Thursday 20 October 2011

Proposition: there are many paths up the mountain

Many people take the view that all religions are really much the same, so it is simply a matter of taste to pick the one that works for you.  The choice is of minor consequence as they all lead to God; it's just a question of which route you choose to take to get there.  Hence the proposition: there are many paths up the mountain.

Assumption 1: There is one god who shows himself in different forms.  And yet:
a. While Christians, Jews and Moslems say there is only one God, other religions say there are many gods.
b. Other religions say the way to salvation is through successfully following a particular set of lifestyle rules; Jesus alone said salvation is by grace and cannot be earned by any amount of following rules.
Conclusion: The god at the top of this mountain is inconsistent; therefore is not God! Sorry, I can't make the proposition work with this assumption.

Assumption 2: There is one god who shows himself consistently, but people are confused.
a. People are often confused, so that seems entirely possible, even likely.
b. But if god cannot manage to communicate well enough with confused people to get his message through, he's not much of a god.
Conclusion: A promising start, but I'm sorry, I really can't make the proposition work with that assumption either.

Assumption 3: There are actually many gods at the top of the mountain
a. But we already know that the God of the Christians, Moslems and Jews has clearly said 'There is no God but me". As other religions disagree about this, they can't all be right. Either the one God is wrong and so isn't God, or the other religions are wrong.
b. Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me", but the Jews and Moslems disagree. They can't all be right.
Conclusion: I'm sorry, we're definitely having problems with this 'many gods' assumption...

Assumption 4: There is actually no god at the top of the mountain, but it's still good to climb for the journey and the view.
a. This would certainly develop our 'muscles' of discipline and persistence.
b. But it's ultimately deceptive, so we would learn disappointment, disillusionment, and distrust. Yet this isn't the experience of the great majority of climbers.
c. Moreover, those who have already climbed the mountain could reasonably be expected to have communicated that they found no god!
Conclusion: I'm sorry, we need a better response than that!

I'm definitely struggling to make this 'all religions are really much the same, so take your pick' proposition work.

Afterthought: Another proposition: people prefer nice cosy ideas to uncomfortable truth...
Conclusion: Umm ... that might work...

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