Sermons

Kathia Shoesmith - All Religions lead to God?

Sunday 12th February 2006

Verses for reading: Romans 12:1-18 and John 14:1-11

In our morning services, we are currently running a series of sermons based on the book by Michael Green "You can't be serious" - 12 popular reasons people give for avoiding Jesus.

Today we are looking at the one which claims that all religions are pretty much the same, they all lead to God and therefore it doesn't really matter which one you follow, Christianity being only one of many. It sounds good, it's very PC, tolerant, open-minded, but is it true? A couple of weeks ago we saw that what we believe does matter, being sincere in our beliefs is not enough and actually is of no use if the belief itself is wrong. So, do all religions lead to God? Well I think it depends on what we mean by leading to God. In one very broad sense we could say yes, because all religions contain teachings that are true, good, moral, worthy, even holy and as Christians we would agree that all such elements come from God. We could therefore argue that by tracing those back to their source we get to see glimpses of God in other faiths, but it is also possible to do that outside religion altogether, in secular philosophies such as humanism for example. However, in the sense of having a personal relationship with God and experiencing the fullness of Him as he revealed himself to man, we would have to say no, all religions do not lead to that. In fact, only Christianity makes that claim. Christianity claims that God revealed Himself in the person of Jesus. Jesus said of Himself as we have heard in our Gospel reading "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father (ie to God) except through me". And in Colossians 1 we learn that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and that God in all His fullness dwells in Jesus.

The world's religions are significantly different in both their content and their practice. They are not all the same, they do not all lead to the same conclusions, they have different theologies and goals and different understandings of deity and salvation. What makes Christianity different, and in that sense unique, from all the other religions is the claim about Jesus. Christianity claims that God became man in the form of Jesus and that by looking at what Jesus was like we can learn what God is like. Knowing Jesus is knowing God. It claims that the reason God came in this way was to save humanity gone wrong and to restore the broken relationship with him. And it claims that the way God did this, was by taking our burden of responsibility and sin upon Himself by dying on the cross in our place. Christianity claims that 3 days after His crucifixion Jesus was resurrected to life, that he is alive today and that we can relate to Him through His Spirit, in a way that is both real and life changing - if we believe. All these claims are only found in Christianity. As Michael Green says: "No other faith does anything remotely like this. No other faith claims to. Christianity is quite distinct from other religions. It is not a case of man in search of God, but God in search of man".

There is much pressure today for Christianity to abandon these distinctive claims. They don't fit with the idea of pluralism, they are often considered controversial and seen as intolerant of other faiths. To be politically correct it is said, we should drop the beliefs in the virgin birth, the deity of Jesus and the resurrection. But these are the doctrines on which Christianity is founded, without them there is no Christianity. If you don't believe them, then you are simply not a Christian. We do not achieve tolerance, understanding and co-operation between the different faiths by watering down our teachings or blurring edges and removing defining characteristics. So, as Christians we cannot go along with this. The idea of pluralism says that salvation can come through all religions, because they all lead to God in different ways. But Jesus said I am the way, not I am one of many ways. Pluralism says that because God loves all of mankind He will ultimately bring everyone to salvation regardless of their faith. The Bible does not teach that. It says that salvation is offered freely to all who wish to receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. God's love is indeed universal and unconditional, but His salvation isn't; that is dependent on belief in Jesus as the saviour. This is clearly summed up in John 3:16: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life". So, if Christianity is right, does that mean that all the other faiths are wrong? Well I think on this issue it's a matter of degree. It is not necessary as a Christian to believe that all the other religions are wrong in their entirety. We have already said that other faiths contain much that can be deemed to come from God. Actually, I think it is wrong for Christians to claim that all the other religions are wrong or worse that they are all evil. It is also wrong to deprecate, disparage or belittle other faiths. Recent news events demonstrate very graphically how provocative and inflammatory doing this can be, even under the guise of humour and freedom of speech. That is because what we believe is fundamental to who we are and what we do. I think it is perfectly possible to maintain Christian integrity by accepting that there are elements of truth to be found in other religions. Having said that, this does not mean that all religions are equal, nor does it mean that salvation can come through all, as we have already seen. Where Christianity differs from others religions, that is regarding Jesus, who He is, what He did and why - on these points Christians need to stand firm if they are to remain Christian, no compromise here is possible. This has nothing to do with spiritual intolerance, it has to do with spiritual identity. It's about what it means to be Christian. Regarding Jesus, being a Christian does mean believing Christianity is right and other faiths are wrong. C S Lewis said that "[it is like] arithmetic - there is only one right answer to a sum, and all the others are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others". But this does not mean we have reached an impasse with regard to other faiths. There is enough common ground to allow for understanding and co-operation between the different faiths. This is absolutely crucial in our times, when so much of the worlds' social and political conflicts have religious undercurrents. If there is to be peace between the nations there has to be peace between religions and there has to be a united stance of all faiths against what is evil. Bishop Nigel McCulloch in his book "barriers to belief" says: "Christianity does not destroy other faiths but completes them… It is not that Christianity is the only way to God. It is that only by following the way of Christ will we see God as he really is, and get to truly know him".

