In this politically correct 21st century world in which we live, there exists a strong tendency to prohibit discrimination of any kind. We are taught to celebrate all viewpoints and all lifestyles as equally valid. All truth is subjective. After all, who’s to say that the path one person chooses to take should be assigned more or less value than another. Our own direction may well work better for us but it is considered secular heresy even to suggest that it may work best for all. Not only are all people created equal but so must their choices be considered equal as well. Those who would propose otherwise are labeled intolerant or even hate mongers.
This passive mode of discussion is presented as being “progressive” although its effect on the course of human development really turns out to be rather “regressive” and even repressive. Rather than encouraging a healthy exchange of alternate or opposing perspectives to be contemplated in a search for what is transcendent, a stagnation of thought is promoted resulting in a bland mish mash of passionless dialogue where any assertion of excellence (excel-lence) ascribed to one idea as compared to another is regarded simply as too narrow minded.
Be it known that I’m not here speaking in defense of rigid or mindless adherence to a particular train of thought. Obviously, the thrust of my blog stands in stark contrast to such mental inflexibility. However, in this particular discussion I am suggesting the need for a certain balance in this regard lest one fall prey to the ill effects of the opposite extreme. As I often have told my children, “it is good to keep your mind open, but not so wide that your brains fall out”… or for that matter, your common sense!
Unfortunately, religious dialogue often degrades into one of these two extremes. One side takes the stance of total flexibility in esteeming all spiritual paths equally, and the other assumes absolute rigidity in granting no value whatsoever to any other path than its own. The problem with the first group, as I will explain shortly, is in their failure to recognize the presence of a single God-given preeminent revelation, and with the other group in their misunderstanding of that revelation, ignoring its ultimately inclusive essence while clinging rigidly to its temporally exclusive aspect instead.
In reference to the Christian faith, the two sides shape up something like this: the more liberal seeker may ask — why should we grant the Biblical description of God’s nature more credence than that of any other holy book? Can we not attribute the differences in religious viewpoints merely to divergent cultural histories or simply to personal tastes or fantasies? If God is actually to be found at the end of all paths as Hinduism asserts, then who can say that there is one religion superior to the next? All the great prophets should be revered equally and the person of Jesus Christ viewed as just one among many more or less equal peers – to which the Christian conservative might respond by pointing to Jesus himself who in no way condoned such a flat assessment of the veracity of other spiritual paths. He declared himself not only to be a better way to God, but the only way when he stated, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV)
In this paper, I will attempt to show that it is only through a synthesis of these two divergent views that the whole truth of God’s intentions can be understood and that the Bible when taken as a whole does support just such a paradoxical union. It proclaims both that Jesus is the Way and that all men will find that Way… or better still, that the Way (The Good Shepard) will find all men (His lost sheep).
On the face of it, it would appear contradictory to claim that God will “find” all men and bring them in through The Way when the Bible clearly states that most of mankind will follow that “broad road” to their final destruction. How can we square such prophetic descriptions of the demise of the human race with the ecstatic outbursts of ultimate reconciliation found in Paul’s letters? How can both ultimate destruction and ultimate reconciliation both be true?
Like so many other seeming contradictory messages in the Bible, this is really not so hard to understand when one places each in its proper context. That is, we must not lose sight of the grace-enhancing message found in the big picture while dealing with the grace-constraining realities of the small picture. Limited as it is by the bounds of our short lives here on earth, the small picture clearly catalogs the overwhelming failure of most people to find The Way. The big picture, on the other hand, includes opportunity for growth in the ages to come and describes a final outcome of unequivocal victory.
