ODJ: what a difference
May 15, 2011
We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life (v.1).
READ: 1 John 1
Conventional wisdom says that the world’s religions differ on the details but are fundamentally the same. They put their followers in touch with the divine and teach variations of the golden rule: Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. So rather than fight over our differences, religious people should recognize that our shared moral ideals mean that we really believe the same thing.
The actor Will Smith conveyed this popular sentiment when he said, “My grandmother raised me to be a do-gooder in the church, that it was about doing what you can to help your community. So whatever religion does that . . . it’s cool because the end result is the same.”
As attractive as this view seems, it misunderstands the essence of the Christian faith. Christianity does include rational and moral principles—the book of Proverbs is full of them—but they’re not what our faith is primarily about. Christianity is a historical faith, which means that it is about what has actually happened in time and space. God didn’t need to create the world. He chose to. After we rebelled, God didn’t have to save the world. He chose to. Because creation and redemption are acts of God’s will, we can’t reason their way to them.
The Christian faith isn’t a set of timeless, rational, moral principles that a person could figure out if she were smart and had enough time. It’s what God has done in time and space. It’s Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14) who “died for our sins . . . was buried [and] was raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Thank God for the moral principles found in other religions, but never forget that the fundamental difference is Jesus. —Mike Wittmer
How might we appreciate the good in other religions without compromising on the unchangeable and all-important difference between them? In what other ways is Christianity unique?
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