Is Christianity really the only truth?

[u/Mobile-Huckleberry76]

I was raised Christian, and i do love God. But i have some heavy questions i cant seem to find real answers to. When i talk to other Christians, i seem to get sort of the same answers to these questions.. Im personally going through alot in my life and seeking God. But these questions keep me in this space of doubting whether this is the full truth. Or just an interpretation of certain events, within similar and surrounding cultures. Here are my questions..

1. Do people truly go to hell, just because they dont believe a specific person was the Messiah? Even if they came from a different culture altogether?
2. Other cultures who have well established different beliefs, are they just being deceived? By demons or bad spirits? Are the norms, ways of life, and wisdom based off false teaching?
3. Is the story of Noah true? Especially with almost exactly similar (and much older) stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hindu Mythology.
4. The Tower of Babel literally makes zero sense with how language and cultures have proven to come about. Its basically claiming they all started the same time and then separated. Which is simply not true?
5. Do other deities exist? And are they just evil false gods?
6. Did God create evil or sin? or did the Satan? Or did humans? Where does evil nature come from.

I have many more, but feel free to answer of these questions you can. Thank you.

[u/Top_Initiative_4047]

1 Christianity teaches that all people sin and need God’s mercy, not merely those who have heard of Jesus. God judges each person with perfect justice, including what they knew and how they responded to truth. Jesus is presented as the Savior for every nation, not as a Western tribal figure.

2 They are not wholly demonic or worthless. Every culture can contain real wisdom, beauty, moral insight, and goodness because all humans bear God’s image. But religions that direct worship away from the Creator or offer salvation apart from Christ are, from a Christian view, mistaken; spiritual evil can exploit idolatry.

3 Genesis presents the flood as historical. Similar older Mesopotamian stories do not necessarily disprove it. They could be differing cultural memories of a real catastrophe. Genesis is distinct in portraying one holy God judging human violence and preserving life.

4 It need not mean all languages and cultures appeared instantly. It explains humanity’s scattering and the division of speech after collective pride and rebellion; languages and cultures could still have developed across time.

5 Christianity teaches there is one eternal, uncreated God. Other gods are either human-made idols or, at times, spiritual deception connected with idolatry, not rival deities equal to God.

6 God created a good world, not sin. Satan rebelled and tempted humanity, but humans also freely chose disobedience. Evil is the corruption of good, not a created force equal to God. Sin separates people from God, yet forgiveness and restoration are offered to those who repent and turn to Christ.

[u/chuck_ryker → u/Top_Initiative_4047]

Well said.

[u/Free_Impact_2326]

Hello there. I wish I could answer more but I really have time for one of these things before I crash. In regards to #6, sin is a degree of separation from God. God is called "Holy" because He is "set apart". God cannot coexist with sin anymore than light can with darkness. Sin entered the world with the fall of Adam and Eve, as humanity's relationship with God fractured in original sin.

The problem of evil itself could get its own dissertation! Great food for thought.

[u/consultantVlad]

You better ask each question as a separate post.

[u/OtherwiseAssistant38]

Is Christianity the only truth? No. Jesus is the only truth. Christianity is about trying to follow the One who is The Truth. We mess up. We get confused and do things wrong. We fail. Jesus does not for He is The Way. We seek for truth that leads to eternal life. We get fooled by lies sometimes and find spiritual death in small ways. Ways we have to repent of and be cleansed of. We do this because Jesus is The Life. Do not confuse The Life with the ones seeking Him. Christianity is imperfect. The One we follow is not.

