My soul clings to you,Your right hand upholds me.
Letter to a friend discussing whether Jesus is the only way
Thank you, for your response. I appreciate that you are open and willing to discuss things, even hard things with patience. Not many are willing to talk even when they disagree and try to understand the other. I learn so much from those discussions and look forward to learning more.
You are right there are many religions that claim to have aspects similar to Christianity, Buddhism being one. And on the surface, they may seem to. Jesus himself said there is a wide road, but he also said there is a narrow road that leads to life. Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” We can search the wide roads, see similarities to Christianity, but only one road leads to Jesus. No other religion has this. In other words, all of our efforts are of no avail, except to be known by Jesus. What Jesus did at the cross, was the only means of restoring that broken relationship. If it were not Jesus would not have gone to the cross, nor would God the Father have allowed it. Jesus says that the Father always answered his prayer, yet when He asked for this cup to pass if it were possible, even to the sweating of blood. The request of the Son to His Father was intense. The answer was the cross. Jesus said that the deepest love of an earthly father is evil compared to the immense love of the God the Father. If there was another way, no matter how remote it was, there is absolutely no way the Father would have sent His son to the cross. If Buddhism was a way, Jesus would not have gone to the cross. If any other religion provided a way to restore our relationship with God, Jesus would not have gone to the cross. But because of the Love of the Father and the Son, they were willing to go through this, to restore a relationship with us. This is the power and romance of a Love that conquers. After His resurection, Jesus was walking with two men on the road to Emmaus “and he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” The whole of scripture is about the work and worth of Jesus.
This in itself does not prove that Buddhism is better or worse than Jesus. Nor would I claim that I am wiser or better than others. I am not. I have great love and respect for you and Michael and learn from my discussions with y’all. One of the reasons I want to hang out with y’all is I love how you challenge me to grow. Wish we lived closer together, and we could hang out and talk more. But Buddhism and Christianity only have superficial similarities and those similarities have a very different core, and essentially are not the same in the end. I don’t say this to put down your comment, but to discuss and help you understand why I would say Buddhism and Christianity are different. And I am eager to hear your thoughts.
If who Jesus claimed to be is true, then we must abandon all other so-called gods, religions, or ways to life, for if we reject Jesus, then we have now rejected the only true God and have rejected the source of love. And life and like a rose plucked from a bush, even in our grandest beauty and most fragrant smell, we too will one day wither and decay. No matter how much nutrition we place in the vase, it is fundamentally different from the source of life. The wonder of the Gospel is that in order for us to be restored into a relationship with God, we cease striving, and trust in the work and worth of Jesus. This is personal and engaging. It is not an idea we trust, it is a person we trust. God, himself, coming and living amongst us in order to restore a relationship with us. Which is something you expect from a God, who from all eternity has been in relationship.
