"And you all have knowledge of where I am going, and of the way to it". Thomas said, "Lord, we have no knowledge of where you are going; how may we have knowledge of the way"? Jesus said to him, "I am the true and living way: no one comes to the Father but by me. If you had knowledge of me, you would have knowledge of my Father: you have knowledge of him now and have seen him". ( John 14:4-7 )
Jesus asserted himself be God. If one is living in a dark room, as represented by the many perspective spiritual beliefs, religions and belief systems existing in the world today, what better way to learn about the truth than by turning on the light? Christian beliefs would be in agreement with the Islamic description of God; nevertheless in Christianity, in respect to eternal life with God, it is a certainty when we accept Jesus Christ as the son of the God.

Understanding God's plan of redemption through the salvation offered by Jesus gives us a very powerful tool to test the validity of any religions or systems of belief. How about Christianity compared to Hindu, Islam and other religions? There are many landscapes, beliefs, religions and systems of belief we can look at...

Is Jesus Just A Great Prophet?

This system of belief, represented in several major religions, does not accept the deity of Christ, but gives Him such characteristics as great, wise, a laudable humanist. Where this system falls short is not acknowledging that Jesus was God incarnate, that Jesus was the distinct and separate personality of God revealing Himself to man as a Man.

When Jesus was arrested by the chief priests and temple officers of the temple in Jerusalem, He was brought before the Council of Elders, the Sanhedrin, and questioned (Luke 22:70-71):

Jesus, more than anyone else, asserted His claim to be God. If one is living in a dark room, as represented by the many belief systems existing in the world today, what better way to see the truth than by turning on the light. The Old and New Testaments testify to the truth and tell us who the Light of the World is. "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (John 9:5). "I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness" (John 12:46).

No man has ever done the miracles Jesus did which include: restoring sight to the blind; raising the dead (a little girl, Lazarus, the only son of a widow); turning water into wine; healing a paralytic; ordering demonic spirits out of the possessed and ordering a legion of demons into a herd of swine; healing a leper and a woman with a hemorrhage of twelve years; feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish; walking on water; ordering the wind and waves to be still. The miracles go on and on. No man who has walked on earth ever made the claims Jesus did and backed these with such power over nature, demons, sickness and death itself.

Even the grave could not hold Him down. The prophets of man all lie decomposed in their graves. Jesus does not lie in a grave. As he prophesied, He rose on the third day. He was without sin. Death could not keep Him in the ground. When He hung on the cross at the ninth hour, He did cry out, "My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). Darkness had enveloped the land for three hours. At the moment Jesus cried out, He was being assailed and engulfed by the sins of man from every age. He was the sacrificial Lamb, and for the only time in His earthly life, He was cut off from God. The sin which separates man from God is so dark and evil. The fact that He rose again reveals that His atonement was perfect and final. Which prophet of man has ever claimed, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die" (John 11:25-26). Are those words of a "greater teacher," a rabbi, Abraham, Moses, or of God Himself? Which "great teacher" has made promises reaching beyond man's physical death?

Jesus did not rise from death as a spirit. He rose in His physical body. Eleven of the apostles saw Him (Judas hung himself for having betrayed innocent blood). Jesus told them, "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39). He then asked them for something to eat because He was hungry. It had been three days since His last meal. They gave Him a piece of broiled fish and He ate it in their sight. (He later again ate fish with three hundred people.) He then said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44).

The Testimony of Fulfilled Prophecy

No prophet of man ever fulfilled prophecies of his coming. Jesus, however, fulfilled an incredible vast body of prophecy. Unless God Himself had woven such a canvas of prophecy, it is impossible for these prophecies to have been coincidentally fulfilled. Many of these Old Testament prophecies are referred to by the authors of the gospels—Luke, Mark, John and Matthew—and by Paul in the Book of Acts and in his Epistles. To look at a few of the Old Testament prophecies should be highly persuasive to any unbeliever that history is directed by the hand of God:

The prophet Micah, who prophesied from 756 to 697 BC, foresaw the coming of a Ruler of Israel who has been in existence since "the days of eternity":

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His father, Joseph, was of the clan of Judah. He will, upon his return, be the ruler of Israel, fulfilling yet another extensive body of prophecy. And as God His days are from eternity.