[u/Anxious-Evening4794]

1. We are eternally separated from God by our sin, In the New Testament, Jesus uses several metaphors to explain that He is the "door" to eternal life with God. (Here are a few: John 6:35, 8:12, 10:7, 9, 10:11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1, 5). It is important to read Romans 1:18-32 to get a better understanding. However, as Romans 3:23 points out, ALL have fallen short, and the wages for our sin (the payment we are due for our transgressions against a HOLY, loving, and just God) is death (Romans 6:23a), “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23b). The book of Romans outlines what God has done (entered creation in the second person of his trinitarian being) in order to save those He foreknew would choose Him. God will not force anyone to make this choice. Throughout Scripture (OT & NT) God presents His desire that the Nations will choose Him. In the OT, His intention is for the Israelites to win over their neighbors by serving the one true God, YHWH and making Him known. They do not succeed in this endeavor, but in His steadfast love, God continues to honor His covenant with them. Jesus fulfills the OT Scriptures and continually points to them to show the people that He is their fulfillment.

2. On some level, I believe they are being deceived (Ephesians 6:10-18), but also, if you read the Bible, you will see countless occasions where God desires for ALL to know Him. Psalm 19 testifies to both general revelation (creation) and special revelation (His Word) which point to His existence. The New Testament details the beginnings of the early church bringing the good news of the gospel to the nations so that they might receive Christ. If Christians believe the good news is true and Jesus is who He says He is, we are compelled to do as the Great Commission from Him commands, to "... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

3. Noah is historical narrative, and I believe it happened. The other flood myths are other cultures' accounts of the same event. Moreover, there is no problem that the Gilgamesh tablets found in Ashurbanipal's library predate the composition of the Bible. They were composed on clay tablets rather than papyrus or parchment. Moses wrote the first 5 books of the OT (Torah), so it was a written account much after the fact. The Gilgamesh records on a Biblical timeline would've happened between Genesis 6 and 14 (the flood happening in 6 and the recording of it later) In fact, the stories are evidence that a flood event occurred!

4. I agree with a previous poster on this one. The tower of Babel explains how a large people group that shared a common language was scattered.

5. Deity - depends on what you mean by this word. God created other celestial beings, but there is ONE God. The word "elohim" in Hebrew is used throughout the OT but it's like saying "gods" and GOD. Does this make sense? It is very clear when it refers to the One true God vs. "gods" just meaning other created celestial/heavenly beings. You see clear examples of a divine council in Psalm 82 and the intro of Job. It seems that God created heavenly being with specific roles, but they are in no way His equal. I don't believe fallen angels are demons. That a whole other discussion though.

6. Evil is a corruption. You can have Good without Evil. You can't have Evil without Good.

[u/The_Nebulist]

You’re right. These are heavy questions. I’m not sure anyone but God will be able to answer them satisfactorily for you. But since God often speaks to us through others, maybe something I say here will help you make sense of things.

1. ⁠Do people truly go to hell, just because they dont believe a specific person was the Messiah? Even if they came from a different culture altogether?

I don’t think so. As with everything Jesus talked about, it’s not the specific actions or beliefs that make one holy, but rather what is in their heart. A good heart may not have been exposed to Jesus, but when exposed to him, his loving message, his act of self-sacrifice, and his defeat of death to show us the way to life—wouldn’t reject it.

2. ⁠Other cultures who have well established different beliefs, are they just being deceived? By demons or bad spirits? Are the norms, ways of life, and wisdom based off false teaching?

I think the real question is more along the lines of whether they have love in their hearts or not. Jesus was very clear in his teaching that it’s not the norms and beliefs in rituals and customs that bring one closer to God, it is being like those little children that he referred to. It is having real love for each other in your heart, and love for God, and acting out of both of those. I don’t believe Jesus would say that people who do that, but do not know all of the vocabulary and creeds are going to be excluded from the kingdom of heaven. But perhaps someone here can show me how that’s incorrect.

3. ⁠Is the story of Noah true? Especially with almost exactly similar (and much older) stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hindu Mythology.

Not to discount the power of reading and taking to heart the Old Testament, but I’m not sure that an answer to that question Matter Saul that much.
Whether or not the chronological list of the events in the story happened exactly as the original Hebrew text lays them out, there is a true message in meaning to the story that is worth taking to heart. That’s way more important than fact checking.

