Why Christianity?

On the most important questions, the religions answer differently, and sometimes in exactly opposite ways. So the saying "all religions are true" sounds generous, but in fact it tells every religion, "the thing you hold most important is wrong." If we truly respect one another, we have to begin by honestly calling different things different.

Each dot shows a rough position, based on the representative teaching of each religion. To go deeper, hear each faith from its own scriptures and believers.

It is not people climbing up; God came down. Not to a palace but to a stable, not as a master but as a servant, not to a throne of glory but all the way to a cross where criminals were hung.

The son who has wasted everything rehearses his speech on the way home: "Take me on as one of your hired hands." He will work to pay it back — the climbing path. But before the father even hears those words, he recognizes his son from far away and runs to him first and holds him tight.

The Bible says that all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin is not just a few mistakes but a heart turned away from God, and a holy God does not pretend not to see it.

If someone harmed your family and the judge said "That's all right" and let them go, it would be hard to call that love. To simply cover it over would destroy justice; to simply punish would leave no room for love.

The law was upheld and the son went free. Justice and love were both fulfilled. Christianity says this is exactly what the cross is.

Where does the price of forgiven wrongs go?

Not a story, but something that happened

Christianity does not tell this as a myth or a parable. It is an event with a time and a place, so it can be examined as history — and Christianity stakes everything on that event.

And on the third day he rose again. The tomb was empty, and more than five hundred people saw the risen Jesus at one time. Paul wrote this about twenty years after the event and added, "most of them are still alive" (1 Corinthians 15:6), as if to say: go and ask them. Disciples who had hidden in fear gave their lives telling this news. People may die for what others told them, but no one dies for what they claim to have seen with their own eyes while knowing it is a lie.

First, let us honestly admit it: if Christianity has felt exclusive, the cold words and actions of Christians have played their part. That was not what Jesus is like. We are sorry.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). Saying there is only one way sounds narrow. But look at what it takes to enter, and it looks different. At the door of good works or hard discipline, those with the strength and time to spare go first. The door of grace asks for no qualifications at all. A criminal, someone who came late, someone facing death — all enter by the same door. So did the thief beside Jesus on the cross (Luke 23:43).

People of another nation, another faith; an officer of the occupying army; a tax collector scorned as a traitor to his people; a man condemned to death. Jesus crossed the lines people had drawn in his day and went to them first.

If someone who knows where the emergency exit is shouts, "This way!", we do not call that person arrogant. When Christians share Jesus, it should come from the same heart: not a wish to win, but a wish for everyone to live.

Jesus does not break the door down. He calls by his word, not by the sword or by fear. And it is the Lord who opens closed hearts. Of Lydia, listening to Paul, the Bible says, "The Lord opened her heart" (Acts 16:14). So Christians do not try to force anyone to believe, and should treat neighbors of other faiths with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15–16).

Someone learning to swim does not throw themselves into just any water. They trust themselves to the water because an instructor is beside them and they have seen others float. It is faith with good reasons.

Christian faith is the same. Events in history with a time and a place, people who bore witness at the cost of their lives, and the stories we have compared above — these are the reasons. Take a step on that ground, and what follows you will come to know not with your head but with your life. And the more you know, the deeper your faith grows.

The word the New Testament uses for "church" (ekklesia) means "people called out and gathered together." So the church is first of all not a building but people. The church building is simply the house where those people meet.

The church is not a club that people started with good intentions. Jesus called it "my church" and built it himself, and the Holy Spirit came and breathed life into it.

The church is the body of Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:27). Following the will of Jesus, its head, it becomes his hands and feet and carries on his work on earth. Baptism is the sign that we belong to Christ and have become part of this family, and communion is the table where we remember the cross and by faith receive the grace of Christ.

If that has happened to you, we are truly sorry. The church is a gathering of people too, so it makes mistakes, and sometimes it wounds deeply.

But the church is not a showroom for perfect people; it is a hospital for people being healed. Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Mark 2:17). A place where sick people gather and are healed by the same doctor — that is the church.

Please don't leave Jesus because of the people who hurt you. You can look again for a healthy church. We have written how below.

Teachings that borrow the name of Christianity almost always say "grace alone is not enough" and add something, turning it back into a "climbing path."

A real pearl feels gritty when you rub it against your teeth. The real gospel feels gritty at first, too, because it begins by saying, "You cannot save yourself." But inside it is a love that was wounded in your place.

If someone approaches you on the street saying "Could you fill in a survey?", "We offer free personality tests" or "There's a great Bible study," but won't say clearly which church they are from, be careful. It is best to avoid any group that does not give its church name and denomination from the start.

When you are unsure, ask the pastor of a church near you, or your denomination's office. A healthy church welcomes questions like these.