All Major World Religions Are the Same...Except One

Last Sunday, my pastor said  that as Christians, we should never let the comment "all religions are basically the same" go unchallenged. His point was that all major world religions are the same because the are all performance based. All, that is, except Christianity ~ the only world religion to offer forgiveness & salvation based on grace, not our performance. Since I have come across this "all religions are the same" idea in my own experiences (and it won't be surprising if you do, too), and because this is an important apologetic point, I decided it might be helpful to do a post that will familiarize you with a few of the other major world religions - specifically, what makes them performance based and not grace based.

Islam:
For the Muslim, salvation is a mix of faith and works. They believe that they will be saved on two conditions: their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds and Allah wills it. Their good and bad deeds - including intentions and motives - are recorded, then weighed at death. There is no assurance of salvation for the Muslim since they cannot be sure they have done more good than bad and since they cannot know whether or not Allah wills their salvation. Their salvation is based on their works.

Hinduism:
Salvation for Hindus is a release from the cycle of dieing and being born again - or reincarnation - caused by good and bad deeds - or karma. Once one is released from this cycle, they are in a state of completeness. They cease to be an individual self in any way and become absorbed into the ultimate divine reality. They call this "moksha".
There are three main ways to moksha
1. karma yoga: This is probably the most popular way and emphasizes fulfilling one's duty to family and society so as to outweigh the bad karma that one has collected. There are many rules one must follow and the most important of these are rituals that must be performed at various life stages.
2. jnana yoga: This is the way of knowledge and the idea is that one is stuck in the cycle of reincarnation due to ignorance. This ignorance consists of the mistaken belief that we are individuals instead of realizing that we are one with the ultimite divine reality - or Brahman. This ignorance leads to bad actions and bad karma. Through deep meditation through the discipline of yoga, one achieves a state of consciousness in which one's identity with the Brahman is realized thus leading to salvation.
3. bhakti yoga: the way of devotion - this is a surrender to one of the many Hindu gods. Surrender includes acts of worship to this god at the appropriate temple, in the home, in festivals honoring the appropriate god, and through pilgrimages to holy sites in India. In the right performance of these devotional acts, the devotee hopes to gain Hindu salvation.

Buddhism:
Buddhists don't use the term "salvation." Simply put, their goal is enlightenment which leads to nirvana. To gain enlightenment, Buddhists must acknowledge the 4 noble truths: suffering exists, the cause of suffering is the desire for the pleasures of the senses, you end pain & suffering by extinguishing passions & desires, you extinguish pain & suffering by following the 8 fold path.
The 8 fold path is:
1. right views (accept the 4 noble truths)
2. right resolve: renounce pleasures of the senses, harbor no ill will, harm no living creature
3. right speech: do not lie, slander, or engage in idle talk
4. right behavior: no unlawful acts, for example
5. right occupation: earn your living in a way in which no one is harmed
6. right effort: strive heroically against evil qualities and for the perfection and attainment of good ones
7. right contemplation: be observant, alert, free of desires and sorrow
8. right meditation: abandon evil qualities and joy and sorrow; after abandoning evil and all senses, you must enter the 4 degrees of concentration or meditation.

If you can accomplish all this perfectly, you will reach enlightenment or nirvana. (Of course, the purpose of going through all these steps requires that you desire enlightenment, but you must abandon desire in step one of the 8 fold path and so would have no reason to continue down the path since you would no longer desire enlightenment!)

Christianity and God's gift of grace looks pretty good about now! No performance, no jumping through hoops, no uncertainty. Just Jesus.