There was an article published at ChristianHeadlines.com titled “60 percent of U. S. Born-Again Christians under 40 Say Salvation Can Be Received through Jesus, Buddha or Muhammad.” That statement came from the results of a “Religious Views and Practices Survey” conduct by Probe Ministries.
I do not find this to be a startling revelation. There has never been a time in the history of mankind when the Bible has been available in more versions and formats, and yet biblical literacy and ignorance of what the Scriptures teach has been at an all-time low.
Most people think the various religions are very much the same fundamentally and only different superficially, but that idea is predicated on nonsense. The world’s religions are fundamentally different and only superficially the same.
I am not aware of any credible Buddhist Priest or Muslim Imam that would agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God as declared in the Bible. Recognizing that these three “religions” are fundamentally different is not a matter of prejudice, it is a matter of intellectual honesty.
Of those 60 percent of people under 40 who say “salvation can be received through Jesus, Buddha or Muhammad,” few could probably tell you where the term “born again” is at in the Bible, nor that it was broached in a conversation between two men, and who those two men are. Sadly, their curiosity will not cause them to read the Bible, but at best will cause them to “google” the answer.
Also, there is an eternity of difference in saying you are born again and actually being born again. “Saying” is not the same as “believing,” (Matthew 7:21-23, James 2:14). And it was Jesus Himself who declared, “I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” John 14:6.
Buddhism does not teach that there is a God, Muslims believe Jesus was just a prophet, Christians believe that Jesus was the incarnate Son of God; those are fundamental differences not superficial similarities.
No one who has ever been genuinely born again became so believing Jesus Christ was just a man or just a prophet; they were born again repenting of their sins and trusting in Jesus as the Son of God who could save them from their sins. That is what it means to be born again.
No one is confused or deceived about what born again means except those who want to be willfully confused or deceived.
The apostles echoed the words of Christ when defending their proclamation of the Gospel, they said, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.
I believe the Bible is the Word of God and if it proclaims Jesus is the only way of salvation, then those will be disappointed who look for another.
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