Healthy plants have deep roots and strong pillars have solid foundations. If we are to be Christians who are deeply rooted in Christ and built on the solid Rock, then we need more than mere sound bites. One means that the Lord has used throughout church history to strengthen His people’s faith and witness is reading good books. This book review series is identifying books that can serve as shovels that help you dig deeper in your Christian life.
Book: Surviving Religion 101 – Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College - Michael J. Kruger
One of the most exciting things about the college experience is the exposure to so many different kinds of people and their belief systems. It’s like leaving our own little fishbowl and being plunged into an ocean of diverse ideas and practices. While this exposure to diversity adds spice to our lives, it presents a major problem. In a culture committed to relativism and tolerance, few things are more offensive than the claim that there’s only one right religion. In Chapter 3 of Surviving Religion 101, Michael Kruger prepares us for the objections we will face and how to address them.
1) Aren’t Christians Just Arrogant Know-It-Alls?
On first glance, it can sound incredibly arrogant for Christians to claim that their way is the only way. Who do you think you are to say such a thing? Some Christians sense the emotional weight of this and in turn soften the exclusive claims of Christianity. You will face the pressure of this temptation, so you need to know why our claim is not arrogant.
Behind the charge that the Christian claim is arrogant is the assumption that religion is merely a human’s attempt to discover and learn things about God. That means that whatever religious knowledge people have is due to their own religious efforts – their commitment, their zeal, their devotional acts. Moreover, that religious knowledge is inevitably flawed and fallible.
On this definition of religion, the Christian claim would be extremely arrogant, because we’d be saying we are the only ones who are smart enough and devoted enough to figure out what God is really like. But this human-driven view of religion is actually the opposite of the Christian claim. Our knowledge of God is exclusively the result of God graciously revealing Himself to us. For Christianity, religion is not about humans finding God but God showing Himself to humans. It is about God seeking out lost sinners and opening their eyes to the truth. The Christian is making a very humble admission about themselves!
Additionally, it is important to remember that the arrogance or non-arrogance of a claim depends on whether one has adequate grounds for that claim. The Christian’s solid grounds for believing Jesus is the only way is His own word: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). This is Christ’s claim and Christians are merely passing it along.
This means the real objection is about Jesus. Everything comes down to what people think about Him, not what they think about us. Is He arrogant to claim that He is the only way to God? That depends on His identity. He came claiming to be the divine Son of God, and as such, He certainly has authority to tell us how one goes to heaven.
2) Aren’t All Religions the Same?
This objection goes like this: Why should we think Christianity is the only right way when all religions offer the same moral message about loving others and being a good person? At first, this sounds quite plausible. However, a closer look reveals that is not the case.
First, all religions are not the same. They have major and irreconcilable differences. Some religions believe in one God, others in multiple gods. Some say the Qur’an is the word of God; others think it is not. Some say hell exists, others say it doesn’t. On it goes. The inescapable fact is that not all these religions can’t be right. Some of them have to be wrong. When pressed with the stark differences of each religion, most people have to admit not every religious system can be correct.
Second, there are features about Christianity that make it genuinely distinct from the rest of the world’s religions. The key difference is this: Christianity is not just another religion about being a good person. This flies in the face of what most people think about religion. We assume good people go to the good place (heaven) and bad people go to the bad place (hell). In stark contrast, Christianity says that bad people go to the good place! Heaven is not for good people but for sinful people forgiven by grace. Now, to be clear, God cares about how we live. In a sense, we could say that that Christians are called to be ‘good people’ by the help of the Spirit. But here is the key: We are not saved by obedience. We are saved for obedience. God’s commandments are to be kept not as a means of salvation (as other religions hold) but as an act of thanksgiving out of response to the grace and mercy shown to us.
Christianity is genuinely different because it says the problem of our sin is solved not by us trying harder or becoming better but by God Himself coming to earth in the flesh to live a righteous life and to die for the sins of His people. This solution is something that no other religion has: the person of Jesus Christ. This is why Christianity is exclusive! Christianity claims to be the only way because it is the only religion that offers a real solution to the radical problem of sin. It is the only religion that offers an atoning sacrifice that pays the debt we owe. This is the internal logic for why Christianity is exclusive (Acts 4:12).
3) Aren’t All Truth Claims Relative?
A third objection usually sounds like this: “Christianity might be your truth, but that doesn’t mean it is my truth.” In other words, truth is not objective but personal. It can be true for one person and not another. The idea is that truth comes from within, determined by each individual and culture.
This approach is known as relativism. Again, at first it sounds humble and like a recipe for peace. But it too runs into insurmountable problems. If a doctor tells you that you have cancer, you would not response with, “That’s your truth, not my truth.” Common sense tells us that relativism simply doesn’t work.
Of course, the skeptic could say his relativism is only restricted to religious matters. But this doesn’t work either, because Christianity makes objective historical claims that can be only either true or false. Either Jesus was dead and rose from the tomb; or He didn’t.
The biggest problem for relativism is that it is self-contradictory. The statement “There is no objective truth” is itself an objective truth claim. This means relativism only works if it exempts itself from its own rules. Thus, what seemed to be a humble position ends up being as dogmatic and absolutist as the positions it condemns. It is pride masquerading as humility.
Christians claim to know the way religion really works. But here’s the difference. We don’t base that claim on our own efforts to figure out God. Rather, we believe that God has revealed Himself to us by His grace. God has plainly told us what He is like. There is nothing arrogant about simply believing what God has said about Himself.
4) Isn’t Disagreement the Same as Disrespect?
For many people in our post-modern world, disagreement is a form of disrespect. This has profoundly influenced the university environment. In previous generations, it was expected that intellectual engagement involved efforts to persuade others of the rightness of your view. Vigorous give-and-take was a normal part of the academic world. In fact, such interaction was actually a sign of respect, not disrespect; it meant you were taking another person’s views seriously enough to engage them. Now under the banner of “tolerance,” it is becoming harder and harder to disagree with someone.
This is at odds with how Christians think. When we claim that Jesus is the only way that does not mean we are out to demean or denigrate or despise the adherents of other religions. On the contrary, we are called by Christ to show kindness, patience, and grace to all people, even those we disagree with. We can tell Hindus that they are mistaken and still treat them with dignity. Disagreement is not the same as disrespect.
Due to the current climate, we need to be prepared to be misunderstood. Some might be hurt or mock you for saying Christ is the only way. But stand your ground. And always do so with kindness. It is the combination of these two things that is so powerful. Courage to uphold the exclusivity of Christ and showing kindness to those who disagree are not mutually exclusive but belong together.
In summary: It is hard to stand for truth in a relativistic world. But remember why Christians believe Christ is the only way. It’s not because we think we’re smarter or better than other people but because we trust what Jesus has revealed about Himself. He’s the very thing that makes Christianity unique. He’s the only way people can have their sins forgiven. And He is the only way to enjoy fellowship with the Father.
For next time: “My Christian morals are viewed as hateful and intolerant. Shouldn’t I be more loving and accepting?”
Surviving Religion 101 – Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College by Michael J. Kruger. Published by Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois, 2021. Softcover, 262 pages.