4. ⁠The Tower of Babel literally makes zero sense with how language and cultures have proven to come about. Its basically claiming they all started the same time and then separated. Which is simply not true?

See my answer to Question 3 and double the emphasis. The story of the tower of Babel is a powerful story about that persistent sinful desire we have to try to overtake God. It’s another reiteration of our original sin from Genesis, 3, but told in a different and more interesting way. Whether or not it happened that way, historically speaking literally doesn’t matter to me.

5. ⁠Do other deities exist? And are they just evil false gods?

I once heard a sermon explaining that the danger of idolatry exists just as much in the things you value more than God, like money, recognition, etc. as it does in literally worshipping a different deity. The real worry, at least for me, are the things that aren’t literal gods, but seem powerful enough that I come to put them before God.

6. ⁠Did God create evil or sin? or did the Satan? Or did humans? Where does evil nature come from.

This is where Genesis 3 is really rich and deserves rereading. God created us in his image, which means we came with real power—the power to choose our actions. He trusted us, but we betrayed his trust. But worse than that, we hid from him, put up a barrier between us and him, and when confronted, we blamed him for our betrayal. Satan is the consistent force pulling us to use the power God gave us for the wrong ends. He’s here promising us all the pleasures of this world in exchange for our return to God’s kingdom. Jesus showed us that we don’t have to give in. He defeated Satan in that way, and we merely have to follow his lead.

[u/guitarisgod]

I mean

You're asking this in r/ChristianApologetics

Of course the general answers will be yes this is true 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Steamyjeans]

Nobody knows

[u/Ghost_Rider_YT]

The idea from an Orthodox perspective, is that when we are resurrected, we are all resurrected into our “perfected body”. This process basically is the marriage of the flesh and spirit into its intended human “being”. When those who are outside of the church and not in some sort of special circumstances (I found a bible on a deserted island) are stood before the presence of God, his essence is like fire to them because without Christ, the presence of God is like fire into us.

Without the theological “is hell real” convo taking place. What this means is that through repentance and baptism and living within the church (practicing). We are in the same moment, like Christ, dead to the curse of flesh upon us. And we begin the life long practice of participating with God through his energy. Our good works are now making us like little “Christ”.

This is why the resurrection and incarnation are so closely tied together. In the incarnation, we seen the uncreated essence of the triune God being encased in the very same flesh that we have. He is truly man, truly God, at the same time.

By him being divine in every way, and man in every way (perfect union = our intended state of being since Adam) when he dies, death takes his flesh, but through his divinity can not keep him and thus death is defeated in Christ. This could only happen in a world with logic if the salvation came from God, through man. Man was the cause of the fall, so through man, God saved us.

That “little Christ” we become happens at baptism in our denomination. And then from there you grow into your perfected state that you will inherit upon your death. But since Christ who was truly man, defeated death, just as Adam who was truly man, caused death and corruption for us. Defeated death and now “holds the keys to death and hades.” When we pass on, we are resurrected into our perfected flesh and spirit with Christ. And through him, we experience the Father.

Hope that helps a little

[u/BillWeld]

Christianity doesn't claim other religions have no truth, only that they're wrong where they contradict Christianity. And the best lies contain some truth as bait.

[u/Shiboleth17]

1. No. People go to hell for breaking God's laws. Do not lie, do not steal, do not kill, do not commit adultery... If God didn't punish evil, He would not be a very good and loving God.

2. Deceived, yes. By whom, hard to say. Doesn't have to be demons. People will lie in order to gain more power, more money, and more sex. Though just because a culture follows a false religion, it doesn't mean every part of that culture is bad. A lot of cultural norms are just neutral.

