representative Son of Man, man as God intended man to be.
Unique Teachings. Many non-Christians have acknowledged Christ to be the greatest teacher of all time. The Sermon on the Mount is without parallel, and the beauty and power of the Upper Room discourse, the compelling majesty of the sermon on the Mount of Olives, the power of His parables, and all His other teachings are separated by a great gulf from even the finest teaching of other men. And yet His teachings continually include both the claim and the internal awareness that He was uniquely God's Son, and that His teachings were absolutely true because of this. In no other religious writings does one find such a phenomenon as this.
His Unique Death. After a cruel mockery of a trial and a period of incomprehensible suffering in prison and on the cross, "He said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost" (John 19:30). Literally, He "dismissed His spirit." No one else can die like this. It is evidently quite a difficult task even to commit suicide, but certainly no one can simply decide to die and then, by his mere volition, proceed to die. But Jesus did! He said, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:18).
The Resurrection of Christ
Not only did Christ die by His own power, but He rose again on the third day by His own power. "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:18). The overwhelming proof of the bodily resurrection of Christ will be discussed later, but here it is merely noted that this constitutes the final and greatest proof of His absolute uniqueness. All other religious founders and leaders are dead. In most cases, their tombs are known and venerated. But the tomb of Christ was occupied only three days and thereafter became empty forever. Other men have been temporarily restored to life after dying, but only Christ is "alive forevermore" (Rev. 1:18). Death is man's last and greatest enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), which conquers all alike, no matter how brilliant or powerful. Christ alone conquered death, thereby demonstrating forever that He is "the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
The Book
The Bible (meaning "the Book") is not only the greatest and most widely read book ever written, but it stands in a class altogether by itself in several critical respects:
Unity in Diversity. Consisting of 66 separate books written by about 40 different authors over a time span of at least 2,000 years, brought gradually together into one volume by a process which no one has ever been able to describe in full, the Book presents a marvelous unity and a magnificent development of its great themes from beginning to end, with no errors and no internal discrepancies. There is nothing remotely comparable to this among all the millions of books written by man.
Fulfilled Prophecy. There are hundreds of prophecies recorded in Scripture which have been meticulously fulfilled, often hundreds of years later. This is a unique characteristic of the Bible, not found in the Vedas or the Koran or any of the other "scriptures" of mankind. The so-called prophecies of Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Jeanne Dixon, and others of like kind are of a completely different order than those in the Bible, always dark and ambiguous and, much more often than not, later proved wrong.
Accuracy. Not only has the Bible proved accurate in its prophecies, but also in its very frequent references to matters of history and principles of natural science. Although some problems remain, it is still true that not a single uncontroverted fact of history or science refutes a single statement in the Bible. It is also true that archaeological and historical research has confirmed the biblical references in hundreds of instances and that scores of now-known facts of science were written in the Bible long before men recognized them in nature. Once again, there is no other book ever written of which the above things can be said.
Unique Preservation. No other book has ever been the object of such antagonism as has the Bible. In both ancient and modern times, kings and priests have tried desperately to destroy it and unbelieving intellectuals to ridicule and refute it. Untold numbers of copies have been burned and mutilated, and hosts of its advocates persecuted and killed. But it has only multiplied the more, and today is read and believed by more people in more nations and languages than ever before, continually remaining for centuries the world's best seller.
Claims of its Writers. The writers of the Bible maintain again and again that their writings were inspired by God, often even consisting of the directly recorded words of God. Although other writers such as Mohammed have claimed divine inspiration for their writings, the frequency and variety of such assertions are unique to the Bible. And, still more remarkable, in the same Book and often in the same contexts in which such statements are made, the writers condemn falsehood and hypocrisy in terms of burning fury. It is inconceivable that writings with claims to divine authority could be intertwined with such exhortations to holiness and condemnations of deception unless either the writers truly were writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or else were themselves monsters of hypocrisy and evil. The latter alternative, however, is utterly inconceivable in view of the unique character and history of the Book which they produced.
Salvation by Grace
The final proof of uniqueness to be offered in this section is that of the all-important teaching concerning salvation. The Bible uniquely teaches salvation through faith alone. All other religions teach salvation through faith plus works.
