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One Way, Many Ways, No Way - by Dr. Victor Raj
Dr. Raj discusses contemporary issues concerning pluralism and the Christian understanding of Christ being the only way to salvation.
Two generations ago, paperback copies of the New Testament were common place and popular among Christians all over the world. A trendy version of the time had imprinted on its cover in bold attractive style ‘One Way!’ The image of the palm of a hand with the index finger pointing upwards further illustrated those words. The message was clear. This book pointed to the way to heaven. There is no other way!
The publishers wanted this book judged by its cover. Christians know
that the biblical basis for the impressive cover is John 14: 6, “I am
the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.” Jesus spoke those words in response to his disciple
Thomas’ question, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can
we know the way?” Thomas was indeed looking for clear direction as
evidenced by Jesus’ speech that preceded this conversation. The
disciples had just heard from their Master that he would not be with
them much longer. Anxiety was setting in. Further questions popped up:
"Lord, where are you going?" "Lord, why can’t we follow you now?"
Jesus said he was going to the Father’s house. He was going there to
prepare a place for them. He would come back to take them all to be
with him there forever. No wonder Thomas, representing his companions,
wanted to know the way, and perhaps get on it right away.
Centered in and surrounding these words however, in recent years
innumerable new issues have surfaced, especially in the context of the
plurality of the world’s religions and the myriad ever emerging new
spiritualities that encircle Christians throughout the world. No longer
is Christianity the only religion that spans the globe with an
intentionally strong and vibrant mission consciousness. Numerous others
have followed suit, often adopting plans and policies originally
conceived by Christians, for promoting their own distinctive messages.
Religions that historically have remained local and parochial have
discovered that they too have a message to share with the rest of the
world. They, and/or their conglomeration address people’s needs of
body, mind, soul, and spirit. In their own right they propose methods
that alleviate life’s otherwise insurmountable problems and answer
difficult questions, not the least of which are questions concerning
the immortality of the soul and postmortem existence.
Congruent with the ongoing proliferation of world religions, and the
relatively unimpressive numerical success of Christian mission in the
eastern hemisphere in spite of centuries-long undertaking, one
dimension of contemporary theological thinking has been seeking a
reconsideration of the traditional theological position of the
uniqueness and the universality of the Christian Gospel. This approach
swerves primarily to three different directions, that is, to
exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. Resorting to a popular
analogy, the three are equated to three kinds of mountain climbing.
Exclusivists maintain that only one mountain is worth climbing, and
there is only one way to climb that mountain. Inclusivists, while
endorsing the one single mountain, maintain that there are multiple
ways of climbing the same mountain, all leading, sooner or later,
regardless of the detours that might entail, to the same mountain top.
Pluralists propose that there are many mountains of equal significance,
and, indeed, there are many ways to climb them. People have been
climbing and getting to the mountaintops of their choice in their own
way. They are all jobs well done.
A change in the traditional way of thinking theologically has become
imperative, critics surmise, consequent on the so called Copernican
revolution that has since morphed a geocentric thinking into a
heliocentric interpretation of the planetary system. (As Pluto has
already lost its planetary status we wonder how much longer a
sun-centered system would be conceivable.) Pluralist theology demands
drastic changes in the Christian theological method. It asks, Did Jesus
really say the words the New Testament and the church say he said? If
indeed he said them, did he mean what the church maintains he meant by
those words? Living in the midst of honest and sincere Hindus,
Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Daoists, and followers of a host of other
nature religions, how can Christians claim that the God who desires all
people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth revealed his
salvific grace only and exclusively in Jesus Christ who came to the
earth just 2000 years ago? How can anyone say that salvation is not
present in non-Christian religions? The list of such challenging and
engaging questions goes on.
Important as these questions are, they merit everyone’s serious
attention. These pages will address them one by one in the future. For
this issue let us return to the question of the way we began.
The dialogue between Jesus and his disciples centered on one point:
Jesus was fully aware that he was going to his Father’s house. The
disciples could not believe he was going, and they surely did not know
where he was going. Hence they were disturbed and their hearts
troubled. Jesus came to the rescue with his answers on ‘the way’.
A way is a means to an end. The closest English definition of the
religion of Taoism is “The Way”. If religion is a means to ‘salvation’,
then to achieve that end the religion of Hinduism has proposed at least
three ways none of which matches either the Christian or the Islamic
view on the same topic. Muslims, and Christians, and Jews know that
they mean something completely different when they talk about
‘salvation’. Gratefully, in the text with which we began, Jesus spoke
not only about the way, but also the truth and the life.
Thus when Christians engage such discussion, they must speak not only
about the way, but also truth, and about life. Those who first
encountered Jesus saw life and truth (John 1:4, 14) in him. About
himself Jesus said he is the resurrection and life (11:25). On another
occasion he said that he came to lay down his life so that his
followers have abundant life (John10: 10,11). Jesus’ contemporaries
testified that the life that was with the Father appeared to them (I
John 1:2,3). Much more than the way and the truth, Jesus is all about
life, eternal life. The church knows that life in Jesus comes with
forgiveness of sins and salvation.
Victor Raj
Written By: host
Date Posted: 11/16/2006
Number of Views: 1071
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