Furthermore the big picture strips us of any basis for establishing a permanent division of mankind by forcing us to take an honest look at all of our own miserable scorecards in regards to this temporal existence. Paul sums it up like this in his letter to the Romans: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) Then continuing on, lest we despair, later in that same letter he concludes the matter with a statement of the big picture: “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:32 NIV)
In other words, God’s intention to reconcile all creation to Himself will not in any way be thwarted by our human inability to seek Him properly. From God’s perspective, no one genuinely dedicates their lives to Him, whether through Christ or otherwise, at least not to the extent deemed worthy of some elevated status before Him. While it is true that our return to God’s presence must be routed through Christ, when all is said and done, that’s exactly what none of us will have done, at least not in this lifetime. However, within the ages to come, that’s precisely what will be done in all of us… “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phillipians 2:9-11 NIV)
In this way the Gospel may rightly be deemed exclusively inclusive. This dual nature of God’s election has been manifest even from the beginning, starting with God’s acceptance of Abel’s form of worship and rejection of Cain’s. From that time until now, God’s selective way of dealing with mankind has been nearly universally misunderstood by those called to partake in it. Take for example the story of the Israelites who had been chosen exclusively as the people of God as it were, quite in spite of themselves and primarily for the expressed purpose of spreading God’s favor to the Gentile. They were to be a blessing to all nations but instead became enamored with their own self righteousness and were quite impressed with the great wisdom of God in choosing them alone. So incensed were they by the gracious attitude of Christ towards the Gentile “dogs” that on multiple occasions they were ready to stone him. Having thus failed miserably in delivering on the broad scope of their calling, the task of bringing God’s blessing to the world then fell upon the followers of Christ.
Well it is plain to see how well that has gone. In spite of the many great acts of compassion delivered by the Church over many centuries, Christians have wasted no time in falling for the same self centered delusion regarding their own election, not recognizing their tenuous status as but “wild grafts” onto the olive tree of God’s “native” family. To paraphrase Paul’s no-holds-barred reminder to the Christian Church regarding a tendency to take it all for granted, he said… “You can be replaced!” But in spite of warnings such as this, rather than learning to fulfill their calling as “first-fruits” brought forth in His ministry of reconciliation to the whole world, they have been lured into thinking themselves somehow worthy on that final Day of Judgment to be declared the “only-fruit”. And so today, it is widely, nay almost universally held by the Christian Church that the grace of Christ must be limited to those who properly respond to it in this present age alone. Having swallowed this great Devilishly inspired error hook line and sinker, they remain by and large satisfied to leave most of the sheep outside the fold…forever!
Thankfully, the fulfillment of God’s will on earth does not depend on the degree of faithfulness of any of His chosen groups to their calling. It is based solely on God’s desire and promise to bring us all back home — and surely, “…our faithlessness will not nullify His faithfulness”. (Romans 3:3-4 NIV)
Why is it then that Christ refers to himself as the only Way? What is it about God becoming flesh that is so vital to the restoration of our sin-sick souls? Why should we concede an elevated status to the life and message of the person who, though claiming equality with God, lived so simply and died so tragically? A closer look at the unique impact of the Incarnation may provide the answers.
Of course there is validity in other philosophies and religions, but while all of them speak of the need for spiritual union or reunion with the Creator, the onus for such personal development always lays squarely on the created. Christianity bears a stark contrast to this otherwise universal man-seeks-God paradigm wherein all must struggle up the ladder of virtue if they are to ever reach the heavenly abode of the hands-off Deity, where only the “worthy” and the successful may abide.
