Are there any parallels between Jesus and any other great man of religion? Muhammad amassed an army of 10,000 to set out to conquer (killing thousands), while Jesus conquered hearts in His invisible kingdom through love ("My kingdom is not of this world"). Buddha, which means "Enlightened One," (while Jesus claimed to be the Light) and Buddha's real name was Siddhartha Gautama, and he came from an affluent Hindu family and lived a sheltered life in childhood. Muhammad and his followers looted and pillaged caravans, while Jesus had no flaws in morality and his followers aimed to live by his code of love. Jesus was from a working-class family, while Buddha had privilege, Muhammad, a camel driver, married a rich woman 15 years his senior and then took to meditation. Buddha left his wife and son to become an ascetic, while Jesus never married, was tempted of the devil for 40 days in the wilderness, and had a close-knit band of followers, both male and female to the very end, and Muhammad set out with his army in at least 66 battles. Buddha was appalled at the suffering of his day, while Jesus was a man suffering, and acquainted with grief, even dying on a cross willingly. Buddha set out merely to reform Hinduism, while Christ was the fulfillment of Judaism and the prophecies. Buddha claimed that his mother was impregnated by a six-tusked white elephant, while Jesus was born of a virgin woman in fulfillment of a prophecy made 700 years prior--the kind of life He lived would be consistent with this.
George Gordon, Lord Byron, the great Romantic poet, said that "if ever a man were God or God were a man, Jesus was both!" John Stuart Mill, considered by some to be the most intelligent man to have ever lived, said Jesus was the "guide of mankind." Bertrand Russell, the atheist philosopher, said that "what the world needs is more Christian love and compassion"--people emulate Jesus like no other man as the epitome of love in action. Will Durant said that Jesus is the dominant figure of Western Civilization. No one predecessor is His equal and no successor meets His standards of perfection and lawlessness.
Jesus, Himself, challenged His enemies to convict Him of sin. Even the Koran says that He was without sin. The crassest heretics have not denied his sin-free life either. He was flawless, whereas Muhammad had his flaws. Buddha couldn't have been perfect and didn't even claim it--he was agnostic--because he claimed to have come to "Enlightenment" after his search under the bo tree near the river Gaya, and therefore couldn't have always known the way, while Jesus confounded the Pharisees at the age of 12 and knew the business of His Father, and didn't claim to know the way but to be the way--Buddha didn't believe in God, and said that, if there was one, He couldn't help you find enlightenment, because you must find it on your own.
You cannot compare Jesus with any other man (you can only contrast), for He is alone and incomparable: His character was unique (flawless, without sin, and it is said that He is in a moral category by Himself, and it has been well said that His character supports His claims); His conduct was unprecedented (He forgave His enemies on the cross, and He invariably practiced what He preached); His claims were unparalleled (made Himself the Son of God--no other religious leader such as Muhammad or Buddha, an agnostic, has said this); and His credentials were unequaled (His life didn't belie but confirmed His claims, His miracles were true signs and consistent with his nature, and not just for show or selfish reason of profit, and even His enemies acknowledge His character). The caliber of His life was such that no one could challenge His answers and authority, and accuse Him of wrongdoing or sin.
The founders of other faiths are known for what they said, Jesus is primarily known for who He was and what He did--that He claimed to be the Son of God, died on the cross, and rose from the dead! Any man can claim to be God for instance, (but you need credentials and character), but to prove it by rising from the dead is quite another! It has been said that the kind of life Jesus lived verified His claims and you would expect the Son of God to behave like Him--there is no ungodliness or weakness in His person. There is everything we would want in a man to worship and adore and He doesn't fall short of any ideal or standard, but only inspires even the greatest of men--even Napoleon proclaimed Him to be no mere man and he claimed to know men.
Jesus lived in obscurity as a common man without privilege: He had no army, yet He conquered millions; He never wrote a word, yet He inspired more books and inspired more literature than anyone else; He had no riches, yet He made many rich; He had no formal education, yet He was the greatest teacher to have ever lived. Jesus was not born into privilege or opportunity, but into an average working family and knew what the average man went through in daily life from personal experience. He confounded the Pharisees with His brilliance at the age of twelve with His questions and answers concerning the Scriptures. There was no duplicity in Him, for He practiced what He preached, yet He condemned hypocrisy in others. Though men have conquering armies, Jesus conquered hearts and many millions would die for Him.
