Pluralism - Do all religions lead to God? (John 14:1-6)
Billy Milton - February 3, 2008
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Today we are asking the question – is it arrogant to say that Jesus is the only way to God? No it isn’t – let’s go and have coffee! But seriously, the opposite view – that all religions lead to God – is known as ‘pluralism’ and is widely accepted in our culture today where tolerance is the name of the game. We’re told that whatever religious views you hold, keep it to yourself because it’s impolite to hold strong views concerning your faith. Being broadminded and tolerant are seen as positive character traits, even if it does result in you condoning some pretty wacky belief systems! The implication is that anyone who holds the strong belief that Christianity is the only way to God is close-minded, arrogant and exclusive. And who would choose to be thought of like that?
Rather predictably, the World Council of Churches has said that we should no longer evangelise other faiths but that we should “dialogue” with them and learn from them. Far from challenging other people’s beliefs you must affirm them and encourage their quest after God. Now if all religions lead to God then this view is perfectly sensible. If all religions lead to God?
However, this type of thinking is relatively new and can in fact be traced back to the early 70’s to a liberal Bible scholar called John Hick who challenged the traditional Christian view of the centrality of Christianity. Traditional Christian thinking placed Christianity at the centre of the universe of faiths and located other religions in an orbit around this ‘sun’, depending on their supposed closeness to Christianity.
He proposed a new model which replaced Christianity with God and relegated Christianity to the position of just another planet. It was only a matter of time before an even more ‘tolerant’ model was produced - that of the cart wheel with God at the centre and all the various religions as the spokes leading to the centre.
So, why has pluralism only relatively recently become a problem to the church? I would suggest that there are three main reasons.
First is the fact that we now live in what is called a ‘global village’. Modern communications mean that there is much less of a sense of ‘them and us’ than there was 50 years ago.
Secondly, and probably much more subconsciously, we in the West seem to be ashamed of our colonial forefathers who enslaved many of the nations where these other religions predominate. Evangelising, so the thinking goes, would be just like enslaving them once again, this time not to a Western government but to a Western religion. This despite Christianity actually being a Middle Eastern faith!
The Third reason why pluralism has exerted such an influence is because the church no longer speaks with any authority in our increasingly secular society. Less than 10% of the population now attends church regularly and most people think it is irrelevant in their lives.. Our recent market survey confirmed these findings.
As well as these three reasons, there are also many billions of people of other religions in the world alive today, not to mention the billions who have died already. Are we suggesting that they are all wrong and all bound for Hell? Are all non-Christian religions inspired by the devil or are they being prepared in some way to respond to the Christian message, if and when it reaches them? This is a very vexing question to which I normally edge towards an answer by quoting Abraham in Gen 18:25, ‘Will not the judge of all the earth do right?’ Our loving God knows the state of each of our hearts. He knows how we would respond if we received the message. He will do right…. somehow.
But, if as we believe, there is only one God surely our search via the different channels of the world’s religions lead us all to the same God? If that’s what you believe then it automatically leads to an unwillingness to share your faith. That is why I believe that it is so crucial to think carefully and biblically about this question.
What does the Bible say?
The Bible states quite clearly that Jesus is the only way to God.
There are those who would say that Jesus would never make a claim to be the only way to God, because He was more loving than that.
The man who taught the ‘Golden Rule’ (Love your neighbour as yourself) was incredibly tolerant, and would never force Himself on people that way.
And yet, the Bible is unequivocal in its insistence that Jesus is the only way to God.
Let me read a few examples to you…
Acts 4:12 – Peter and John are told to stop teaching about Jesus. They respond by saying, “Sorry! We have to tell people about Jesus,” because: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Then there’s John 3:35-36: ”The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”
1 Timothy 2:5 – ‘For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’
Lastly, John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ”
You see, Jesus did make the claim that He, and only He, was the way to God. And we Christians stake our eternal destiny on it. So, it would seem that these verses, and many others like them, are pretty conclusive. Outside of Jesus, the Bible says, there is no salvation.
How should we respond to Pluralism?
Well again the Bible makes it very clear that God wants everyone to be saved. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 – ‘…God our Saviour who wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.’ This being the case, sitting on our hands is not an option. But this brings us a problem…
We live in a society who puts a high value on tolerance. Every person should be allowed to hold onto their own view no matter how illogical or un-researched it is. And so they should, but not every view should be accorded equal weight and equal respect… sorry!
