Who Do Other Religious Groups Say Jesus Is?

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Matthew 16:16)

In the verses that follow, Jesus affirms Peter’s confession. Jesus saw himself as God’s anointed. Other passages clearly indicate the early Christians thought of him as divine -- even God.

It is often stated that one can identify a “cult” by looking at the organization’s answer to Jesus’ question. Anything that does not affirm the full deity of Jesus is not of God. So, let’s look at other religious organizations and see how they answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?"

• Judaism: A reformer who may have led people astray.
  
• Islam: A great prophet -- sinless, born of a virgin, but not divine.
  
• Hinduism: A great teacher and one of many Avatars or incarnations of God.
  
• Buddhism: One of many teachers who may have reached Enlightenment.
  
• Sikhism: A man through whom God worked, but not divine.
  
• Baha’i: A manifestation of God like Buddha, Krishna, Moses, Muhammad, and Baha’u’llah, but not divine.
  
• New Age: One of many who were fully aware of their divinity.
  
• Seventh-Day Adventist: Same as historic Christianity.
  
• Jehovah’s Witnesses: The archangel Michael was given a human body and became Jesus. Thus, he was created by God and later made divine, but not God.
  
• Mormons: Brother of Lucifer and both physical and spiritual offspring of God. Part of a Trinity consisting of three finite gods who coexist with an untold number of other gods in the universe.
  
• Unity: A man inhabited by the Christ-principle spirit.
  
• Scientology: A man who fully realized his personal divinity.
  
• Unification Church: A perfect man who attained deity, but is not equal to God.
  
• The Way International: A perfect man, but not divine.
  

From the Interfaith Evangelism Comparative Belief Chart. For a comprehensive look at other points of comparison and contrast, visit www.4truth.net.