Christianity and pluralism
A king leads several blind men to an elephant and asks them to describe it. The resulting descriptions are conflicting, because each blind man touches a different part of the elephant. The supposed moral is this, each religion only has a portion of the total truth and if we could overlook our disagreements and exclusive claims we would realize we are all “feeling the same elephant.”
But as Lesslie Newbigin in, “The Gospel in a Pluralist Society” points out, “If the king were also blind there would be no story. The story is told by the king and it is the immensely arrogant claim of one who sees the full truth which all the world’s religions are only groping after.”
The tolerance police will no doubt sentence you to sensitivity training if you insist that “your religion” is the only right way. But as G.K. Chesterton put it: “I won’t call Christianity my religion, because I didn’t make it up. God and humanity made it, and it made me.” Christians can respect the concept of religious freedom in an increasingly pluralistic society but we cannot be indifferent to the great commission and the eternal destiny of others. Our exclusive claim is not based on our finite perspective; but on the perspective of the King of Kings who knows everything from alpha to omega. You are free to reject his claim, but please, do not be mistaken about what he claimed: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
But as Lesslie Newbigin in, “The Gospel in a Pluralist Society” points out, “If the king were also blind there would be no story. The story is told by the king and it is the immensely arrogant claim of one who sees the full truth which all the world’s religions are only groping after.”
The tolerance police will no doubt sentence you to sensitivity training if you insist that “your religion” is the only right way. But as G.K. Chesterton put it: “I won’t call Christianity my religion, because I didn’t make it up. God and humanity made it, and it made me.” Christians can respect the concept of religious freedom in an increasingly pluralistic society but we cannot be indifferent to the great commission and the eternal destiny of others. Our exclusive claim is not based on our finite perspective; but on the perspective of the King of Kings who knows everything from alpha to omega. You are free to reject his claim, but please, do not be mistaken about what he claimed: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
