We are told in Wikipedia that there are around 10,000 religions in this world, of which the Christian religion is identified as one of the four major religions along with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. It defines religion as “a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, ethics, morals, beliefs, worldviews, tests, sanctified (holy) places, prophecies, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental and spiritual elements.” The most concise and simplistic definition I have come upon for religion is that “Religion is a system of truth claims regarding the nature of (a) god, and how one is established in right relationship with that god to be able to receive the promised blessings of that religion.”
Most theologians and historians would agree that religion is a means by which man attempts to cope with the dark realities of this world, the pain and sorrow, tragedy and grief, frustration and futility, and related feelings of helplessness, emptiness, loneliness, anxiety, depression, guilt and most prominently, our fear of death. Thus, we look to religion to provide us peace of mind, ease of conscience, rest in our soul, a sense of meaning and purpose for our life in this world, and the hope of a prosperous, joyful future in a world to come.
Now although I did take a class on “Comparative Religions” while in college, and have done some further study since, I have not quite got to all 10,000 (maybe 10-12 at best). However, from what I have come to understand in my limited study is that there are vast and significant differences in each of these religion’s conception of who or what “God” is, what he/she or it is like, how he/she or it is to be worshiped, and most significantly, what a man or woman must do or accomplish to come into right relationship with or right standing before the god of that religion to receive the desired/promised “blessings”.
There is a story from the life of C.S. Lewis, the renowned Christian novelist and apologist (The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity), that occurred during his attendance at a British conference on comparative religion. Experts from around the world were vigorously debating what if any belief was unique to the Christian faith. Lewis wandered into the discussion late and asked. “What’s the rumpus about?” And when he was told that they were attempting to identify Christianity’s uniqueness in relationship to all of the other religions of the world, Lewis reportedly replied, “Oh that’s easy, It’s grace.”
What Lewis was pointing to was the fact that all other religions in the world proclaim what a man or woman must do or accomplish to earn or merit their deity’s acceptance, approval, and favor in this life as well as entrance into a desirable afterlife. Only Christianity dares to make our receipt of God’s love and goodness in this life and entry into Heaven in the next as an undeserved, unmerited gift, which is the simplest definition of grace, wherein “blessings” are granted not on the bases of who we are or the merits of what we have or have not done, but on who God is and what He has done on our behalf in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9) (Titus 3:4-7).
I would have a tough time disagreeing with Lewis, as it is almost impossible for me to imagine any of the so-called gods of these innumerable religions personally introducing themself/itself to mankind in the way the God of the Bible, Yahweh, does in Exodus 34:5-7. The Bible calls out these so called gods as “idols” with their related doctrines being formed in our minds by Satan and his demons, to lead us away from the one true God, blinding us to the truth of His greatness, His goodness and the glory of His grace (Psalm 96:5) (2 Corinthians 11:12-15) (1 Timothy 4:1-3) (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The term grace in general refers to the goodness we receive from someone who owes us absolutely nothing; the provision, without cost, of that which is essential to our happiness and wellbeing; the free gift of a costly object or highly desired position to someone who has done absolutely nothing to earn or deserve it, or the favor and kindness shown by one person to another that is motivated solely out of love for that person. The term grace as used in the Bible describes how God freely and gladly, out of love, displays His goodness, wisdom and power on behalf of his creation, for our eternal joy, pleasure and satisfaction in Him.
The Bible begins in Genesis Chapters 1-2 with the revelation of the grace of God in the creation. The Bible reveals how the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient, infinitely glorious God, existing as three divine persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in an eternal love relationship of unimaginable joy and pleasure, at some point in eternity, chose to create a race of men and women in His image and likeness who would share in His glorious existence, not as divine equals, but as beloved children, enjoying all that an infinitely good, infinitely wise and infinitely powerful eternal Being could give to and do for those who would trust in His love and pursue Him alone as the object of our deepest love and source of our eternal joy (Psalm 43:3-4) (Psalm 31:23) (Psalm 63:3).
In these two chapters of the Bible, we see how God speaks into existence an infinitely glorious universe with its millions of constellations and its billions of stars and planets and then the earth with all the natural beauty of its oceans and rivers and mountains and plants and trees. He creates the multiple varieties of birds and animals and fish and bugs that fill the earth and its oceans, all of which were made to display the beauty and wonder – the magnificence and power of an infinitely good and gracious God, all made for mankind to freely and richly enjoy with God Himself enjoying us, His beloved children, as we enjoy Him and His “ good” creation (Genesis 1:3-25) (1 Timothy 6:17) (Psalm 147:11).
Mankind, represented by Adam and Eve, was created by God in His image and likeness with His righteous nature and character. He creates them with a physical body which imaged His beauty, excellence and glory, with five senses through which they could enjoy all the goodness – all of the pleasures and delights that God put into His original creation as well as those that would come throughout eternity as expressions of His infinite love (Genesis 2:25) (Psalm 16:11) (Jeremiah 31:3).
He breathes life into this body, in which we become a living spirit being with intellect, will, emotions, and affections which are to animate and instruct our body in living for the glory of God, as we pursue all of our goodness in Him (1 Corinthians 10:31). It is through our soul – our spirit man, we come to experience the relational joys and pleasures of knowing and loving and being loved by God and one another (Genesis 2:7).
Man is given dominion/rule over all of God’s good and perfect creation, caring for it and protecting it in a manner that would enable us to freely and fully enjoy it (Genesis 1:27-28).
God, as our creator, establishes an order and design for human flourishing and our individual happiness in relationship with Him and one another (Genesis 1:31). This includes most prominently, the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman in which within that relationship we would enjoy the intense pleasures of emotional and sexual intimacy, and the glorious privilege and great joy of procreating other beings like themselves to fill the earth and enjoy with them the eternal and infinite pleasures of God (Genesis 2:23-24) (Psalm 36:7-8).
All of this would take place under God’s wise and loving authority, with mankind fully trusting and rejoicing in His goodness, wisdom, power and love, and thus willingly and gladly obeying all that He commanded of us as our creator – or would we?
And the answer to that question will be the focus of my next post.
Grace and Peace ×