Of course, the specific objects of faith and the specific list of works required for salvation vary widely from one religion to another. But the basic principle is universal.
Biblical Christianity alone, among all the religions of mankind, teaches that eternal salvation is the free gift of God's grace, to be received by faith alone, apart from works of any kind. The watchword of other religions is "Believe and do"; of Christianity, the word is "Believe and live."
This does not by any means imply that Christianity has a lower or easier standard than other religions. To the contrary, the standard of works in Christianity is so high as to be unattainable by the natural man, so that no man could ever earn salvation by his own good works. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4).
Nor does it imply that Christian salvation is cheap, for the price of redemption was the blood of Christ. "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold …But with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Although the idea of salvation by grace goes against the grain of human nature, since man's pride is at stake here, it clearly must be of divine origin. Man would never invent a standard of righteousness which he could never hope to attain. It is significant that every one of the standards of works required in the many religions of men is quite capable of accomplishment by human effort. This fact clearly indicates they were originated by human ingenuity. Only God would ever prescribe a standard which could be attained only by God himself. The uniqueness of salvation by grace through faith alone clearly stamps the Christian gospel as divine in origin.
The World's Religions
In the same ways that Christianity is unique, the other religions of the world are homogeneous. Each was founded by men who were, unlike Jesus Christ, sinful men. These founders are all in their graves, defeated by man's last enemy. Christ alone rose from the grave and defeated death.
Similarly, there is a vast contrast between the Bible and the sacred books of the other religions, and between the gospel of grace of Jesus Christ and the dead works of other religions. A brief survey of the chief features of these religions will help emphasize these contrasts.
Though reliable statistics are impossible to obtain (who, for example, really knows the present population of Red China or the religious beliefs of these people?) the following tabulation will give at least an approximate idea of the religious complexion of mankind.
| Christianity | 1,000,000,000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Roman Catholic | 600,000,000 | ||
| Eastern Orthodox | 150,000,000 | ||
| Protestant | 250,000,000 | ||
| Islam | 500,000,000 | ||
| Buddhism | 200,000,000 | ||
| Hinduism | 450,000,000 | ||
| Confucianism | 400,000,000 | ||
| Animism | 750,000,000 | ||
| Shintoism | 75,000,000 | ||
| Taoism | 50,000,000 | ||
| Judaism | 15,000,000 | ||
| Miscellaneous | 60,000,000 | ||
| Total Population | 3,500,000,000 |
Parenthetically, the missionary task still confronting Christians is obvious from the fact that only a third of the world's inhabitants are even nominal Christians. The number of "Christians" included in the tabulation is itself almost meaningless, since it includes most of "Christendom" and thus most of the population of Europe, and North and South America. The number of genuine, Bible-believing Christians who have been personally regenerated through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ would probably not be more than 5 percent of the world's population at most.
Islam (meaning "submission to God") was founded by Mohammed (A.D. 570–632). An orphan, given to mysticism (some historians think he was an epileptic), Mohammed's character was a mixture of generosity and cruelty, religious zeal and sensuality. He was the recipient of a series of "visions and revelations" which were purportedly an extension of the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, with which he was superficially familiar. These collected writings, 114 "Suras" in all, became the Koran, the sacred book of the Muslims. Salvation and heaven are earned by the Muslim through belief in one God (Allah), angels, the Koran, the prophets (of whom Mohammed was the last and greatest), the final judgment and God's decrees, and through the faithful practice of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, recital of the creed ("No God but Allah and Mohammed his prophet"), and once in a lifetime, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Hinduism has been from ancient times the national religion of India. It is extremely diversified in time and space, and generalizations are difficult. Most of it was originally brought into India by the Indo-Aryans, and was essentially identical with the theistic polytheism of the early Greeks and other ancient peoples. These beliefs were gradually written down as the four Vedas (Veda means "knowledge," and has the same root as the English "wisdom"). Much later, additional scriptures were appended, known as the Brahmanas and Upanishads. These became more and more philosophical, and eventually incorporated the two doctrines known as Samsara (reincarnation) and Karma (works, decreeing that a person's deeds in his current incarnation determine his type of existence in the next). The only release from these endless cycles is the attainment of nirvana, which in effect means cessation of existence, either by good works, transcendental philosophic understanding, or ritualistic devotion to the gods. For most Hindus, the latter is followed and India is a land of multitudes of gods and goddesses, temples, and rituals.
