Go Web Young Man

08/09/06 – Author’s Note: The following ideas are not new; however, this post represents my efforts to articulate other person’s ideas that I hold to be examples of good thinking. In so doing, my aim is to improve my intellect and integrate good ideas into my own thinking.

This past weekend, my wife and I attended a conference which featured Greg Koukl as the speaker. For anyone unfamiliar with Koukl, he is the president of an organization called Stand to Reason and the host of a radio show by the same name. On Friday evening Koukl gave a talk entitled Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air, and on Saturday evening, his talk was titled Is Jesus the Only Way? The content of his talks dovetails nicely with a study I am currently doing in 1st Corinthians. And, it is this dovetail that I will explore further here.

In his talks, Koukl presented the post-modern idea that all moral viewpoints are equal. Our modern culture labels persons as intolerant if they disagree with this idea. For example, when Christians claim that Jesus is the only way to God, they are labeled as intolerant for holding that view. Understanding tolerance in this way is actually completely opposite to the classical use of this term. Classically, philosopher Peter Kreeft writes, tolerance has been defined as follows:

• Be egalitarian with regards to persons.
• Be elitist with regards to ideas.

In other words, treat all persons with equal respect; however, not all ideas should be treated equally as some ideas are better than others.

In the present day, this concept has been reversed. We are encouraged to be egalitarian with regards to ideas. On the other hand, we are encouraged to be elitist towards anyone who does not hold this view.

Now, I want to combine these two modern notions of moral relativism and tolerance in order to gain a modern insight into an age-old idea that Paul writes about in 1st Corinthians. In 1st Corinthians 1: 18 - 23, Paul writes:

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.” Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching. For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (New English Translation).

What does Paul mean when he writes that Christ is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles? In Paul’s day, one of the ways that Christ served as a stumbling block to the Jews is that he did not fit their conception of the promised Messiah. Instead of recognizing Jesus as the Christ, the Jews handed him over to the Romans to be crucified. On the other hand, the very idea that God would “lower” himself and take on human form was a course of events lacking any resemblance to godly wisdom in the eyes of the Greeks.

At this point, we could further our exploration of the views of Paul’s original 1st century audience; however, I would instead like to shift our focus on how Paul’s words apply today. In modern times, does Christ continue to be “a stumbling block and foolishness” to the world?

One might argue that “No, modern culture does not have a problem with Jesus. Rather, what we have a problem with is the Christian church’s view of Jesus as being the only way to God.” Given this statement, I would like to examine the claim of the Christian church that lies within it. Furthermore, I also want to point out how we must return to the classical understanding of tolerance in order to appropriately examine this claim.

Where exactly does the Christian church “come-off” with the idea of Jesus being the only way to God? Is this just arrogant rhetoric, or is there any basis for this claim? First of all, we must consider what Jesus actually said about himself. In John 14: 6, Jesus says:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This seems to be a rather explicit statement directly from Christ stating that he is the only way to Salvation.* So, when the Christian church or the individual Christian claims that Jesus is the only way to God, considering that this is precisely what Jesus said about himself, the church or the individual who makes this claim is merely communicating what Jesus said.

Unfortunately, when a Christian communicates Christ’s claims about himself, this is exactly where the contemporary understanding of tolerance gets in the way. If I present Jesus’ claim that he is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him, under this new definition of tolerance, I am to be branded as intolerant. End of discussion.

Therefore, instead of examining the truthfulness of the claim that I have presented, our discussion degenerates into name calling and attacks on my character. Mean spirited and narrow minded are terms that have been used to label someone who holds this view.

However, if we want to address the real topic at hand, we must adopt the classical view of tolerance. At the moment, my character is not in question, rather my presentation of Christ’s claims is in view. Specifically:

• Did Christ really claim to be the only way to God?
• If so, is there reason to believe his claims are true?

Of course holding ourselves to a classical view of tolerance requires that we do the work necessary to judge the merit of these claims. However, doing the work will elevate this name calling into a dialogue based upon reason and evidence. Furthermore, under this classical understanding of tolerance, after study, if you disagree with my views, tolerance demands that I treat you with the same respect as someone who agrees with me.

*Given that you might argue that I am taking this verse out of context, let me point you to the booklet Jesus, The Only Way: 100 Verses by Greg Koukl. According to the product description “this booklet documents precisely what Jesus and the Apostles taught about religious pluralism. It includes nine different lines of argument the Bible uses — backed by 100 verses — to show that all spiritual roads don’t ‘lead to Rome.’” Furthermore, let me suggest that you read the Gospels yourself to go straight to the source.