part 3: aren’t they all the same?

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Chapter seven goes on to say that we must be able to help people understand the world’s religions because “most everyone assumes they say the same thing.  We have found it very important to diffuse the accusation of narrow-minded intolerance by giving credence to the similarities they do have and explaining the key differences.  Some Christians act as if there is no trace of truth in the world’s religions because they do not proclaim Christ, but this view is not biblical.”

(Personal note: while reading this, I realized that before helping to educate others on the key similarities and differences in the world’s religions… perhaps it would be good for me to understand them first.  That’s the beauty of this book.  It is helping me to understand the gospel more clearly, even as it shows me ways to help others toward faith.)

Burke goes on to relay Paul’s words to the men of Athens (Acts 17).  Rather than zealously condemning these people for their many idols to Greek gods, he walked around among the idols, until he found a trace of truth.  He affirmed them and said to them, “Men of Athens!  I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you (Acts 17:23-24).”

Burke makes this point, which I think is worth trying to wrap our heads around: “God has been at work behind the scenes in all cultures, and we can find remains of truth everywhere to build bridges of faith in Christ.”

Now, on to what the world’s religions do say.  Rather than butcher what I read, I’m going to provide an excerpt from one of his sermons on the subject.  It’s a long chunk, but I think you’ll find it worth it:

Without a doubt, there are common moral truths taught in all the great religions of the world.  Mortimer Adler, editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, who was not a Christian, wrote a book called Truth in Religion.  In it he states, “In spite of the possibility that all religious faiths in the world may be factually false, or that only one may be factually true, nevertheless … there is a common core of sound morality and prescriptive truth in all or most of the major religions.”  And many Christians don’t realize this even though it is revealed in the Bible.  When people say, “Aren’t they all basically saying the same thing?” I think this is what people mean.  Scripture tells us that God has written his moral law on our hearts: “Even when Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, instinctively follow what the law says, they show in their hearts that they know right from wrong.  They demonstrate that God’s law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right (Romans 2:14-15 NLT).”  If this is true and there is a Moral Law Giver — that’s the most reasonable explanation of the similarities we see throughout every culture and religion.  And so, in most all of the major world religions, we see evidence of this similar moral law that God has written in our hearts, which comes out in our religions.  So in this aspect of declaring moral law, they appear to be saying the same truths.  In fact, here’s a summary of what they all basically say morally — taken from moral laws given in ancient China, Babylon, Anglo Saxon culture, American Indian culture, Judaism, Christianity, ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Hindu culture:

Don’t do harm to another human by what you do or say (the Golden rule)

Honor your father and mother

Be kind toward brothers and sisters, children, and the elderly

Do not have sex with another’s spouse

Be honest in all your dealings (don’t steal)

Do not lie

Care for those weaker or less fortunate

Dying to self is the path to life

Now, let’s take a time-out and see what this teaches us.  In just about every culture and major world religion since antiquity, we see this common moral law — stated in various ways, but basically saying these things.  So we all basically agree on what’s right and wrong — it’s within us, and always has been.  God’s written it on our hearts.  So let’s look at how we’ve done.  How well have we kept this common moral law of humanity?  Let’s make this participatory — you just give me a thumbs-up if you think humanity has pretty much kept that one.  Thumbs-down if there’s evidence we haven’t done so well.

“Don’t do harm in word or deed.”  What do you think?  People have been pretty darn nice, haven’t they?  We don’t pick on each other on the playground.  We don’t gossip about others or think hateful thoughts or say hurtful words.  We don’t fight or do mean things or hold grudges or murder or start wars — do we?  What do you think — thumbs up?… No?  Watch the news — we’re still not doing so well…

So what do all of the world’s religions teach all of us?  We’re royal screw-ups — myself included, Jews and Christians, Muslims and Buddhists!  The world’s a mess!  We all know the right things to do, they’ve been in our culture or religious tradition, they’re in our hearts — and yet, the history of humanity shows us that we fall short!  We can’t live up to what we know to be right.  So in this sense, there is a universal truth communicated through all the world’s major religions.  Here it is: people have a problem, and it’s affecting all of us.  We need God’s help!  We cannot become who we know we were intended to be without God.

The Bible claims that the problem is that all people, in all religions, know enough about the one true Creator God and what is morally right or wrong, but we’ve all turned away from him, thinking we know better at some point — in every religious tradition.  Scripture says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — havve been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that [people] are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:20-21).”

So does the Bible teach that all other religions are wholly wrong and Christians are right?  NO!  It teaches that every single person is wrong and God is right, and our problem is we all tend to turn from God and go our own way rather than humbly seeking God and his will.  So all the religions may basically say the same thing about people and what’s right and wrong.  But they definitely do not say the same thing about God or the solution to the human problem.  And if you think they are all saying the same thing about God, you just haven’t read or studied the claims of the original founders of the world’s religions.  They don’t say the same thing.

So the real problem is that we need God!  We need his forgiveness and his help.  And here’s something that very few people realize.  Not all the world’s religions claim to be revealed from God.  And you would think that if God exists and loves us, he’d care about our plight.  And he would give us a solution — a way out of our predicament.  But because God is infinite, beyond our discovery — our only hope is if God has chosen to reveal himself.  In other words, God had to take the initiative to communicate.  And if God has, the natural place to start looking would be the claims of the world’s religions — right?  But if you read the sacred texts of the major world’s religions and take them at face value — most do not claim that God has revealed a solution to the human dilemma.

Mortimer Adler says, “Only three religions claim to have a supernatural foundation to be found in a sacred scripture that [claims] to be a divine revelation… among the other religions… only some claim to have logical and factual truth, but the truth they claim to have is of human, not divine, origin.”

What Adler, who was not a Christian, discovered is that if you just read the sacred texts of all the world religions, only three even claim that the one, unique Creator God has revealed himself or his will directly: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Interestingly, all three speak of a Messiah.  The other religions claim to be wise human solutions to the problems mankind faces, or they are devotional poems and songs and stories, but do not factually claim God has revealed himself.  Now, if this upsets you and feels narrow-minded or judgmental toward other religions — take it up with the founders of the religions — but don’t assume they say more than they really do.”

Phew.  That was a lot of typing, but I hope it’s helpful.  I welcome your thoughts.  Please.  Let’s make this a discussion.

Tomorrow: the motherload question — “What about people who have never heard of Jesus?” — the question about God’s fairness.

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