Apologetics Corner

Some take issue with Christianity in that it claims exclusivity of salvation. What many fail to realise however, is that many of the other popularly followed religions also claim exclusivity of salvation. Four of the five main religions of the world, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity (the last of the five being Hinduism), all claim the same thing, that their religion is the only way to achieve salvation.  

With that being said, Hinduism is not an enlightened religion however, instead it only acknowledges that all religions are valid if they are integrated into the Hindu practice/system. As Josh and Sean McDowell observe in Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Hinduism accepts Christianity as ‘one medium by which people can experience reincarnation.’ Also, Hindus do not accept that Christianity is true on its own terms, or any other religion for that matter.

Following this point, we can see that all the world’s major religions (including atheism/agnosticism as they are belief systems at the end of the day) all claim exclusivity of salvation, not just Christianity. 

In consideration of this, Christianity is actually the most inclusive of all religions, in that Christ invites everyone to Himself. No one is excluded, all are welcome to find salvation in Him, just as we see in Colossians 3:11. 

As noted philosopher Stephen Davis observed, “The resurrection of Jesus, then, is God’s decisive proof that Jesus is not just a great religious teacher among all the great religious teachers in history. It is God’s sign that Jesus is not a religious charlatan among all the religious charlatans in the world. The resurrection is God’s way of pointing to Jesus and saying that he is the one in whom you are to believe. He is your saviour. He alone is Lord.” (quoted from Evidence That Demands A Verdict)

As you can see, those who argue against the ‘narrowmindedness’ of the Christian claim to exclusivity of salvation, is without merit or truth. What is the case is that Christianity is the most inclusive of faiths. It is also the only one with highly investigated/studied evidence to support its claim of exclusivity of salvation, that being the Resurrection.