[The Exclusivity Claims of Christianity][Claims of Historical Verifiability][Unique Claims of Origins][Unique Personhood of Christ]

 The Exclusivity Claims of Christianity.  We live in a society where “tolerance” and “diversity” are politically correct; to assert the innate correctness of one point of view over another is deemed ignorant at best.  Our children are being taught in public school that all ideas are equally valid, and that there is no absolute truth – all is relative.  Christianity clearly disagrees with the currently politically correct view by insisting there is only one way to God, and that is through Christ!   Christianity through these assertions must be either absolutely and uniquely true, or absolutely false; it is either true in its assertion to be the only true religion, or it is not.  A few of Christianity’s claims to exclusivity are as follows,

a. The God of the Bible is claimed to be the only true God.  Jeremiah 10:10-12 asserts, “The Lord is the true God, he is the living God and an everlasting king... The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from undert hese heavens.  He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.”
b. Christ claims to be the only way to God, salvation and eternal life.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
c. The Bible is claimed to be the only true revelation from God.  “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”  (Isaiah 8:20).
d. The Method of Salvation presented in the Bible is claimed to be the only way.  “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12).  Paul further warned, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”  (Gal. 1:9).

The Unique Claims of Origins.  Every religion proposes an account of origins – where everything came from.  While many religions propose certain cosmologic events, none really goes back to absolute origins.  They begin with matter in some form, and then try to explain how this matter evolved to its current state.  Thus, the Babylonian cosmogony Enuma Elish begins with a primordial mix of three different kinds of waters, and the Egyptian cosmogony also assumes a watery mix out of which everything arose.  The Greek myths indicate a chaos of waters in the beginning, whereas the Roman writer Lucretius assumed a universe made out of atoms that then evolved.  The Orphic myths propose the universe developed out of a primordial egg, and so on.  All begin with some mixture of space, time and matter and do not propose to explain how these early ingredients came into being.
The Christian Bible, on the other hand, proposes that all things, space, time and matter, arose from the beginning by an eternal, omnipotent, personal God.  These characteristics of God are reflected in His Creation:

a. Infinite and eternal God created the vastness of the universe,
b. Omnipotent God created the vast sources of power throughout the universe
c. Omniscient God created the innumerable evidence of intelligent creation throughout the Universe that we will discuss below,
d. Personal God is able to care for and interact with His creation.

a. Anticipation of His coming.  No other religious person had details about his birth, life, mission, and death foretold many hundreds of years in advance of his coming.  This was to lend authenticity to his person and message.  Tragically, event though his coming was foretold down to small detail his message was still rejected by the populace and leaders at the time.
b. The Virgin Birth.  No other person born into this world had his origins through a virgin birth.  However, for Christ, the perfect man who would serve as a sacrifice for us, the virgin birth was absolutely necessary.  The story of Christ’s birth is unique; none even remotely like it was ever proposed anywhere else.  God Himself took up residence in an embryonic form in a Virgin’s womb without genetic contribution from either human parent.
c. The Divine-Human Duality of Christ.  No other religious leader has taken upon himself the attribute of being entirely divine while also being entirely human.  This duality allowed Christ to be perfect and without sin, and still to be a substitutionary sacrifice for mankind.  Jesus Christ was God, the Creator of all things (Col 1:16), but he was also man in the fullest sense.
d. Sinless Life.  No other religious figure ever assumes he was entirely without sin, for this would have been ludicrous and easily attacked by his enemies.  However, both friends and foe of Christ agreed that He was without blame or sin throughout his life.  For example, Peter said, “[He} is without sin.” (1 Peter 2:22, and John said, “In him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5), Judas said, “I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matt. 27:4), while Pilate said, “I find in him no fault at all (John 18:38).  Paul said, “[He} knew no sin.” (2 Cor. 5;210, and Jesus said, “The Father hath not left me along; for I do always those things that please him.” (John 8:29).
e. Unique Teachings.  Many non-Christians will agree that Christ was a great teacher, certainly one of the greatest of all time.  The beauty of the Sermon on the Mount, and the unique instruction of the parables, and the Upper Room discourse all illustrate the unique instructive ability of Christ.  But even more important is the truth of these teaching because of his unique assertion that He was the Son of God.
f. His Unique Death.  After his farcical trial and period of tremendous suffering on the Cross, he literally dismissed his spirit.  No one else can die like this.  It is certainly within everybody’s ability to commit suicide, but no one can volitionally will that he could die.  But Christ did – he said, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18).

[Top]