Some time ago I took a DVD called Towards Belief to our apologetics class and went through various topics it covered. For the next few blogs I’d like to cover a key question it tried to answer–are Christians arrogant for claiming Jesus as the only way of salvation? This idea that Christianity has an exclusive element to it is wildly unpopular among those who have bought into the idea that relativism rules–all truth claims are equally valid and there are many roads to God. But this relativistic view has some holes in it.

First, the claim of truth by Christians is not unique to one faith. All believers in every faith believe they have the truth. So do atheists. That’s why people believe what they believe – because they think it’s correct. I’m not sure why it’s only Christians who are ridiculed for this point.

Secondly, the DVD looked at the differences between religions. People who have not thought very carefully about this assume that most religions agree on major things and just have minor differences. However, that’s not true. Religions disagree about who or what God is, where people came from, why we are here, what happens to us when we die, what’s important in life. These are not minor issues at all. In fact, it is disrespectful to religions to say they all teach the same doctrines. It shows the person who makes this claim has not really looked at the individual beliefs of any religion.

In addition, the DVD pointed out the amount of laziness when it comes to discussions of religion. People who wave their hands and claim that “all religions are the same, so why bother to distinguish between them” are mentally lazy. The truth is out there, the differences are real, and we can all explore those differences if we take the time to do so. For example, we can look at the founders of each faith to see what their lifestyle was really like – Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha. Yes, this will entail some work, but if our souls are on the line, it should be worth it.