Closest to the Truth

I have been asked to tell you what Christians believe, and I am going to begin by telling you one thing that Christians do not need to believe. If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the [strangest] ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try and persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view. But of course being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic - there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others.

- C. S. Lewis

This quote seems very contrary to the attitude that I sense in contemporary Christian culture today. Christians today seem to be on guard about saying anything in favor of what is virtuous in another religion. I'm not sure why this is, but based on my own experience, I have an idea. For me, when the urge to say that the other religions were false, and the urge to be unreasonably unwilling to give any ground to their ideas came upon me, I felt a sense of insecurity about my own faith. I felt like if I were to admit that there were truths and valid use of ideas in other religions, I would somehow be opening a door to 'compromise', and to the question, no, to what seemed the strong possibility that what I believe is actually not true. The biggest fear: "What if it turns out that I am wrong?". If Christianity is wrong, it's wrong - right, Reality, will win out over all else. I see the fear that I have held, about being open to the fact that there could be other people in other religions that are partially right with their answers to the fundamental questions of life, and I think about how taxing that fear has been on my life. It has been freeing to let go and just pursue Him. It has not shaken my faith. It has not changed who I believe He is. It has not reduced one iota my belief that Christ is God, the begotten son of the eternal cause of all causes. Can I explain why I believe that I'm right and the other religions are wrong on that count? No, not really, and I'm not really all that concerned that I can't. If it is true, again, truth will win out. That doesn't mean I won't tell people that's what I believe. I have done so, and I will continue to do so. I believe beyond anything else in this reality that there is a God who made me, who made this world, and who has a plan for revealing Himself to me, and that He has expectations of me. I believe he made me for Him, not that He was made for me. I believe that every person's heart has been made for Him, and he speaks to every living soul, calling them back home, by whatever means He deems necessary, until He knows that they are never going to come home. I think that has less to do with religions and more to do with the relationship between creature and creator. I realize that this post beyond all others may have created more questions than it answered...and this I think is one of those times where if I'm asked to back up or argue the point on anything that I've said here, that I will just get tired head and give up. There is another post on this blog, Matthew 7:20, where some ideas about who is 'on God's side' and who is not is expanded on, regardless of which religion they claim allegiance to. Maybe by the time I get around to commenting on that post, some questions that have been raised here in the reader's mind will be afforded some more clarity. Thanks for stopping by.