On the contrary, in Christ we find the “unworthy” being exalted ahead of the rest and the unsuccessful seated at the head of the banquet table. In this singular exception among the religions of man, it is the Deity who does the seeking, thus guaranteeing the finding. Inserting Himself directly into the flow of history, He actively acknowledges the need for His passionate participation in the healing of the breach. He guides without coercion the destiny of man in such a way as to leave us free to choose while yet ensuring the consummation of all things according to His will. (See future blog posting: Our Freedom is Absolute—ly limited)
Until confronted with the Cross, the concept of unconditional Love is –well, just a concept, a fantasy with no foundation in reality, perhaps flowing from some imaginary fountain but with no apparent source. Such love cannot exist, we lament, at least not for us who have wandered so far from home. Certainly a being who sits on a faraway heavenly throne, aloof from our pain and indifferent to our destiny, could not be expected to deliver such nourishment to our souls… then it happens. The veil is torn in the temple and God’s true nature revealed. Not only is He found to possess this kind of love for us, He is this kind of love. For the first time, our eyes are opened to a suffering Father who is intimately involved in our struggle and totally committed to restoring our communion with Him. Even as we beat Him and hang Him to die on a bloody cross, He proclaims forgiveness for all and turns our violent rejection into a triumphant resurrection, thus revealing a glimpse of the prize that awaits when all creation is made new.
Nothing short of that will do the trick. There is no substitute. It had to be an actual demonstration in time by the One who started this whole thing, showing that He too has more than just a little skin in the game and that His love for us knows no bounds. Not only that, but the pain that we ourselves must suffer in this life, whether of our own doing or at the hands of others (or at the hands of God for that matter) had to clearly be shown to be both necessary and well worth enduring. It is the acceptance of this revelation of God’s nature and our responsive participation in the spreading of that love in both word and deed which will bring about the eventual reconciliation of all people and all things in Heaven and Earth.
So assuming for the moment that the Creator of the universe did take physical form in the person of Jesus Christ, and if the crux of the message delivered by Him was one of infinite unconditional love for all mankind, then how pitifully poor is the man who attempts to live a “good” life of love towards his neighbor while remaining ignorant of, or disconnected from, the source of that love. How pale by comparison are all the philosophies and religions based on man’s attempt to find God but which deny the most powerfully significant event in the history of the world – God made man… or God made Lamb!
Awareness of that love, and the actual personal experience of the same, will provide the reserves and inner peace necessary to effortlessly turn the other cheek, to return good for evil and love for hate. Heartfelt practical kindness can then flow naturally to those who by their calloused contempt or ungrateful attitude are least deserving of it. Sure, progress can be made toward this end without direct knowledge of God’s supreme act of love but it will always run out of steam at some point in the struggle unless firmly grounded in the Source.
Will all accept Christ in this age within their lifetime on Earth? Of course not, but many are likely to at least begin the passage through that “narrow gate” perhaps without even knowing its identity. In other words, many will accept the implicit message of the Gospel of Christ in life’s experiences and be transformed by the power of His Unconditional Love without ever hearing the name of Jesus mentioned. For example, it may come disguised in the form of undeserved mercy from a friend or family member. Or “worse” yet, recall in the parable of the Good Samaritan the deep impact resulting from having to accept mercy from one who is despised. A person thus affected will never be the same and will to one degree or another begin living the ministry of reconciliation without ever hearing of any Biblical reference to the same. (See blog post: “Love Thy (Samaritan) Neighbor”)
While all paths may not lead to God, and certainly all paths are not “created equal”, nonetheless they thankfully do all lead to The Way to God. No matter where our life’s choices have taken us, eventually Christ will find us there and draw us into communion with the Father, whether in this age or in ages to come. As is always the case with our big-picture-God, whenever He establishes a separation of people, it is only on a temporary basis and is always for the expressed ultimate purpose of permanent restoration. In the short run a separation of lifestyles is produced between those in alignment with God’s ways and those who choose otherwise. In the long run though, it is the consequent contrasting outcomes themselves which become a critical part of the growth process that eventually steers all people back together into harmony with the best.
May we therefore continue to put forth the best that we know in a spirit of healthy debate, holding together “in the unity of the Spirit… until we all reach unity in the Faith” (Ephesians 4:3,13 NIV). In other words, total agreement will come later. The Spirit of brotherly love is available here and now and is enough to keep us on the same team if we would only allow it to be so. It is central to the Gospel message that we are all in this together and that only together will we reach the other side. Christ will have His whole body restored, not just part or even most of it.