I teach a class at Ambassador Bible College called Comparative Religion which meets for one hour each week throughout the year. The first semester focuses on non-Christian religions; the second semester covers many of the Christian religions and denominations. The purpose of the course is not to compare one religion with another religion, but to compare each religion to what is revealed in the Bible.

Many of our students have not been exposed to the broad range of religious belief that we find in our world and may not know the historical background of the various religions, nor the distinctions between their beliefs. The course tries to distill the core concepts and beliefs that make each religion unique, providing a foundation for additional study.

The approach for the class is to be fair in stating what each religion teaches and what its adherents sincerely believe. As much as possible, I try to present their beliefs in their own words. In many cases, I show video clips of people explaining firsthand why they believe a certain way.

Some students have jokingly remarked that I am the only instructor at ABC who gets to teach “heresy”—teaching about beliefs that are not supported by the Bible. But there is value in learning about and understanding things that you often won’t hear about at Church services so that you can be prepared to confront those topics when the occasion might arise.

As an ABC student, we hope to enable you to engage those people you may encounter who hold other beliefs and to provide a foundation so that you will be able to speak with them intelligently and convincingly about the truths of God’s Word.