Ri Le runs a very successful restaurant business and I have been a patron at his restaurant many times. In a recent newspaper article about him, Ri Le states one of the most important moments in his life occurred 25 years ago when he attended a five-day retreat by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. This meeting changed his life. [1]
So if other religions can have a profound impact on people’s lives, what makes Christianity different from other religions? One answer is that we have different beliefs. However, as we have demonstrated in this blog and in my book (see pages 55 to 57), we are finite and that means our beliefs are not totally accurate and they are not totally under our control (what we believe depends largely upon the culture in which we were brought up).
Other Christians maintain that changed lives are evidence of Christianity’s validity. As we have stated in the blog before “the only way we can truly know our sins are forgiven is if we have a changed life” (see January 13, 2019 posting). However, as we have seen above, other religions can change people’s lives as well. So are they valid?
Other Christians maintain that Christianity is a relationship with God. So can a person of another religion have a relationship with God? True, some of their beliefs are different than what is taught in the Bible but in looking at the history of Christianity, we see that Christians have held erroneous beliefs as well. So it is apparent that just because someone holds erroneous beliefs that does not preclude them from having a relationship with God.
So what makes Christianity different from other religions?
_______________________________
[1] Scott Cherry, “Ri Le fuels success in Tulsa”. Tulsa World, January 27, 2019, p. D3.
