BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY

Redemption

We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7).

Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood of Christ (I Peter 1:18-19).

Unto him that loveth us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us a kingdom of priests unto God and his Father (Revelation 1:5-6).

Without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22).

Made peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1 :20).

This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God....For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:12, 14).

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

Redemption

Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man's oneness with the Father (SH, 18:3-4).

The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical perfection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind (SH, 24:27-28).

Atonement is the exemplification of man's unity with God (SH, 18: 1 -2).

One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin (SH, 23:3-4).

The way to escape the misery of sin is to cease sinning. There is no other way (SH, 327:12-13).

SPIRITUALISM

Redemption

Salvation by vicarious atonement is a wicked and soul-destroying delusion (Ethics of Spiritualism, p. 99).

Teaches the continuity of life and the eternal progression of man toward perfection in the spirit realm.

That every soul will progress through the ages to heights sublime and glorious, where God is Love and Love is God ("What Spiritualism Is and Does," SM, 1940).

There are not two worlds at all; there (is) but one interblended interrelated world, closely interwoven by memory and the love of life. Consciousness could not die. Personality could not be destroyed (Bach, They Have Found a Faith, p. 116).

Life on the spirit plane is evolvement, like the ascent in a spiral, the growth of moral affection to higher and higher "heavens."

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

Redemption and Salvation

Jesus Christ laid down in sacrifice a perfect HUMAN LIFE, equal to that which Adam forfeited (You May Survive Armageddon, p. 39).

The ransom, or redemptive price with which redemption is made, is "the man Christ Jesus" (LG, p. 113).

His perfect human life with all its rights and prospects, was laid down in death, but NOT FOR SIN AND IN PUNISHMENT (LG, p. 116). (Jesus was raised a divine spirit creature.)

That which is redeemed or bought back is perfect human life with its rights and earthly prospects (LG, p. 114).

The value of the perfect human life was now available for use on behalf of faithful men (LG, p. 116).

Thus, makes possible general resurrection for mankind with opportunity for eternal life (MS, p. 411).

The Bible plainly shows that 144,000 will share in heavenly glory, while the others will enjoy the blessings of life down here on earth (LG, p. 298).

All who by reason of faith in Jehovah God and in Christ Jesus dedicate themselves to do God's will and then faithfully carry out their dedication will be rewarded with everlasting life (LC, p. 298).

An unnumbered crowd of faithful persons do not expect to go to heaven. They have been promised everlasting life on earth if they prove their faithfulness (LG, p. 231), by faith in Jehovah's baptism, "provided...they abide in him keeping their good conscience through faith and loyal service (NH, p. 311).

Armageddon survivors and the mass of humankind will find life here on earth amid paradise conditions (LG, p. 279).

It is a gross twisting of the Scriptures to throw Jesus' words of John 3:3 to make them embrace all mankind (The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1954, p. 681). This "great crowd" of people are not "born again," nor do they need to be born again," because they gain everlasting life on the earth (Ibid., p. 682).

MORMONISM

Redemption and Salvation

We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel (AF, 3).

The first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: Faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; repentance; baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost (AF, 4).

Even the unbeliever, the heathen, and the child who dies before reaching the years of discretion, all are redeemed by the Savior's self-sacrifice from the individual consequences of the Fall (Talmage, p. 58).

Included are "beasts, fowls of the air, and fishes of the sea" (DC, 29:23-25).

The resurrection of the body (of every living thing) is one of the victories achieved by Christ through His atoning sacrifice (Talmage, p. 58).

They who believe not your words, and are not baptized in water in my name, for the remission of their sins...shall be damned (DC, 84:74).

Baptism is...the very gateway into the kingdom of heaven, an indispensable step in our salvation and exaltation (Bennett, Why I Am a Mormon, p. 124).

Baptism by proxy for the dead is a major activity. "The Saints are...redeeming their (unbaptized) dead from the grasp of Satan" (Morgan, Plan of Salvation, p. 8).

Celestial marriage is the gate to an exaltation in the highest heaven within the celestial world (McConkie, MD, p. 118).

Those who attain the highest sphere, the Celestial, will "have spirit children in the resurrection, in relation to which offspring they stand in the same position that God our Father stands to us" (MD, p. 257).

The second sphere, the Terrestrial, will be inhabited by "accountable persons who die without law" or who "did not accept the gospel" or with LDS who "were not valiant" (MD, p. 784).

EASTERN MYSTICISM

Redemption and Salvation

"Be still and know that you are God, and when you know that you are God you will begin to live Godhood..." (Ibid., p. 178).

Go within and experience the Divine Nature!

A mystical experience reached by various methods which blanks out all sense impressions and releases one into a sense of identity with the great All, the only Reality!

There is no supernatural intervention. We bear the whole responsibility for our actions. If we attain the clear vision of what we are, "the Divine or Inner Light, and the god within," we need not go elsewhere. "All may say, at the moment of Awakening, 'I am the Way' " (KC, p. 237).

Salvation comes through the realization that there is no duality. God is all-in-all, is all there is, and "that are Thou" (Upanishads).

