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In another article (028) I referred to the fact that Christianity has deep-seated roots in the prophetic content of the feasts of Israel. In still another, (029) we looked into the contribution that logic makes to the question of how Christians know that their way to God is Truth as opposed to, say, the claims of Islam. Since Islam identifies Jesus Christ as a legitimate prophet of Allah, we know Islam is a false pretender to the throne of true religion. It is false simply because Jesus Christ didn't allow for Himself to be identified as simply a prophet. Logic says that Jesus was either a liar, or Islam is. And, since Islam is the one that claims Jesus was a legitimate prophet, it is Islam that must bear the brunt of logic's devastation. So, logic says Christianity is more likely to be truth than any religion that gives lip service to the prophetic identity of Jesus, but denies His Messianic and deity claims.
Judaism is another religion that claims to be the Truth. It is more likely to be true than Islam because it flatly declares its unbelief in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus Himself said that He preferred people to be either hot or cold toward Him, because lukewarmness made Him vomit. Islam is lukewarm in its profession of His prophetic identity. At least Judaism is adamant about its rejection of His claims.
That brings us to a critical question: how do we know which is the true religion, Christianity or Judaism? As we said in the last two articles, we have three allies in the quest: logic, ethics, and history. Now, Judaism is logically consistent at least in its view of Jesus' claim to be Messiah. And, if that were our only method of investigation, we would have serious problems being able to determine who really knows the truth.
But, we have both ethics and history to help us. Now, I am not going to get into the quagmire of the ethics of people in the various religions. Everyone knows there are gross hypocrites in every religion, as well as some who seem to hold to very high moral standards. But, I would like to address the ethics of the gods of those religions. Here is where Christianity shines like the sun. Judaism's god has a track record of holiness and justice--at least in the teachings of the Jews. But, Christianity's God has a higher ethic: selfless love. Of all the religions of the world, only Christianity has a God who poured Himself out in death for the sinners He desired to redeem. All of the other gods make some serious demands on their followers in the ethical realm, but the gods merely sit in heaven making demands. The God of Christianity makes some serious demands of His children in the realm of ethics also, but He goes before them in demonstrating His love in total self-sacrifice.
Judaism's ethics are very high on paper, but its god simply inscribes those demands in stone and leaves it to the people to do. Christianity's ethics are also very high on paper, but its God actually entered history to die for the people He intended to redeem. In ethics, Christianity's God outshines them all.