Jesus Among Other Gods

If you've been following the news you already know about Pope Benedict XVI making offensive comments about Islam in a recent speech (click here) and has already apologized. With Church leaders making - what they view as benign - comments that possess the potential of lighting the fuse to holy war, one must sit down and take a deep breath - what exactly is going on here? What is really at the very core of controversy on planet earth? In our Multimedia & Print section, Marco Belmonte asks this question, "With most of the world either claiming Islam or Hinduism as their faith of choice, where does Jesus fit into their perspective?" Check out Marco's book review on author Ravi Zacharias which really is quite intriguing and timely:

In today’s modern world, with so many different religions, all claiming spiritual superiority, the question arises from among Christians, “what about Jesus?” Ravi Zacharias, a Christian apologetic, theologian, and philosopher attempts to prove the validity of Christ’s claims as The Son of God in his book “Jesus Among Other Gods”. From the moment I started reading this book, I was intoxicated by its content. Mr. Zacharias is spellbinding at the worst of times, and mesmerizing at the best. I will share a lot of quotes from this book since my intent of this review is to give the reader an in depth look into the mind of this scholastic.

With most of the world either claiming Islam or Hinduism as their faith of choice, where does Jesus fit into their perspective? How can the followers of Christ expect to share the good news about God if there is no common ground? Zacharias makes this statement on the first page of his book: “Well, for starters, let us be sure that Jesus was not western. In fact, some of His parables were so eastern that I think the West may not have entered into the rigor and humor of what He said.” (page vii). He then continues, “That aside, the way Jesus spoke, the proverbs and stories that He told, and the very context in which He addressed issues was steeped in an eastern idiom. Let us not forget that.” (page viii).

The main problem that people from other religions see within Christianity is the fact that we tend to throw reason out the window, and base our whole faith on feeling. Those of other religious beliefs, especially in the East, laugh at the typical Christian’s spiritual intellect, asking how it is that most Christians never ask any questions of their God, other then “what can you give me today?”. Mr. Zacharias makes the agreeable statement: “A mood can be a dangerous state of mind, because it can crush reason under the weight of feeling. But that is precisely what I believe postmodernism best represents – a mood.” (page vii). “The reality is that if religion is to be treated with intellectual respect, then it must stand the test of truth, regardless of the mood of the day.” (page ix). Absolutely, Ravi! Absolutely! Christianity has been reduced to a “burning in your bosom” spiritual charade. Jesus never asked people to believe on feeling. He always gave ample evidence to all of His claims. I commend Zacharias when he says, “I believe there is overwhelming evidence to support Jesus’ claims.” (page 5).

What separates Jesus Christ from other prophets that have become deified? Was Jesus Christ really justified in making the assertions He made? “Jesus is the Supreme Giver Himself. He is ‘from above’, say the Gospel writers.” “His earthly sojourn was not an origination, but a visitation.” “In that sense, the message of Christ was not the introduction of a religion, but an introduction to truth about reality as God alone knows it. To deny Jesus’ message while pursuing spirituality is to conjure an imaginary religion in an attempt to see heaven while sight is confined to the earth.” (page 34). Christ didn’t come down to just reveal God. He was God! To deny Christ is to deny God. Christ is more then just the evidence needed to make assumptions about God’s character. He was God manifested in the flesh.

“Something fascinating happens once you have seen that the dots or shading were just masking the real message. You start tilting your head in various positions in an attempt to lose the ordered pattern and to regain the initial disorder. The latter exercise comes into play only because you start wondering how it was possible in the first place to miss the word. When the eye has captured the image, it interprets the message for what it is. When the eye loses the message, disarray dominates. May I suggest that the challenge of Jesus’ earthly ministry was to enable us to see the message so that the picture could be understood?” (page 35). Yes, a man who has been on the journey and found the answer could only speak this sentence. Jesus becomes the eyeglasses to see the true picture of God. “Staring at life’s cryptogram, we either see His name unmistakably resplendent or we see the confusion of religions with no single message, just garbled beliefs that plague our existence, each justified by the voice of culture.” (page 36).

Was Jesus God? “Even the Koran, written six hundred years after Jesus, affirmed His virgin birth (see Surah 19.19-21).” “Islam, while defending the virgin birth, denies that Jesus was the Son of God.” (page 39). When was the last time you saw a virgin generate her own child? If you dig deep enough, all religions, in their very core, are screaming out for the Person of Jesus Christ. It’s sad, but just as Christians have missed the boat in their understanding of Christ, others have dismissed Him altogether. Jesus was perfect. “Even if one were to grant all of the strained explanations for Mohammed’s practices, included in which is the embarrassing Koranic description of heaven as ‘wine and woman’ (Surah 78.32ff), there is never even a hint in the life of Jesus that He was ever driven by sensuality or needed to seek forgiveness for anything. Jesus alone emerges as the spotless One, untainted by any error of omission or commission.” (page 41).

“Hinduism is not exempt from this scrutiny. The playfulness of Krishna and his exploits with the milkmaids in the Bhagavad-Gita is frankly an embarrassment to many Hindu scholars.” “How does Buddha measure up against the standard of personal purity that Jesus set? The very fact that he endured rebirths implies a series of imperfect lives.” (page 41). No one has ever made the claims that Jesus has. In their ignorance, Mohammad, Buddha, and Krishna were subconsciously looking – no – thirsting for what Jesus had to offer. They were on a quest. Jesus WAS the journey. “His strong and unequivocal claim that heaven was His dwelling and earth was His footstool” was the challenge of all challenges. (page 42).

