{"id":1191,"date":"2009-01-26T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2009-01-27T01:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2009-07-15T14:39:06","modified_gmt":"2009-07-15T22:39:06","slug":"how-can-there-be-only-one-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2009\/01\/26\/how-can-there-be-only-one-way","title":{"rendered":"How Can There Be Only One Way?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was recent\u00adly think\u00ading about 1st<\/sup> Tim\u00ado\u00adthy 2:5\u20136<\/a>: \u201cFor there is one God and one inter\u00adme\u00addi\u00adary between God and human\u00adi\u00adty, Christ Jesus, him\u00adself human, who gave him\u00adself as a ran\u00adsom for all, reveal\u00ading God\u2019s pur\u00adpose at his appoint\u00aded time.\u201d (New Eng\u00adlish Trans\u00adla\u00adtion)<\/p>\n

These vers\u00ades high\u00adlight the aspect of Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty that both\u00aders West\u00adern\u00aders most: its exclu\u00adsiv\u00adi\u00adty. The notion that Jesus is the only way to God vex\u00ades many peo\u00adple.<\/p>\n

This morn\u00ading a thought occurred to me: almost every\u00adone who believes in God believes that there\u2019s only one way. Most peo\u00adple just don\u2019t real\u00adize it.<\/p>\n

For most peo\u00adple I know, their \u201cone way\u201d is being nice. Unless you are nice\/\u00adgood\/s\u00adin\u00adcere\/al\u00adtru\u00adis\u00adtic\/em\u00adpa\u00adthet\u00adic\/en\u00adlight\u00adened\/ad\u00adjec\u00adtive-of-choice enough, you fail.<\/p>\n

The way of nice\u00adness is no less lim\u00adit\u00ading than the way of faith in Christ: it excludes peo\u00adple just as sure\u00adly and it is far more arbi\u00adtrary. <\/p>\n

This is coun\u00adter\u00adin\u00adtu\u00aditive to some peo\u00adple, so allow me to explain.<\/p>\n

It is exclu\u00adsive in that some peo\u00adple just aren\u2019t nice enough. More on that lat\u00ader.<\/p>\n

It is arbi\u00adtrary in that the dev\u00adil is in the details. How do you know if you\u2019ve been nice enough? And what con\u00adsti\u00adtutes the right kind of nice\u00adness, any\u00adway? After all, there\u2019s no real rea\u00adson to sup\u00adpose that an infi\u00adnite\u00adly smart Being would mea\u00adsure nice\u00adness in the way that makes the most sense to you. <\/p>\n

The Chris\u00adt\u00adian prin\u00adci\u00adple of exclu\u00adsiv\u00adi\u00adty makes more sense, for it flows from the sim\u00adple belief that Jesus is God in the flesh. <\/p>\n

Think\u00ading about this for a sec\u00adond should make the rea\u00adson\u00ading clear.<\/p>\n

If you believe that Jesus is God, then to say you can come to God apart from Jesus is as non\u00adsen\u00adsi\u00adcal as say\u00ading you can go to Los Ange\u00adles with\u00adout going to Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia. <\/p>\n

In oth\u00ader words, all that Chris\u00adtians are insist\u00ading is that you can\u2019t come to God with\u00adout com\u00ading to God. This hard\u00adly seems con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsial. You may reject the premis\u00ades of the argu\u00adment (that God exists or that Jesus is God), but grant\u00aded those two the belief can\u2019t be cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adrized as extreme or bizarre. It\u2019s just con\u00adsis\u00adtent.<\/p>\n

The real prob\u00adlem most peo\u00adple seem to have isn\u2019t that Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty is exclu\u00adsive. Their real prob\u00adlem is that Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty appears to be unfair\u00adly exclu\u00adsive. This is most often expressed as fol\u00adlows, \u201cWhat about those who have nev\u00ader heard of Christ? How can God exclude them sim\u00adply because they haven\u2019t heard of Jesus?\u201d<\/p>\n

There are actu\u00adal\u00adly some very rea\u00adson\u00adable answers to those ques\u00adtions. Here\u2019s one<\/a>, here\u2019s anoth\u00ader<\/a> <\/p>\n

down\u00adload bunch of ama\u00adteurs a movie<\/a><\/p>\n

, and here\u2019s yet a third<\/a>. There are more where those came from \u2014 if this ques\u00adtion dis\u00adtress\u00ades you then dig into it. You won\u2019t agree with every\u00adthing you read. I cer\u00adtain\u00adly don\u2019t agree with every argu\u00adment in three arti\u00adcles I linked. Fig\u00adure out what you believe for your\u00adself. <\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the impor\u00adtant thing to real\u00adize: the same prob\u00adlem con\u00adfronts the nice\u00adness stan\u00addard. What about those born in the wrong time or the wrong place? Some of your ances\u00adtors owned slaves in accor\u00addance with the cus\u00adtoms of their cul\u00adture (this is true regard\u00adless of your eth\u00adnic\u00adi\u00adty) \u2014 did they fail a test they did\u00adn\u2019t know they were tak\u00ading? <\/p>\n

Some of them like\u00adly burned cats to death for fun<\/a>. Do they fail the nice\u00adness test mere\u00adly because they were born in the wrong time or in the wrong place?<\/p>\n

For that mat\u00adter, what of you? Who knows which of our actions our grand\u00adchil\u00addren will deem immoral? Per\u00adhaps you have been born in the wrong time and place to achieve a rea\u00adson\u00adable stan\u00addard of nice\u00adness.<\/p>\n

You might object that we should judge peo\u00adple rel\u00ada\u00adtive to the stan\u00addards of their own cul\u00adture, so we don\u2019t need to wor\u00adry about what stan\u00addards our grand\u00adchil\u00addren will hold us up against. Per\u00adhaps. Believ\u00ading that would require you to stop judg\u00ading dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adships, sweat\u00adshops, mod\u00adern-day slave traf\u00adfick\u00ading, and racism in oth\u00ader cul\u00adtures. Also, you will need to let the Church off the hook for things like the Cru\u00adsades and the Inqui\u00adsi\u00adtion. This is just one the prob\u00adlems that emerges from the notion that moral stan\u00addards are com\u00adplete\u00adly rel\u00ada\u00adtive to cul\u00adture or per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adi\u00adty. There are sev\u00ader\u00adal detailed cri\u00adtiques avail\u00adable: here\u2019s one<\/a> <\/p>\n

alien agent online down\u00adload<\/a><\/div>\n

, here\u2019s anoth\u00ader<\/a>, and here is a third<\/a> (that last one is a pdf writ\u00adten by Car\u00addi\u00adnal Ratzinger before he became Pope).<\/p>\n

So if your main beef with Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty is that it\u2019s exclu\u00adsive, exam\u00adine your own beliefs care\u00adful\u00adly. You might be sur\u00adprised to dis\u00adcov\u00ader just how exclu\u00adsion\u00adary they turn out to be. <\/p>\n