Christianity Contrasted with Other Forms of Religion

Section VIII.—Comparison of Christianity with Other Forms of Religion; Duty of Embracing Divine Revelation as Proposed by the Catholic Church

Chapter XXVII.—Christianity Contrasted with Other Forms of Religion

Art. 1.—Comparison of Christianity with the Mosaic Religion.

I.—Extrinsic arguments which show the Divine origin of the Mosaic Religion.

1° Christ and the Apostles cite many times as divinely inspired the books of the Old Testament, in which the articles of the primitive and Mosaic Religion are contained. Our Lord called those books “Scripture,” and asserted that they contained the doctrine of salvation and foretold His coming (John v. 39; Matt. xxii. 32; Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10; Luke xvi. 16; Matt. xi. 13; xxii. 40).

St. Peter (2 Pet. i. 21) explicitly states that the prophets wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Similarly St. Paul (2 Tim. iii. 16) alludes to Scripture “inspired of God.”

Moreover, Christ approved specifically the principal historical facts of the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law and the prophecies:

(a) Christ commemorates as certain the death of Abel, the deluge, the promises made to Abraham, the destruction of Sodom, the apparition of God to Moses, the manna in the desert, the brazen serpent, the miracles of Elias and Eliseus, etc.

(b) Christ did not abrogate the Mosaic Law as such. He abrogated only the ceremonial observances. “Do not think that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy but to fulfil” (Matt. v. 17).

(c) Christ approved the prophecies concerning the Messiah (John viii. 56), especially those of the prophets, especially Isaias.

2° Miracles and Prophecies of Moses and the Prophets.

The Biblical Commission issued a decree (23rd June, 1905) regarding the historical books of Scripture. According to this decree such books must be taken to narrate historical facts objectively true, unless it can be proved by weighty arguments that under the form of history they set forth a parable, allegory, or other metaphorical sense distinct from the literal and historical signification of the words.

In a reply given the 27th June, 1906, the same Commission decreed that the arguments brought forward to prove that the books of Pentateuch are due to sources later than the Mosaic age are not of such weight as to justify the assertion that Moses was not their author. The opinion is tenable that Moses under Divine inspiration made use of written or oral traditions, and that he may have entrusted to others the task of writing the divinely inspired ideas which he conceived, subject of course to his approbation. The opinion is also tenable that, apart from the substantial authenticity and integrity of the Pentateuch, certain modifications may have occurred in the lapse of time.

Miracles and Prophecies of Moses and the Prophets witness to the Divine origin of the Mosaic Religion.

(A) As regards Moses, it will be sufficient to recall the Burning Bush (Ex. iii. 1—iv. 23), the ten plagues (Ex. vii. 7—xii. 30), the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. xiv. 16-31), the pillar of fire (Ex. xiii. 21, 22), the manna (Num. xi. 4-9), the water miraculously sprung from the rock (Num. xx. 7-11; Deut. viii. 15; ix. 21), the destruction of Core, Dathan and Abiron (Num. xvi. 1-33).

Moreover, Moses had foretold the chief miracles of those just enumerated, e.g., the plagues (Ex. viii. ix. x.), passage of the Red Sea (Ex. xiv. 13), death of Core, Dathan, and Abiron (Num. xvi. 28 sq.), manna (Ex. xvi. 4-8), and others (Num. xiv. 29, 30; xxvi. 64, 65).

(B) The Prophets worked miracles in confirmation of their teaching (3 Kings xvii. 12-15; 3 Kings xviii. 37-39; Dan. vi. 1-3).

Elias predicted a drought of three years and six months (3 Kings xvii. 1); Eliseus foretold the massacre of the Jews (4 Kings viii. 10-12), Jeremias foretold the death of Hananias (Jer. xxviii. 16, 17), the destruction of Jerusalem and the seventy years’ captivity of the Jews. Micheas and Daniel foretold the fate of Jerusalem (Mich. i. 1-16; iii. 12; iv. 10; Dan. vii. sq.).

II.—Intrinsic arguments which shew the Divine origin of the Mosaic Religion.

1° The Mosaic and primitive Religion is in substantial agreement with Christianity and predicts its advent.

(A) Primitive Religion.

Of the Primitive Religion revealed to our first parents and to the patriarchs, a summary may be given as follows:

(a) Unity of God, Creator of heaven and earth (Gen. i. 1 ff.).

Polytheism is excluded.

All things created by God are good. Hence exclusion of dualism (Gen. i. 10, 12, 18, 21).

God is provident Ruler, supreme Legislator, Judge who will reward the good and punish the wicked (Gen. ii. 16, 17; iii. 14 ff).

