Ten Big Differences between Christianity and Other Religions

These are the “big ten” reasons that go a long way to explain why Christianity is still the fastest growing religion in the world and why it gains converts from the other religions.

This post has now been updated and reorganized here:

15 The Church and World Religions

I taught world religions at various community colleges for a number of years, and here are some of the lessons I learned, boiled down.

Christianity has developed traditions and denominations that are interesting to study, historically speaking, but they add too much complexity for our purposes here. Let’s reduce Christianity down to the basics that a huge majority of Christians can agree on.

We could indicate some genuine similarities among the religions (e.g. moral law, which is covered only briefly), but certain other writers do that already–all religions are the same!

Not quite.

As I see things, here are the main differences between Christianity and the other world religions. The goal here is not to be frivolously insulting towards them. Rather, let’s simply spell out the differences as coolly and objectively as we can.

These differences are being played out in culture and quality of life, right before our eyes, in the spreading of religions, as we scan the globe.

Let’s begin.

1. Incarnation: Some world religions teach that God reaches down to people through a book, for example, Islam and Sikhism. Christianity reaches out to people with a book, true, but it goes more deeply and farther and teaches the Incarnation of a living person. In other words, Christ is the ultimate reaching down to humanity. It is true that in later Buddhism a Bodhisattva could achieve Nirvana, but instead chooses to remain here to help people. But the deficiency here is that this man (or woman?) is strictly a human and has always been a human. Or a Buddhist could claim that the Bodhisattva is a divine being. But this doctrine developed hundreds of years after original Buddhism, so the doctrine could be just an invention in faraway Japan or elsewhere. In contrast, Christ is the God-man who came down from heaven, a doctrine taught in the epistles shortly after the Resurrection and in the Gospel of John and implied in the Synoptic Gospels, particularly through the virgin birth and his bringing about the redemption of humanity. Only the God-man could achieve this. Finally, polytheism says that the gods pop down into the human realm–usually to start wars or pursue sexual relations and sometimes just to speak to humans. However, these stories cannot be tracked through history. In contrast, Jesus lived for over 33 years with his people in Israel, four decades before the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, a real person. Then his disciples–500 of them–saw him alive and proclaimed him to be Lord of all. And so there is a qualitative difference between the stories in Greek and Hindu polytheism and the Main Story in Christianity.

See my post 4. Did Jesus Even Exist?

2. Good works and the afterlife: All world religions emphasize humankind’s doing enough good works (50.001%?) to secure a place in some sort of afterlife (let’s call it heaven for shorthand). Islam, Sikhism, and Buddhism are good examples. To get to heaven requires all work, all the time! In contrast, the fullest explanation of New Testament theology says that a personal God offers salvation to people through imputed or gifted righteousness. He has to do this because humans cannot perform enough good works to be assured of their place in heaven in the presence of the thrice-holy God. After they receive this free gift of righteousness, their place in heaven becomes secure.

3. Full grace: From the second point flows another difference. Only Christianity has a fully developed doctrine of grace. Judaism has something similar, and grace is found in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible or Old Testament), but the emphasis is more heavily on law-keeping. Why else do Jews reverently and joyfully touch the Torah scroll at a synagogue service? Muslims say that grace exists in the words “merciful” and “compassionate” that appear at the top of nearly every chapter in the Quran (Koran). However, the doctrine is not developed. And Islam, mimicking Judaism, is steeped in law keeping. In contrast, the Apostle Paul clearly teaches in his epistles to the Galatians and Romans that grace and righteousness are free gifts, apart from law keeping (and after the free gift is given, then Christians obey moral law)..

See the posts:

God Is Love

What Is Grace?

Law versus Grace

4. Moral law: Some world religions teach moral law with no personal deity or barely a deity (of sorts). Confucianism and Taoism are examples here, which are considered religions because they do seem to honor Something or some deities (of sorts) above the human, and Taoism may contact spirits through rituals and magic. Other religions that have clearly defined deities proclaim moral law, which is beneficial to humanity, on the whole. Christianity also teaches moral law, but offers a personal, intimate relationship with the merciful Lawgiver. The Islamic deity is far removed from humankind because Islam doesn’t have a full doctrine of the Spirit (see no. 8). A person can love moral principles, but it is better when the person realizes that a moral God loves him.

