I have been covering for the last couple of blogs a discussion that has focused on the exclusivity claims of Christianity. Many people in our pluralistic society today object to the idea that one thing might be true while other things might be wrong, especially in the area of religion and morality. It’s frustrating to deal with such mushy thinking, but that’s the atmosphere in which we live today. So, here is one last look at this issue before moving on to other things.

The relativist who sees all religions as pretty much the same has a word picture that is sometimes used to describe a pluralistic view of religions today. This is the famous “all paths lead to God” idea in which God is at the top of the mountain and various roads (religions) go up the mountain where they converge at the top. So, even though the paths look different, the roads/religions all end up at the same place. What’s wrong with this picture? It’s the same problem as with the blind men and the elephant story – where is the person who is telling the story? He or she is above the mountain, looking down at all the people working their way to the top. But only God has that view, so the person who tells the story apparently has the same viewpoint as God. That seems pretty arrogant.

As  a final thought, consider the differences between Christianity and other religions. Think about all the religions around us today–Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology, Mormonisn, etc.  In these belief systems, followers are urged to chase after God (or improve themselves if there is no God) through good deeds and appropriate behavior. Only Christianity says God chases after us, and there is nothing we can do to earn his favor. As a fallen individual who only grows more aware of my shortcomings as I get older, I see the entire human race as needing that special grace that God shows us.

So much for the idea that Christians are arrogant. How can I look down on another person when I know I have sinned and desperately need a savior? In fact, I readily admit a Hindu may be a better father than I am, an atheist may do a better job in the classroom than I do, a Mormon may be more sacrificial toward his wife than I am. I’m not better than they are. Christianity makes us see our shortcomings as we depend on God’s grace.

One final thought – we Christians were not the ones who came up with the claim of exclusivity. It was Jesus himself who said this, so those who are offended by this belief need to argue with Jesus, who is generally seen as an admirable person. It makes it tougher to argue with him than to argue with individual Christians.