God-realization, or Self-realization, the highest of all states of being, is a here and now possibility by any of the suggested methods. 1) The Way of Knowledge, usually involving meditation focused within. This may be aided by silent repetition of a designated, personal mantra, which is a group of sounds without meaning. Or by "Knowledge" imparted by a "master" by which "inner light" is given and the "current of real life" (the source of life) is turned on within us. Meditation is upon this "light experience." 2) The Way of Works, following prescribed rules of conduct without desire. This is the more common way of India, much less emphasized in the West. 3) The Way of Devotion to a deity, involving continuous chanting of the chosen name, as exemplified by the vocal Krishna-Consciousness cult.

Transcendental Meditation is a path to God (MM, p. 59).

The way of Yoga (meaning union) is that of concentration aided by body control, with the aim being "Union with the Divine."

Self-realization is entry into the Kingdom of Heaven within, entry into the field of the Creator. "It is the gradual movement from Matter to Mind, and then to Super Mind. Once we reach the Super Mind, we reach union with the Divine."

THE WAY INTERNATIONAL

Redemption and Salvation

The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ was a man conceived by the Holy Spirit, God, whose life was without blemish and without spot, a lamb from the flock, thereby being the perfect sacrifice. Thus he became our redeemer (JC, p. 79).

Jesus brought righteousness because he willingly gave himself as a perfect, sinless sacrifice, a perfect redeemer (JC, p. 76).

There are two parts: sin and disease, one is removed by the blood of the lamb and the otber by the flesh of the lamb (BT, p. 87).

Christ has redeemed us, not only from some of the things mentioned in the curse, but from all of them, which includes sickness and disease (BT, p. 84).

...the physical punishment which he went through...brought our healing (BT, p. 84).

When we have salvation, we have wholeness, even physical wholeness, if we simply accept it (NDC, p. 31).

God is our Savior as the author of the plan of salvation. Jesus Christ made the new birth available as the agent of the plan of salvation and as the finisher of faith (JC, p. 147).

All born-again believers have "the faith of Jesus Christ" which is the measure given to EVERYONE when he believes. After a person has confessed with his mouth the Lord Jesus and has believed in his his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, he a is a privileged son of God with access to all His promises (NDC, p. 29).

...you are made alive spiritually but also your physical body is made alive even now (NDC, p. 33).

NOTE: The church of Israel, which is the bride of Christ...is the church of the period of the Law and of the gospels...also the church of the Revelation. The body of Christ began on the Day of Pentecost and continues until the return of Christ. Everyone who is born again by God's Spirit is a member of the Church of Grace, the body of Christ (NDC, pp. 7, 10).

UNITY

Redemption and Salvation

Jesus of Nazareth played an important part in opening the way for every one of us into the Father's kingdom. However, that was not through His death on the cross, but through His overcoming death (UTC, p. 67).

That which died upon the cross was the consciousness of all mortal beliefs that hold us in bondage--such as sin, evil, sickness, fleshly lusts, and death--which He overcame (UTC, pp. 68-69).

The error lies in the belief that He was the only begotten Son of God, and that He overcame for us, and that by simply believing on Him we are saved (UTC, pp. 68-69).

Paul is responsible for...this throwing of the whole burden upon the blood of Jesus--that He was the great once-for-all bloody sacrifice, and that no other would ever be necessary. Jesus said..."Follow me." He meant; do as I do. I have overcome, now by following in my footsteps you shall overcome (UTC, p. 69).

Being born again or from above is...the establishment of that which had always existed as the perfect man idea of Divine Mind (SB, p. 25)

To "know thyself" is to know that you are I AM and not flesh and blood. It is this I AM that is born of the flesh and born of Spirit (SB, p. 206).

The eternal life taught and demonstrated by Jesus is not gained by dying, but by purifying the body until it becomes the undying habitation of the soul (UM, July 1922).

We believe the repeated incarnations of man to be a merciful provision of our loving Father to the end that all may have opportunity to obtain immortality through regeneration as did Jesus (Unity Statement of Faith, art. 22).

UNIFICATION CHURCH

Redemption

He [Jesus] must come again to consummate the mission he left undone 2,000 years ago. He was crucified...not given a chance to restore his bride (CIC, p. 27).

God's work has been the restoration of original goodness....To do this job God needs certain tools. The religions of the world have served as these tools for God....Christianity may be considered the most advanced and progressive religion because it teaches this sacrificial love and duty in supreme form (CIC, pp. 17-18).

Christ will come as before, as a man in the flesh, and he will establish a family through marriage to his Bride, a woman in the flesh and they will become the True Parents of all mankind. Through our accepting the True Parents (the Second Coming of Christ), obeying them and following them, our original sin will be eliminated and we will eventually become perfect (DUTA).

Marriage is the most important means of establishing God's kingdom on earth (CIC, p. 25).

God intended to make Adam and Eve one in heavenly matrimony. Then they would have borne sinless children and become the true mother and father for all mankind...establishing the heavenly kingdom on earth (CIC, p. 26).