Isaiah 9:6, written around 700 BC, prophesies, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." When has a child ever been called "Mighty God" and "Eternal Father?"

Psalm 22, written four hundred years before crucifixion was known to the Jews, describes Jesus' sufferings on the cross. Psalm 22:16 reads, "A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet." It was not uncommon for those who were crucified to hold their bodies up, thereby delaying suffocation, by pushing up with their feet and knees. This kept the chest cavity propped up and allowed the victims to breathe. For a quick death, the soldiers would break the leg bones of the victims so their lungs would collapse. Jesus was crucified the day prior to the Sabbath. Crucifixions were not permitted to take place or drag on into the start of the Sabbath. When the Sabbath drew near, the soldiers approached Jesus to break his leg bones, but He was already dead and no bones had to be broken. Psalm 22:17 says, "I can count all my bones."

Isaiah, who prophesied between 758 and 698 BC, states, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed" (Is. 53:5-6). Without a God existing outside linear time and giving His prophet Isaiah a glimpse into His plan of redemption, it would have been impossible for Isaiah to compose his fifty-third chapter which is entirely prophetic and describes the coming of Jesus and His death as a substitutionary sacrifice.

The prophet Zechariah, who was born in Babylon, returned to rebuild Jerusalem with the first caravan of exiles under Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and was involved in the building of the second temple, prophesied, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey" (Zech. 9:9). Zechariah delighted in visions he received from God. In Zechariah 11:12-13 he prophesies:

Judas Iscariot delivered Jesus to the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver. When Judas saw that Jesus had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying he had sinned and betrayed innocent blood. He threw the money into the sanctuary ("in the house of the Lord"). The chief priests concluded it was not lawful to return the money to the temple treasury as it was the price of blood. Therefore, with the money they bought a potter's field in which to bury strangers. God had revealed this to Zechariah hundreds of years earlier. He wasn't fooled, however, by the priests' legal machinations to avoid the stain of innocent blood in this verse, but placed the potter right in the house of the Lord.

The Bible makes many prophecies, which are yet to happen. Only some of the prophecies in the Book of Daniel have been fulfilled and the ones in the Book of Revelation have not been fulfilled. The many prophecies that have been fulfilled give credibility to the ones that have not come to pass. Only God can clearly see the past and the future as He exists outside the linear plane. Only those inspired by Him can make such accurate prophecies that bear witness to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The prophet Micah, who prophesied that the Ruler shall spring from Israel (discussed above), also prophesied:

This appears to be a prophetic passage only partially fulfilled. Jesus did shepherd His flock in the strength and majesty of God. The Antichrist, a demonically possessed leader who, according to Bible prophecy, is to rise in the last days, has been referred to as the "Assyrian" or as the "beast." The Assyrian is to occupy Israel, but Israel will be saved by supernatural intervention. "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone" (Rev. 19:19-20).

"He will be great to the ends of the earth," parallels His return to earth expounded in Revelation 19:14-15: "And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron." This passage concerns a heavenly intervention, yet to occur, in the affairs of man.

Zechariah 12:8-10 also prophesies an event that is yet to happen, describing an attack by many nations against Israel which leads its people to realize who Jesus Christ is:

Prophecy is consistently present throughout the Old and New Testaments and attests to an intelligent Being charting the course of human events. The fulfillment of prophecy is evidence that the message contained in the Old and New Testaments is accurate and not one of man's mythologies. The extensive number of prophecies that have already been fulfilled gives a sound foundation to the truths expounded in the Bible and attests to their supernatural authorship. There is no way that Jesus as a man could have "staged" the fulfillment of prophecies regarding His birth, His mission, His nature, His personality, His death, and His resurrection.

