A Fresh Perspective - November 17, 2006

John 14:6 has Jesus saying, "No one comes to the Father except through me" and Acts 4:12 says "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." This has often been interpreted by Christians to deny the validity of the God experience of people of other faiths. These texts can however be read differently. To declare that salvation is found only in Jesus or that it is only through Jesus that one can come to the Father is to state what is true for Christians who trust in Jesus; it does not say what is true for people of other faith traditions.

Christians can affirm God's particular revelation to them in the person of Jesus, while concurrently acknowledging the authenticity of the God experience of people of other religions. If the language of Christians seems to be exclusionary it is because it is the language of devotion, which is the language of exaggeration and overstatement. When I say that my wife is "the most beautiful woman in the world" I am not denying the beauty of other women; I am not stating something that is factual or verifiable, rather I am speaking subjectively, devotionally, what is true for lovers. Lovers of Jesus can utilize such language.

When this kind of language is crystallized into doctrine then it spawns an elitist, exclusionary version of Christianity that denies the experience of other people; it says we are right and you must conform to our beliefs. There is a particularism to Christian faith, but a healthy particularism is not exclusivist, it recognizes that people of other faith traditions can know God and experience God's healing, transforming love.

Chuck Queen is Senior Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort www.ibcfrankfort.com); he welcomes your comments at cqueen@fewpb.net. Look for "A Fresh Perspective" every Friday.