Buddhism was founded by Gautama (563–480 B.C.) partially in reaction to the popular Hinduism of his day. He received what he called "enlightenment" at age 35, attaining a foretaste of nirvana and rapidly won great numbers of disciples. Eventually Hinduism won out in India, however, and Buddhism has been stronger in other lands. He taught that nirvana could be achieved by the eightfold path of right beliefs, aspirations, speech, conduct, means of livelihood, endeavors, mindfulness, and meditation. There have, of course, been many offshoots of Buddhism, different in different countries. Gautama is not the only "Buddha" ("enlightened one") in the view of many; there have been other Buddhas before and since. Lamaism in Tibet and Zen Buddhism in Japan are examples of variant forms of Buddhism. The popular practice of Buddhism often is polytheistic and animistic. Shintoism is a specialized sort of national Buddhism in Japan. In China, it has been somewhat incorporated into Confucianism and Taoism.
Confucianism is named after the Chinese practical philosopher Confucius (551–478 B.C.). It is primarily an ethical system, rather than religious, and is silent, if not actually skeptical, toward the existence of God and a future life. The Analects of Confucius were collected by his disciples and form the guide book most used by Confucianists, although various other semi-sacred writings are attributed to him. He did teach ancestor worship and at least condoned the religious polytheism of the people, though probably he himself was strictly a humanist. Later, in many areas of Confucianism, he was himself deified and worshipped. The pantheism of Tao ("the way") and the polytheism of Taoism are commonly mixed with it and elements of Buddhism.
Animism is a sort of generic term for a great variety of religious beliefs, ancient and modern, centering in the worship of nature and the spirit beings who control the various processes of nature. Though it has no scriptures (except in the form of ancient traditions handed down in each tribe) and no common center or acknowledged founder, it nevertheless is essentially the same religion the world around, whether among the black tribes in Africa, the Indians of the Americas, the natives of the South Pacific, or the aboriginal tribes of Asia. In essence it is not much different from the polytheistic religions of antiquity, from the spirit and ancestor worship of the modern eastern religions, nor from the widespread spiritism and other occult religions found even in Christian countries today.
All of the above religions, as well as various other smaller systems, while diverse in many details, are really one religion of works-salvation, centered in man's own authority and philosophical insights. The same judgment could be lodged against even many so-called "Christian" systems, to the degree in which they also teach salvation by works, and interpose some human authority instead of the Lord Jesus Christ as a necessary mediator between man and God.
Selected books for further study:
Anderson, Norman. 1976. The World's Religions. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 244 p.
Bavinck, J.H. Introduction to the Science of Missions. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed.
Clarke, Andrew D., and Bruce W. Winter, eds. 1993. One God, One Lord: Christianity in a World of Religions Pluralism. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 256 p.
Clendenin, Daniel B. 1995. Many Gods, Many Lords. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 176 p.
Gaebelein, Arno C. 1927. Christianity or Religion. New York, NY: Our Hope Publications.
Kretzman, Paul E. 1943. The God of the Bible and Other Gods. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. 196 p.
Lewis, C.S. 1948. The Case for Christianity. New York, NY: Macmillan. 56 p.
Lewis, C.S. 1960. Mere Christianity. New York, NY: Macmillan. 190 p.
McDowell, Josh, and Don Stavant. 1983. Handbook of Today's Religions. San Bernardino, CA: Here's Life Publishers. 567 p.
Morris, Henry M. 1988. The God Who is Real. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 96 p.
Nash, Ronald H. 1994. Is Jesus the Only Savior? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. 176 p.
Sire, James W. 1976. The Universe Next Door. Chicago, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. 238 p.
Zwemer, Samuel M. 1945. The Origin of Religion. New York, NY: Loiseaux Brothers. 256 p.
