Christmas Makes Christianity Unique 

It is popular nowadays to say that all religions are basically the same. You may have heard the example of people who say that God is like a mountain, and the different religions are the different paths up the mountain. But to say that all religions are the same is neither respectful nor tolerant - it is either arrogant or ignorant. 

Religions do have some things in common, but they also have substantial differences. The human family was created for the purpose of living in relationship with God. And so there is a God-shaped void in the center of our human nature. Before original sin, it was filled with God. But with original sin, our first parents broke away from God. Since then, human beings have been trying to fill that void up again. This is the common origin of all religions, and it gives them an appearance of similarity: they all start from human nature's built-in, but frustrated, desire to reestablish a stable relationship with God. 

 But the similarity stops there. When it comes to questions like "What is God like?" and "How exactly can we rebuild our relationship with him?" different religions give different answers. Don't take my word for it - take the time to look them up. All religions start with the same questions, but they give a variety of different answers. And there's only one religion in which mankind's effort to climb back up to heaven is met by the unimaginable event of God himself deciding to climb down into human nature. 

Christmas is one thing that makes Christianity entirely unique among all the world religions. Only we Christians have the privilege of saying, "The Word became flesh, and lived among us."