Friday, 13 November 2009
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Christ: All or Nothing
One of the most common reasons people give me for not wanting to exclusively embrace the Christian faith is tied to ideas of pluralism. The argument I encounter usually sounds something like this: if there is a God, and He is in fact loving, forgiving and serious about wanting us to know Him, reach redemption, win His favor, etc, then all(or many) faiths must be true enough to achieve this knowledge, redemption, favor. Furthermore, Christianity may present some good morals, but seeing how other religions value many of the same morals, Christianity can not be the only way. If one embraces Christianity, they should not proclaim it as the one true way, because that blatantly undermines the positive contributions of other faiths. And a truly loving God would not punish well meaning people who really tried to follow good moral teachings of another faith.
The problem is this: it is nonsensical to take seriously the moral teachings of Jesus while dismissing the very premise He claimed gave Him the authority to present such teaching in the first place. That premise is that He is the way, the truth, and the life; He is God in the flesh, faith in His life, death and resurrection as God in the flesh is the only way to achieve redemption and gain God’s favor. Apart from Him-claimed Jesus and His closest, most trustworthy followers- there is no salvation, there is only judgment. These teachings lend absolutely no room for any kind of pluralism. According to Christ’s claims (the very same Christ who taught the morals we like to borrow from) there are those who find life through Him, and there are those who don’t find life- nothing in between, no exceptions. He is not a way, He is the way.
Of course we are free to not believe this aspect of His teachings. But when we do so, the very fact that He taught these outrageous things right along side His valued lessons of loving your neighbor and caring for the needy makes all of His teachings lose credibility. Therefore if one wants to embrace some sort of pluralistic form of religion, it would only make sense to completely exclude Christianity from the range of valid faiths. In other words it makes far more sense to conclude that Christ was the leader of a destructive cult than to claim that He was an admirable teacher who encouraged some good morals but was not who He claimed to be. Who in their right mind would admire a teacher who falsely claimed that He was the creator of all and He alone held the power to save or condemn my soul? If Christ who claimed He is the only way is not the only way, then He is a liar, a fraud, and He teachings should not be respected at all, even if some of them sound nice.
So although we are free to conclude that many religions can be valid all at the same time, Christianity is one faith can not be listed amongst those religions.
What are your beliefs on pluralism? Is Christianity the only way, or can other religions also be a way to God?
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About the Author
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- From: subSacred@xanga
- About Me: This is a personal spiritual journal in which I will be exploring God, myself, the Church, and how the three interrelate.
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Comments (26)
If the Bible is true, no other religion can be true.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
For any other religion to be a valid way to God at the same time that Christianity is, is not possible. It would violate the law of noncontradiction.
The Bible can't be right when it says Jesus is the only way and be wrong at the same time. It's either right, and Jesus is the only way, or it's wrong, and He's nothing.
Jesus is the only one who rose from the dead. The Bible is not the only source of this information either. It is said that Jesus is the only one who transcended to a higher plane...a spiritual one.
I totally disagree w/ this post. It is not that Jesus is not the way the truth and the light. It's that Jesus works through all religions and all structures to bring men to him and that in essence is what pluralism is. In every major religion you will see a portion of the gospel message preserved. In every major religion you will see salvation in some form or another offered. In essence only one thing is necessary for salvation and it has nothing to do with fire insurance. It has to do with love and love alone. Love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. That is all that is really necessary for salvation as it says in Luke.
That is not to negate the other aspects of the gospel message but if we distill it down to its core, its core is love and love alone. Love brings all humanity to God. That's its nature so again pluralism allows for that. It allows for love to flow through all religions so that people will know the source and that's Christ.
p
"The problem is this: it is nonsensical to take seriously the moral teachings of Jesus while dismissing the very premise He claimed gave Him the authority to present such teaching in the first place"
Exactly. And Jesus teaches that without him, we can't follow his teachings. With people, this stuff is impossible. We cannot really love our neighbors to the extent he requires until he is born in us, and we are born in him. The teachings of Jesus and Jesus are inseperable.
@Pashe@xanga - So ignore the sections of the bible, the ten commandments, which say those worshiping false gods are sent to hell?
Ignore the sections of the Qur'an which claim "The trinity is false, and believers in the trinity will be punished?"
Allah created all things
But
Yahweh created all things...
One , or both, are wrong.
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I was raised on Dr. Dobson, and have just sent him a letter
requesting his assistance to help me stop loosing faith in the Christian
Church. My Mom respects Dr. Dobson as
much or more than any other Christian leader, and she is interested to see his
response. I only started learning the
truth about the 9/11 attacks last fall.