As God, He certainly could have and did. He wrote the script. What other "great teacher" had his or her arrival on the human stage prophesied thousands of years earlier by unrelated, independent prophecies, with the prophecies naming the place of birth, the personality of the "teacher," his mission, how he would die, the mode of transportation he would employ, how much money he would be betrayed for, etc. One must simply read thoroughly the detail in Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53 to appreciate how thorough these prophecies are.

Lastly, which "great teacher" has ever risen from the dead and helped his friends catch fish (John 21:6) and eat fish in their company on two separate occasions?

Is Jesus Just Another Avatar? What About Reincarnation?

"When I was involved in meditation and yoga, and reading Hindu and New Age literature extensively, I kept running into the belief that Jesus was an avatar (copied from author's biography, "Death of a Pharaoh"). An avatar is believed to be the incarnation of powerful spiritual beings which incarnate over time to show mankind the way. Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and your latest guru or New Age leader are all considered avatars of equal dignity.

The concept of avatar was more often than not tied into the Hindu belief in reincarnation wherein all organisms die and return as a more complex organism. There was a general belief that humans reincarnated as humans in Western circles, and in Eastern circles, that fish, birds, insects, animals and humans could reincarnate among their various forms. I never ran across a situation where a plant or a legume, such as an asparagus, wilted and died and then reincarnated as a household cat.

The belief in evolution seems to happily coexist with the belief in reincarnation, as there appears to be a general consensus that in the next go around one would return "more evolved," assuming one had not accumulated any bad karma. Karma is that property which keeps you from reincarnating into a higher life form. It can restrict you to the level you are presently at or send you several levels down.

If a person has done bad things, bad being conduct which is not necessarily evil, but more "anti-life" or "energy depleting," then that person will have accumulated bad karma and, in their next incarnation, will have to balance the bad karma with good karma through their positive actions. When the good karma outweighs the bad karma, that person, bird, fish or animal will progress to a higher life form. Thus, a toad with good karma may reincarnate as a canary, a shrimp as a cricket, an eagle as a lemur. Those who do not believe in crossing the line between life forms would only have a sardine reincarnate as a sea bass, a grasshopper as a beetle, or a Roman mule trader into a mini-van dealer.

Avatars, as powerful spiritual beings, have transcended the wheel of reincarnation. Yet, having escaped the wheel, they look back at those who are still toiling and wish to help them break out of the cycle as well. They incarnate as avatars or prophets in various times and in various parts of the world. They make a great impact in those communities and are revered by their fellow men.

The gospel they bring, however, is not of God's plan of salvation and of the blood of Jesus Christ. These Old Age/New Age avatars, according to those who believe in them, preach reincarnation, the necessity to obey the avatar, meditation, yoga, and anything from chanting all day and night to sitting in the mountains of Uruguay trying to "make contact" with UFOs.

Jesus is not seen in His historical perspective as the Son of God. The fall of Adam and Eve, sin, separation from God, and redemption through the sacrifice on the cross are all totally foreign concepts. Jesus is generally an "enlightened" incarnation along with many other incarnations, a mere stepping stone among a series of other avatars. A picture of Jesus will hang on the wall of an ashram along with numerous other "beings," many of which are quite bizarre.

The party line is that Jesus was either a mystic who had training with the Essenes, a mystic and ascetic sect which lived around the Dead Sea, or that He had spent his "lost years" in India. These are undocumented speculations with no basis in fact. Having a portrait of Jesus along with the more bizarre avatars such as Krishna, an individual whom we are not sure even existed, gives the Western devotee an element of familiarity. In the midst of the incense, the sitar music, and the picture of the guru whose ashram he is in, a photo of a languid Jesus is vaguely reassuring. But the Eastern Jesus is not the Biblical Jesus. As a carpenter, a profession which entails lots of physical exercise, Jesus was probably strong and rugged. His ministry was assertive and dynamic.

