THERE’S NO COMPETITION HERE
Sermon #4 of the FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) Series
The famous star of “The Carol Burnett Show” from the 1970’s, actress & comedienne, Carol Burnett, recalls the tale which her mother told her when explaining where babies come from. This birds & bees story was absolutely ludicrous & beyond fantasy. Even a child couldn’t believe such a preposterous tale, she recalls. The legend of the stork made more sense! Well, once Ms. Burnett grew up, much to her astonishment, the story which Mother told was true!
As an older child hearing this procreation explanation for the first time, what contributed Carol’s disbelief, was not just the story itself, but the collection of other stories she had been told when she was much younger: the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, leprechauns, & the fact that everyone always lives happily ever after. She came to suspect all of them as being untrue, including the birds & bees story – the latest in the series of fairytales. However, it was the real deal.
To those incredible childhood fables, one often adds Bible stories: a giant ark, the parting of the sea, angels, healings, & the most unbelievable miracle of all, the resurrection. Adolescents reject a lot of those Bible narratives. Add a dose of teen rebellion in the face of “all the church rules,” then faith, if not out-right rejected, often wanes. One quietly slips away from the spirituality in which we were raised. Like Carol lumped the story of how babies are made with other fairytales, we may do the same with the Bible. “It just can’t be true,” we convince ourselves.
It’s an easy place for many of us to end up. The dominating influences of media, pop culture, & education do not support what Christ values. Whatever belief & obedience do remain in us, are often mocked by peers, especially in our society that sees faith teachings as quaint & uninformed, or just plain wrong.1
That’s why your inquiries in this FAQ’s series are so relevant. As we mature, we begin to see contradictions in life that confuse, if not outright upset, us. What I’m saying is that we may find some of this church stuff a bit hard to swallow, but know that society’s alternative, while perhaps real (sometimes, all too real!), is not healthy for individuals & for families.
So, what do we do? Left on our own, we search for meaning. We blend culture with faith; a tablespoon of this with a teaspoon of that. We examine our core values, then pick & choose from the variety of options provided. We get a hodge-podge of standards. And it can work, sometimes, or for a while.
What can set us straight in our search for meaning by making a positive difference in our life & faith is when we personally know someone who can testify to the power of prayer & the Holy Spirit, or meet a scientist who embraces Christ & science, or witness first-hand the blessings of God in life, or get those gnawing FAQ’s addressed & resolved, as we’re doing this summer. It’s a way to “work out your own salvation,” as
One of the questions, or problems, folks confront, involves the idea that Christianity excludes & is intolerant. Is Jesus really the only way to God, as he claims? Aren’t all religions essentially the same, anyway?
Behind this issue is our culture, which values inclusiveness & tolerance. United Methodists champion inclusivity. Other Christian denominations do not have in their creeds & dogma what we call our “Theology of the Open Table.” We, through our doctrine & practice, invite everyone to communion to receive God’s grace. We don’t hoard it for ourselves. Many other churches do not open their altar-table. Our inclusivity at Christ’s table proves attractive.
Having said that, one needs to recognize that Christianity is exclusive, just as other religions are. There’s an admission!
Religion, by its very nature, makes claims to truth. Anytime someone makes a truth claim, there’s going to be exclusion. Simply put, truth excludes falsehood. Something cannot be both true & false simultaneously. Take “Thou shalt not kill.” Murder is wrong & we believe that’s true. There are religions, from the ancient Aztecs to contemporary religions, which consider murder a path (a guarantee even) to heaven. They say that through murder you get heavenly blessings. Jesus says that through him you get to heaven. Murder or Jesus? True or false. There’s a choice. Jesus excludes from his teaching the glorification of murder & all forms of violence. In other words, Christians are exclusive.
These same Christian teachings also make us intolerant. We don’t tolerate murder. We forgive it. That’s unique! We just don’t tolerate it. It’s not so bad being exclusive & intolerant, when one values life & truth.
In this example we can also see that all religions are not the same. Here are a few other ways in which we differ.
Some religions (Mormonism) see their members as gods, or at least, possessing god potential. We don’t. That makes us different.
Some religions don’t believe in God (Buddhism), or a concept of god. We do.
Some religions believe that your good works will get you to heaven (Hinduism). We don’t.
Some religions don’t believe in heaven (Buddhism). We do.
Some religions reject the equality of humans (Islam) & support a caste system (Hinduism). We respectfully disagree.
The Bible, like science’s Big Bang Theory, claims an absolute beginning to the universe. Other faiths do not.
Mohammed, Buddha, &
Some faiths, if you do not believe like they profess, will not tolerate your beliefs … at all. They will not permit you to worship as you choose, they de-value women, make it illegal to share your faith with others, & may even kill you in the name of their religion. Let’s talk about intolerance & exclusivity, & degrees thereof. 2The fact is that there is not one Christian nation that has a law prohibiting other faiths3Many nations that embrace other religions cannot make that claim. Again, this makes religions different. While our belief in the God of Jesus Christ is exclusive, nowhere does Jesus’ life & teaching lead to the kinds of atrocities practiced among some other religions.4I’m not saying Christians are perfect, but judge us by our standard-bearer, Jesus, not by the errors of some of his followers.