Who was the greatest leader of all time? Who has done the kind of miracles that have never been duplicated? Who was the greatest teacher? Who gave us the highest ethic or moral code to live by? Who lived the holiest life of all men? Who has the most followers and worshipers of all time? Who was the greatest philosopher or "un-philosopher" of all time? Who has done the best for mankind? Who had the greatest personality of all time? Who sets the highest standards to live by? Who had a more profound impact on civilization, either direct or indirect (inspiring the building of hospitals, universities, orphanages, charities, and missions)?
All other men pale in comparison to Christ and no one can meet His standards of holiness. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not so with the disciples who were near Him--they never stopped admiring His perfection and even worshiped Him. What Jesus did, no man can do and we don't compare Jesus with others but contrast them: We don't say, "Jesus the Great," though we say Alexander the Great, or Peter the Great, for even that is an insult and do Him injustice; what we do is contrast Jesus with others and make Him the standard to judge all of mankind by. If God became a man, what kind of man would you expect Him to be?
Of the greatest men who have ever lived, none have dared to claim to be God in the flesh or the one and only way to God. Jesus didn't claim to be the best way to God, nor one of many ways, but the one and the only way to the Father. Only Jesus had the "words of eternal life" and showed us the Way. He didn't claim to be telling us the truth, but that He was the incarnation of truth itself ("I am the truth"). He said that all who are "of the truth" will hear Him, but unbelievers are those who reject the truth. In all of recorded history, no one has matched His personality and life! Many books can claim to be true, but only God's Word is Truth with a capital T, and the testimony is this: nature forms you, sin deforms you, education informs you, prison reforms you, but only Christ transforms you!
The New Testament books are not to be compared with the writings of other religions where so-called miracles are attributed, for they were written within a generation of the events and by eye-witnesses--not compiled centuries later. The difference between Christ's miracles and those of other faiths is that they were signs of His deity, and not just fantastic, for a show, or for personal advantage. You can take the miracles out of Islam, for example, and the religion remains intact, but if you remove the miracles from the Bible you disembowel it and make it nothing. Without miracles, Jesus would have only been a footnote in history and not worth following. Even Muhammad believed Christ performed miracles and he did none himself (there are none in the Koran)--only years later did writers ascribe some to him.
After the crucifixion, His own followers were ready to write Him off and go on living as if they had wasted three years of their life. It was the miracle (the great sign that He would give) and the fact of the resurrection that turned a disbanded and demoralized group of followers into roaring lions of the faith, who were not afraid of the authorities anymore, nor of death itself. If God were to become a man, you would expect Him to be like Jesus and do miracles and Jesus foots the bill and doesn't let us down on any count. It is one thing to claim to be God and quite another to prove it and have people die for your claims! "He spoke like no other man ever spoke"--with authority (He didn't say, "Thus says the Lord, but, "I say unto you.").
The Christian scholar Philip Schaff portrays Christ graphically as follows:
This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, and Napoleon; without science and learning shed more light on matters human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.
Nothing can explain Him, except the profound hypothesis that He is the living Son of God! We don't compare Christ, we contrast Him who is in a league of His own as the one who claimed to be God in the flesh or incarnated--you can rest assured of this: No one will ever improve on Jesus! As John Stuart Mill (considered one of the most brilliant minds of all time and an atheist) said he is "a unique figure not more unlike all his predecessors than all his followers,"
The problem with most would-be messiahs is that their character doesn't support their claims and the problem is that familiarity breeds contempt with men, but there is no discrepancy with Christ--his character does not disprove His deity, but it is consistent with it and confirms it. No one, not even a psychiatrist could analyze Him as unbalanced despite His claims. Christ is beyond our analysis (no one can figure Him or peg Him) and we can only be in awe as we wonder what kind of man would we expect the Son of God to be. Who can understand a man who washes His disciple's feet, yet claims to be the Judge of mankind? Soli Deo Gloria!