It took me an entire year to convince my own parents to listen to me,
and begin reviewing the evidence for themselves. Now that they have thoroughly and objectively
taken a fresh look into all the available evidence, they too are now aware of
how badly we have been deceived. They
now fully support my mission to find out what really happened to 2,993 of our
fellow countrymen that fateful September morning. My mom is very interested to see if/how Dr.
Dobson will respond. Please read my open
letter to Dr. Dobson and share your thoughts at......... http://blandyland.com/?p=459 Does Christ's Church really stand for TRUTH &
JUSTICE? That is the question! Daniel Edd Bland IIIwww.BlandyLand.com
@schallerbrandon@xanga - very true
all truth is God's truth.
If you would like to know my answer to this, then you must to give a very critical reading of the story of Balaam.
obvious point number one: when asked what the top commandments were, Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor. nowhere in that does he say to worship only him. nowhere does he say that the only way to love God is to do be of a particular faith.
obvious point number two: as a non-Christian, why should i assume that the Bible portrays Jesus' own beliefs on the subject of pluralism with 100% accuracy? it's only in John that he appears with any sense of divinity. and anyone willing to do a little research would see that the terms "messiah" and "Son of God" mean far different things to Jews and Christians.
"If Christ who claimed He is the only way is not the only way, then He
is a liar, a fraud, and He teachings should not be respected at all,
even if some of them sound nice."
i assume you personally hold this view of other religious figures...? you find no value in Buddhist teachings, Muslim teachings, even Jewish teachings. by your own conclusion, most of the OT would be useless since it was written by a group who has falsely declared itself God's chosen people.
otherwise, stop calling the kettle black.
For the sake of brevity, and to avoid clutter, I deleted my response to @too_pretty_to_die@xanga for now. Don't worry I'll get back to you :p
I just want to point out that the purpose of this post isn't really
to convince anyone that Christ is the only way. I am simply discussing
what I find to be Christianity's innate incompatibility with pluralism.
That alone doesn't make it truth.
I recognize that there are other faiths with teachings that are incompatible with pluralism as well.
I am very much inclined to agree with the spirit of this post, so long as it places more authority and reverence before the throne of Jesus. I do not agree that attempting to do that will land us in exclusivism however.
Here are the general points which make me an inclusivist with respect to salvation (where by inclusivism I mean the view that knowledge in this life of the historical person named 'Jesus Christ' is not a necessary condition for salvation):
1. If exclusivism is true, then everyone in the Old Testament is condemned to perish. All the Jews and Gentiles like those in Nineveh which were reported to have had relationships with God will not receive salvation.
2. Jesus explains that people will be judged by what information they have in John 15:22-24: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father."
3. Paul confirms Jesus's teaching that men are responsible for responding to what light they have in Romans 2: "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. "
4. Romans 7:9 confirms the view that salvation extends to all people groups across time as well: "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands."
5. The exclusivist language--like that found in John 14:6--can be interpreted to mean that Christ just is the way through which all people are saved. God is the source of the ability of all people to be saved, whether they are able to entertain the concept of the person of Jesus in their minds or not. This point could also be put that Christ's atonement is efficacious for all people, whether they know it or not. Compare this point with Titus 2:11, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."
Several points as a general underview. First, the motif that all men will be judged according to what they have done is constant throughout the Old and New Testaments. For those who know about Jesus, their response to him will obvious be the way in which they are judged. This is the best view to have, because it is a just view, and God is perfectly just.
Also, I think that we have direct, binding obligations to obey God's command to spread the Gospel whether or not people have an equal chance of being saved with or without it. Not to mention, the Gospel is good news! We want to share the Gospel because the value of knowing God is a good enough reason to share it. So inclusivism does not in any way entail a languid mission base. Thus I see many reasons to accept it, and no reason to reject it.
@subSacred@xanga - hehe all good :P i understand. from my POV, i see religion's one true function within society as serving as a comfort mechanism. if it makes you happy and doesn't stop anyone else from being happy, go for it. so from that, i see Christianity as compatible with pluralism.
"i am the way and the truth and the life. no one comes to the Father but through me."
-Christ
@Daniel Edd Bland III - "So ignore the sections of the bible, the ten commandments, which say those worshiping false gods are sent to hell"
The only time Jesus mentions hell is in relationship to Jews that were not loving their neighbors ie the Pharisees and the like that ignored that. He never mentions hell to non-Jews only to Jews, which to me illustrates a simple point. The Kingdom of God is about Love, not judgement. The Jews that were judgmental were judged accordingly but those that weren't were not. Either way God can and does work through every religion to reveal Christ even those that would seemingly deny the godhead. Look at Judaism, God worked through that to reveal his complete nature even though the Jews do not see the trinity at all. God works through whatever medium he wants.
p
John 14.6, friends, not to mention a whole host of other things Jesus said about himself.
