Dogma and enclosed ideology is not unique to the Christian faith. In all religions, one finds that there are a set of beliefs and practices that one must adhere to in order to be considered a bona fide member of that particular community. In most religious communities, people believe that their particular faith group and their particular beliefs are the only way to have a valid relationship with God.
Christianity is not exempt from that display of enclosed ideology. Christians are just as dogmatic and opinionated as people from other communities of faith. In addition, Christians are just as closed and narrowed-minded as people from other religious traditions. And like people from other faith groups, Christians believe that they are doing God a favor by adhering to certain affirmations of faith and excluding and rejecting all beliefs contrary to theirs.
A perfect example of Christian narrow-mindedness is the belief that Jesus is the only way to God. They will make use of certain Scriptures in order to justify this belief. Among other passages that they quote in support of their position are the following:
John 14:6, where Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me."
Acts 4:12, where the Apostle Peter says "There is no other name under heaven given to humans whereby we must be saved."
1 Timothy 2:5, where the Apostle Paul states "There is only one God, and one mediator between God and humans, the man Christ Jesus."
There are many other passages of Scripture that Christians base themselves on to believe that Jesus Christ is the exclusive way to God. And, while this writer (yours truly) believes in the message of the Bible, I find the following difficulties in this approach. Among the difficulties that I find, are the following:
1. Biblical literalism- Christians tend to take every passage of Scripture literally without taking into account and weighing both the external and internal context in which those passages appear. They believe that just by merely citing a Scripture passage, they have resolved the theological issue at hand.
2. The use of cliches-Christians believe that they are demonstrating faithfulness to God by subscribing to the cliche "The Bible says." They equate this cliche with Scripture itself.
3. Christians are very prone and quick to dismiss interpretations of Scriptures which do not resonate with theirs. In other words, they treat their own understanding of Scripture as if their understanding alone were God-given
4. Christians are very prone to judge other religions beliefs on the basis of their own Scriptures. In other words, Christians believe that there is no divine truth, whatsoever in other sacred scriptures.
5. Christians fail to see that though God was incarnated in a Jewish man, born in Bethlehem of Judea, that this God-man Jesus was not, is not, and cannot be restricted to a particular set of beliefs and practices. The God of Scripture, and especially the God of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament), is a universal God who transcends all ideologies and all systems, including those that are economic, political, religious, and social in nature. They fail to see the Cosmic and Universal Christ who is revealed, not only in the Scriptures of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, but also in those scriptures and faith groups which existed long before the Judaeo-Christian community came into existence, and long before the Scriptures of the Judaeo-Christian traditions were written.
6. Christians fail to see that by restricting God exclusively to one mode of revelation, they are, in effect, denying and nullifying the biblical doctrine of divine sovereignty, i.e. that God reveals Godself how, when, and to whom God wants. They wish to put God "in a box" if you will, and believe that God does not exist outside of that box.
The question for us, is then, how does Jesus become the exclusive way to God? How can we, on the one hand, affirm that Jesus is the exclusive way to God, and on the other hand not take that to mean that non-Christians cannot have a relationship with God? Jesus's own affirmation of being "the way," was not intended to exclude people of other faith traditions or to require that they affiliate with the Christian Church in order to be in a right relationship with God. Throughout the entirety of the New Testament, it is very clear that following Christ does not mean subscription to a particular set of dogmas, but rather commitment to one's neighbor, and to the pursuit of social justice.
As we remember Emmanuel (God with us), let us also remember the transcendence and universality of the God who comes to us in a variety of ways which God chooses. Let us remember that God is over and beyond our beliefs, doctrines, and ideas.
In the Name of the Creator, and of the Word, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona
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