Here is what I believe is the biggest difference between other faiths & Christianity (something a lot of Christians haven’t considered, either). --- In every other faith, humans attempt to reach God, or that religion’s version of what they define as their god: a higher power, an ultimate experience, some sort of perfection, etc. Christianity is just the opposite. While other religions have humans trying to get to the ultimate, Christianity has the Ultimate getting to humans. God comes to us. (Remember Christmas!?!) God chooses us (in the form of his Son, Jesus Christ, who opens heaven to us.) Who’s getting to whom is the major difference between the Christian faith & every other world religion.
And notably, God does all this work, not us. Christians don’t worship & do good works in order to find God. We worship & serve God & others after his love finds us. That’s our motivation. God doesn’t just sit fat & sassy in heaven, & say, “Check it out! Here I am! Worship me.” No! God leaves heaven, takes on human flesh as Jesus, lives among us, teaches & models life for us, suffers with us, & even dies for us, all so that we can be with God in heaven. No other god or religion does anything like it or ever makes such a claim. That’s unique to us.
So, we’re not on the same playing field as other religions. We’re not com-peting with them. Quite frankly, we need to lower the false stakes of competi-tion & opposition. It’s not an issue of “Who’s better?” but how different we all are. Each faith disagrees on who’s better, but we all agree that we’re different. I mean, when it comes to faith, this isn’t a simplistic matter of comparing apples & oranges. This is comparing
So, when God comes to us as Jesus, he really can say with authority, “I am the way, the truth, & the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (Jn.14:6).5After all, he’s the one who pioneered the way from heaven to earth (in order to live, die, & be resurrected for us) in the first place. He knows the way, be-cause he’s the only one who blazed this way to us. If one or more other gods had travelled that way, then we’d have a competition. That not being the case, Jesus can proclaim, “I am the way.”
As our Creator, he gives us life. As our Redeemer, he gives us new life & eternal life. No one else does that. No one else even makes that claim in their sacred teachings. Look at Christianity & all the other faiths. We’re so different. There’s no competition here.
I must add, something else which makes our faith special is the fact that we’re not forced to believe in Jesus or even believe him. Why? Because of free will. God does not force us to believe him or believe in him. Pushy televangelists aside, Christians do not have forced conversions, as some religions’ adherents engage in. Like a shot-gun wedding, you can’t force love. I mean, there’s a difference between saying “Jesus is the only way to God” & you’re forced to believe it vs. “Jesus is the only way to God,” & you can believe otherwise. With Christ, you can shrug your shoulders & walk away. The free will God gave humans allows persons to reject him. A healthy degree of doubt is actually an essential feature of our faith. So, I ask, “What’s the problem?” This is not a competition. No one’s forcing anyone. You can take a pass or blow it off6
Earlier I talked about the difference between truth & falsehood. Let me return to that theme here as I close.
Jesus tells the truth. He not only says he is the truth, but bells the truth. If we believe (not just believe in!) & value Jesus & his blessings, why would he lie about being the only way to God? Why would we embrace the teachings & morality of Jesus, but disregard his line about being the way, the truth, & the life? If he’s deceiving us on this one count, he’s not being moral, & that calls into question the rest of his integrity & what he’s about. Yet, the rest of what he’s about is solid & proven & good & true. Even people who don’t like Christians or church, can’t argue with Jesus’ goodness.7
If you do reject Jesus Christ, I won’t execute you or condemn you to hell. It’s not in my place to do either of those things. I’ll honestly respect your choice. I’ll disagree with it8I may be angered or saddened by it, but I’ll tolerate it & maybe even love you more because of it. It’s not a competition. If you want to try another faith expression, go for it. Truly! Learn & see for yourself. If I can’t convince your mind what a blessing Christ is, perhaps you’ll find out for yourself in your heart that the Word of God in Christ is true, is Truth.9Hearts are his province/ business, anyway. And I know – I know -- he can be trusted with our hearts.
In the Name…. Copyright 2010 by G.D.Knerr at
1 Funny how it’s Christians who are chided for being sex- & money-obsessed, isn’t it? We teach financial responsibility & humbly ask for a tithe. The IRS forcibly takes much more than that & the US Treasury spends even more, but “Christians are the ones who always talk about money.” It’s not the Catholic Channel (EWTN) that runs “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “The
2 Even the most offensively radical churches I know, like the
3 Lee Strobel in The Case for Faith (two-book set),
4Ravi Zacharias, an Indian who came to know Christ as a young adult, writes about various forms of eastern religious worship & practices. “Devotees had a large number of hooks pierced into their bodies. Knives were pierced through heir faces & small spears through their tongues…. Why do the same thinkers who criticize western forms of spirituality not take this to task?” (See his book, Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message,
5 Isn’t it interesting that four verses earlier Jesus states, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places”? One interpretation of that passage acknowledges God having a place for all people, but almost in the same breath, Jesus claims that he is the way to God. Also notice that Jesus reveals this to Thomas who is known as taking Christianity to
6 Persons who say all faiths are basically the same are teaching a falsehood. Notice, however, that they often poke fun or criticize the things we say & do that are different. How can we be the same, but different? They can’t have it both ways. It’s illogical. Similarly, persons who say Christianity is exclusive fail to realize that all other faiths are exclusive, too. Critics wag their finger at us, but ignore the glaringly exclusive nature of other religions. It’s the fire engine calling the cherry red.
7 Charles Templeton, a leading 20th century atheist once remarked that the toughest thing about being an atheist was that he genuinely missed Jesus! As reported by Lee Strobel in The Case for Faith (two-book set),
8 Do you really want a pastor who’s not convinced about Jesus? If I believed something else, I should be a leader in that religion, not a Jesus advocate!
9 “You will seek me & find me when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13.