(b) Man was made in the image of God (Gen. i. 26, 27) and was therefore endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul (Cf. Gen. ii. 7; xlvii. 9; Heb. xi. 13-16; Gen. xv. 15). He was created in a state of original justice and made lord of all things (Gen. i. 31; ii. 25; ii. 8-15, 17, 19; iii. 8-10), capable of good and evil (Gen. ii. 13, 16), united in indissoluble marriage with Eve (Gen. ii. 24), transgressed the Divine command, and lost, he and his descendants, the privileged state (Gen. iii. 1-24). God held out hope of forgiveness and redemption (Gen. iii. 14-15).

(c) The precepts were either those of the Natural Law or positive precepts.

God must be adored, loved, feared, thanked, obeyed (Gen. ii. 16; iii. 11 ff). Sacrifices were offered to God from the time of Abel (Gen. iv. 3, 4), the rite of circumcision was laid upon Abraham as a sign of the covenant between God and the chosen people (Gen. xvii. 10 ff).

St. Thomas notes (IIᵃ IIᵃᵉ q 1 a 7) that all the articles of Faith are implicitly contained in two principal truths, namely, that God exists, and exercises providential care for the salvation of men, according to Heb. xi. 6: “he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him.”

(B) The Mosaic Religion.

When primitive Religion had become corrupt, God chose the family of Abraham and the people of Israel as the guardians of Revelation, so that true Religion might be preserved. Hence the origin of the Mosaic Religion, a renewal of the primitive and a preparation for Christian Revelation.

(a) God’s unity and nature are wonderfully taught: “I am who am” (Ex. iii. 4); idolatry and superstition are forbidden (Ex. xx. 3); God is declared to be Creator, Ruler, Lord of all things (Ex. xx. 1 ff), eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, ubiquitous, most holy, zealous for the observance of His law (Ex. xx. 5; xxxiv. 14), “merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true” (Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7), “who doth judgment to the fatherless and the widow” (Deut. x. 18).

(b) Man was created in God’s image, so that through the love and fear of God, and the observance of His commandments, man might establish a nearer association with Him. Moses presupposes the immortality of the soul, when he forbids “seeking the truth from the dead” (Deut. xviii. 11). Moreover, Christ authoritatively laid down the sense of Ex. iii. 6: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” as indicating the immortality of the soul, for He “is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. xxii. 31 ff; Mark xii. 26 ff; Luke xx. 37 ff).

(c) Precepts.

The precept, first in importance, was love of God, and next, the love of one’s neighbour (Deut. vi. 5; xi. 1; Lev. xix. 18, 33; Matt. xxii. 40).

From these two fundamental precepts came the precepts of the Decalogue (Ex. xx) which is a compendium of the Natural Law. Kindness towards the poor, widows, servants, the old, the deaf and blind, strangers, enemies and animals is commended (Ex. xxiii. 10, 11; Deut. xv. 7-11; xxiv. 19-22; Lev. xix. 14; Ex. xxiii. 4; Deut. xxv. 4).

(d) Worship.

Sacrifices were enjoined to acknowledge the supremacy of God, to preserve faith, to cherish justice, and to promote the love of God (Lev. xxiii., xxv.). Priests and levites were consecrated to the service of God (Lev. viii. ix. 5 ff). God promised that He would send prophets to the people of Israel (Deut. xviii. 9 ff).

(e) The Mosaic Religion announced the coming of Christianity.

The Mosaic Religion, as the utterances of the prophets shew, is preparatory to, and figurative of, Christianity. Before the prophets had spoken, Moses said: “The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a prophet of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me. Him thou shalt hear” (Deut. xviii. 14-20; Cf. John i. 45; iv. 25; v. 46; vi. 14; vii. 40; vii. 37, 38; Acts iii. 22 ff).

St. Thomas notes that “the Divine law is divided into Old and New—not into two different species, but into the imperfect and perfect of the same species (Iᵃ IIᵃᵉ q 107 a 1, 2, 3).

2° The Divine origin of the Mosaic and Primitive Religion is shewn from its excellence, and from its prediction of Christianity.

(A) Excellence of the Monotheism of the Jews.

(a) Negatively.

The Mosaic dogmas, precepts and worship cannot be characterised as unworthy of God.

(b) Positively.

