Contradictions in Salvation and Religion

Are You Truly Saved?

(Basic Matters of A, B, C.)

If you are like me in this regard, you may wonder why some people are unable to see truth that is as clear as A, B, and C. We know that if you have seen the above title, you may be expecting too much from our few words here, but we just wanted to address something that should be utterly clear to each of us.

The word “contradiction” refers to “something that contains contradictory statements. It refers to “either of two propositions related in such a way that it is impossible for both to be true or both to be false” (The American Heritage College Dictionary). The term “contradictory” means “a proposition so related to a second that it is impossible for both to be true or both to be false” (Random House Webster’s College Dictionary). In other words, something cannot be hot and cold at the same time and in the same way. It cannot be good and bad at the same time and in the same way. We cannot believe both truth and error at the same time and in the same way.

In like manner, a religion cannot be both true and false at the same time and in the same manner. A church cannot be true and false at the same time in regard to the same thing. This would be contradictory.

Before we discuss this “something” that should be very clear to all of us, let’s at least comment on the number of people in the largest religions of the world. This is what we find:

2.168 billion—Christianity

1.599 billion—Islam

1.193 billion—Secular humanism and atheism

1.161 billion—Hinduism

506 million—Buddhism

394 billion—Chinese traditional

300 billion—Ethnic

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations)

Where do you and I fit into this list? Are you a professing “Christian” or a Muslim? Are you totally secular and non-religious? Perhaps you are a Hindu or Buddhist? Or maybe you are something else.

Friend, we must admit that if logic means anything, it is totally impossible for a person to be both a “Christian” and a Muslim at the same time! Similarly, it is not possible to be a Buddhist and a Hindu at the same time—if we value truth and consistency.  I’ve studied each of these religions at some depth (as perhaps you have) and there are vast numbers of different beliefs, practices, and views that each of these persuasions hold, thus it is impossible for a person to be more than one of them. Further, within each category, there are many differences that simply cannot be gulfed unless we close our mind and are without any reason.

Suppose that we limit our comments to the two largest categories above—Christianity and Islam.  We are not denying the great differences within either Christianity and Islam but are simply making a point here.  What are a few of the differences?

1. Christianity began about AD 30 in Israel when Jesus died and rose again. Islam began about AD 632 when Muhammad died in Arabia.
2. Christianity believes in a single God with three personalities—God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whereas Islam believes in a single monad called “God” or “Allah”—and strongly rejects Jesus as deity.
3. Christianity believes and teaches that Jesus died on the cross, arose after three days, and ascended to heaven after 40 days. Islam denies that Jesus died on a cross and rose again—and strongly rejects this.
4. Christianity teaches that Jesus was perfect and sinless, whereas Islam teaches that Jesus sinned and sought forgiveness.
5. Christianity teaches that God revealed His saving truth in the Bible, whereas Islam teaches that the Bible is filled with error but the Qur’an is a perfect revelation of Allah.
6. Christianity teaches that one must repent of his sins, believe in the Person and work of Christ Jesus, and be baptized (immersed) whereas Islam manifests no interest in such things—and denies them.

As you might imagine, there are dozens of other differences between these two major religions, but these are some of the major ones. Again, we stress that there are major, irreconcilable differences between different denominations, such as Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism, and numerous smaller groups. Similarly, there are some differences also between the various Islamic groups, so much so that they can’t work together.

But someone may raise the issue: Yes, there are some differences between these religions and groups, but so what? This is one of the reasons if we merely take a cursory look at Christianity:

1. Catholicism believes in multiple images (idols) whereas Orthodoxy only believes in pictures and Protestantism has a wide array of views on this topic.
2. Within Christianity, some accept the Bible as the inspired, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God, whereas some liberal groups would merely say that the Bible is a good guide to life and belief.
3. Some (such as more than half of Christianity) would say that a person is “saved” (with all this includes) when he is “baptized” as a baby, whereas others would say that one must consciously repent of his sins and believe in Christ for his “baptism” to be a Biblical baptism.
4. Many or most Protestants would say that Jesus died on the cross, rose again, and ascended back to heaven, then will return in power and glory; whereas other liberal Protestants would deny all of this and just say that Christianity is only an ethical system and we follow a great teacher (Jesus).