He did not teach reincarnation and the Bible makes it quite clear that, "It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27). Jesus did not teach His disciples physical and spiritual exercises which would take them to "godhead," "cosmic consciousness," or "rama." His claim was quite plain: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies" (John 11:25). The New Ager, Eastern mystic or "Christian" cultist will take the "I" in Jesus' personal claim and expand it into a universal "I."

The "I" will be explained as "the I existing in all of us," to use New Age phraseology. Without an understanding of God's plan of salvation, already discussed, one could be easily deceived by this play in semantics. After all, the serpent flattered Eve in the garden and told her, "You shall be like God" (Gen. 3:5) if she ate of the tree."

Are WE ALL Little Gods?

As we move into the twenty-first century we find the planet largely populated by men and women who would be as God, but are selfish little gods trying to grab for themselves as much as they can get, and questioning the existence of the True God. When the True God is irrelevant, then man becomes his own god, and since man is sinful, societies fall apart. There are no moral restraints in politics, business, sexual conduct, personal and international relations, or respect for God's creation.

In the United States alone, nearly two million abortions are performed a year. Large parts of the former Soviet Union are blighted by extensive environmental pollution. Gangs of hoodlums bring terror to major cities such as Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Moscow. "Upper class" hoodlums manipulate stock and commodity markets from fancy offices. As the law of God breaks down the law of man brings lawlessness and anarchy, only to be replaced by the eventual repression of dictatorships, also run by flawed men.

God does not tolerate man's evil antics forever. Noah's generation was destroyed by the flood. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with brimstone and fire. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God warned the kingdom of Judah that He would bring calamity on its people because they had forsaken Him and had offered burned sacrifices to foreign gods. The calamity would come "because they had filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high place of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal" (Jeremiah 19:5).

Today, the mills of death are grinding across America killing over five thousand unborn per day through chemical injection, fetus mutilation, and pills of death. Abortion has become big business, legalized and subsidized by the courts and government, by men and women who mete out death to those who can't cry out. Just as Judah burned its sons on its high sacrificial altars, so have we killed our sons at the altars of the goddess of lust.

Babylon attacked and destroyed Jerusalem, and took the people of Judah into captivity, transplanting them as they did all their conquered peoples. Many years later, Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, took the sacred silver vessels he had stolen from the temple in Jerusalem and defiled them by drinking from them at a party, as did his guests and concubines. Out of nowhere, a man's hand materialized and began writing on a wall. Daniel interpreted the message, which read, "God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. You have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. Your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians" (Dan. 5:26-29). That same night, impregnable Babylon was invaded through its water system and Belshazzar, a mortal god, was slain.