5. Spirits and gods: Some religions worship various spirits and gods. Hinduism and Shintoism are examples. A recent half-hour program on NHK world, a Japanese channel that broadcasts here in the US (with subtitled or voiceover translations), showed a tour guide leading people through two Shinto shrines where people worship a mountain deity that manifests through snakes. Then the TV channel took a tour In a shrine where Shintoists believe that a spirit communicates through a white fox. Children even dress up in white fox makeup to honor this deity. In contrast, Christianity says that demon spirits exist and can harass and deceive people. Any worshiping of spirits opposes Christ and is dangerous to the worshipers’ mind. In Christ, no one has to fear evil spirits.

6. Judgment and karma: Some world religions teach karma, for example, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. The problem is that karma seems to be impersonal. Who controls it? In Hinduism even the gods and goddesses are subjected to it. In Christianity, God is sovereign, and no impersonal law or principle rises above him and controls him. He’s the ultimate, personal Lawgiver and Judge of good and bad.

7. Rebirth: Some world religions teach samsara or the birth-death-rebirth of humanity: Buddhism and Hinduism, for example. However, Christ teaches in John 3:1-16 that a human is born once through his mother (no prior life), is born again by the Spirit of the living and loving God, lives his life in Christ, and then dies to encounter a personal, loving and merciful God who judges humankind. Samsara is broken in Christ.

8. Pneumatology or the doctrine of the Spirit: It is more fully developed in Christianity than any other religion. Zoroastrianism, founded in ancient Persia, now modern Iran, comes closest, but this poor religion has been beat down almost out of existence by Islam. And Zoroastrianism teaches that the Good Spirit and the Evil Spirit are equals, fighting it out. Christianity says that the Evil Spirit is Satan with his horde of demons, and they are not equal to God. The Quran (Koran) mentions the spirit about 20 times, but Muslims have to demote “it” to Gabriel because otherwise the full person of the Spirit wreaks havoc on their strict unitarian monotheism. Judaism has something of a pneumatology because the Tanach (Old Testament) mentions the Spirit, but it has been reduced to an impersonal force in some circles of Judaism; otherwise, a full person co-equal with God also wreaks havoc on a strict unitarian monotheism. And the Spirit in the Tanach came on people only intermittently, not as an abiding presence. In contrast, in Christianity, the full person of the Spirit gave birth to the Church in Acts 2. The Church could not exist, let alone thrive, without him. Someone who claims to be a Christian without the Spirit is just a law keeper, not a born-again believer. The Spirit lives in each believer to guide and comfort him and to assure him of God’s love and a secure place in heaven. Christians attribute the spread of Christianity around the globe even today to the Spirit (not the military).

9. Father God: Perhaps the biggest difference is the absence of a loving Father in other religions. Even Judaism falls a little short here. In the Tanach, “father” is mentioned, but not very often. Hinduism doesn’t offer a loving Father because the multiple gods seem to be in competition with each other, and goddesses exist too. Islam doesn’t offer a Father because Muhammad lived in a polytheistic culture, and the gods had sex and produced children. (He misunderstood the Christian doctrine of Fatherhood and Sonship.) Zoroastrianism, as noted, says there are two co-equal deities, one good, the other bad, who are locked in a struggle. It’s hard to see a loving Father there. In Buddhism, it’s difficult to find a personal deity, let alone a loving Father. In contrast, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God (so he is not sexually procreated in heaven!), and through him we enter into a personal, intimate relationship with his Father. All of us are now his sons and daughters. It’s a privileged position to be, but only by God’s grace

