Think It Through

Have you ever embellished a story when you told it? You add a little something here to make it sound better, or take out something so you don’t look so bad. I know I have. Doesn’t make it right, but we have all done it. Why? Mainly because we are worried about what others think when we are telling the story. We add to it to look braver, smarter, or better in some way. We take away so we don’t look as bad, or so we look humble. We do it with a purpose. Typically a selfish purpose.

Now admitting that everyone does this in one fashion or another, why do you think the writers of the Bible included what they did? Why would they not leave some of it out or add to it? Christianity is completely different from any other religion in this sense. By the time the other leaders died in other religions they were seen as great men in their faiths and were pretty successful. Muhammad died in the arms of his wife, and was brought a faith that solidified the Arabic community. He was in his 60’s when he died. Buddha was in his 80’s and was seen as a great man who brought enlightenment to many people. He died surrounded by his followers who loved him deeply. When their followers write about them, it is in reverence and their holy books reflect how they were holy and how others saw them in this fashion.

Compare that with Christianity. Jesus was considered by the Jewish leaders, and He was a Jew, as a blasphemer. They said his powers came from Satan, and they killed Him at the ripe age of 33. None of His followers stayed by His side and He was not surrounded by loved ones at His death, but instead people hurling insults at Him. By all worldly standards His earthly ministry at His death was a failure, as He was utterly alone on that cross. If you were to write about Jesus, and you were one of the apostles, would you write it this way? Would you want in there that you ran away naked, or that you denied Christ three times? No way. You would leave that out, right? What would it hurt to leave that out of the story? If it was up to you to write, wouldn’t you make yourself look a little better? You might say that you had no choice but to leave because the soldiers kept you away, instead of admitting you were hiding afraid for your life while Jesus faced the mob alone.

Do you see the difference? Jesus is so much different in every way, as in how they were presented in their core faith writings. It means that they were very careful to include all the truth, even at the embarrassment of themselves, because it was about Christ and not about them. They were not worried about what others thought, but instead of about what Christ thought.

When you start to think through the faiths, you will see some other differences, as how they present themselves in their faith books. There are many other ways that they are different as well. All faiths are not the same. Christianity is definitely different in just about every way then all the other faiths out there. They are not all basically the same and they certainly do not promise the same things and they do not give the same path to attain eternal life. Christianity is set apart.

More to come. . .