Marty Griffith

Is Christianity really a Johnny Come Lately religion as is so often stated by those who are supposedly in the “know”? Is it really a relatively new religion as it is often characterized as? This is most often said with such confidence that the person making the statement obviously feels that this “intellectual” statement cannot possibly be refuted.

Let me start by saying that this is as misinformed a statement as could possibly exist. This statement shows a total lack of understanding of what true religion even is. This statement also shows a total lack of knowledge concerning true religion. What does the Word of God say about the beginnings of Christianity? Revelation 13:8 says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This verse tells us that Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God had planned that Jesus would die to save mankind as far back as from the world’s foundation. That seems like a pretty old religion. Christianity actually predates man. Man was created for Christ and for Christianity. Man is a creation of God; God is not a creation of man.

It is not the invention of man, but is a Godly invention to show His worth through a part of His creation that has the ability to choose to worship Him, or to not worship Him. So we see that Christianity was in the mind of God from the beginning. No other religion can make this claim even through the writings of the founders of these religions themselves. And, just for the sake of argument, if Christianity was not the first religion this would not necessarily make it any less credible as the ONLY true religion.

Even human history points to Christianity being the first religion though. Way back in the garden when only two people resided on the earth, God makes reference to Christ Jesus in Genesis 3:15. This verse is known as the primus evangelium, or the first evangelical. This is the first time that God makes known to man and especially to Satan that there will come one strictly from the woman’s seed, there would be only one earthly biological parent, who would crush the serpent’s, or Satan’s, head. So you see that even before Judaism was, Christianity through Jesus was prophesied by God Himself.

Another way that ignorance is shown in this statement about there being many religions older than Christianity is the fact that Christianity sprung up from within Judaism which has to acknowledged as an ancient religion. Judaism was a religious system that was ordained by God. Judaism was the first covenanant that God had with mankind. The first covenant was a hard covenant and it was impossible to live up to its high standards of holiness. The first covenant was a schoolmaster, teaching mankind and preparing mankind for the second covenant. This second covenant was ushered in by God’s only begotten Son.

Jesus fulfilled all of the old law or the first covenant. He fulfilled all of the law by living a perfect and sinless life which is what the first covenant demanded. This perfection, this holiness made Him and Him alone worthy to be the perfect sacrifice for all of mankind’s sin. This sacrificial Lamb is taught by the old or first covenant. Jesus was and is that sacrificial Lamb. The blood of the first covenant’s sacrifices covered the sins of the faithful for only a short time. But the blood of this perfect Lamb of God covers the believer’s sin for the rest of time and eternity.

Say “Yes” to Jesus. Say, “Yes, Jesus, I believe that you are the Christ the Son of the living God. Yes, I believe that you died on the cross for my sin. Yes I believe that you are coming again to catch your church away. Yes I believe that if I obey the gospel and am baptized that I will be saved.” Say this simple prayer and Jesus will not disappoint.

Christianity is the only religion that does not rise or fall on its originator’s teachings, although never a man spoke like Jesus. Christianity however rises on the truth of His death and shed blood on the cross to forgive our sins. It rises on his burial, for He did indeed die. Lastly Christianity rises on His rising from the dead. No other “major” religion makes a boast of an empty tomb and none other can produce an empty tomb.

Christian scholars argue over two empty tombs as being the one that Jesus borrowed. The fact that there are two is amusing to me. Buddha’s tomb is easy to ascertain with certainty because he still occupies the tomb. Mohammed’s tomb can be found with 100% accuracy because he is still there. The tomb that Jesus used for a short time is a guess as to which one of the two is the correct one. Probably neither is actually the tomb that the body of Jesus occupied for parts of three days. We will never know for sure since He rose from the dead and is no longer there.

The only true religion is the one that has a Savior who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, and then proved it by being all of these things in life, death, and then in life again and everlasting. What is the first religion? The first religion is the one that was in the mind of God before there was ever a single man walking the earth.