So far, we have talked about fake pew #1 - Christians live by blind faith, #2 - living a good life and #3 - that it is all about obedience to the list of dos and don’ts to “save yourself.” We will now keep going and tackle more distortions of God and the Christian faith. This is Fake pew # 4 - Christianity is exclusive and arrogant to insist that Jesus is the only way for salvation, because don’t we all basically worship the same god?
Fake pew #4.
For some reason, Christianity gets singled out as being too unreasonably exclusive in its claim that Jesus is the only way for a human being to be saved for eternity when other religions are just as exclusive in their claims. Muslims require you to live by the five pillars and confess Allah as God supreme, and Mohammed as the only true prophet that one should pay attention to. This is the most direct antithesis of Christianity which requires a plethora of rule following one must do in hopes of “acquiring” salvation, but you are condemned to go through life utterly unsure of your salvation. You live with the haunting question, “Have I done enough or been good enough?” Furthermore, they will say that if you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to atone for sin you are misled, deceived, or are even an evil infidel. That sounds pretty exclusive to me.
Hinduism is hard to get a handle on because there are so many ways, so many gods, and so many different developments over the centuries. Hence, they believe that any way is okay. But they really don’t believe this. They reject adherents of the so-called exclusive religions like Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. If they were truly inclusive, they should embrace people in “exclusive religions” as well. Some may say that Jesus was a good man and a great teacher but as I have mentioned in an earlier blog, this option is not given to us by Jesus based on what he taught. (See C. S. Lewis and his explanation of “liar, lunatic, or Lord.”) Hinduism like Buddhism believes in an impersonal life force like the one talked about in the movie series, “Star Wars.” This is called Pantheism which basically believes that God is everything and everything is God. There is no distinction between God and his creation. They are one and the same. You can meditate in order to come into harmony with or be reunited with the “fulness of being” (The Force) but you can’t really pray, because their god is not a person. Meditation has one goal, and that is to be like a drop of water seeking to become part of the ocean again. Your “Atman” – individual soul - must seek to become reunited with the “Brahman” - universal or cosmic soul. This sounds exclusive to me because you have to spend your entire life trying to be a good enough meditator to tap into the power and reach fulfillment. (you know, in order to use the force to get your spaceship out of the swamp). They adhere to the caste system established on reincarnation that declares that you are being punished or rewarded based on a previous life and you must except either your poverty or wealth as the result of the supposed impersonal force that makes up hundreds of “gods” that exercise their will upon human beings according to their deeds or the whims of a specific god. Your economic level or social standing can’t be hurt or helped now. You are stuck. This is an exclusive belief that fractures human society and one dare not oppose or protest against it. That is exclusivity manifest in the socioeconomic philosophy.
Buddhism believes that one must empty oneself of all desire. But isn’t that a desire in and of itself? But you can't be a Buddhist if you don’t adhere to that philosophy. And most importantly, you have to believe that sin is an illusion. Not real. It is just part of the drops experience in making its way back to the ocean.
None of the aforementioned religions is anything like Christianity. But one of the most unavoidable differences is that they propose no solution to the human condition of sinfulness. That’s why Jesus is the only way. Because he produced the only real solution to a very real problem that plagues us all. Therefore, the statement, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere,” or “We all really worship the same god,” does not hold up or make sense. All religions make completely different and exclusive claims, and they are leading to completely different destinations and garner cognitive dissonances on multiple levels with other religions. Only one of these religions can be true, or all of them could be false, but there is no way all of them can be true. We’re just too different. And because we are each unique, we by nature are exclusive.
So, the critical question is, “Which religion offers the truth and thereby warrants the faith of human beings? In other words, what is the quality of the thing you are putting your faith in? And for my atheist friends who think they believe only in what can be proven and use only reason to establish their worldview, guess again. Every worldview uses both faith and reason. Darwinian evolution cannot explain everything about the origins of the universe. Nor can science explain how everything in the world works or came to be. They will say, “Someday science will explain everything.” That sounds like faith to me! And of course, atheism, is a belief system that may be the most exclusive of all.
So, call us arrogant and exclusive all you want. But you have to face the truth that you fall into some type of worldview category or its variation. Everyone does. It’s inescapable. And I would wager you are pretty darn sure your worldview is true and right or you wouldn’t believe it or attempt to live by it. Thus, before you start pointing the finger, consider whether your statements, “all religions are basically the same,” or “we all worship the same god,” or “true for you but not for me,” aren’t in themselves exclusive or self-refuting.
One more thought. Only Jesus can lift your life out of the swamp of sin it is mired in. You can’t do it by yourself with help of an impersonal force that cares nothing about sin. Sorry Yoda, but the only real saving force is the one Jesus brings through the cross and his resurrection. The victory is already won. Jesus triumphed over the sin and evil we try so desperately by ourselves to overcome. Instead read this for me:
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision (disobedience) of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities[b] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:13-15, English Standard Version).
No other religions can make such a claim. But you can bet your life it is true, because Jesus bet his life, (gave his life,) to make it happen. Also read Philippians 2:5-11, and the Gospel of John 10:1-18. Let Jesus touch your “moss-covered” heart, cleanse it, lift it, love it, and preserve it unto salvation.
In addition, consider the wonderful inclusive invitation of Christianity…ANYONE CAN COME! God calls to every heart, by name (John 10:3 and 14) and Jesus death on the cross was for all of humanity. Just believe and receive as I talked about in Fake Pews Part One.
So, if you are thinking you can be a Christian and believe your friends in other religions can be saved by them, or that they have part of the truth, you are sitting on a fake pew. It won’t hold up! You are either saved by Jesus Christ or you are not saved at all!
(I know some of you are thinking I’m being super judgmental. So be sure to read Part 3 of Fake Pews).
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