Although the doctrine of Monotheism can be known and demonstrated by reason, Revelation is morally necessary in regard to the truths of Natural Religion, so that they may be known quickly, with certitude, and with no admixture of error. The Israelites, and the Israelites alone, embraced Monotheism and the truths of Natural Religion quickly, with certitude, and with no admixture of error. Hence it is clear that Divine Revelation was vouchsafed to them. Even Plato and Aristotle, who affirmed the existence of One most perfect God, did not attain to the doctrine of Creation or of Divine Providence.

Evolutionists who claim that Monotheism was reached through animism, totemism, fetishism, polytheism, make gratuitous assertion. Gunkel, in his controversy with Delitzsch, wrote with truth: “The popular Monotheism of Israel is undoubtedly a wonder in the midst of the religions of the ancient East.”

(B) The Divine origin of the Religion of Israel is shewn from its announcement of Christianity.

The prophecy of the universal propagation of Christianity, and of the coming through Christ of the Kingdom of God exceeded the natural power of human foresight, and postulates Divine intervention. St. Thomas notes: “To dispose to an end and to lead to the attainment of that end are functions of the same person—functions accomplished either by himself or through his subjects … Hence the same God, through whom (Christ being mediator) the salvation of men has been accomplished, promulgated the Old Law” (Iᵃ IIᵃᵉ q 98 a 2).

III.—Difficulties.

(1) Why did God permit the corruption of primitive Revelation?

The permission of evil, moral and physical, is a mystery. St. Augustine attempts an answer: “Since God is infinitely good He would not have allowed the oncoming of evil in His work, if it were not that He is so omnipotent and holy as to draw benefit from evil” (Enchiridion c. xi). St. Paul, earliest of Apologists, had suggested the same idea in Rom. v. 20: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Cf. Principles of Christian Apologetics, p. 95 ff).

(2) Why were ceremonial observances so many and so minute under the Old Law?

Ceremonial observances were necessary to guard the people of Israel from idolatrous practices in vogue amongst nations all round, and to train them gradually for a more spiritual worship. Christ announced the worship of the New Law to be one “in spirit and in truth” (John iv. 23). Thus the development of worship ascended from sensible to spiritual things, from the multiplicity of figures to the unity of Divine reality.

(3) Why did not the Mosaic Religion stress the immortality of the soul?

The Mosaic Religion did undoubtedly stress the immortality of the soul and the future life:

(a) It teaches that man was made in the image and likeness of God, that God breathed into his face the breath of life (Gen. ii. 7).

(b) Patriarchs speak of the time “of their pilgrimage” (Gen. xlvii. 9).

(c) Jacob mourning for Joseph said: “I will go down to my son into Sheol.” The word cannot mean grave, because Jacob thought that a wild beast had devoured Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 33).

(d) Jacob dying said: “I will expect thy salvation, O Lord” (Gen. xlix. 18).

(e) The dead are said to have gone to their fathers, to their people (Num. xx. 26; xxxi. 2, etc.).

(f) Moses forbade “seeking of truth from the dead” (Deut. xviii. 11).

(g) Job’s testimony is explicit (xix. 25).

(h) Daniel’s testimony is equally explicit (Dan. xii. 2, 3; Cf. Is. xxvi. 19; 2 Mach. vii. 9; xii. 44).

(4) In what sense can the Mosaic Law be said to be perfect?

Not perfect absolutely, but perfect for the time and people concerned.

(5) Does not Delitzsch (Babel und Bibel, 1902) maintain that the biblical narrative of Creation comes from Babylonian and Assyrian myths?

(a) The Biblical narrative is monotheistic; Gentile cosmogonies (even in the laws of Hammurabi) are polytheistic.

(b) In Genesis the doctrine of creation, where no pre-existing material existed, is taught; in Gentile narrative matter is pre-existent.

(c) Likenesses in various cosmogonies regarding the original state and the sin of the first man, etc., come from primitive tradition. The superiority of the Biblical narrative is most striking, and points to Divine guidance.

Art. 2.—Buddhism.

I.—Brief history of Buddhism.

Brahmanism, the doctrines of which are contained in the very old books (1000 B.C.) called Vedas, originally taught in an obscure way the existence of a Supreme Being, to whom sacrifices were offered in order to obtain benefits. Later Brahmanism became Pantheism. Brahma (neuter) was interpreted to mean the substance whence God, the world and all things evolved. Hence came the God Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, from whom proceed different classes of men. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva were three hypostases of a trinity. Souls after death go into the bodies of animals, until they attain immutability and are absorbed by Brahma. Since life is the cause of sorrow and change, it must be avoided. The ethical system teaches in theory a rigid asceticism, which in practice degenerated into impure rites. In the Sixth Century B.C., Brahmanism was much changed by Siddharta, who is called Cakyamouni (Sakya-mouni) or Buddha. The Sakyas were an Aryan tribe, the word “mouni” means “sage.” Cakyamouni was born about 557 B.C. He left home and friends in order to study and acquire wisdom through meditation and mortification. His doctrine spread in India, Ceylon, Siam, China and Japan, and has at the present date about 125,000,000 adherents.

