Why is Christianity unique?. And why you might not see it.
By: Samuel Nunes
Tags: Christianity, Skeptcism, Christian Living, Worldview, Culture

Have you ever caught yourself thinking: Why Christians insist that they hold the truth? Why do they hold such antagonistic values? Isn’t it just another religion like any other? Well, it’s not that simple.

Uncertainty is the new god of this generation. “Truth might be out there, but how can we really know it?” — questions the postmodern mind.

You are praised for searching the truth, but scorned if you declare you’ve found it. The Christian worldview became a truth among many and its exclusivity claims are despised by our culture.

In this series, my goal is to unfold the uniqueness of Christianity in its many facets and why does that matter today. To kick things off, I want to look at a conversation that happened around 2,000 years ago, between Jesus and a Jewish religious leader of his time.

An out-of-this-world proposition

His name was Nicodemus and he came to Jesus one night most likely driven by curiosity in face of all the supernatural wonders Jesus was performing.

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher that come from God, for no one can do these sings that you do unless God is with him” — said Nicodemus.

If you are at all familiar with Jesus’ story, you probably know how he is prone to drop an unexpected twist in the narrative. And here he does it again. Knowing Nicodemus’ knowledge of the Torah (the Jewish law), he throws a theological proposition on the table, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.

Intrigued by the statement, Nicodemus replied: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers’ womb and be born?”

I feel a certain degree of irony here, but unknowingly, he’s proving Jesus’ point.

A religion that comes from above

I could write a thousand words on the topic of why Christianity is different from other religions and why is that relevant to your spiritual wellness. But today, I want to focus on only one thing: In Christianity, God is the initiator and sustainer of humanity’s reconciliation with himself.

The God revealed in the Bible, is always the one coming down to guide humanity back to him and not the other way around. There, we find the objective revelation of the Creator himself and not the fruit of empty hearts searching for meaning or the result of wandering imaginations.

With that in mind, we can testify that his work of reconciliation not only interacts with us in history, but also invades our inner spiritual faculties today.

The God revealed in the Bible, is always the one coming down to guide humanity back to him and not the other way around.

You see, true Christianity is a religion that comes from above and humanity is always the recipient of the free gift of salvation. In fact, in Jesus’ words, you cannot even “see the kingdom of God” if he doesn’t change your heart from within.

What does he mean by that? Well, in plain English, seeing something is realizing it, testifying its existence and maybe even interact with it.

If you can’t see the kingdom of God, the existential implications of its realities will never make sense to you. Nicodemus could not understand the spiritual concepts Jesus was introducing, unless he was born again. And this is Jesus’ point here.

Centuries before this story took place, a prophet called Ezekiel proclaimed this reality in similar words: “…I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Why is this necessary?

Why can’t we just make a decision to become a better person, right? And maybe hope to become more acceptable in God’s sight at the end! Well, is not that simple.

Jesus again can shed some light here. He once said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” The problem is not in our intellect, but it goes deeper in the faculties of our own hearts, in the innermost core of our desires. In other words, we are slaves of the things we love. Our choices are never neutral — they will always flow from our inner desires and passions.

And here lies the great tragedy of the human race: by nature, we’re always prone to wander away from God. By nature, we hate God’s nature; we simply hate the God that is revealed in the Bible and heaven would be hell with a heart that doesn’t delight in God. The apostle Paul said this in one of his letters:

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

And this is Jesus’s argument: the one true God, the one who revealed himself throughout history and came on earth to save sinners, will never make sense to you, unless something happens within your heart first. That’s why, until this point, Nicodemus didn’t understand what Jesus was proposing. He didn’t have eyes to see or a new heart to delight in Jesus’ words.

…we are slaves of the things we love. Our choices are never neutral — they will always flow from our inner desires and passions.

But I do have good news in all this mess we’re in. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article: God is the initiator of humanity’s salvation and he not only walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ to accomplish reconciliation, but he sent his Spirit to perform the great miracle of new birth, that gives us a new life and a new heart, sensible to his word.

I remember not really bothering for religion or God for a good chunk of my life, even though I grew up attending church.

Until he did it — he gave me a new heart! He gave me eyes to see. And from then on everything changed: the things I once loved, I started hating or just ignoring; the things I used to hate or just bored me, suddenly made sense and my inner most appetites were changed. My eyes were opened and I could then see how dirty my hands really were.

Until he did it — he gave me a new heart and from then on everything changed…

But he didn’t leave me there, hopeless — he provided a way for cleansing and renewal and this is what I wanna share with you today.

What shall we do then?

Christianity is not about doing this or that to achieve a faraway deity’s favor and maybe get some everlasting rewards after you die. What would the creator need from his creatures anyways?

No! As the apostle Peter mentioned in one of his letters — Christianity is about becoming partakers in the very nature of God, sharing his attributes with a heart that now desires what he desires. Christianity is about receiving a nature that suits the reality of walking with a holy God, forever.

Christianity is about being partakers in the very nature of God, sharing his attributes with a heart that now desires what he desires.

If the proposition here presented doesn’t make any sense to you and you strongly disagree with Jesus’ argument, I can’t help but say that you are a living proof of it.

But what should I do then? — you might ask. Jesus has a word for you: “If you abide in my word… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus came to save sinners, like you and me. He came to do what we couldn’t achieve on our own. He came to release us from the captivity of our own broken heart. From the slavery of everything that will ultimately destroy us. He came to give sight to the blind and life to the spiritually dead. Go to him today and certainly, his promises shall not fail.