Christianity compared to Islam

1. Both affirm, acknowledge and accept the existence of God
2. Both believe in the Resurrection of the physical body, a life beyond death, a place called heaven for the righteous and a place called hell for the wicked.
3. Both accept a final day of Judgment, which will come suddenly at a time known only to God and presented as a cataclysmic event.
4. Both believe that forgiveness is only to be obtained by the grace of God however Christianity assures one of salvation through a sincere belief in Christ.
5. In Islam to be worthy to attain forgiveness requires of man unrelenting self-control and the service of God by means of good works and especially by prayer and almsgiving. Sura 23:102-103, "They whose balances shall be heavy shall be blest. But they whose balances shall be light, they shall lose their soul, abiding in hell forever". Bible teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a as a result of works that none should boast". Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5, KJV).
6. Christianity would agree with the Islamic description of God as ‘the Compassionate One, the Merciful, the Protector, the Provider, the Pardoner, and the Clement, ever ready to turn to the repentant sinner.’ In Christianity however eternal life with God is a certainty with the acceptance of Jesus Christ.
7. In Christianity, all men’s righteousness to quote the prophet Isaiah amount to "filthy rag" before God: Isaiah 64:6 "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." Men, however good they are, are still in a state of sin, separation from God, due to the taint of the original sin of Adam and Eve. The "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). No one can be good enough to stand in the presence of God except the spotless lamb, Jesus, who took away the sins of the world. Salvation is a free gift of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on a cross of wood. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
8. Both Islam and Christianity look to the evidences in nature for the existence and power of God. God is looked upon as the Creator of the creation.
9. Both Islam and Christianity look to the prophets for counsel and wisdom. Mohammed in the Koran recalls again and again the catastrophes that had overtaken the Egyptians, the ‘people of Lot", the ‘people of Noah’, and acknowledges and refers to the lives of Joseph and John the Baptist, David and Solomon and Jesus.
10. Both teach that men must pray to God . The Meccan suras mention only morning and evening prayers and private prayer during the night. Jesus teaches Christians how to pray in the "Lord’s prayer".
11. Both Christianity and Islam teach the giving of alms. Malachi urges Christians to tithe. The New Testament urges Christians to give joyfully and Jesus reaffirms the Old Testament practice of tithing in Matthew 23 verse 23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others."
12. Sura iv, v 135 of the Koran gives an outline of a credo by Muslims:

"O ye who believe, believe in God and His Apostle and the Book which He hath down to His Apostle and the Scripture which He hath sent down formerly. Whosoever denieth God and His Angels and His Books and His Apostles and the Last Day hath strayed far from the Truth."

In Islam God is referred to as Allah, which is the shortened form of Al-ilah, ‘The god’.

The ‘most beautiful names’ of God include Hearer, Seer, Bestower, Recknoner, Pardoner, Keeper, Guide. There are ninety nine ‘most beautiful names’.

The famous Throne-verse (Sura ii, v. 256) is an exposition of God:

"God-there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsistent. Slumber seizeth Him not, neither sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who is there that shall intercede with Him save by His Will? He knoweth what is present with men and what shall befall them, and nought of His knowledge do they comprehend, save what He willeth. His Throne is wide as the Heavens and the Earth, and the keeping of them wearierth Him not. And He is the High, the Might One."

Most Christians would agree with the exposition of God in the Throne-verse.

13. Both Christianity and Islam believe in the existence of angels. In the imagery of the Koran angels are represented as God’s messengers. Michael and Gabriel, the two angels mentioned in the Bible are found in the Koran. Gabriel is identified as an "illustrious messenger, lord of power" (lxxxi, vv. 19-21) who communicated the Koran to Mohammed and again with the ‘Holy Spirit’ who announced the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary and is said in three passages to have ‘strengthened’ Jesus.
14. Christianity and Islam believe in the existence of devils, although the devils are represented as rebellious jinn rather than fallen angels. The jinn, like men, are created being but are created of fire rather than of earth. There are believing and unbelieving jinn and the unbelieving jinns will be judged with men and condemned to Hell. The rebellious jinn, or shaitans teach men sorcery, opposed the Prophets. They try to overhear what is discussed in Heaven but are driven off by shooting stars. The Shaitan or Iblis is the leader of these evil spirits. His fall from a place among the angels is ascribed to a refusal to worship Adam on God’s command. He was therefore cursed, but respited till the Day of Resurrection and given authority over those of mankind who should be seduced by him.

In Islam, and for that matter in Christianity, God exists from eternity to eternity: "Call not on any other god but Allah; there is no god but He. Everything shall perish except His Face. To Him belongeth the rule and to Him shall ye be brought back for judgement" (xxviii, v. 88).

Where Christianity and Islam disagree is on the nature of God. For Christians God is triune, three persons in One. Islam is opposed to ascribing partners to God. "Verily God forgiveth not the giving of partners to Him; other than this will He forgive to whom He pleaseth, but whosoever giveth a partner to God hath conceived a monstrous sin’ (Sura iv, v.48,49).