Again, we could go on and on as we compare such groups. But this is the point I want to make: It is impossible for people to believe two or more different things at the same time about the same matter. For example, a person cannot believe that Jesus was sinless and a sinner at the same time and in the same manner. These are contradictory views. According to the law of non-contradiction, people just can’t believe different things about the same issue at the same time and in the same way. It is impossible.

If we were to apply this to Christianity, we must say that it is impossible for a group to teach that a baby is saved, reconciled, forgiven, and given the Holy Spirit and another to believe and teach that it is absolutely necessary for a person to knowingly believe that a person is saved only if he dies to sin, repents of his wrongs, trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and is immersed in water to be saved and forgiven by a gracious God. These are two different and contradictory views that cannot be reconciled. Millions of professing “Christians” do seek to reconcile these contradictory views, but it cannot be logically done.

Similarly, a professing “Christian” and a devoted Muslim believe in totally different views of life and reality.  The Christian (and I use this in a broad way) says that Jesus is the God-man who lived a sinless life, who died on the cross for our sins, and whom God raised from the dead three days later. Whereas the Muslim believes that Muhammad is the only way to Allah and eternal life, and that Jesus did not die on a cross and was not raised from the dead. These are contradictory views that cannot be reconciled!

Do we see what this means?  If the Word of God says that one must believe in Jesus (3:16-17) and live in Him (1 John 5:11-13) to have eternal life, but the Qur’an teaches that one must render verbal and life-long allegiance to Muhammad and Allah, and must reject the idea of a risen Savior, they both cannot be right. One must be wrong. Actually, in reality, both could be wrong; but one surely must be wrong.

Do you see what this means? This means (at least) that either the Muslim will be sent to eternal hell, the lake of fire, and cannot be saved with eternal life. On the other hand, it could mean that the Christian might reject Islam and the Qur’an and thereby be sent to hell for all eternity. Both the Christian and the Muslim cannot be right. Both cannot be truth. As much as the Christian may love the Muslim and the Muslim may love the Christian, this cannot change reality. One must be wrong.  (Or they both may be wrong)  What we say about the above can also be said of the secular atheist, the Buddhist, the Hindu, and millions of others. Not all of these can be right. Not all of them can be the truth. Someone must be wrong!

We hope that these few words that are quite simple can be understood. I do want to avoid believing in contradictory statements; don’t you? I want to believe the truth and act on it; don’t you? I want to follow God’s will in everything; don’t you?

Maybe until now you have been a devout Greek Orthodox person—and thought that all others were right before God. Is this true? Can you now see that this is a false view? It cannot be right at all. This is the same in regard to all of the religions of the world.

Please don’t assume that you can be a Hindu and a Muslim at the same time. You can’t. Don’t think that you can accept Catholicism and Protestantism at the same time. You can’t. And don’t assume that you can just accept all of the religion of the world and be charitable to everyone. You really can’t. Even if you and I wish to be generous, loving, and accepting, we simply can’t accept everyone and all of their beliefs.

Some years ago (about 1844), a religion named Baha’i was created. The Baha’i faith originated through the teachings of Mirza Ali Muhammad (1819-50), called “the Bab” (which is Arabic for “gate” or “door”). The one in the United States is found in Willmette, Illinois, with the cornerstone laid in 1912. It has nine (9) sides which is the Baha’i  symbol of unity. I visited this “temple” when I was in the area some years ago. The idea is to accept the good in all religions, thus it is truly ecumenical!

Hopefully, after reading and considering our earlier comments, we can see that it is impossible to accept all religions of the world—or even two of them. There are vast differences between them.  No, the idea that we can accept all people and all religions is false. We must come to God our Creator through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and live fully and completely for Him. There is no other way. He is the only way of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Will you cast aside all untruth, all lies, all falsehood, and all compromise and come to Jesus today!