Think About It

Some time ago in the very distant past, one of our ancestors was lying on a grassy hill looking up at the stars spanning across the night sky and asked him or herself, “Where did all this come from? Where did I come from? Why am I here?”  And from that day on, that need to know has been embedded in our DNA.

Okay, it did not actually happen that way, but you get the picture. The need to know, our desire for an understanding of our origins and place in creation is an innate component of our human nature. It is the thirst for the divine, or the pursuit of God.

Now, most people associate the pursuit of God with religion, but that is not necessarily the case. While religion relies upon revelation and sacred scripture in its pursuit of God, philosophy relies solely upon the intellect and reason, and there are numerous philosophical proofs of the existence of God.

Aristotle and Plotinus successfully argued for the existence of a prime mover and first cause. Augustin and Aquinas reasoned for the existence of a divine mind and a subsistent existence. And the Islamic philosopher Avicenna and German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz proved the existence of a necessary and non-contingent being. Although these proofs are strictly products of the human intellect, they prove the existence of an infinite, immutable, self-sufficient, omnipotent, omnipresent, non-material, and perfect being that we refer to as God.

These philosophical proofs may appear to be just academic exercises that have no real impact on the real world. However, in reality their influence on humanity cannot be overstated because they are embedded in the theologies, doctrines, and traditions of the world’s great religions.

While there are thousands of religions, the five great religions of the world are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism because eighty percent of the world’s population belong to one of these faiths. Hinduism is the oldest of these religions and Islam is the youngest. Christianity is the most populous with 2.3 billion members and Judaism is the least populus with only 15.7 million Jews in the world. Hinduism and Buddhism are the most geographically concentrated with the majority of Hindus living in India and most of the Buddhist living in Indonesia and China. Christianity is the most geographically disbursed having a presence on the six inhabited continents. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are related in that they are Abrahamic religions, that is, they are the descendants of the Abraham found in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles as well as in the Quran, and Buddhism because of the proximity of geography has a common origin with Hinduism.

Other than age and membership what makes these religions great? What has enabled these faiths to thrive while others have faded away? What is the appeal that makes so many people willing to subscribe to one of these religions?

Well, if you think about it, religion must help people navigate the pilgrimage of life. What benefit can people derive from belonging to one of these faiths? Pragmatically, all of the great religions have a moral code that helps bring order and structure to the societies that embrace them. There are the Ten Commandments of the Abrahamic religions, the Rgveda or Five Commandments of Hinduism, and the Ten Grand Precepts of Buddhism that all basically say the same thing; do not kill, do not commit adultery, and do not lie, cheat, or steal. Basic common-sense rules that help people coexist and societies thrive.

However, beyond social harmony and coexistence religion needs to offer something more. There needs to be something that helps people find purpose and meaning in their existence, and the ritualistic practices of these religions along with the act of gathering to worship with others who share a common belief can help do that. The understanding that you are not alone, and the belief that you are a part of something eternal can add a level of consolation and comfort to a life that faces the certitude of death.

Finally, there needs to be a spiritual component of religion that assists the individual in their quest for the divine. All of the great religions, with the exception of Hinduism, have founders, spiritual guides and teachers that help people along their path to God. Judaism has Abraham and Moses, Christianity Jesus, Islam Muhammad, and Buddhism Siddhartha Gutama (the “Buddha”). Of course, there have been many other Spiritual Masters throughout the ages, Confucius for example, and what they all have in common is that they were real people, not myths or fictions, but actual human beings. Extraordinary people certainly, but regular people, who made no claim of divinity, but taught truths that directed people toward the divine. All of them, except Jesus.

Jesus is the exception. He did not proclaim himself to be just another spiritual master among many. Jesus claimed that he was divine, the Word made flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity. He proclaimed, “I and the Father are One,” and professed himself to be God. In fact, that is why he was tried for heresy and crucified. None of the other founders claimed divinity, only Jesus. So, how are we to take this?

Well, we cannot dismiss his claim as a misinterpretation of his teachings because he repeatedly professed his divinity, “I am the bread of life” “I am the light of the world” and “I am the resurrection and the life.” As C.S. Lewis observed, Jesus does not give us the option of accepting him as anything less than what he claims to be, and he did not intend to. He is either who he says he is, or he is a lunatic, or something worse, he is evil itself.

What proof is there that Jesus is who he claims to be? The proof is the resurrection. Now, scholars and theologians far more capable than me have argued, debated, and presented proof of the resurrection, so that is beyond the scope of this narrative. The point is that Jesus was either crucified, died, and was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead or he did not. If he did not, he would be the ultimate conman. If he did, he is exactly who he says he is and who Peter said he was, “The Christ, the Son of the living God.”

If all that is true, where does that put Christianity relative to the other religions? Well, if religion is the search for God, then Christianity is the fulfillment of that search, and if religion is man reaching out to God, then Christianity is God reaching out to man. There is no other alternative.

Recently, Pope Francis was in Singapore at an interfaith meeting of young people and remarked that “All religions are paths to God.” Now, given the context of where he was and who he was talking to, he is not necessarily wrong. However, the Holy Father knows that Jesus did not say I am one of the ways, and the truth, and the life. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; and no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6)