Do all religions believe in the same Jesus?

Mar 14, 2023

To listen to Nancy’s answer recorded from Moody radio, click below.

 

Most religious people believe that being a good person is a ticket to Heaven. The historical Jesus is not God in all religions and cults except Christianity. What do the major religions believe about the deity of Jesus? Aren’t they all the same?

J. Warner Wallace writes in Cold Case Christianity, “Every major religious movement considers Jesus to be an important religious figure. Every movement makes some effort to account for His existence and teaching. This ought to give seekers a reason to pause and consider the life of Jesus seriously.

Judaism: mono-theistic religion. Christianity was birthed from Judaism, but the ancient Jewish believers described Jesus in the following way:

    1. Born of Mary, but she was not a virgin.
    2. Jesus was a teacher and a Rabbi with followers who reported that Jesus rose from the dead.
    3. Deny that Jesus is the Messiah even though they acknowledged that Jesus said He was the Messiah and crucified on the cross.
    4. Jesus is respected and a miracle worker.

Islam. Mono-theistic religion. It was founded by Muhammad in the early 7th Century, who claimed to restore the corruption of religion by the Jews and Christians.

    1. Jesus was a significant person who was born a virgin.
    2. Jesus was revered and respected.
    3. Jesus was a prophet, wise teacher, and miracle worker.
    4. Muslims believe that Jesus ascended into Heaven and will come again. 4. Muslims deny Jesus was God, the Son of God.

Mormonism. A cult. The attributes of the Mormon Jesus are as follows:

    1. Jesus is Lucifer’s brother. Jesus is a spirit child conceived through physical means between an exalted man (Heavenly Father) and the virgin Mary.
    2. Jesus is not eternal and had a beginning. His is not a part of an eternal Trinity.
    3. Jesus was not always God but earned his way to godhood, just as we will become gods someday.
    4. The work of the Mormon Jesus was insufficient for man’s salvation, and to complete it, one has to believe in Joseph Smith, who came from God to restore the church (i.e., Smith has a role in salvation).
    5. None of these attributes describe the “Jesus” of the Bible.

Christianity.

    1. Jesus Christ is unique among all men who lived on the earth. He is a sinless man and God who came to us to die for our sins and live with Him forever in Heaven.
    2. Jesus Christ claimed to be God.
    3. Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies about the life of the coming Messiah.
    4. He identified as the I AM.
    5. Jesus has the authority to forgive us our sins.
    6. Jesus died and rose again.
    7. Jesus offers eternal life to all who believe He is the Savior, the Son of God.
      • John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
      • Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
      • 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
      • John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Clear and simple: Jesus Christ is the one true God. All other “gods” of other religions are false gods. Case closed…or is it?

In light of all the overwhelming proof of Jesus’ life and death, why is there so much confusion about God among Christian groups?

This confusion among Christians and what they believe was also recently reported by the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University. “Of an estimated 176 million American adults who identify as Christian, just 6% or15 million of them were actually found to hold a biblical worldview.

The study showed, in general, that while a majority of America’s self-identified Christians believe that God is all-powerful, all- knowing and is the Creator of the universe, more than half reject a number of biblical teachings and principles, including the existence of the Holy Spirit.”If you identify as a Christian and do not read the Bible regularly, how can you discern truth from error? You can’t. How do you know if you believe in the real Jesus? How do you know you are a follower of the actual Jesus? You can’t.

For example, scriptwriter Dallas Jenkins said that 95% of the content of The Chosen is not from the Bible, meaning that the vast majority of the movie is Dallas’ fantasy of what might have been. Notice that he used the names and characters of the Bible but changed the storyline to make Jesus look more likable and relatable. Jesus came to save our souls, not to win a popularity contest. Whether intentional or not, the Jesus of The Chosen is a movie about a false “Christ” who, they say, is much improved from the Christ of Scripture. They claim that Jesus in The Chosen is the ‘authentic” Jesus who must be spread worldwide.

2Timothy 4:3–4: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”