The 2 Fatal Flaws of Religion and Spirituality

Religion and spirituality make two significant errors: they exaggerate the character of man and/or diminish the nature of God. These two errors put spiritual skeptics in a corner. They must either: 1) believe that man can fulfill the perfect standards of God (the only standards worthy of a true God); or 2) believe in a god who has compromised standards (i.e., “basically good” is good enough for him).

In the Bible, God leaves no doubt about His standards compared to man’s: “…You thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.” (Ps. 50:21); “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9).

Only in Christianity is God’s perfect holiness and humanity’s fallenness resolved without diminishing either. Because God is holy and we’re not, God’s justice and mercy toward us must be satisfied by the only known source of perfection, God Himself. Jesus’ perfect life and death on our behalf accomplishes this because He is the only one qualified. In fact, He is the only one who claims to qualify–neither Buddha, Muhammad, nor any other founder of a major religion claimed to be a Savior but merely an example or prophet.