Section: Not a Christian?

You say:
'I follow a different religion.'

By coming to this page you are saying you're a Buddhist, a Jew, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Shintoist, a follower of Wicca, Transcendental Meditation, Hare Krishna or the Moonies - or whatever.

Human beings are essentially religious. We all have a spiritual dimension that needs to find expression somehow, and the many religions on offer show how different people have responded. Elsewhere on this site you can see a summary of some of these religions, cults and sects.

How Christians view other religions

Pluralism is in vogue today. This is the view that people are free to choose the religion that suits them, that they shouldn't try to press their religion on people who have made a different choice, and that tolerance is the greatest virtue. Pluralism holds that all the religions are different paths leading to the one summit of knowing God.

Certainly all religions contain some helpful insights. But Christians have a problem with pluralism because Christianity is an exclusive faith. While it acknowledges that other religions may contain some aspects of the truth, it maintains that Christianity alone contains the truth. Christians therefore will show due respect for people of other faiths, but they can't help being evangelistic - desiring to steer them towards God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Many religions date back thousands of years and came into being long before Jesus Christ came to earth. They represent ways in which people have tried to find meaning in both life and death outside of God's self-revelation which came to a head in Jesus. Other religions, like Islam, came on the scene more recently and claim to supersede Christianity as a more recent revelation.

Christianity's common ground with other religions

	Like many religions, Christianity has its sacred writings. Christians believe that the Bible, though penned by human writers, is inspired by God himself as a record of his dealings with the human race and cannot be superseded because it is God's final written revelation.
	Like many religions, Christianity gives a central place to worship. Christians worship the God who has revealed himself as the three-in-one of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They acknowledge his supreme power and rejoice in his love. They delight to praise him with joyful singing.
	Like many religions, Christianity teaches a moral code. Christians believe in ultimate right and wrong, and they look to God's power - present in their lives through the Holy Spirit - to enable them to live lives of uprightness and moral integrity, in line with God's revealed standards.
	Like many religions, Christianity has a variety of expressions. Over the last 2000 years various groups have emphasised different aspects of the Christian faith, giving rise to many 'denominations', like the Baptist Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Salvation Army. But there is a core of Christian truth common to them all.

Where Christianity is unique

	True Christianity is a religion of grace - which means 'God's undeserved favour', with the stress on 'undeserved'. There is absolutely no room in Christianity for earning that favour. Salvation, reconciliation, acceptance are 100% gifts. Christians aim to please God, of course, but they do so not in order to earn his favour but because they are so grateful for having received his favour as a free gift.
	True Christianity is a personal faith by which individuals come to God through Christ. There is no such thing as 'a Christian country'. There may be a country in which active Christians are numerous and whose laws are therefore influenced to some degree by Christian standards. But Christianity by its very nature cannot be imposed. While Christians believe theirs is the only true faith and try to get non-Christians to embrace it, they also recognise everyone's right to choose their own religion.
	True Christianity is separate from culture, though cultural values and practices may be more or less influenced by Christianity. No-one is born a Christian; one chooses to become a Christian having reached an age at which one can understand the issues and having decided to commit one's life to Jesus Christ. Christian parents hope and pray, of course, that their children will become committed Christians in due course. If those children do not, or if they embrace some other religion, the parents will be sad, but will not feel the need to cut them off as somehow bringing shame on them and the community.
	True Christianity has no holy places. Christians can worship God and pray to him anywhere. Church premises are useful, but they have no special sacred status. The Bible teaches that Christians, both individually and corporately, are the 'temple' where God dwells by his Holy Spirit. One could say, therefore, that Christianity has no holy places, just holy people.

Watered-down Christianity

It's a sad fact that much alleged Christianity is not real Christianity at all. During the last 2000 years authentic faith in Christ has been watered down in a variety of ways:

	It has accommodated itself to the practices of Judaism (out of which it grew) and paganism by introducing altars, priests and sacrifices.
	It has attempted to become a cultural faith by introducing the unbiblical idea of baptising babies, thus guaranteeing a steady inflow of church 'members' many of whom later came to no personal faith in Christ.
	It has sometimes linked the church with the state and tried to defend 'Christianity' by military means, as in the appalling tragedy of the medieval Crusades.
	It has sometimes allowed into positions of authority leaders with no real respect for the Bible as God's Word. Such liberal bishops and theologians are in fact not real Christians at all.

If you are wanting to look into Christianity for yourself, it's vital that you look beyond these regrettable factors and see the Christian faith for what it really is - a vibrant, life-changing relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and available to you by his grace.

Investigating Christianity

If you would like a 'no strings attached' opportunity to investigate the Christian faith, I recommend the Alpha course to you. This is an introduction to Christianity where you can ask all the questions you like, where you will not be pressured to accept anything you are not happy with, and where, if you wish, you can drop out at any time. The fact that you may be a serious adherent of another religion is no barrier to attending.

There are literally thousands of Alpha courses running in many countries, and you can find one in your area by looking at the Alpha website.

If you want to know more about basic Christianity, here on my own site is a 12-part course called Beginning with God that you can read online or download and print to study at your leisure. If you see it through to the end and want more, there's a follow-on course called Growing in God.

Perhaps you'd like to know more about the history of Christianity and how it developed from the freshness and vitality of the early church of the apostle Paul's day to the more messy situation of today. Then I invite you to read my book Church Adrift, which is here on this site for free reading or downloading.

To discover more about Jesus, go to the ReJesus site.

I wish you well as you find your way forward.

DAVID MATTHEW