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I would like to share with you an article I was reading on another website written by Sean McDowell.
Sean McDowell says: “We can’t change how everyone thinks. But we can change
us. And that’s the opportunity for the church in the midst of
pluralism.”
I’m asked the question all the time: How can Jesus be the only way? It’s a universal question that comes from Christians and non-Christians alike. And it’s a question for which we have to have a clear answer—shared with
the right motive—because the answer is the foundation of our faith.
NEW TWISTS ON AN OLD QUESTION
Pluralism and competing religious ideas have been a problem for the
Christian church since its inception. People wouldn’t have had a problem
with Christianity if early Christians had just said, “We follow Jesus,
one god among many.” But Christians were persecuted and killed because
they took seriously the Scriptures and the words of Jesus that He is the
only truth, the only way to get to heaven.
Although it’s not a new question, the state of our culture and technology
today inject new nuances into it. With travel increasing in the 20th
century and the growth of the Internet in the last decade, every person
has access to every religion and worldview imaginable. And immigration
brings radically different people groups and religions around us.
In our multicultural society that emphasizes political correctness, the
prevailing opinion is that telling other people what they should believe
is wrong. It strikes non-Christians and some Christians as arrogant for
Christians to claim there is only one way to God. Just because people
don’t believe like us, we’re condemning them to hell? The idea of
seemingly nice, kind, good people with different belief systems being
separated from God strikes people as profoundly unfair.
TRUTH MATTERS
Nevertheless, the belief in the uniqueness of Jesus is important. As James Emery White says in
Christ Among the Dragons,
this is the core of Christianity. Jesus claimed to be the universal
truth and the only way to get to God. We cannot have a Christian faith
without sticking to the core of Jesus’ identity. If we don’t know what
it means that Jesus claimed to be the only way, the only truth and the
only life, we could be giving up what Christianity itself really stands
for.
If I view Jesus as just one way to get to God, why am I going to stand up
when I’m persecuted? Why am I going to try to share my faith with other
people? Why am I going to try to live boldly for my faith, if Jesus is
just my way that works for me, as opposed to being the objectively true
way that applies to everybody whether they accept it or not? This is not
merely a theoretical or philosophical exercise. The Sept. 27, 2010,
issue of
Newsweek cited the statistic that 80 percent of
Americans believe people of other religions can get to heaven. But at
least 100 verses in the New Testament either directly or indirectly
state that Jesus is the only way.
How do we respond?
TWO MISTAKES AND A BETTER WAY
People tend to make two mistakes in their reactions to this issue. One
is to adapt to culture and capitulate to the opinion that Jesus is true
for us, but we don’t want to judge anybody else. The other way is to
withdraw from culture and become isolated in a Christian subculture so
separated from the world that we cease to be salt and light. By
improving our understanding in three areas, we can find a better way.
The Need for Theology. Christians become more accepting
of the ways of the world as we become less astute theologically. I’ve
found in dealing with Christians that questions about the perceived
unfairness of other religions not getting to heaven tend to wane when
people really understand the truths of Christianity—how corrupt human
nature is apart from Jesus, why we need Him, why Jesus died upon the
cross and what He actually accomplished on the cross.
The Nature of Truth. In our secular culture, we tend to
think of science, math and maybe history as objective, fact-based
categories, but religion and morality as subjective categories. That’s
why people say, “ Christianity may be true for you, but I have a
different truth.” That thinking infiltrates our churches. We have to
clarify that when it comes to Christianity, we’re dealing with objective
truths about the world that either Jesus was God or He wasn’t. Either
the Bible is true or it isn’t.
The Necessity to Engage. The local church also needs
simply to get out there and engage people of other religions. People in
our neighborhoods. People in the work place. Sometimes that may be a
specific evangelism effort. Most often it’s simply building
relationships with people, listening to them, trying to understand them.
In doing so, we earn the right to be heard, and what we say is more
specifically tailored to their need.
THE QUESTION I ASK MYSELF
We have an opportunity as Christians to dig deep and really ask
ourselves, “What motivates us?” The only way to counter the prevalent
impression that Christians are arrogant and bigoted is to be truly
motivated by love. Of course, we can’t change how everyone thinks. But
we can change us. And that’s the opportunity for the church in the midst
of pluralism. It’s the opportunity to bring us back to how Jesus really
treated people, the way He listened to people, the way He loved them
for who they were with a self-sacrificing love—living and sharing His
truth in the process. Imagine the impact if we did the same!
As an author, speaker and educator, Sean McDowell is passionate
about apologetics—knowing what we believe and how to articulate it
persuasively and compassionately. Among the books he has authored or
co-authored: the apologetics guidebook, GodQuest: 6 Signposts for Your Spiritual Journey (with Stan Jantz).
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Outreach magazine.