Conclusion: The Uniqueness of Jesus’ Central Message

All told, this is certainly a fascinating subject. However, this is an age where syncretism, pluralism, and, most of all, tolerance97 are often favored and preferred above all else, regardless of whether the facts may point in other directions. It seems to be the case, at least in the popular media, that proper attitudes outweigh data and truth.

Even in the scholarly literature, whether from a simple lack of information, from other prejudicial looks, or something else, we almost never hear that in virtually all cases, the holy books for non-biblical founders and prophets are written far after the person lived, with the actual extant copies often dating even centuries later than that. But these facts do not seem to make the pages of most texts and the very large gaps between the founders, their writings, and the extant copies are actually quite difficult to track down, not to mention sometimes being devastating arguments against the historicity of their claims.

To conclude this small volume, we are left with a number of Jesus’ teachings which at least appear to be rather singular when compared to the messages of the other major religious figures. All religions probably include distinctive elements depending on how these are delineated and counted. However, we mentioned six such areas, each of which was related in some way to the central Christian Gospel message. The crucial point to note here is that, due to this central nature, if these six ideas are true (though we have not argued the details in this text), then Christianity is true. In brief, the Gospel facts indicate that Christianity is true. So we are at the center of the faith in these areas.

A few additional special beliefs were simply suggested at the end, too. In all cases, the dates of the actual Christian writings as well as the earliest existing copies are all much closer to the original teachings than with the other religions. In short, there is simply a wealth of back-up data to potentially support each of these themes in Jesus’ teachings. Simply, nothing like this exists elsewhere in the history of religions.

In spite of complimenting Buddha and his appeal, world religions expert Stephen Neill makes a simply incredible comment concerning the uniqueness of Jesus’ teachings:

For, if we take the Gospels seriously (and at the same time as critically as you will), Jesus is not the least like anyone else who has ever lived. The things that he says about God are not the same as the sayings of any other religious teacher. The claims that he makes for himself are not the same as those that have been made by any other religious teacher. . . . The demands he makes on men are more searching than those put forward by any other religious teacher.98

This summarizes very nicely many of the key features of our study. Critical interaction on these issues, as well as fair notions of politeness and human kindness, must be offered in the discussion of such issues.

About Gary R. Habermas:

Gary Habermas (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is the author, co-author, or editor of some 41 books, 21 of these on various aspects of Jesus' resurrection. Other topics include the historical Jesus, religious doubt, personal suffering, and near-death experiences. He has also contributed more than 70 other chapters or articles to additional books, plus well over 100 articles and reviews for journals and other publications. In recent years, he has been a Visiting or Adjunct Professor at about 15 different graduate schools and seminaries in the United States and abroad, having taught dozens of graduate courses in these settings. Presently, he serves as Distinguished Research Professor, teaching in the Ph.D. program at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Liberty University, where he has taught since 1981. He is married to Eileen, and they have seven children and 13 grandchildren, all living in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Endnotes

97 Parrinder reminds us that there are many different nuances and meanings for ideas like these. He reminds his readers that more than one religion shares some common views of general revelation, such as God’s existence, forgiveness, and eternal life. Yet, the chief, unique difference for Christians is “Christ himself.” (61) He also remarks that “it is not necessary to relax one’s own faith a wit” in order to practice common courtesies such as politeness towards those in other religions (62)! (Parrinder, Comparative Religion, 60-66). Corduan makes some similar points regarding certain truths from natural revelation that are also shared by more than one religion (Corduan, A Tapestry of Faiths, Chap. 2 in particular, especially 53-54).

98 Neill, Christian Faith and Other Faiths (Oxford University Press ed.), 233 (emphasis added). For Neill’s admiration of Buddha, see pages 99, 113 as well as The Supremacy of Jesus, 12, 52, 165.