This is a paper I wrote for my Contemporary Christian Understandings Class. It is the first paper due during the semseter...I welcome any comments or questions...simply e-mial me...the e-mail address is on the main page. click here to go back to the main page.
“The experience of God and the view of reality that results naturally impel one to share the truths that are perceived”(Sheard, Christian Belief, 57). Naturally, I, too, would like to share my belief with the world. I may not be right, but I believe it to be true, and thus want to share it, as any person of any religious faith would. I will share with you my insights on other religions, as Robert B. Sheard does in his chapter entitled “Religion and Religions.” What I have seen to be truth through the years is that all religions are good and equal.
In the past, Christians have not had the same view as I do now. I speak particularly of Catholics because I have most knowledge and contact with Catholics. In the past, the Catholics have persecuted people of other religions and faiths, taking on the Exclusivist view. Even in more recent years, they have adopted the Inclusivist attitude, the attitude that other religions have elements of truth, but that Christianity is still superior. Many Christians today take on the Pluralist view, believing that all the religions are equal. Still the church teachings themselves cling to in most cases the Inclusivist point of view. The change from Exclusivist to Inclusivist and in the people now to Pluralist comes, I believe, from the shrinking world we live in. Through new technology, and advances in travel, the world has become much smaller, and we are more exposed to people around the world and their faiths and religions.
Though some Christians are still quite closed minded about this subject, others are opening up a bit more, and even more are becoming completely open-minded. This, I believe, is due, in part, to more people reading and interpreting the Bible for themselves. They read the messages of love, forgiveness, and compassion that Jesus taught us, and find that God could not condemn someone who never knew about Christ, or who chose to worship in a different way. For it says, “Judge not lest ye be judged”(Matthew 7:1). It raises questions like “What about Jesus’ teachings of LOVE for ALL?” “Why can’t Allah be the same god as our God?” “Why do all the religions have so many similarities?” These questions can be answered through reflecting on aspects of Revelation and Understanding of God. “…The possibility has been left open that there are a number of revelations, that is, a number of powerful, attractive encounters between human beings and God”(Sheard, Christian Belief, 29). I believe that God did not ONLY reveal himself to the Christians. I believe that God chose to reveal himself to different people in different parts of the world in different ways. I believe that He did this because the people had such different lives and had much different needs from a god. I believe that each person is still worshiping God in some way, even though they may not call Him/Her/It God. “What is important, though, is that it provides a justifiable basis for affirming the ‘existence’ of a reality called God”(Sheard, Christian Belief, 20). We may all understand God as something different, but it doesn’t mean that it is a different God. I believe that God is so great that He can encompass all understandings of Himself.
Basically, The heart of it all is that God is God. It is that God chose to reveal himself to different people in different ways. It is that people worship the same truth but have different ways of expressing it. It is that all religions are good and equal under Heaven. It is the Pluralist point of view. This is my “core belief” on the subject of Religion and Religions. The only way for Christians to understand this concept is for them to take up the Bible and read for themselves Jesus’ teachings of Love and Compassion for ALL his children. After reading these, how can we say that someone is not going to heaven if they are a good person? How can we say that a peaceful, kind, compassionate, loving person, who just happens to be Hindu, will not be in Heaven with the Devine Creator? Asking these questions, and finding the answers in scripture is the only way to understand.
Each person has his or her own religious experience or experience of depth. Each person has his or her own experience of religious truth. What one person would say is truth may be blasphemy to another. Who is to say who is right or wrong? Only God knows. For that matter, only Allah knows. Then again, only Brahma knows. Are they one? Are they separate? No earthling can know. Each person will have an experience of depth and attribute it to his or her own god and call it religious experience based on their view of religious truth.
Christians are called to “Love your neighbor as yourself”(Matthew 19:19). This is one of the core teachings of Christ. Christ came to give us a message of Love. In order to follow him more completely and love him more deeply, we must not condemn others, for he also says “Do not Judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned”(Luke 6:37). If more Christians took the pluralist point of view, they would be living out Jesus’ teachings of love more fully. If more Christians welcomed the pluralist attitude, more people may be brought to Christ through love instead of through condemnation. Though, if all Christians accepted the pluralist point of view, no one knows where the Christian church would go. It might fizzle out, because all other religions are correct, so why not go and practice Christianity in another religion as well? But, if more Christians accepted Pluralism, they would get a much better sense of diversity and open mindedness.
Maybe another way for Christians to understand this is for them to reflect on it the way I have in this paper. This paper has helped me to solidify my belief. I have also learned how it connects to other aspects of Revelation and Understanding of God.
Maybe the Church will never move past Inclusivism, but there are many members who are Pluralists. God is Great, and wiser than anyone can imagine. Why wouldn’t God reveal Himself to other people in other ways? Why wouldn’t he make Himself more believable to other people so that He may get more people to follow Him? God is awesome, and all around us, no matter what we believe.
the sources I used were the Serendipity Bible and also a book by Robert B. Sheard called "An Introduction to Christian Belief." published by Twenty-Third Publications in Mystic, CT copywright 1996.