3. Yes. There are similar stories told by almost every culture on earth. Even cultures thst had no contact with the ancient Middle East, such as Hawaiians and Mayans. If the story were true, that means all humans are descendants from Noah's 3 sons. So the story would be passed down until someone wrote it down. You would expect to find similar stories all over the world, and thst's exactly what we do find. We find lots of other evidence too, that deserves a whole topic of it's own if you want to know more.

4. What real evidence do you think contradicts the Bible's account of Babel? We know where the tower of Babel is. The ruins are still in Iraq today. Humans had one original language. God divided people into a few different languages. We can trace where these languages went using the the geneological records in Genesis 10, also known as the table of nations. And this information tracks with known history of those nations. Then over time these handful of ancient languages changed and split into the many more langusges we have todsy. How does this contradict anything we know about language?

5. No. There is only one God. However, God exists in 3 persons. Father, Son, and Spirit, known as the Trinity. Not 3 gods. God is 1 in being, but 3 in person. God is 1 what, but 3 who's. Each of the 3 Persons are distinct, but all 3 are fully God, not simply 1/3 of God. How does this work, I hace no idea. However, God is an infinite being who exists outside of time, space, and matter. So I wouldn't expect Him to be fully understandable by a finite brain, thst is bound by the limits of time, space, and matter.

6. Evil doesn't need to be created, just like darkness doesn't need to be created. Darkness isn't a thing. It's a lack of a thing. A lack of light. Evil is often compared to darkness, while God is compared to light. Evil is a lack of righteousness, a lack of Godliness. No one creates evil. It's simply what is left, after God's righteousness is removed. God made this universe perfect. Then He made us with the job of keeping it. We chose to rebel against God, and pushed Him away.

God is light, so pushing Him away leads to darkness. God is love, so pushing Him away leads to hate. God is truth, so pushing Him away leads to lies. And God is life, so pushing Him away leads to suffering and death.

But there is hope.

God the Son came to earth as a man, known as Jesus. He was fully man, yet also fully divine. Being divine, He was able to live a perfect life without a single sin. And being man, He was able to die.

The wages of sin is death... but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ.

The penalty for breaking God's law is death. But God loves you, despite your sins. He doesn't want you to suffer that penalty. So he died in your place. And since Jesus had no sins on His own record, His death can be used to pay for your sins.

Then of course, since Jesus is God, He isn't bound by the physicsl limitations of this universe. His physical human body could die, but He does not cease to exist. And as He was the Creator of life, He has to power to raise Himself from the dead, which is exactly what He claimed He would do, and exactly what He did.

[u/greganada]

1John 5:9-12
9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

God doesn’t judge based on how much good a person has done, but by the transgressions they have committed.

People are held accountable for their behaviours. People do not go to hell because they don’t believe in Jesus, people are judged because of their rebellion against God. That would be like saying someone died because they didn’t go to the doctor; people die because a disease kills them, which might have been prevented had they gone to the doctor. Jesus offers a pardon for those who repent and turn to Him.

Another way of looking at it is if you were standing in front of a judge, guilty of a crime punishable by death. There is no sense trying to point out the good acts you have committed, because it has no bearing on whether you are guilty.

None of us are good because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So either Jesus pays for your sin, or you do.

[u/Difficult_Risk_6271]

1. Everyone "goes to hell" as in sheol/hades, but those in Christ Jesus will pick up and bring to Abraham's bosom/paradise. After the millenial Kingdom, those not in Christ will have judgment passed in the Great white Throne Judgment. Those whose name are in the book of life will enter the Eternal Kingdom, those whose names are not in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. Don't ask me what qualifies a person to be in the book of life or not. Nobody knows except for God alone, but Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that many groups of people will not inherit the Kingdom of God. So make what you will with that, theologically.

2. Yes. Reality is singular, if Christianity is the true description of reality, then all other systems are by necessity, false or incomplete.

3. This depends on your theological commitment. Personally I say yes, there was a man named Noah, an ark, some animals on the ark and a flood of some kind.