You’re probably aware of a group of people who spend their lives trying to prove that the world is flat! Should our scientists give them serious space in their journals? Of course they shouldn’t. But there seems to be this rather crazy idea that I can be right and so can you… despite believing things that are diametrically opposed. Philosophically that belief is just nonsense. Many of the central tenets of the major faiths are in complete disagreement with each other and indeed often mutually exclusive, someone must be wrong! But somehow it doesn’t do to think about that too clearly, or to state it out loud.
Incidentally, if someone says, ‘It is quite wrong to claim that there is only one way to God,’ then that statement itself is completely intolerant and very dogmatic. But the person who holds that view is seldom challenged.
There are three responses that we can make to Pluralism.
1. Imposition.
This response is most commonly favoured by Christians with a genuine zeal for God. They believe in revelation, and they care deeply about God’s revealed truth. They long to see society reflecting it. So the desire to achieve this end by forceful belief is an understandable temptation. Christian history unfortunately is littered with examples of this response from the Inquisition to Prohibition in America. Imposition is doomed to failure because you cannot force people to genuinely believe something that they don’t want to. Similarly to imagine that we can force Christian conviction and standards on Europe today is just unrealistic.
2. Laissez-Faire
This is the opposite of imposition. The words in French mean ‘let it be’ and are used in popular parlance today to describe a mood of apathy and indifference. It advocates supreme tolerance, even to ideals that are offensive to Christianity. Some theologians, partly in response to the charge of intolerance, have tried to water down the traditional Christian views in order to make it easier to accommodate people of other faiths.
But doesn’t Paul in 1 Cor 1:23 say that the preaching about Christ will be seen as scandalous and offensive? As Christians, if we do dilute the message to save offence, we are robbing people of the very thing that they need to hear - that Christ is unique.
3. Persuasion
Whilst most of the world’s religions are desperately trying to reach their god or earn his or her favour by works, Christianity is unique in that it teaches that God has graciously reached out to us in the person of his Son, Jesus. God took the initiative and that’s called grace, and that makes Christianity unique. That’s what we need to persuade people of.
‘But,’ you say, ‘surely within each religion there must be a way to find God!’ Well I’d be foolish to deny that there is some truth in most religions, but if that element of truth was enough to merit salvation then why did God bother with the incarnation at Bethlehem? Why was Christ crucified at Calvary if there was any other way? Didn’t Jesus himself cry out with a deep sense of foreboding, ‘Father, if there be any other way, take this cup from me.’?
Summary of message
As Jesus made his way through the towns and villages on his way to Jerusalem, his message wasn’t being particularly well received. His demands for total allegiance were tough and someone shouted out, “Lord are only a few people going to be saved?” Luke 13:23. How did Jesus respond to those who asked basically the same question as we are asking today?
First of all Jesus didn’t give them a straight answer instead he says in effect, “Don’t you worry about all the others. You’ve heard my message, you respond and let me worry about the rest.” He tells them to act on that knowledge and, ‘enter through the narrow door’.
Secondly, Jesus says that there will be a false assumption by some who think that being decent, tolerant people is enough. But they will be excluded because, whilst they knew about Jesus, they didn’t actually know him. (vv25-27)
Thirdly, he cautions against trying to guess who’s in and who’s out (vv 29-30). Rather than making a stumbling block out of those who haven’t heard, or getting angry with God because only a relatively small number will be saved, we should be fulfilling the command of Jesus and reaching out to others wherever they are.
So as we finish, let me encourage you to honestly and sincerely consider the claims of Christ”
- He alone can deliver on the offer of forgiveness of all your sins, no matter what they might be.
- He alone can deliver on the offer of eternal life.
- He alone can deliver on the offer of a full and abundant life on earth right now.
- He alone can deliver when He says to “come to Me, all who are weak and burdened with a load of care, and I will give you rest for your soul.”
If you would like to take Him up on that offer right now, you can do that.
What does it take? An honest admission that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness and a willingness to trust the only one who can save you. I am going to pray, and if you want to go home today knowing that you are forgiven, you can pray along with me in your heart.