That is a quote from a letter of encouragement to a follower written by Nichiren Daishonin. Btw, Buddhas are not the chubby little statues so often associated with the word.
When we think of Jesus as being The Only Way we can do little more than parrot and debate over what he was talking about and never really Know what he was talking about. By logic if he is the Only Way then nobody else could possibly ever know what he was talking about. If someone did really know what he was talking about that person would also become The Way for the people around him or her. This isn't too much different than if on the first day of physics class the teacher said, "Through me you're going to learn about a world you never knew existed", and from that moment we, the class, decide the teacher is the only all-knowing physics teacher in the world, putting him or her on a pedestal and subsequently believing we ourselves could never live in the same knowledge. Personally it was not until I ventured out from Christianity, searching through many religions and finally landing in Buddhism that I gained more than a vague understanding of what Jesus was talking about. Yes Jesus said, "I am the Way". The interpretation of that to mean the rest of us can forget it and hope to find heaven after we die flies in the face of pretty much everything Jesus said. "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within" is just one of those statements that is skipped over as if it was a mud puddle. I think every religion including those that existed long before Christianity and those that came into being after Christianity have said the same thing, that the Kingdom of Heaven is found within, albeit in different wordings.
I tend to think that Christ's words about being the way the truth and the life are true and correct, but I think our understanding of them, and of He who spoke them may be incomplete. Perhaps Christ does work through all faiths to bring mankind into a knowledge of God and the truth. If Christ is who he claims to be--God--then He is far bigger than we can possibly comprehend, and that "way" might just be broader than we suspect.
First off, I want to remind folks that my intentions with this post are not to convince everyone that Christ is the only way( although I know the questions added by revelife to the end of the post may give it that slant).
Rather, I am suggesting that if we are to take Christ's teachings seriously, we must admit that He taught that He was the only way, and so to follow His teaching, we must follow Him as the only way. If we are not willing to do so, then it makes most sense to reject Christ altogether
@myfanwe@xanga - I tend to think that Christ's words about
being the way the truth and the life are true and correct, but I think
our understanding of them, and of He who spoke them may be incomplete.
I believe He meant what He said. Although there are contextual and literary considerations we must be aware of, along with other translational issues, if Christ claimed He was the only way and didn't really mean it, He would be some kind of scandalous nut.
Perhaps Christ does work through all faiths
to bring mankind into a knowledge of God and the truth. If Christ is
who he claims to be--God--then He is far bigger than we can possibly
comprehend, and that "way" might just be broader than we suspect.
Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the
narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
@TheSutraDude@xanga - By logic if he is the Only Way then nobody
else could possibly ever know what he was talking about. If someone did
really know what he was talking about that person would also become The
Way for the people around him or her.
Not to sound like a politician, but it all depends on how you use the word "way". Following a "way" doesn't necessarily make us equal with the "way" we are following. If I drive on Route 66, have I become Route 66? Am I an adequate replacement for Route 66? Route 66 is the way, I am following the way of Route 66.
@Pashe@xanga - The only time Jesus mentions hell is in
relationship to Jews that were not loving their neighbors ie the
Pharisees and the like that ignored that. He never mentions hell to
non-Jews only to Jews, which to me illustrates a simple point. The
Kingdom of God is about Love, not judgement.
It isn't just about hell or fire insurance. Christ made many claims that without Him, we have no life. I believe that refers to more than a hot afterlife. Hell or no hell, Jesus said He was the only way.
@foxes_have_holes@xanga - all truth is God's truth.
If you would like to know my answer to this, then you must to give a very critical reading of the story of Balaam.
But what do we use to decide if something is truth to begin with? What if different "truths" begin to conflict? If Jesus said that He is God and there is no life apart from Him, how can it be simultaneously true that He is not God and there is life apart from Him?
Yes I believe all truth is God's truth. But the truth itself must be consistent to remain true. Balaam has nothing to do with this.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga -
obvious point number one: when asked what the top commandments were, Jesus
said to love God and love your neighbor. nowhere in that does he say
to worship only him. nowhere does he say that the only way to love God
is to do be of a particular faith.
I would argue that Christ did in fact teach that we are incapable of even obeying Him without Him.
obvious point number two:
as a non-Christian, why should i assume that the Bible portrays Jesus'
own beliefs on the subject of pluralism with 100% accuracy? it's only
in John that he appears with any sense of divinity. and anyone willing
to do a little research would see that the terms "messiah" and "Son of
God" mean far different things to Jews and Christians.
You are correct. But in that case, why should anyone assume that the Bible portrays anything Jesus' said with any accuracy at all? Maybe Jesus taught that we should kill our neighbors. Maybe instead of feeding the 5,000 He actually gave them all poisoned wine. Maybe He really taught that the only way to heaven was through killing as many babies as we can. If we can't trust the Bible's portrayal of Jesus' take on pluralism, we can't trust it regarding anything else, and hence Christianity is rendered useless. I suppose that is an option, but I see no good reason to go that route.
