Why Can’t All Religions Lead to God? (Lent 23-2018)

If there was one thing that I found troubling about Life of Pi that we’ve been using to launch our 40 days of asking “Why?” it’s that the movie often feels like a cinematic COEXIST bumper sticker. A religious mumbo jumbo that makes all religions seem equally valid, effective, and here’s a word for you: salvific.

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You might think it rests solely with movies. Nope. It’s being combatted at the Vatican too apparently. I recently read a column entitled “In New Document, Vatican Proclaims Jesus As The ‘Only Savior’ of Humanity.” Before all the Christians do a face-palm and utter a collective, “Duh…” it’s apparently not such a no-brainer elsewhere. The article’s author elaborates,

“According to Catholic teaching, this does not mean that only Christians are saved or that all Christians are saved. What it does teach is that no one is saved without Christ.”

A deep apology for my Catholic friends, but wow…this is such an unnecessary complication of matters…all in the name of not being offensive. Oh, and it’s wrong. (ouch)

What is a Christian but an actual Christ-follower? One who displays that best-attempt-at-following Christ Jesus in word and deed? One who displays sorrow and repentance when one fails to live by God’s holiness standard?

John 10:25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

What about that passage gives anyone freedom to say any sheep of Christ’s are not saved? What gives anyone the right to say those who do not believe are also saved through Christ though they do not follow?

The article makes it clear that there’s a reason people complicate what is a very simple issue of following:

“This text received enormous pushback from secularists as well as from a number of Catholics, who claimed the Christian Church’s claim of uniqueness was offensive to followers of other religions. Writing for the LA Times, Richard Boudreaux said that proclaiming Jesus as ‘the sole redeemer’ was ‘expected to stir unease in Asia and other places where Catholics are a tiny minority’ noting that such ‘exclusive language about salvation’ is offensive to Asia’s dominant religions—Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.”

The world. Getting in the way of following God since Genesis 3.

Food for thought:

What does it do to the claims of Christ if He can save only some of His true followers with God condemning the rest?
What does it say about the love of God if only some of Christ’s followers win the salvation lottery?
What does it say about the power of God if He can’t protect His followers all the way to the end?

We’ll explore this a bit tomorrow with “Why Does God Insist on Exclusivity?”

For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page. Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

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Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.