II.—Dogmatic and Ethical teaching of Buddhism.

(A) Dogmas.

1° Nothing certain can be known about the existence of God.

2° All beings are essentially equal, and are constantly changing. Hence spirituality and immortality of the soul are excluded.

3° Metempsychosis is a fundamental dogma.

4° Law is immutable, and therefore good actions merit reward, evil actions punishment.

5° All evil arises from the desire to live. This desire must be strenuously opposed.

6° Man ultimately, after many changes, reaches Nirvana—a state of immobility and practically of annihilation.

(B) Ethics.

Man must renounce concupiscence. The means are meditation, moderate mortification, confession of faults. But of prayer and grace there is no mention, since the existence of the Deity is uncertain. Cakyamouni enjoined universal sympathy.

III.—Criticism of Buddhism.

Resemblances and Differences between Christianity and Buddhism.

(A) Resemblances are confined to certain rites and practices, which do not touch dogma. They may be summarised as follows:

1. Consciousness of the sufferings of this life.
2. Mortification of the flesh and of concupiscence.
3. Institution of Monks.
4. Voluntary poverty, continence, benevolence.
5. Confession of faults.
6. Practice of meditation.
7. Desire of attaining the ultimate end.

But the aim of Christianity to reach to perfection and to the vision of God through Sacraments, Prayer and Supernatural Merit is wholly different from the aim of Buddhism, which is equivalent to annihilation. Thus the likenesses are merely external, and proceed from the general aspirations of mankind.

(B) Differences.

(a) Dogma.

Buddhism teaches nothing concerning God, Divine Providence, spirituality of the soul. Its doctrine is pessimistic.

(b) Ethics.

The benevolence enjoined does not proceed from love of God, but from natural sympathy. Humility is despised. Polygamy, divorce and even polyandria flourish.

(c) The miracles alleged in proof of Buddhist doctrine are absurd.

(d) Propagation of Buddhism is explained both by its qualities and its defects. Nor was it the propagation of one form of religion, as some Buddhists are agnostics, others atheists, others pantheists, others polytheists.

Art. 3.—Mahometanism.

I.—Brief history of Mahometanism.

Mahometanism or Islamism (“Islam” means submission or resignation) is the religion founded in Arabia by Mahomet (Arabic: Mohammed) in the Seventh Century.

The Ancient Arabs, descended from Heber and Abraham, had accepted the religion of the patriarchs, but afterwards fell into polytheism. Mahomet was born about A.D. 570. He was first a shepherd, then a merchant, and later married a rich widow. He said that the angel Gabriel appeared to him, and told him that he was chosen to be a prophet with a mission. In 622 he left Mecca for Medina. There he prevailed with the people of Medina, and by their help and by arms spread his religion in Arabia. He died in 632. Islamism afterwards spread in Africa, Asia and part of Europe. Originally Mahomet seemed to be sincere, but later he announced false revelations, so as to be able to gratify his lust and ambition.

II.—Doctrine of Islamism.

(A) Dogmas.

1° One God exists—Allah (Trinity excluded).

2° Angels are ambassadors of God and protectors of men.

3° There has been a divine mission of prophets of whom Mahomet is the greatest.

4° The Revelation is contained in the sacred book Al Coran.

5° Human souls are immortal, and bodies will rise again. Paradise is a place where carnal pleasure may be gratified.

6° Fatalism is taught in some places of the Coran, and elsewhere human liberty is asserted.

(B) Precepts.

1° Wine, swine flesh, images, games of chance are forbidden.

2° Prayer, five times a day, is enjoined.

3° Fasting is prescribed, especially during the month of Rhamadan.

4° Pilgrimages, alms, circumcision are of obligation.

5° Polygamy and divorce are permitted.

III.—Criticism of Islamism.

From Judaism and Christianity, Monotheism was adopted. But the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation were rejected. No supernatural signs (miracles) are claimed in witness of the truth of Mahometanism. It was propagated by the sword, and its propagation was helped by the promise of sensual rewards in the Mahometan paradise.

Thus the doctrine, institutions, miracles, prophecies, wonderful propagation, unshaken stability, unity, and fecundity in blessings of Christianity are revealed more clearly as motives of credibility from comparison with other forms of religion.