They are all the same” argue many would-be philosophers when considering the leaders of the world’s great religions. But that conclusion stands in direct opposition to the teachings of the leaders themselves.
Muhammad, the great prophet of Islam, claimed to be the messenger of God. The first confession of that faith confirms this role. In the Kalimah, or Word of Purity, Muslim believers declare, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.”
As Allah’s prophet, Muhammad conveyed the words of god which are collected in the Quran. The Islamic faith is built on the teachings of that book. Some scholars argue that Islam, more than any other religion, is founded on a book.
There the faithful learn the five pillars of their faith that lead them to salvation: 1. The Kalimah or declaration of faith; 2. The five daily prayers; 3. Obligatory charitable giving based on wealth; 4. Fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan; and 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holy city.
Islamic scholars delve deep into the philosophy and theology of their faith as found in the Quran but Muhammad is always viewed as a prophet, a messenger from God. His role could be compared to the role Moses played in Judaism when he descended from Mount Sinai with the stone tablet containing the Ten Commandments. Both are viewed as prophets, the leading prophets, of their respective faiths.
Siddhartha Gautama is the founder of Buddhism. He is revered for discovering the way of escape which, for Buddhists, means a way to be freed from the endless chain of reincarnations. For Buddhists the goal is to attain Nirvana, a perfectly peaceful state of mind free from all physical or material elements. Gautama learned what is referred to as The Four Noble Truths: 1. Life means suffering; 2. The origin of suffering is attachment; 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable; and 4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
The path to cessation of suffering has eight parts, he taught. They include right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. These are called the Noble Eightfold Path.
Gautama pointedly rejected the idea that Buddhism was dependent on him. He urged followers to “be ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge to yourselves.” He wrote that neither he nor any Buddha that might follow him should lead the faith and the faith was not to be dependent upon him (Book of the Great Decrease).
Gautama is the pre-eminent example of the success of his method but that is all. It was his method, not his person which offered hope for followers.
Some understand Jesus like Islam understands Muhammad. He was a good man conscious of a message from God. He was a prophet. Some understand Jesus like Buddhism understands Gautama. He found and taught a way of life that leads one to union with the Eternal.
But to understand Jesus in such ways does violence to the gospel message of the New Testament. As one scholar wrote, “Christianity … is not a code of laws; it is not a structure of institutions; it is not a system of opinions. It is a life in fellowship with a living Lord. The Word and the Person of Christ, this is the gospel.”
Christianity is faith in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a personal relationship.
John 1:14 declares, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” That Word was “in the beginning.” It was “with God” and it “was God” (John 1:1–2). The Word was the creative force of God evidenced at creation when God created the heavens and the earth by the power of the Word (Gen. 1).
This Word was made flesh in Jesus’ birth. Through the child born in Bethlehem’s stable, God actually entered into human history to give man opportunity to be reconciled to God. “To those who believed in His name,” wrote the apostle John, “He gave the right to become the children of God” (John 1:14).
From the opening words of this Gospel, John taught that faith in Jesus was faith in God and that being united with Jesus was being united with God. That point was made plain in 1 John 5:20 where the writer concludes the letter by reminding readers, “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 — even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
That conclusion was based on the very words of Jesus. To unbelieving Jews who demanded a clear answer about whether He was the Messiah, Jesus announced, “I and my Father are One” (John 10:30).
To puzzled disciples Jesus said, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work” (John 14:10).
Jesus made sure the disciples would not miss that point when he emphasized, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
The apostle Paul adds his support to this teaching in Colossians where he writes in 1:19, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” In Colossians 2:9, he continued, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
And the purpose? “And through Him (Jesus) to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross” (Col. 1:20). From 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”
Because of faith in Jesus Christ, Christians have “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27) or as the apostle John wrote, “Whosoever believes on Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
For Muslims, Muhammad is an unequaled prophet who gave them a book. For Buddhists, Gautama is a great discoverer who discovered a path to peace of mind.
Only Jesus is God made flesh who provides reconciliation to God through His own blood. Because of who He is and what He did, there is none like Jesus.
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