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Do All Paths Lead to God?
Religious pluralism seems to be the only perspective that is tolerated in today’s culture, while those who are “trapped” within the confines of a single religious outlook are dismissed as narrow and sectarian. But if you think about it, those who promote this alternative dogma that “all paths lead to God” are also making an exclusive truth claim, since they end up excluding the opposite view that only one religious path leads to God. The hosts will discuss this contemporary outlook and contrast it with the exclusive claims that Jesus made about himself on this episode of the White Horse Inn.
Host Quote:
“When people say that basically Christianity is, ‘I’m a Christian because it gives me a moral set of guidelines, it gives me a sense of meaning and wholeness and ethical purity and so forth,’ what you’re saying to that other person is ‘I’m better than you. I have a deeper sense of meaning and purpose than you have. I live a better life than you do because I have better moral principles.’
“When people lodge their ‘argument’ in that which is not an argument, that’s actually arrogant. Versus saying, ‘Look, I’m not coming to you telling you my religion can beat up your religion. I’m presenting these arguments and I hope that they persuade you. Let us both submit to reality.’ We’re not saying we’re better than you.” – Michael Horton
Term to Learn:
“Pluralism vs. Inclusivism vs. Exclusivism”
Pluralism: All religions lead to heaven. Inclusivism: Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ, but you don’t have to hear that Gospel and believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved by him.
Exclusivism: There is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ (see John 14:6; Acts 4:12). (Michael Horton, White Horse Inn #1035— “Is Faith in Christ Necessary?”)
(This podcast is by White Horse Inn. Discovered by Christian Podcast Central and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not Christian Podcast Central, and audio is streamed directly from their servers.)