In studying history, it doesn’t take long to conclude that the truth or falsity of all world religions – and the ultimate meaning of life itself – come down to one key issue: did Jesus, or did He not, rise from the grave. The resurrection is "either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion which history records.” In our previous core post (http://goo.gl/uV8ZiQ) we went into great depths to see that the alternative theories presented to try and "explain away" Jesus' rising from the grave were sad at best. In other words, the only event that could explain the resurrection is, well, the resurrection! Since having narrowed the possible explanations down to just one, the natural path now is to narrow down all of the major world religions to see what they say about this historical fact.
Biblical Christianity
(2.5 billion). Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the
Earth. He then rose from the
grave after three days as victorious Savior.
Islam (1.4
billion). Is regarded merely as a prophet and a miracle worker. [Not only do
they not believe He was resurrected, but they
do not believe that He was killed in the first place].
Hinduism (1
billion). Is regarded merely as a great teacher, guru or avatar.
Buddhism (400
million). Is largely ignored, but sometimes regarded merely as a teacher or an avatar.
Chinese Traditional
(400 million). Is not recognized at all.
Falun Dafa/Falun Gong
(100 million). Is not recognized at all.
African Traditional (72
million). Is not recognized at all.
Vodou/Voodoo (60
million). Is recognized but not viewed as the resurrected Savior.
Sikhism (23
million). Is not recognized at all.
Spiritism (20
million). Is regarded merely as the perfect moral example for mankind.
Taoism (20
million). Is not recognized at all.
Juche (19 million).
Is not recognized at all.
Judaism (14
million). Is not regarded as the Messiah, but rather a well-meaning teacher, or
a dangerous revolutionary; either way, He was not
resurrected.
Mormonism (13
million). He suffered and died. His resurrection is not viewed as full
atonement of sin,
but the event is still
recognized.
Cao Dai (10
million). Is viewed merely as a manifestation and is no different than, for
example, Confucius
and Lao-Tze.
Scientology (10
million). Is not recognized at all.
Jehovah’s Witness
(8 million). Is not regarded as God. He did not rise from the dead. God
destroyed His
body, and His non-eternal spirit was then recreated
in Heaven as
Michael the Archangel.
Bahá'í (7
million). Is regarded merely as the sixth of nine manifestations of God, and is
no different than Abraham, the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, Buddha, Krishna, Moses, Muhammed, and Zoroaster.
Drumroll please . . . . . . . . . . . . The world religions
that we’ve narrowed down recognizing Christ’s resurrection are: Biblical
Christianity and Mormonism. You may be thinking to yourself: “Isn’t Mormonism
Christian as well?” Actually, it’s very far from it. But that’s for a future
entry. Also, Biblical Christianity is not considered a religion at all; nor
could we even call it a belief system. That, too, is for a future entry. But
for purpose sake, this is what we are left with.
So where do we go from here? How do we narrow these down to
just one? There are numerous ways we could go about it, but let’s next examine
archaeology and see how Biblical Christianity and Mormonism each stack up with
reality. Until then, don’t take any wooden nickels!
