[S I M T A N]

Admittedly, the Christian message that belief and faith in Jesus Christ is absolutely essential for salvation is offensive to many non-Christians. 

The reason why Islam and Judaism reject Christianity is because of monotheism. We both see Christianity as a polytheistic faith, like Hinduism. The only difference between Hinduism and Christianity is the number. You stop at 3 gods.

The word is not offensive. It is reject. We reject your faith. We are not offended by your faith. The almighty God is offended by your faith, not us. How do we know that? Because it is stated clearly in the Jewish scriptures and the Quran. God is a jealous God. If you have another god that you worship, that is indeed offensive to the one almighty God.

Here I was saying many non-Christians often find Christians' claim of exclusivity offensive and there you went off on a tangent about monotheistic Islam and Judaism rejecting Christianity because it's a polytheistic religion. You added that "reject" is the mot juste while "offensive" is an inapt word that I used.

Funny, what has the "faith in Christ is the exclusive way to eternal salvation" credo got to do with the monotheism-polytheism issue, an issue we were not discussing? I'm afraid you have made the mistake of lumping Christianity in with Hinduism as polytheistic religions. My knowledge of others' faiths may be a little shaky, but I always get my facts right before posting.

First, the only people that make the above claim in bold are those who are ignorant of the teachings of the major world religions or they're heretics preaching dangerous heresies. Those religions that claim Abraham as their spiritual ancestor - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - are resolute in their teaching of monotheism. (the existence of one God)

By contrast, Hinduism posits there are millions of gods. Buddhism (the erstwhile religion of my family), denies the existence of a personal God and instead sees whatever god there is as the sum total of all creation.

The Bible emphatically declares that there's only one God. (Isaiah 44:8; 45:18; Deuteronomy 6:4; Malachi 2:10; James 2;19; Mark 12:29) Hence, taking all the Scriptures into account, Christian theology has always affirmed that the one true God is triune in nature - 3 co-equal and co-eternal Person in the Godhead. He's one in essence, but three in Person. Father, Son and Spirit exist eternally as distinct Persons.

You don't grasp the concept of the Triune God, and since the doctrine of the Trinity is completely at variance with your belief (Allah is not triune), you any old how classify Christianity as polytheistic together with Hinduism, something you're wont to do when you engage Christians in debates.