inclusivism in an exclusive world

The world is a scary place. Everyone has their beliefs, and they are willing to fight and even possibly die for them. If you don't believe me, name a teddy bear Muhammad (http://cbs13.com/national/Muhammad.Teddy.Bear.2.596986.html). The world will not budge. Just try talking to someone about Abortion, The best American Idol ever, or original sin - they will start throwing down if you don't side with them.

So, as Christians, are we standing up for our beliefs? Not in an angry way, but in an absolute sense. We must stand in love for what we know to be true. (For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures - 1 Corinthians 15:3-4) As Dr. John MacArthur says, "Not knowing what you believe is by definition a kind of unbelief. (The Truth War Page xi)" This lack of knowing what we believe in has caused a cancer to start to grow in our churches. This cancer is known as "inclusivism". But what does that mean? In a theological sense, it is the idea that all religions hold truth, just not as much as others may.

In other words, Christianity is true ... somewhat. But so is Islam, Hinduism, and Humanism. Christianity is just the best. Anyone searching for God will find Him... No matter where they look.

This is creeping into our churches. No joke. Let's look at some quotes from pastors who are well respected in many churches today.


"I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts."---Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy, p. 260

"going to heaven is like going to Philadelphia....There are many ways....It doesn't make any difference how we go there. We all end up in the same place."-Tony Campolo"Carpe Diem: Seize the Day", 1994, pages 85-88

"...what can I say to an Islamic brother who has fed the hungry, and clothed the naked? You say, "But he hasn't a personal relationship with Christ." I would argue with that. And I would say from a Christian perspective, in as much as you did it to the least of these you did it unto Christ. You did have a personal relationship with Christ, you just didn't know it."-Tony CampoloEVANGELICALS AND INTERFAITH COOPERATION, An Interview by Shane Claiborne

"...Isn’t God’s message to sinful humanity that He sees in each of us a divine nature of such worth that He sacrificed His own Son so that our divine potentialities might be realized? ... The hymn writer who taught us to sing “Amazing Grace” was all too ready to call himself a “wretch” ... Forgetting our divinity and over-identifying with our [Freudian] anal humanity... Erich Fromm, one of the most popular psychoanalysts of our time, recognized the diabolical social consequences that can come about when a person loses sight of his/her own divinity ...”-Tony Campolo"Partly Right" 1995


Do good works bring about God's grace? Did Jesus come and die on a cross simply as a good idea? If there are many ways to God, why did Jesus have to die? Jesus' own words should be a good commentary on this point.

John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me.
John 14:2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14:4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
John 14:5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the only way to the Father (God). He is also the truth. He is LIFE itself! Preaching anything less than this is doing a diservice to the ministry, to the people listening, to the lost world, and most of all to the Sacrificial Lamb that is Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Run from this kind of scary thinking. Naturally, this is how we want to look at God. We want Him to be some huge grandfather, looking down with forgiveness no matter what we do. This is sin affecting your thoughts. We must transform our thinking to match the Scriptures, not allow our thinking to transform the Scriptures.

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)