The Koran describes Mohammed as mortal, commissioned to convey God’s warning and message of salvation. He has no superhuman knowledge beyond what is revealed to him, and has not been granted any miraculous powers.

The story of Jesus is found in both the Meccan and Medinian version of the Koran and expounds on his virgin birth and miracles. However the Koran denies the divinity of Jesus or his claim to divinity. Jesus is not a god or the Son of God. The Koran teaches that Jesus was conceived miraculously but that is not the Biblical virgin birth. Just as Adam was created from the earth, the Koran teaches, Jesus was created by God in the womb of Mary.

The Bible teaches, "And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore that holy Offspring will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35, MLVB). On the other hand the Koran teaches that, "Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, was no more than an apostle of God" (Sura 19:92).

The crucifixion is rejected as a Jewish fable, another in his semblance having been crucified in his stead. Nevertheless, the Injil or Evangel or Gospel is accepted as a written revelation and is to be believed and accepted along with the Torah or Tawrah of Moses, the Zabur or Psalms of David and the Koran or Recital.

As described in the Gospels, Jesus is his own best advocate and very clearly presents his claims to Deity. In John 8:51 he says to the Jews, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." The Jews, realizing his claim of being eternal, then " picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple."

John 1 tells us: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it." John 1:14 goes on to state, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus is the Word which became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 10:24-30 further expounds on Jesus’s claim to Diety, made in the temple in the portico of Solomon: The Jews therefore gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."; Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never prerish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one."

Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"

The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man make Yourself out to be God."

In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me."

John 5:23 Jesus says, "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." Truly honoring the Father for Christians is honoring the Son.

When the seventh angel sounds after the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15: "there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.’" The Lord and His Christ are treated equally.

The third person of the trinity in Christianity is the Holy Spirit. John 4:24 states, "God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Acts 5:3 describes the Holy Spirit as God. "Ananias why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? ‘While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to me, but to God."

Christianity stands and falls on the issue of the resurrection of Jesus. The Koran however does not accept it, "They neither killed nor crucified him; it had only the appearance of it." Being without sin, Jesus was not tainted by the original sin of Adam and thus could not remain under the curse of death. Only God is without sin and Jesus was one with God, therefore the grave could not hold him. The evidences for the resurrection are presented on this website under the category "Powerful Evidence For The Deity of Christ" subcategory "The Greatest Sign – The Resurrection."

The New Testament makes very clear the mode of Jesus’s death, "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucifed him" (Luke 23:33, KJV). "and when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46 KJV).

Mohammed’s testimony occurred 600 years after the events related to Christianity occurred. The life of Jesus was written by eyewitnesses or people who recorded first hand testimony. All the evidence points to the fact that the first three Gospels were written within thirty years of the time they occurred. Unfriendly witness were alive at the time to rebut the accuracy of what was recounted if it was wrong.

Christianity compared Buddhism

Sherif Michael's world religions article "Jesus Christ, Buddha and Plato" offers many insights on the Hindu and Buddhist roots of some eastern philosophies and religions as well as comparisons to Christianity but it is more than a comparison of Christianity and Buddhism; it is a substantial manuscript with information and insights on the thoughts and ideas from Jesus Christ, Buddha, Plato and other ancient philosophers and religious scholars and leaders who have provided the foundations for much of the major world religions, spiritual thought and schools of philosophy for both the east and western modern worlds.

With respect to man’s quest for meaning and salvation, there are two major belief systems in our twenty first century. One originates with God and the other originates in man. One comes from divine revelation, one comes from personal “enlightenment.” One is God centered, and one is man centered. One deifies God; one deifies man. Both present formidable arguments and are based on their own foundational suppositions. The two belief systems are Christianity and the teachings of Buddha... Continue this article: "Jesus Christ, Buddha, and Plato".