But when you listen to Jesus it is a major issue. His command to his believers was to go and tell the whole world of his good news, that God himself paid for their sins and all they need to do is believe to receive eternal life.
Caring that others will miss out on that terrific gift is not a bad thing.
Hinduism, which is not really a religion, but rather a collection of many syncretistic religions, and Buddhism can absorb other faiths without batting an eye. They are quite willing to add Christ, for instance, to their list of deities and religious teachers.
This is very similar to the ancient classical religions. They objected not to Christians claiming that Christ was divine, but rather to the claim he was the One True God, which of course meant their gods weren’t any such thing.
If one truly believes the Christian faith, you must believe what Christ said of himself, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This doesn’t mean Christians are required to be harsh or intolerant of others, much less persecute of those who believe differently. But it does mean that Christ made certain claims for himself, and to deny them is to deny Christ and therefore to cease being a Christian.
A perfectly logical definition of Christian, “One who claims to believe what Christ said about himself.”
“Caring that others will miss out on that terrific gift is not a bad thing.”
Well said. One can freely disregard Buddhism and not suffer one single consequence. Disregarding Christ has eternal consequences.
Very true...but I think many Christians take a very heavy handed approach to evangelization, such that many are turned away. I like the approach suggested by Francis of Assisi who directed his followers to, "Preach the Gospel always. When necessary, use words."