"If Christ who claimed He is the only way is not the only way, then He
is a liar, a fraud, and He teachings should not be respected at all,
even if some of them sound nice."
i assume you personally hold this view of other religious figures...?
you find no value in Buddhist teachings, Muslim teachings, even Jewish
teachings.
Personally, I do believe other faiths teach some good things. I have certainly learned to appreciate some parallel teachings between other faiths and my own, and it has helped me grow in my own faith. However I do believe Christianity stands on it's own- it does not need the input or contributions of other faiths, and ultimately can not work with other faiths.
@subSacred@xanga -
"Not to sound like a politician, but it all depends on how you use the word "way". Following a "way" doesn't necessarily make us equal with the "way" we are following. If I drive on Route 66, have I become Route 66? Am I an adequate replacement for Route 66? Route 66 is the way, I am following the way of Route 66."You don't sound like a politician. I look at it this way. He was the only one teaching these truths in his society at his time. In telling people he is the Way I believe he was also inferring not to follow the inferior teachings that were being propagated by clergies of the time. He also told God that as the Spirit is in him and he is in the Spirit so it is the same with his disciples. I didn't type that as a quote because I don't have the exact words in front of me. There is also the edict in the Bible, "Man, know thyself." These are just things to think about. If I stand in the middle of Route 66 I will soon become Route 66 but not in a good way. :)
@subSacred@xanga - "It isn't just about hell or fire insurance.
Christ made many claims that without Him, we have no life. I believe
that refers to more than a hot afterlife. Hell or no hell, Jesus said
He was the only way."
I don't dispute that he made those claims. I dispute that he made them to everyone. He did not make that claim to the woman at the well or to the Syro-Phoenician woman or...
"Personally, I do believe other faiths teach
some good things. I have certainly learned to appreciate some parallel
teachings between other faiths and my own, and it has helped me grow in
my own faith. However I do believe Christianity stands on it's own- it
does not need the input or contributions of other faiths, and
ultimately can not work with other faiths."
I disagree w/ the last part of this. Of-course Christianity can work with other faiths. By that it can and does empower others to love your neighbor as yourself and to love God. It worked pretty well w/ Judaism at first. It is a Jewish religion that was preached to gentiles. It got it start as a Jewish faith that barely resembles what is now practiced.
p
@Pashe@xanga - I don't dispute that he made those claims. I
dispute that he made them to everyone. He did not make that claim to
the woman at the well or to the Syro-Phoenician woman or...
Yet He commanded His disciples to continue His message among ALL nations. And as we see in scripture they, regardless of audience, continued to claim that Christ was the only way. I suppose it is possible that those who He immediately entrusted with building His Church and carrying out His mission got it wrong from the beginning, but I believe Christ was quite clear that the basic message of salvation through Christ was the truth for all people, not just some, and they were on the right track.
One could argue that a personal encounter with Christ, such as the woman at the well, would on its own leave one to conclude that Christ was the only way. It is also not recorded all of her understanding of Christ nor what followed in her life.
My belief is based solely on the Bible, that Jesus is the only way to salvation. If one feels differently, I do not think that I can argue him or her into faith because "man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them" (1 Corinthians 2:14). But if you don' t know Christ and have questions, I would be more than happy to answer them.
However, the first step of having salvation is to determine who gives the salvation. And once you determine who He is, you must determine what He is looking for. It all boils down to Truth; no matter what you may think, Truth is true and everything else is false. If debating and rational thinking regarding religion (and Christianity) is your interest, you may want to look into Ravi Zacharias.
Regarding the greatest commandment of loving God (Mark 12:30), notice it says to love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. How can you love Him with all of you if you say you want to follow Buddha (or another religion)? It is like telling whoever my spouse is that I love her as much as I can, yet I have another wife.
I don't want this post to get too long so message me if you have questions about the Bible and I'll get back to you.
@subSacred@xanga - Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the
narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Also, not to sound like a politician, but how narrow is narrow, and how broad is broad. Something can be narrower than something else, but both can still be narrower/broader than we think.
@subSacred@xanga - well, i guess you didn't look at the story then
@foxes_have_holes@xanga - I certainly did. That still doesn't tell me what angle you are attempting to approach it from. What I get from the story is that God can speak His truth through whatever means He chooses, even ones we might think are foolish. God can certainly reveal things about Himself through any religion, but the only way to the Father is through Christ. If that isn't true, Christ is a liar, His followers were deceived, and Christianity is a lie. So if you are suggesting God's truth changes depending on the channel through which He chooses to speak, then I disagree...nothing in the story supports that. Otherwise, I suppose we agree.