You hear it all the time – “You Christians are too exclusive. You don’t have the corner on religion; there are other ways to God.” What about the exclusive claims of Christianity – there is only one way to God? Is it correct, or do many roads lead to God?
A little background: From the 4th century through the 18th century, the philosophy or worldview of Theism dominated the thinking of Western Civilization. This was the Christian worldview with God at its center as Creator and Sovereign Lord, with Jesus Christ at its heart as being the only Savior, God’s Son, and the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, the absolute truth.
But then came the period known as the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Science and technology made tremendous gains. The Scientific process and the predominance of reason came to the forefront. Man was unlimited, or so they concluded, and could do anything and explain anything in our universe. Suddenly God was shoved aside and man became the center of the universe. Science was going to save the world, and human reasoning became the authority. Jesus Christ and the Word of God--the Bible--were explained away and watered down, becoming little more than relics of years gone by. Thus, emerged the modernistic worldview that has dominated the thinking of the western world for the last 100 to 150 years. With this new worldview came a new view about supernatural occurrences. What had been an “open” system now became a “closed” system. Let me explain: When Christianity dominated the thinking of mankind, the idea that God could intervene in the world with miracles and supernatural acts was generally accepted. No one seemed to question that our system of natural laws could be impacted by God who worked outside the system. Thus the system of natural law was an “open” system that could be “interfered with” by God at any time.
With the coming of the modernistic viewpoint that humanity was the center of the universe, God was limited in what He could do. Miracles no longer were possible. The laws of nature certainly couldn’t be set aside by God to allow for miraculous events. This, this world system was deemed a “closed” system that could not be acted upon from outside.
It is interesting to note that after 150 years or so of modernism, man hasn’t saved the world. Disease still runs rampant, wars and killings are wreaking havoc on our world, people still hate, people still live in poverty, and people still are searching for something to fill the void in their life.
Because of this we have seen the rise of a third worldview in the last 40 or 50 years called post-modernism or nihilism that simply says that meaning can’t be found, there are no answers, there are no black and white issues, no areas of life where truth is equally true for all people. We now have a generation of drifters because real truth, real meaning, real absolutes cannot be found. Or so it would seem.
The result of all this is that we now have a three-prong spirit that is indicative of the times in which we live: Religious relativism, Tolerance, and Philosophical pluralism that believes there are absolutely no absolutes.
This is the world in which we live – you see these three tenets of the post-modern worldview on every TV talk show, in every Hollywood movie, in most songs played on the radio, in TV show after TV show. You see it in the biased coverage by the news media. You hear it in the political arena. Our society is permeated by relativism, tolerance, and pluralism. And according to God’s Word, these three are all myths, they’re all wrong.
Proverbs 14:12 (NASB) – “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
In this week’s blog, let’s look at the first tenet of post-modernism: religious relativism. At its most simplistic form, religious relativism is this: One religion can be true for one person or culture, but is not necessarily true for another. According to this viewpoint, we all worship the same god; we just refer to him (or her) by different names. As one religious scholar put it, “It is as though God is on the top of a mountain and all of us are merely climbing up different sides, yet headed for the same destination.” In this philosophy, no religion, therefore, is universally or exclusively true.
In an interview in July of 1998, the Right Rev. William E. Swing, Episcopal Bishop of California said this: “The question is can we stand the generosity of God in that he reveals himself to other people in the world through other symbols and through other stories?”
I immediately take note of Rev. Swing’s suggestion that historical events of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection are merely symbols and mythological stories.
Bishop Swing continued: “I do believe that one can get to God by many ways. Nevertheless, when one gets to God, I believe that nothing about the Divine is contradicted by Jesus Christ.”
Or how about another post-modern portrayal by a Roman Catholic Sister Joan Chittister who said, “The question is whether or not Jesus is the only revelation of the love and presence and mind of God. The question is not, ‘Is Jesus the Way?’ The question is whether Jesus is the only way. And the answer to that must, in the end, have something to do with the justice of God.
“If Jesus . . . is the only way to heaven, then what are we to think about the other 80% of the world that is non-Catholic or even non-Christian? In fact, what are we to believe about God? Are we to believe that God created all these people in order to condemn them? Or are the things that are “true” in other religions, also salvific [able to save]?
“Why did the Jesus who said, “I am the Way,” not add, “and there is no other”?
Could it possibly be that Sister Joan missed the last part of John 14:6 – “No one comes to the Father but through Me”? Sounds pretty exclusive to me!
So, how did our world, and many leaders in churches all across America, arrive at such twisted thinking?
A large part of this thinking comes from the modernistic worldview or the worldview of naturalism. The philosophy of Naturalism believe that nature (the material and the laws that govern its existence) is all there is. There is no force beyond nature, no supernatural, no God. This truly is a “closed” system. Therefore, God is merely a figment of our imagination.
So, here’s the logic – If there is no supernatural world, i.e. God, and if all religions of the world actually find their source in the minds of men, then they are all equally useless. Therefore, it makes no difference which religion one chooses.
According to great thinkers like Karl Marx and Jesse Ventura (a little humor there!) – all religions are crutches created by weak-minded people who need help coping with the cruel world.
So you see, the person who believes in God, whether the god of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, is merely constructing his or her own reality. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter which religion you choose. They are all make-believe!
So, how do we respond?
First, realize that this is illogical. Law of logic that states that something cannot be both A and non-A at the same time and in the same way. Something cannot be dairy and non-dairy at the same time, or fattening or non-fattening at the same time.
Let’s suppose you call a friend and say, “Man, you ought to hear our preacher, Sam Crouch. He’s great!”
“Did you say, Sam Crouch?”
“Yes, Sam Crouch.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. Your pastor is THE Sam Crouch.”
Yes, Sam Crouch.
“Sam Crouch – that 7 foot black basketball player from North Carolina?”
Now, there are two responses you could give at this point. -- “No, that’s not the Sam Crouch who is our preacher; you must be talking about some other guy.”
Or, you might reply, “Well, that’s your interpretation of who he is!”
No one in their right mind would view this second response as valid; or would they? This is exactly the problem with religious relativism. In our world today, we have two groups – Muslims and Christians – who cannot talk about God in terms that are mutually exclusive and still conclude that they are talking about the same thing.
The Islamic religious says that Jesus is merely a prophet and not God. Christianity believes that Jesus is God in the flesh. Such thinking cannot be equally valid. One is right and one is wrong. They can’t both be right. That’s nonsense.
And not only is such thinking nonsense, it is also offensive. And it ignores the facts – Islam claims to be the only true religion. Christianity claims to be the only way to eternal life.
What does God’s word say?
Isaiah 43:10-11 (NASB) – "You are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. 11 "I, even I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me.”
Acts 4:12 (NLT) – “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Call Christianity exclusive or intolerant if you like. But the fact remains – only one viewpoint can stand. My choice is with God and His unchanging Word that last forever! We tackle the next myth of post-modernism, tolerance, in our next blog.
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