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By
Norman Geisler
As we wheeled John back to his room, he uttered those familiar words,
“You know, I don’t see how you can say my Jewish friends
or anyone else who doesn’t believe in Jesus won’t go to
heaven. Who are we to be so presumptuous?” Kind words from
a gentle, soft-spoken 95-year-old man. Before I could challenge
his thinking, we were at his room and he was ready to end a long
day.
It was one isolated conversation, but it represents a thought pattern
that permeates our society and our churches. Beneath the question
is a system of belief called pluralism. It is counter to Christianity
and, therefore, vital to understand. As Christians we are called
to contend for the faith (Jude 3), to defend the hope we have in
Christ (1 Peter 3:15).
To better understand religious pluralism, several terms need to
be distinguished.
• Religious pluralism is
the belief that every religion is true. One may be better than the
others, but all are adequate.
• Relativism claims that
there are no criteria by which one can tell which religion is true
or best. There is no objective truth in religion, and each religion
is true to the one holding it.
• Inclusivism claims that
one religion is explicitly true, while all others are implicitly
true. In other words, everyone will be saved.
• Exclusivism is the belief
that only one religion is true, and the others opposed to it are
false.
At the heart of the pluralist belief, however, is a self-defeating
claim. For in claiming that pluralism is true, it thereby affirms
that all forms of non-pluralism (including exclusivism) are false.
In short, pluralism is making an exclusive claim.
The pluralist view often degenerates to the position that whatever
is sincerely believed is true. This means that it matters not whether
one is a passionate Nazi, Satanist, or member of the Flat Earth
Society. Any view would be truth. Sincerity is clearly not a test
of truth. Many people have been sincerely wrong about many things.
There is the implication that all truth claims are a matter of “both/and,”
rather than “either/or.” By this reasoning there could
be square circles, wise fools, and educated illiterates. Mutually
exclusive propositions cannot both be true. Opposing truth claims
of various religions cannot both be true. For example, Islam denies
and Christianity proclaims Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection
from the dead three days later. One or the other must be wrong.
Hinduism claims God is all, but Christianity denies this. Both claims
cannot be true.
Exclusivists are charged with being intolerant. This is directed
at their view that one religious view is true and those opposed
to it are false. This, to the pluralists, seems like a bit of bigotry.
Why should only one view have a franchise on the truth? The pluralist
who denies that any particular religion is any more true than others
is making a particular truth claim. By this reasoning, pluralists
are also “intolerant.” They claim their views are true,
to the exclusion of opposing views (including exclusivism).
The tolerance issue is closely related to a favorite allegation
of pluralists that nonpluralists are narrow-minded. They claim that
their view is true, and everyone else is in error. This seems presumptuous.
The response is that pluralists (P) and exclusivists (E) make an
equal claim to truth and error. Both claim that their view is true
and whatever opposes it is false. For example, if E is true, then
all non-E is false. Likewise, if P is true then all non-P is false.
Both views are “narrow.” All truth is narrow. After all,
2 plus 3 has only one true answer – 5. That is the way truth
is.
Another objection is a presumption that truth should be more democratic.
But truth is not decided by majority vote. Truth is what corresponds
to reality, whether the majority believe it or not. Do pluralists
really believe that all views are equally true and good and should
be settled on by majority rule? Is fascism or Marxism as good as
democracy? Was Nazism as good as any other government?
Beneath the pluralists’ assertion that all major religions
have equal claim to the truth is a relativistic view of truth. But
the denial of absolute truth is self-defeating. It claims that relativism
is true for everyone, everywhere, and always. But what is true for
everyone, everywhere, and always is an absolute truth. Therefore,
the relativist claims that relativism is absolutely true.
Christianity makes exclusive claims. Jesus said (Jn. 14:6; 10:1-9);
his disciples added (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5); and Christianity provides
unique evidence to support these claims: 1) No other great religious
leader ever fulfilled dozens of predictions made hundreds of years
in advance (cf. Gen. 3:15; 12:1-3; 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:1f; Isa. 7:14;
Isa. 53; Dan. 9:25f); 2) No other great religious leader lived a
sinless miraculous life (cf. Jn. 3:2; Heb. 2:3-4); 3) No world religious
leader ever predicted and accomplished his death and resurrection
(Mt. 12:40-42). In fact, there were over 500 witnesses of the resurrected
Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-7).
Dr. Norman Geisler is President of Southern Evangelical Seminary.
He has spoken or debated in all 50 states and in 25 countries, and
is author or coauthor of some sixty books and hundreds of journal
articles.
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