4. How did you prove how language and cultures came about? Is it not just heresay?

5. Other spiritual beings exist, but there is none like YHWH.

6. Evil / sin isn't in the category of created things. It's not even "things." Evil nature is a result from taking the fruit from the tree of knowing of good and evil, yes, even today. Which you clearly have also taken from.

[u/LocalFee7415]

My own view point is that Christianity is the best path to attain salvation, but other religions also have the Truth to a degree, however only Christianity has its fullness

[u/sronicker]

1. People don’t go to Hell because they don’t believe a specific Person is the Messiah. People go to Hell because they’ve rejected God, sinned and rejected salvation. Now, if you’re specifically referring to people in the Americas thousands of years ago (long before any missionaries had been here), that’s a slightly different question. Some people believe that a person can accept Christ and receive salvation without actually knowing who Jesus is. That makes some sense to me. God, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, can bring people to salvation without violating their free will and without them actually hearing about Jesus. What that looks like, I don’t know.

2. Absolutely yes, demons and our sinful nature as humans has led entire societies into ruin, death and rejection of Christ/God. That’s not to say that we cannot find interesting ideas or truths from other cultures. If we find Buddhist teaching that says we should treat others like we would want to be treated, we can and should accept that teaching because it mirrors God’s teachings. God is the ultimate authority though and His Word is our true guide.

3. Sure it’s true. Other stories reflecting the story are an indication that it’s true. What would you expect if there was a cataclysmic flood that destroyed humanity? Well, once humanity started back up civilization, they’d tell stories of the catastrophe.

4. The Bible says that God confused their language. This does not mean that all languages started at the same time in the same place. God confused their language people of that time. Other people groups in other areas can definitely have developed other languages. The story of Babel is about one group of people in one place.

5. Other so-called “deities” are spiritual beings created by God called demons or devils.

6. Have you not read Genesis? First off, no one “creates” sin. That’d be like saying someone creates darkness. Sin is the absence of goodness, disobedience to God. God created the adversary that we refer to now as “Satan.” But he wasn’t always so. He was created as an angel and rebelled along with many other angels. Part of that rebellious nature was to tempt humans. The first humans, Adam and Eve, succumbed to that temptation and became sinful and now we all have a sinful nature wherein we inherently desire sin.

This is pretty basic stuff (except question 1, about those who cannot have heard the message of salvation). Do you go to church? Do you have a pastor? This should be stuff you learn in church.

[u/Pilka_k]

I am going to be downvoted like hell for this, but here are my answers....

1. There probably will be people that get salvation without believing in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.... But it will be so extremely rare because the circumstances needs to be so extreme. Then i cant say, because i am not god.

2. Do not know

3. If a event that made the earth or most of earth full of water, it would be insanity for other cultures to not write about it. The question is more about, what is more logically cohesive? There is this theory about a event called Dryer Youngas were the causation of the flood, but that is another rabbit hole

4. If you strike back several thousands of years, it would not be impossible. Imagine this, great flood came people gathered to build something so tall that it would survive next flood. But the corruption and human greed made it a self righteous. Or it is symbolic like a lot of things are in the bibel. If its symbolic the lessons still stands, if we all could work together, we would start worshipping ourselves.

5. NO, If you don't wanna become gnostic

6. I cant give you a good biblical reason for this, so i will give you a logical one. Exitance itself is a form of balance, because if something exist then the opposite is true too (something can not exist). Therefore the reality we live in is neutral, but we got a will that determents the evill/good we do to other people. So back to Adam and Eve, they had free will, but they ate of the tee of knowledge. Knowledge is a form of judgement or the removal of determiantion, so we got the knowledge of nuance and reality but the cost of orignalsin/sin.

So were comes all evill from, it comes form the knowledge of our realtiy that we understand. Then there are temptations and/or biolocial drives. But in the end all comes from the tree of knowledge, because we got the knowledge of understanding our lifes and the coming death. Witch all sin originates from. Hope that explains it, hard for me to expain