With so many religions in the world today just what makes Christianity so unique?
Well, first, all religions, except Christianity, have mankind reaching up to their supposed god. Christianity, however, is the only religion where God reaches down to mankind. This is important because if you believe in an all-powerful God who created the universe, how could you know if He existed unless He chose to reveal Himself to us. And fortunately for us, God has revealed Himself – reached down – through His holy book, the Bible. And no other religion has a holy book that is accurate historically, scientifically, and prophetically like the Bible.
A second way in which Christianity is unique is in the area of works. All other religions are about works and what we have accomplished. But Christianity is about grace and what Jesus has accomplished. Christianity says that we are sinners and our good works can never erase our lifetime of sins as a way to earn our way back to God. Instead, while other religions may reform you only Christianity can transform you by the death of our Savior – Jesus Christ. And as a result of the transforming nature of who we are in Christ we now do good works as a result of who we have become in Christ. Good works are the result of our changed lives and are not done to try to earn our way back to God.
Third, only the Christian religion has God dying for us to restore our relationship with Him through the forgiveness of sin. What a fantastic thought that God would die for us so that we could live for Him.
Fourth, only Christianity makes the bold statement that mankind by nature has a desperately wicked heart. (Jeremiah 17:9) says: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” All other belief systems contend that man is basically good. Only Christianity says just the opposite – that our motives are self-centered – not God centered.
And fifth, all religions have man seeking after God where Christianity says that we are dead in our sins and incapable on our own to seek after God. We read this sorry tale about who man really is in (Romans 3:10-12): “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.’”
Thus, as we can see from the above five points Christianity is radically unique and different from all other religions. One last point about Christianity is its powerful paradoxical nature. Only the Christian religion says that in order to gain your life you must first lose it and that we must love our enemies. And only in Christianity does God say that we didn’t choose Him but that He chose us!