For those that are seeking purpose in their Christianity, I highly suggest chapter three in this book. “The Anatomy of Faith and the Quest For Reason” is superb. In my opening remarks, I suggested that skeptics of Christianity laugh at our community. “I realize we are all built with different capacities for thinking on such matters. However, that will not serve as reason enough to support one view over another. We cannot evade the questions that opponents have posed to those who ‘live by faith’. They are justified in wanting to know what distinguishes faith from foolishness or irrationality, when no coherent logic is ever offered for one’s ‘faith’.” (page 50). Amen, Ravi! Amen. It always surprises me when those of my church suggest that logic and reason is not of faith, implying that using common sense within the context of religion is demonic and dangerous. We might as well have been created as automatons, since choice devoid of reason and logic isn’t choice! There is so much in this chapter I would love to share, but I’d have to write another ten pages. I’ll end with this quote: “George Macdonald said years ago that to give truth to him who does not love the truth is to only give more reasons for misinterpretation.” (page 66).

All the other religions of the world build temples to worship. Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world. In fact, Jesus wanted to set up His temple within His people. This concept is uniquely Christian. “The Christian does not go to the temple to worship. The Christian takes the temple with him or her. Jesus lifts us beyond the building and pays the human body the highest compliment by making it His dwelling place, the place where He meets with us. Even today He would overturn the tables of those who make it a marketplace for their own lust, greed, and wealth.” (page 73). All I can say to that is, wow. What insight. We are His temple. He will cleanse it. Not by some reincarnated spiritualism or petty magic trick. No, Jesus Christ cleans His temple by first establishing the human heart as His base of operations. Praise God!

“There is a second but not so obvious truth.” What is that you ask? “’I am the Bread of Life,’ said Jesus. ‘He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.’ Notice the power implicit in the claim. At the heart of every major religion is a leading exponent. As the exposition is studied, something very significant emerges. There comes a bifurcation, or a distinction, between the person and the teaching. Mohammad, to the Koran, Buddha, to the Noble Path, Krishna, to his philosophizing, Zoroaster, to his ethics. Whatever we may make of their claims, one reality is inescapable. They are teachers who point to their teaching or show some particular way. In all of these, there emerges an instruction, a way of living. It is not Zoroaster to whom you turn. It is Zoroaster to whom you listen. It is not Buddha who deliverers you; it is his Noble Truths that instruct you. It is not Mohammad who transforms you; it is the beauty of the Koran that woos you. By contrast, Jesus did not only teach or expound His message. HE WAS IDENTICAL WITH HIS MESSAGE. ‘In Him,’ say the Scriptures, ‘dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily.’ He did not just proclaim the truth. He said, ‘I am the truth.’ He did not just show a way. He said, ‘I am the Way.’ He did not just open up vistas. He said, ‘I am the door.’ ‘I am the Good Shepherd.’ ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ ‘I am the I AM.’” (page 89). We don’t need a new ethic or moral code. We need heart transplants, which can only come from ingesting the Bread of Life and The Truth.

Speaking of ethics, I’d like to turn our attention to what it means to be free in the context of Jesus Christ. “The very reason we raise the question is because we seek coherence. In a world where love is the supreme ethic, freedom must be built in. A love that is programmed or compelled is not love; it is merely a conditional response or self-serving.” “Love compelled is a precursor to loneliness. Having the freedom to love when you may choose not to love is to give love legitimate meaning.” “And you cannot gain the highest ethic without the possibility of freedom.” (page 118). Legalism always breeds compliance over purpose. “When relationship is swallowed up by rules, political power and enforcement become the means of containment.” (page 98). Unfortunately, I can’t point us to The Middle East as the only example of what happens when religion has gone haywire. Look no further then The Christian Coalition, and the fact that we have a majority of Christians supporting the legislation of morality. The fact that we need laws proves how bad the state of the human heart has become. Christ came to FULFILL the law, suggesting that law is not required by those that have been set right by the truth. In God’s kingdom, people will be governed by love, not law. Legal law, in its very nature, restricts freedom. Does that mean the law is bad? Of course not. It means we are.

Mr. Zacharias now gives us insight into the most compelling evidence that Jesus is different from all other substitutes. He says of Jesus’ disciples: “Once they understood the purpose and the means of His death, it became the riveting truth of the gospel they preached with unshakable conviction.” (page 179). To whom does the cross cry out to? Who can identify with the cross? Religiosity will blind your viewpoint. Empty religious ceremony will be scales to your eyes. “Only one who has known the bondage and enslavement of sin and the emptiness it brings can fully fathom the liberation of the cross and the glory of the resurrection – to hear His voice again.” (page 187). Only in pure Christianity is the truth revealed about God. Our lives are controlled by fear. Fear of a culture that has made whatever God you believe in into a fearsome deity. When you see Christ, who was God, being nailed to a tree, you realize you don’t have to fear a God who lets His creatures kill Him. Show me another religion that propagates the idea that their God must die in order for salvation and healing to come to its believers? This is the greatest evidence that Christianity offers something that no other religion offers. The absence of all fear. Unfortunately, most of Christianity has also misrepresented the truth that Jesus came to reveal. I must contend that anyone or anything that provokes fear in Him who is the embodiment of love is apostatizing.

In conclusion, I have this one sentence to proclaim. GET THIS BOOK AND READ IT.