by Tom Kraeuter
For quite some time at our Worship Seminars, I have been clearly and strongly declaring that there is only one way to God: through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is, after all, a Christian seminar based on principles from the Word of God. This bedrock foundation of our faith should be obvious.
The reason that I have been so emphatic about sharing this is because it is becoming increasingly popular for Christian churches to try to meld together beliefs from various religions. They attempt to piece together part of this one and bits of that one, to appease everyone. As I explain in the seminar setting, it won’t work.
Part of what I share in this regard is to contrast conflicting beliefs of some major religions. In the Qur’an, Muhammad said that Jesus is not God. Jesus, in the Bible, declared Himself to be God. And Buddha said that there is no God. Those three statements are mutually exclusive. They cannot all be true at the same time.
In making such a statement, some would accuse me of religious intolerance. Actually that’s not true. Those three statements cannot all be true at the same time, not because of religious intolerance but because of logic. (I realize that logic is no longer taught in public schools, so bear with me here for a moment.)
Suppose I walk down the street and meet an African-American man. I might say that his skin color is darker than mine, and then say that his skin color is not darker than mine. Both of those statements cannot be true at the same time. They are mutually exclusive of one another. Regardless though, whichever one I choose to believe, someone might say that I made my choice because I am prejudiced. Using exactly the same reasoning as the religious discussion above, if I am not prejudiced I should be able to believe both. But I cannot. Why? Because the final determination is based on logic. If one statement is true, the other cannot be. It has nothing to do with bias of any sort.
The same is true in the religious discussion. I am not dissing the other religions because I have some sort of personal bias against them. I am discarding them because if Jesus’ claims are true, then the others cannot be true. It’s a simple matter of logic. They cannot all three be true at the same time.
If Muhammad was correct then Jesus’ death and resurrection are of no avail. If Buddha was correct then Islam, Christianity, even Judaism and others are all completely and undeniably wrong. However, if Jesus is who He said He is, then Muhammad and Buddha — and all their followers — are sadly — and eternally — mistaken.
There is no middle ground. There is no area for compromise. They are mutually exclusive, not because of bias but because of simple rules of logic.
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