“Aren’t all religions basically the same?” When I hear that question, my mind goes back to that summer 1986 when I learned that shopping from the misguided assumption that all insurance is basically the same is foolhardy.
30 years ago, Mike & I learned a valuable lesson. Like many valuable lessons, it cost way more than we were comfortable or capable of paying. This one involved a wicked hail storm, an insurance policy and our infamous trailer.
Jagged, softball sized hail pummeled the north, and west sides of our little house on the prairie as well as its entire roof. Every window on those 2 sides of the house was shattered. Shards of glass were everywhere - embedded in the furniture, green shag carpet and even the kitchen appliances. There wasn’t a single section of siding or roof that wasn’t damaged, most of them had holes punctured through.
But it was going to be okay. We were insured.
However, after the insurance company plugged the value of our 15 year old mobile home into their magic adjustments & payout calculator, it was determined the depreciated value of our worldly treasures to be just a smidge over worthless; we were schooled on the difference between ‘replacement’ and ACV (actual cash value) insurance. Our policy was not the replacement variety. So, instead of getting anything replaced we got a 5 gallon bucket of waterproofing black goop to fill the 109 punctures on the roof, 6 sheets of siding (unpainted), some money to buy window pane glass, a roll of screen and $25.00 per room for flooring and we had a couple months to patch things up before winter set in.
When questioned - post settlement check - the agent’s cavalier explanation boiled down to our naïveté and ignorance was not his concern, and that we were responsible to know what our monthly premiums were insuring.
We had assumed all insurance was basically the same.
Ignorant assumptions are expensive.
Aren’t all religions basically the same? Ravi Zacharias answers that question this way. “Religions are not the same. People say they are fundamentally the same and superficially different. Actually they are fundamentally different and superficially – at best – similar.”
Investigate! Do you know what is yours because of the Cross of Christ? When tragedy hits and you are surrounded by devastation is not the time to figure out what’s what in your belief system.
What Christ Jesus has made available to humanity is unlike any other plan the world offers. He answers the big questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? How shall we live? And where are we going? The Cross of Christ has made it possible for all to be reconciled to God, to walk in peace, grace, and love by the power of God’s Spirit that now resides in the hearts of men. We are agents of truth, compassion and reconciliation. We are not trying to attain perfection. Perfection has come to us. We are not trying to become like god. Our God took on flesh and became like us. We do not serve a god of hate, force, death and coercion. We serve a God who, by loving kindness draws people to Himself. We do not wonder if we lived our lives well enough to be granted access into the presence of God or be recycled, reincarnated and have to try again. Jesus Christ lived his life well and has given us the honor of walking in His righteousness. We do not get instructions for life from dead, disembodied spirits. We get our counsel from the Spirit of the Living God.
This life in Christ isn’t your ordinary, bargain-priced, make-it-happen-with-my-own-efforts kind of religion. It is unlike anything the world could conceive or maintain. And it’s yours. And there are 5 billion people on the planet today who do not know what Christ has done. That’s a daunting task but it is our mission. It is what our good, good Father has asked us to do. Tell everyone that the way has been made for them, that He has a place for them and they are valued and loved. Those are the questions people are asking and that we have the answers to.
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