A Week to Love - Liam Payne Short Story

Question #3

*Beep! Beep! Beep!*

I blink sleepily at my alarm that seems to be frantically trying to wake me up. Time to get up and go to work I guess... ew. At least I slept last night. I think I was so exhausted from the previous two nights that last night I just passed out. I roll out of bed, quickly showering and then making myself breakfast. On my way to work, I grab the envelope Liam has left in my mailbox. I didn't have time to read it before, so I'll just read it at the beginning of work and think about it through the day like normal. 

When I get to work, I eagerly rip open Liam's letter. I want to know what he has to say about the last question!! I flatten out the paper and start reading. 

Dear Christina,

Wow... that wasn't the answer I was expecting. I had to think pretty hard to get through that one. And I don't really have a response yet. That was pretty cool. 

Okay, so let's go with the fact that God exists, since I can't argue back. Even if he does, he's the same for all religions, right? Sure, I know there are some differences here and there, but all religions are basically the same anyway. Jesus is really the only thing that makes Christianity different, right? But if you look at him as a great moral teacher, than really there isn't a difference at all. 

Guess that's it for today!

Liam

P.S. You're smart and I'm a lucky guy :D

I bury my face in my hands at the last sentence. My heart is melting, but I force myself to think rationally. This cannot, CANNOT, work out if we don't have the same basic beliefs. It's too important. So I stuff his letter back into the envelope, willing my brain to think, and think hard.

By night, my letter was again ready. 

Dear Liam,

I'm glad you liked my answer :) It took lots of hard work and my head is sore from thinking, so you owe me one! :P 

Well, I don't really know where to start here. All religions are basically the same? How so? Many people claim that they all teach you should lead an ethical life. As a matter of fact, that isn't true at all. Sure, one of the prominent features of the main monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity, etc.) is a concern for ethical conduct, but those are the exceptions, not the standard. Most religions don't care about moral behavior at all. Here's something to consider: either Jesus is the Messiah or he isn't, right? If he IS the Messiah, then Christians are right and Jews are wrong. If he ISN'T, then Jews are right and Christians are wrong. Either way here, someone's right and someone's wrong. Under no circumstances can they be 'basically the same', can they? Either God exists or he doesn't - Christians and Buddhists can't both be right. Either Muslims or Christians are right about Jesus' death. Don't get me wrong - there are elements of truth in all religions. The Bible says so too, I'm not just saying this out of my own head :) But I'm trying to point out that they are not the same thing, they can't all be right. You can recognize truth in other religions while realizing that there are some points in which all religions simply can't be correct.  Either Jesus is the only way to heaven or he is not - there's no middle ground here. There are just genuine, unavoidable conflicts of truth-claim and doctrine among all the world's different religions. 

You're right, though, that the difference is Jesus. However, I'm not sure we can say he's just a moral teacher. Let's look at his claims about himself. Jesus claimed to be divine, he claimed that he was the son of God, and that he was the only way to heaven. I guess we really only have 3 options here - 1) he was lying and was, simply, a great moral teacher. 2) he was mentally insane, to the point of claiming that he was divine. or 3) he was telling the truth. If you look at the first option - he was lying - I'm not sure it makes much sense. If Jesus was a great moral teacher, than why was he lying? Would you respect a man as a great moral leader if he was lying all the time - and recorded doing so? Moral leaders don't lie, and if they do, they aren't respected anymore. So i think we can move on to the second option, being insanity. If you read through Jesus' teachings and arguments, this option can be ruled out almost immediately. No person who is mentally insane has the capability to produce arguments, responses, lectures and conversations, as intellectually sound as Jesus' were. This leaves us with the 3rd option - he was telling the truth. 

Bringing this all full circle, if Jesus was telling the truth then all religions simply can't be the same. As I said before, either he was the Messiah or not - so either Jews or Christians are right but not both.  If he was telling the truth then he was divine, the Son of God. And if he was telling then truth, then he is also the only way to heaven... which conflicts very drastically with many other religions. All religions can't be correct, Li. 

That's all for me too! I'm too tired to come up with any more haha

Goodnight. Sleep well.

Chris

I drop the letter off on my way home, and see him peeking out from his window at me. I involuntarily smile, giving him a little wave and then climbing back into my car. Three days down... four to go.