“THE THREE GREAT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD”

Last week my daughter brought home a paper from school on this subject. Of course the subtle implication of the paper was that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are basically the same. (All three religions recognize a deity, though called by different names, and all three provide their adherents with a practical code of moral ethics; so there is no real, substantial difference between them. They all do what religion is supposed to do. They soothe and pacify the consciences of men, and satisfy man's need for religion.) Though public schools are not supposed to teach religion of any kind, there is a deliberate effort, on the part of some, to teach that all religion is merely human in its origin. In other words to teach that, "God only exists in the minds of men."

                It is true that man needs religion. He must have a god to worship, because in creation God stamped upon every man an inescapable God-consciousness. Therefore sinful man, refusing to submit to the light of Divine revelation, has invented and followed many false religions. Islam is a system of religious works, founded by a man named Mohammed. It is the idolatrous worship of a false god called Allah, an impersonal, severe deity. Judaism today is not the religion of Moses. Moses knew, worshipped, obeyed, and prophesied of the coming of Christ by faith. Judaism denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. It too is a religion of works, idolatrously retaining the ritualism, the Sabbath days, and the laws of the Old Testament which found their typical fulfillment in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and were therefore abolished by his gracious appearing.

                And there is much that is called Christianity which is also false. Just as false, erroneous, idolatrous, and deadly as Islam and Judaism. But true Christianity is altogether different from all human religions. It is much more than a code of morality, and much more than a mere religious form. True Christianity is the personal knowledge of and a personal union with the one true and living God, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a living union with the living God. And that union is altogether a work of Divine grace. God Almighty has graciously revealed himself to his people in his Son, Jesus Christ, the Mediator. And he has reconciled us to himself in Christ.