In the previous blog I started talking about something that really disturbs people today–the exclusive claims of Christianity. Let’s continue discussing this today.
Of course, any time people discuss exclusive claims of religions, the famous parable of the blind men and the elephant comes up. The story involves several blind men who feel different parts of an elephant, trying to decide what sort of beast it is. One describes the trunk as a snake, another feels the tail and says the animal is a rope, while another grabs the leg and says the animal is a pillar. An observer who is sighted says they are all describing the same beast, just focusing on different parts of it. The point, of course, is that all religions are actually describing the same God even though they only have a portion of the truth.
But there’s something wrong with this analogy. If religious humans are the blind men, who is the sighted observer? How did this person get to this position of authority and insight? How is it that he or she can see, but the rest of us cannot? For someone to claim that all religions are the same, her or she is actually being arrogant: “You may not be able to see it, but I have a privileged position that allows me to understand the big picture here.” How did this person get to play God here??
We may feel overwhelmed in trying to look at all the different religions that exist, but it’s not as difficult as it appears on the surface. There are, in fact, only three great families of religion. First, there is the Eastern view, in which God is seen as an impersonal being. Secondly, there is the secularist religion, which sees chance as ruler over all. Finally, there is the Jewish/Christian/Islam religions, which tell of a God who is both personal and infinite. So, these three represent the most important worldviews that religions hold. It’s less overwhelming to consider these three families than to think of tackling what appears to be a dizzying array of religions.
It strikes me that lazy people come up with stories like the blind men and the elephant to relieve themselves of investigating the conflicting claims of religions. I have a talk that tells of ways we can distinguish between religions and judge which is worthy of our devotion. Take a look at my audio resources and listen to “Can We Test Religions?” OK, let’s continue this issue in a future blog.