So how should Christians behave towards people of other faiths? Should we not all go out there and try to convert everyone? One of our recent Alpha groups had a really good discussion on this topic.

Personally, I think it is all to do with priority. I believe that our first priority as a Christian is not to try and sort everybody else out and get them to agree with our way of thinking, I think that it is actually to take a long hard look at ourselves and to get our own thinking in line with that of Jesus. Jesus Himself talked about removing the plank from our own eye before attempting to remove the speck of sawdust from someone else's (Mat 7:1-5). We should continually evaluate our own standing as Jesus' disciples "with sober judgement" as it said in Romans. We have got to get our own relationship with God right first before we tackle anything else. There is much instruction in the whole of the New Testament about how we ought to live and what kind of people we ought to be. That's what our reading in Romans is all about. As Jesus' disciples we are called to live the Gospel, not just to preach it. Are we consistent, obedient and faithful in doing that, or are we preaching one thing and doing another? John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York in His recent Inauguration Sermon said: "the vast majority of Western Christians are church-members, pew-fillers, hymn-singers, sermon-tasters, Bible-readers, even born again believers or Spirit-filled Charismatics, but are not true disciples of Jesus Christ". These are very challenging words. Do they describe us? In this long list, where do we fit in? What kind of Christians do we as a church, and we as individuals, want to be? Are we just going through the motions, or are we the real thing?

Jesus in his day welcomed and valued everyone regardless of class, caste, gender, race, or indeed religion. The gospels record the stories of what happened to people when they met with Jesus; many believed and were changed by this encounter, were healed and made whole; their lives were transformed. But not all. Some did not believe and walked away from him, some declined his invitation to follow him and some eventually crucified him. Why should it be any different today? People were free to choose then, they still are today. Jesus did not run after them trying to persuade them to change their minds, and neither did He change His teaching to accommodate their views. The thing we as Christians need to ask ourselves is this: when others meet us, who do they meet? Do they encounter us with our judgements, our prejudices, our moralising, our atttitude of "I'm right and your're wrong"? Or do they meet the risen Christ alive in us and reflected in our character, disposition and attitudes? Are our actions gracious and the words we use edifying and life enhancing, or are they damaging, wounding and destructive? When we meet people from other faiths do we feel welcoming, accepting of them, prepared to engage with them, even to learn from them, or do we feel threatened, compelled to correct their beliefs or even antagonistic? What would Jesus do? I think the answer to that question can be found in His own words in Mark 12:30-31: Here He tells us that the most important commandment of all is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" and that the second is to "love your neighbour as yourself". In other words get your relationship with God right, stay strong and grounded in your Christian faith, worship God with all of your being and then out of that treat others with love and respect. In Mat 28:19 Jesus comissioned his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. But I doubt very much that He had in mind the Holy Crusades or the Inquisition. It is all a question of how we go about it. I think we are mistaken if we interpret the comission as "go and convert everyone to your beliefs". I think this is taking Jesus' statement further than He intended it to go. It is not to be used as a license for attacking other faiths, nor for imposing our own. Jesus never did either of these. In my opinion it simply means that all Christians are charged with spreading the message of the gospel, the good news about Jesus to all, down the ages and across the continents. It is about removing barriers and making the gospel accessible to all. Our role is just to offer it, it is then up to them whether they wish to accept it. In other words, we are to introduce others to Jesus in some way, but then we have to let them make up their own minds about Him. We are not given instructions as to how we should do this, at least not specifically. That is the domain of personal vocation and calling. As we've heard in our reading, we all have different gifts and abilities. We should use what we are given and do what we are good at. But we are all expected to treat others honourably and with esteem and, like it said in Romans, as far as it depends on us to live at peace with everyone. We are encouraged to grow in Christ-likeness by cultivating our own relationship with Him and that brings us back to John Sentamu's challenge about what kind of disciples we are. Does our life, our actions, who we are really reflect Jesus? Our witnessing, mission, evangelism, will emerge out of the person we are and who we are will be shaped by our relationship with Jesus. And so sharing our faith can take on many forms. St Francis is said to have instructed his monks to go out to the poor and preach the gospel, using words if necessary. John Sentamu says: "Christians, go and find friends who are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, agnostics, ahteists - not for the purpose of converting them to your beliefs, but for friendship, understanding, listening and hearing". To me that has to be the basis of all mission and fulfills Jesus' comission. If we really want to change this world and make it a better place, if we really want the hope of peace, I think that this is the place where we need to start. Only in this way can we hope to foster good relations between different cultures and religions and contribute positively in our service to society.

"All Religions lead to God" - You can't be serious! - Book by Michael Green

Author: Kathia Shoesmith

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