Christians are not perfect, just forgiven, part 16.
“Now I can just hear the critics of the Judeo-Christian tradition cringing at the plain and simple gospel of Jesus Christ,” commented Dr. D. James, President and teacher of The Lay School in Clinton, Tennessee, as he continued his presentation before The Lay School faculty. “The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches and preaches ‘exclusivism’; you either believe what The Bible teaches about Jesus Christ, His gospel, and the prescribed way to get to heaven, OR, you are destined for hell? What about the other world religions? Or, for that matter, what about the other sixteen of the world’s crucified saviours? Okay, what about them? Have any of you actually read any of the sacred writings of the world’s other major religions: the Vedas and Upanishads of Hinduism; the Qur’an; any of the sacred writings of Confucianism or Buddhism? How about The Egyptian Book of the Dead in which the life narrative of Horus, son of Osiris and Isis of Egypt is alleged to be almost identical to that of Jesus Christ (a claim that is made of all these other sixteen of the world’s crucified saviours); or, what about the life narrative of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita? In truth, neither of these two sacred writings nor the life narratives of Krishna or Horus have much in common with that of Jesus Christ, let alone the message of why He was crucified! Yes, it is true, that certain doctrines like the existence of a god, angels and demons; the resurrection of the body; the immortality of the soul; and an afterlife; among possibly others, are taught in some form or fashion in some of these other sacred writings, but not one of those other sacred writings presents anything like the gospel of Jesus Christ. In point of fact one thing that all those other sacred writings teach is that man can, through works, through something he does, save himself! And that doctrine is diametrically opposite what The Bible teaches: that man, in and of himself, can do NOTHING to effect his own salvation, it is ALL God’s doing, from beginning to end! Those scholars and authors who assert or have asserted in times past that these other sacred writings present a life narrative of the world’s other sixteen crucified saviours so strikingly similar to that of Jesus Christ have done so in the hopes that those who hear their message and read their works either have no knowledge of those sacred writings or will not put forth the effort needed to read those sacred writings for themselves. They count on the historical complacency of the born-again believer who, in the face of such attacks on the Christian faith, retreat to a position of ‘I BELIEVE THE BIBLE’ and “THE BIBLE, especially THE KING JAMES VERSION, IS ALL I NEED’! All the while our children and grandchildren, under pressure to seek out a college or university education to prepare them for a better life, find themselves confronted with scholarly claims such as this; claims that are totally contrary to that which they were taught in Sunday School, church, and sometimes in their homes; totally contrary to what they read in their Bibles; and, when confronted with these ideas, have no one, many times not even their pastors, who can help guide them through the muck and the mire of the temptations of the Satan! The result? Their faith is severely challenged and many, maybe even most, lose what faith they had. Is this not correct? Look around in your own church and congregation. Analyze the demographics! Are you seeing your high school and college-age students remaining faithful to the church or is your church seeing them conspicuously absent? How many converts is your church seeing? How many baptisms? When was the last time someone in your church announced the call to preach? What was one of the main characteristics of the church of the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:14-22? Did not Jesus condemn them for being lukewarm, neither cold, nor hot! They were complacent and self-satisfied, and knew not that they were ‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’! It is claims such as these made by secular scholars, nay, even some scholars within our churches who assent to such notions as these, that have introduced doubt into the lives of our church membership, and in our historical complacency, no one was knowledgeable enough or even willing in our churches to find the answer! Truly the church has got a lot to answer for!”
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