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     All of us understand that there is some good in all religions.  Religion, generally (excluding atheism), has some spiritual aspects (acknowledging something, some person or force higher than themselves).  They all set forth some form of ethics and morality that contribute to order in one’s life.  The higher spiritual state ranges from paganism’s placating pernicious and mischievous gods to Buddhism’s goal of pure stoicism, where one is void of emotions and feeling, to Hinduism’s choice of whether they want to return (reincarnation) to live another life on earth or to go on into eternity, to the Bible’s proposal of eternal life for the faithful.
     That man is a sinner, has a broken relationship with God and an unthinkable eternal punishment in another realm is foreign to almost all religions.  Religions based on the Koran and the Bible are among the few exceptions.  The Koran presents Allah as a god who is void of universal love; one who does not love sinners (Koran, Surah 2:190, 2:276, 3:57, 4:36) and who leads people astray (Surah 14:4).  The Muslim’s salvation is earned by good works (Surah 3:31).  Yet, no works standard is established, thus the Muslim is never sure if he has salvation.  Even Allah’s prophet Mohammed stated in the Hadith (5:266) that he did not know his eternal destiny.  Thus, Islam is a religion of fatalism where the thought is always closer to hell than paradise.  No wonder the jihad has such an attraction, when a person who dies in the holy war is guaranteed instant paradise (Hadith 1:35).
     On the other hand, the Bible presents God as one of love, one who loved the world so much that He sent Jesus to give each person the opportunity to repair the broken relationship with God (John 3:16) and to live eternally with Him.  In fact the one single word used to describe God is love (1 John 4:8).  Whereas the Muslim, himself, has to repair his relationship with Allah, the God of the Bible does the repairing, because man can not do it himself.  Christianity is a religion of peace, not war, with his fellow man (Matthew 5:39; Romans 12:18).  Further Christianity as set forth in the New Testament is not fatalistic.  In fact the Christian can know absolutely that he has eternal life (1 John 5:13).  What marvelous comfort and joy God offers mankind!
     The Bible alone is unique in its portrayal of God and His offer to humanity.  It has a certain order, and unlike other so-called inspired writings, is frequently marked chronologically, attesting to its historicity, thus ruling out the critics’ attempts to fictionalize it.  However on the surface we note that there are two testaments.  If there is one God, with one goal to save man, why are there two testaments?

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