“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t going away.”
~ Elvis Presley
The nature of truth has always been crucial to the Christian faith. Christianity proclaims that truth is absolute, unchangeable and embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus once told his disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
In our culture this exclusive statement is seen as arrogant, narrow-minded, bigoted and intolerant. Today, many see religious pluralism as the better way, truth as relative, all religions and viewpoints as equally valid and tolerance as the supreme virtue. A person who dares to make an exclusive truth claim is often vilified and considered offensive. Given that there are so many religions in the world, how can Christians claim that Jesus Christ is the
only way to God?
What is Truth?
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Consider Pontius Pilate’s famous question in John 18:38, “What is truth?” Is truth absolute or relative? If all truth is relative, how can you be sure? We can identify the weakness of this viewpoint in the following fictional dialogue:
- Relativist: There is no such thing as truth!
- Absolutist: Is that true? If there is no such thing as truth, then your statement is not true. If it is not true, why should I believe it?
- Relativist: What I meant to say is that there are no absolutes.
- Absolutist: Are you absolutely sure about that?
- Relativist: I’m just saying there are no certainties in life.
- Absolutist: Oh really, are you certain about that?
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Over and over again, these types of “true for you, not true for me” statements can be shown to be self-refuting. The Christian lecturer, Michael Ramsden summed it up well:
- “If someone tells you there is no such thing as truth, they are asking you not to believe them – so don’t.”
Is it wrong to claim you’re right?
Some people confront Christians with noble sounding questions such as:
Are we to believe that only the Christians are right and everyone else in the world is wrong? How can you be so intolerant to exclude all the other great world religions and holy books? Isn’t it arrogant to claim that only one religion has the monopoly on truth?
First of all, Christianity does not claim that there is no truth in other religions or sacred books. It only claims that Jesus and his Word are true and whatever is contradictory to Jesus and his Word is false.
Second, it is important to point out that truth by definition is exclusive. Any time a truth claim is made, it is implied that anything contrary to that claim is false.
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Third, Christianity is certainly not the only religion with exclusive truth claims. For example, Islamic claims are radically exclusive. Hinduism is entirely uncompromising on the law of karma, the authority of the Vedas and reincarnation. Even the Bahá’ís who claim to include everyone, end up excluding the exclusivists (which ironically turns out to be almost everyone). There are only four options when it comes to “paths to God.”
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There is only one way to God.
All ways lead to God.
Only some ways lead to God.
No way leads to God.
The view that “all paths lead to God” is exclusive in that it excludes those who say “only one path leads to God” or “only some paths lead to God.” The proponents of this seemingly all inclusive view make the exclusive claim that their view is right and everyone else’s is wrong.
Likewise, people who claim “only some ways lead to God” exclude those who believe that option 1, 2 or 4 is correct. Without belaboring the point, we see that all religious claims are exclusive and it is impossible to escape saying that someone else is wrong.
Why then should Christians be singled out and called arrogant and exclusive when it turns out that every worldview excludes some and claims that others are wrong?
Is Jesus Christ the only way to God? The New Testament answers this question with an emphatic ‘Yes!’ In Acts 4:12, Peter proclaims this about Jesus, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." The apostle Paul is equally emphatic saying, “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
If the New Testament is right about this, then we had better follow Jesus. If the New Testament is wrong, then Christianity is a false religion and Jesus was a legend, a lunatic or a fiendish liar. Concerning the Christian faith, C. S. Lewis once wrote, "If it is false, it is of no importance; if true, it is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."
Jesus Christ claimed, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This claim is deeply embedded in history, evidence, reason, logic, reality and personal experience. Unlike any other founder of any other religion, Jesus remarkably backed up his claims by living a sinless life, demonstrating supernatural power, fulfilling ancient prophecy, dying on a cross and being raised from the dead.
For a related article, see “The Blunder of Blending” in a previous issue at: campuscrosswalk.org/2004-summer-14.html