10. Monotheism: In some of the points, I have mentioned the Father, Son, and Spirit. Christianity is a monotheistic religion, but it is a very special version: Trinitarian monotheism. God exists in three persons who share the same essence or substance in perfect unity–as One God. Picture an equidistant triangle (three persons) within one circle (one God). We don’t need to get any deeper than that! As for other religions, Hinduism proclaims polytheism, but it is completely different from Trinitarianism. In polytheism the gods don’t share the same essence, certainly not in the Christian sense of the word. In ancient Greek polytheism, the gods fought and competed with each other or at least kept their domains separate. Further, Judaism and Islam have to deny Trinitarian monotheism to keep their strict unitarian monotheism. In reply, Christians ask what God was doing all by himself before he made angels and the heavens and the earth. A unitarian Muslim or Jew could point out that God is self-sufficient and needs no one. This is true and Christians affirm his self-sufficiency. However, in the Trinity, as Augustine explains, God is love because from eternity past he shares love with the Son through the Spirit, and the Son reciprocates this divine love through the Spirit. As a result, the love of a personal God as a fully developed doctrine doesn’t exist in most religions and is downplayed in a few, in favor of religious law (e.g. Islam and Judaism). The three persons of the Trinity did not need to share law keeping or the Ten Commandments between each other. That is, it’s deficient to believe that each person of the Trinity communicated moral law to each other. Rather, in Christianity love describes God’s essence and is shared among three divine persons and now us. We Christians now experience God’s love in the Spirit through Christ for the glory of the Father in our daily lives.

See my posts

The Trinity: What Are the Basics?

The Trinity: What Are Some Illustrations?

Conclusion

As noted from the start, this post has striven to explain the differences as coolly and objectively as possible. No insults intended.

It is true that Christianity may share a few features with other religions (e.g. moral law like ‘don’t steal’), and some religions like Islam also deny polytheism, to cite only those examples. But all in all, Christianity is qualitatively different in important doctrines, like the nature of God, the winsomeness of Christ (the God-man), the fullness of the Spirit, the love of God, and the full grace of God. All religions are not the same in the essentials.

And now let’s not keep those differences only in the abstract arena of doctrine or theology. Instead, let’s ask how these differences have played out in cultures throughout time and across the globe.

Those ten points explain why Christianity is the largest religion in the world, and why it is still the fastest growing one even today. Just two examples: In Africa in 1900, there were about 10 million Christians. and since the 2000’s there are well over 300 million and still growing. In China the underground church numbers in the tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions.

Christianity will keep spreading, too, if Christians proclaim the simple, Spirit-filled, biblical gospel.

Christianity Is Fastest Growing Religion in World

Christ is the only hope for salvation and heaven.

Scriptures for Salvation in Jesus’s Name Alone:

To be saved, all one has to do is to obey the truths in these verses:

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

³¹But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. (1 John 4:15)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father [God] loves his child [the Son of God] as well. (1 John 5:1)

¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)

⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. […] ¹³for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10, 13)

To be saved: Just call on his name, and with saving faith believe in Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. Profess your saving faith out loud. Declare him Lord, with your mouth. Believe in your heart that God resurrected him (= vindicated his Son’s entire life, ministry, and death). And then you shall be saved and born of God. Simple. Even a child can do this with his childlike faith.

Here is a time-tested acronym to explain faith:

F-A-I-T-H = Forsaking All, I Trust Him.

Now pray this prayer:

Loving, Heavenly Father,

In the name of Jesus, I renounce Islam. I renounce any mixture between Islam and Christ. I repent of my sins. I surrender my life to Jesus. I place my faith and trust in him. I believe that he is the Son of God. I believe God raised him from the dead. I declare him Lord of my life. Cause me to be born again by your Holy Spirit. Fill me with your Spirit to overflowing. Wash and cleanse me from all my sins.

Thank you, Father, for saving me and filling me with your Spirit.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

If you’re a girl in a Muslim country and still live at home, don’t reveal that you have given your life to Jesus. If your father requires you to go to the mosque every Friday, say your prayers to Father God who loves you. Bow in the name of Jesus. Be discreet. Keep your new faith secret. Pray to find an underground church.

The same is true if you live in a communist country.

Articles in World Religions Outline series (in alphabetical order):