How is Jesus Different from......

How is Jesus different from Mohammad and Buddha? This is the question the teens dealt with today in Teen Church. Well, let's look some differences:

Mohammad spent long periods of time in meditation. At age 40, he began to denounce the popular pantheistic religions of his day that taught all religions lead to God. He proclaimed to his culture that Allah was "one". He became the leader of the political/religious movement called Islam. He never claimed to be God, but he claim that his teachings came directly from Allah. In order to be a Muslim, Mohammad's followers must live out the five pillars of Islam which include regular fasting, giving to the poor, going on a spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca, praying five times daily, and testifying that Mohammad is the prophet of the only god, Allah.

Buddha's actual name was Gautama. He was the son of a ruler in the modern country of Nepal. At age 29, he went on a pilgrimage to find the solution to the problem of suffering. Believing he had found the answer through meditation, he taught others that the way to "enlightenment," or freedom from suffering, was focused rejection of human desires. Buddhist are taught to reach Nirvana (the ultimate state of consciousness) through meditation and good living. Buddha never claimed to be God; in fact, he rejected the importance and relevance of the existence of God.

Jesus fulfilled ancient prophecies about his life, death, and resurrection. These predictions were fulfilled by only one person. No one except Jesus fulfilled the specific prophecies that described him hundreds, and even thousands, of years before his birth (see Luke 4:14-21 for an example).

Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection and rose from the dead. His specific foreknowledge of his death and his power over that death show that he is God, not just another great teacher or prophet (see Luke 18:31-33)

Jesus said he was God. Jesus never claimed that everyone was God or that all religions lead to the same place. Jesus said that he was the way and the truth. Again and again, he stated that he was God. If he thought he was the one and only true God but wasn't, then he certainly wasn't a great teacher that we should listen to. If he knew he wasn't God but claimed to be God anyway, then he was just a really good con man, leading hundreds of thousands of people astray over the course of thousands of years (see John 7:25-44).