2. No other major religion has a similar view of their god’s relationship to humans
So we’re continuing on the first point of why we should believe the Bible has a divine origin. The first major point is that the message of the Bible is unique. The last post discusses how Christianity’s view of salvation is different from every other religion. Now, I will argue that the Bible’s view of humans in relation to God is unlike that of any other religion.
I will start out by saying other religions flatten out the differences between their deity/ies and humans. We see this primarily in how other religions view the path to a paradise or positive afterlife. In any religion based on good and bad works, the contrast in status between god(s) and humans is diminished. In Christianity, one single sin committed by Adam condemned the entire human race and subjects us to a deserved, everlasting punishment (Romans 5:12-19)!
- As a side note, some have questioned why we deserve everlasting punishment for finite, temporal sins? The answer lies in the magnitude of God. I have given to people an example from real life to illustrate this. Someone who commits a crime against an ordinary person will receive some sort of punishment. If someone commits the same crime against a mayor, governor, or president, the sentence for the crime is usually heavier. Why? Because the victim of the crime has an elevated status or authority. Therefore, the victim of the crime partly determines the severity of the judgment. If we could receive the death penalty for crimes committed against a human authority, how much worse is it, then, if we commit a crime against the Creator?! I would argue that all sins are essentially infinitely evil because they are committed against an infinite being.
Back to the main point, though…I was explaining that other major religions flatten out the contrast between their deity/ies and humans. In Christianity, sins are understood as serious offenses and justly deserve punishment because God himself is just. Other religions will also say that their deity is just, but I do not agree. Why? Take Islam for example. As I understand it, Allah weighs out one’s good works against one’s bad works. If you did more good in life than bad, then Allah decides to mercifully forgive one’s sins. However, where is the justice in that? Where is the justice that should be required for wrongdoing? If a human judge were to simply pardon a heinous crime without any regard to justice, there would (and should) be outrage. In essence, what we see here is a diminishing of a deity’s characteristics and the seriousness of sin, and therefore an exaltation of the status of humans in that they can please Allah on their own.
Another example can be seen in typical American views, at least in my experience. A typical American will say that most everyone goes to heaven to be with god (I put a lower-case “g” because I do not believe that this is the same God as that shown in the Bible). This also is a works-based righteousness in that the person who believes this thinks that they are “good enough” to go to heaven. However, as was the case for Islam, where is the justice for wrongdoings? This type of view diminishes the severity of our offenses. In this typical American view, there is no payment for wrongs done…this god simply forgives out of kindness or our sins weren’t that bad to begin with in this god’s eyes. This type of god is not just, though.
I can give other examples, but I believe those two examples above make the point that all religions that base salvation on works flatten out the differences between their god(s) and humans. In Christianity, there is no working up to salvation. There is no concept of doing enough good works to gain access to God’s presence. This means that the Bible magnifies the gap between the sinful human and God. Ephesians 2:1-3 says that humans in their natural state are spiritually dead in sins. To make it worse, it says that we naturally follow the devil and deserve God’s anger! Romans 5:10 says that all who live in sin are God’s enemies. Putting these two passages together, on our own we are God’s enemies and entirely without him! How could it get any worse for us??? Given the hopelessness of such a situation, how could anyone possibly please God if their whole life was spent as an enemy of him?
So on the one hand, the Bible describes a vast gap between God and humans. This gap is not seen to the same extent in other religions. On the other hand, the same Bible goes on to describe that God sent a mediator to resolve our distance from him by taking the punishment we deserve. This mediator is Jesus of Nazareth. I will write more on Jesus in the next post. As a result of this mediator’s work, God’s justice is satisfied since there is a payment for wrongdoing. Also, though, the new believer is put into a completely different type of relationship with God. The exalted state of a believer cannot be ignored and provides the counterpoint to our condition under sin. We see in God a terrible severity towards those who hate him (everyone who rejects him), but a wonderful and pleasant goodness towards those who accept his demand for justice and trust in Jesus’ work as necessary to salvation (Romans 11:22).
The person who once was an enemy of God, but now believes, is now so close to God that they are called God’s child (Romans 8:15). They also learn that God had planned way back in eternity good things for them (Ephesians 1:4-11). In the next life, the Bible tells us that we will be with God with unlimited access (Revelation 21:3). We are beloved by God. There is a closeness to God, yet still a Creator-creature distinction, described in the Bible that is not found in other religions. Consider Islam again. Some teach that faithful Muslims will be able to see Allah once a week in Jannah (paradise). “Elite” believers will be able to see Allah twice a day1. So even in the next life, there is still distance between the Muslim and Allah. Consider Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. All three share the idea of nirvana or moksha, whereby an individual eventually unites with the supreme god Brahman. Some within these three religions blur the line between Creator and creature by affirming that the soul and Brahman are basically the same2. In Christianity, we maintain that there will always be a difference between the believer and God, but the relationship between the two will be incredibly close.
No other religion emphasizes such a stark contrast between the state of an individual before and after belief like Christianity. By extension, the relationship between God and humans is much different than perspectives from other religion. The reason for this contrast is rooted in one’s relationship to God. To summarize what has been said, no one naturally wants God. As such, we incur God’s wrath for our disobedience to him. However, God in his kindness works in us and because of his grace we come to him through a mediator named Jesus. God converts his enemy into his child and friend completely by grace. So yes, once again the Bible communicates something unique. This gives me reason to see the Bible as having divine origins.
Sources:
1 Seeing Allah by the People of Paradise. 2024. Darulfatwa. June 28, 2024. https://www.darulfatwa.org.au/en/seeing-of-allah-by-the-people-of-paradise/.
2 Woodburne, AS. 1925. Review of The Idea of God in Hinduism. The Journal of Religion 5, no. 1 (January): 52–66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1195422?seq=15.
Thinking Theo 
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