Which One?

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
(1 John 5:20 – ESV)

Is the religion with the greatest god the ones who have a god patterned after every human emotion, like Hinduism? Considering the human heart, as we have seen in Romans and we see all around us and in us, how ridiculous and vile.

Is it the ones say that god is in everything, again how awful, or that god is everything, how unholy is that? God to them is just a part of everything good or bad, and their god is just like everything else. How does that exalt God?

Two other monotheistic religions are closer to Christianity: Judaism and Islam. All three speak of God as Creator and Sustainer, but two of them don’t go all the way in valuing God. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim to speak for the same God, that is, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. But they say very different things about Him.

How about Islam, whose god isn’t all that holy, and to whom sin isn’t all that bad? In Islam, you don’t need to be perfect, but you need to merit the mercy. Mercy in Islam looks a lot like justice. And their god has a level of holiness that lets you pay for your own sins. If your good outweighs your bad, say 51% to 49%, you get into paradise. So you only have to be 51% holy. Think about that clearly. Islam has the 51% holy god. They may get all angry about that and claim their god is holy, but how can he be if he just lets sin slide, if he isn’t all that offended, and humans can pay for their own sin, doesn’t that bring him down to their level of holiness? That doesn’t seem all that exalted to me.

Judaism seems better but it isn’t developed into the place Christianity is. The Temple sacrifices were a picture of future payment, not the payment itself. Going back to them would be going back on God. Of course, there is no longer even a typological atonement; with no Temple, Judaism replaces it with human prayer, repentance, and affliction of soul. Their notion is that God pardons based on our own repentance, a notion of sincerity, which is in a sense matching the rest of the world while still calling on God.

The bloody mercy seat showed the truth that sins must be paid for because of the holiness of God. His love requires justice to be done, but animal blood cannot pay for human sin, and human blood alone cannot pay for offense against God. Only Jesus was worthy enough to pay. Judaism doesn’t have Jesus.

No, none of these is Biblical Christianity, who exalts God to where He is, and sees sin for what it is, and God's holiness for what it is, or at least in concept, even though we cannot fathom it. Christianity sees our sin as having to be paid for by the ultimate worth of God Himself, and God pouring out His wrath on His Son. How great is His love seen to be then? He meets His own holiness, the bar of His justice and delivers us in His mercy because of it.

All of the world’s religions tell me how to improve myself and offer me salvation at a reduced rate, with a reduced god. Only Christianity maintains a God who is perfectly holy, just and merciful. He requires perfection and He gives it in the person of Christ. Only Christianity exalts God’s holiness and His infinite worth to this level, where it takes a God to pay for even one sin. Only Christianity steps forward with a historic person whose whole purpose in life is to die, whose worth is so great He can pay for all sin. No other god does this, no other god is lifted so high, has descended so low, and brings us up to Him. Which religion has the True God? Hmmm.