We can be Christians without believing in contradictions

I'd like to elaborate on a point Kermit made in his earlier post. I was reading the most recent issue of Touchstone Magazine and came across the following blurb:

I gave the last word in my dissertation to G. K. Chesterton. Part of the borrowed inscription was: "The ordinary man ... has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them."

I have always believed this; one cannot believe the Bible otherwise, nor can he be a Christian, for our faith is built upon the ultimate contradiction: the God-Man, and many others besides. [emphasis mine]

This strikes me as a dangerous idea. In the first place, there’s a world of difference between seeming contradiction (as in the Chesterton quote) and actual contradiction—the latter being something which I do not expect God would want us to embrace. (And by 'contradiction' I mean two claims such that at least one, but only one, is true. So, for example, "God exists" and "God doesn't exist" together produce a contradiction: one of them is true, but they can't both be true.)

At any rate, regarding the God-man: There is nothing inherently contradictory about someone being both God and man. There would, of course, be a contradiction inherent in someone claiming to be solely God while being solely man. But nowhere does the Bible claim that about Jesus, and the apparent contradiction of the God-man, I would argue, can be resolved through careful study and theology (with a little help from philosophy).

I think Chesterton is right that we hold on to two things we know to be true; but instead of endorsing the idea that our faith is built upon a contradiction, let us look for a way to resolve the contradiction, while staying true to the received theological tradition, and so strengthen our witness to those who face intellectual barriers to the faith.

How can there be just one way to God?

After our discussion this past Sunday night at Bible study about the exclusivity of Christianity, I felt that I should write a blog about it. If you weren’t there, we started a new series on “Some Common Objections Considered” where we are looking at some of the toughest objections against Christianity. This week we talked about one of the most common objections: how can you believe that Christianity is the only way to God? What about all the other religions? Isn’t that arrogant and offensive to believe such a thing? Another way this objection is often put is this: it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. All religions are essentially the same and all the paths lead to the same God. We talked about the most common illustration used by adherents to this objection: the 3 blind men and the elephant. Each blind man feels a different part of the elephant and describes it differently (one says the elephant is long and flexible because he’s touching the trunk and the other that it is broad and flat because he’s touching the side, etc.), but they are all describing the same thing. So the illustration leads us to believe that all the religions are somewhat right and somewhat wrong but no one has the whole truth. It leads us to think that no religion has the right to look at the others and say they are the only right one. What can we affirm about this objection to Christianity? Several things: certainly that peace, tolerance, and inclusion is a good thing to strive for. Certainly that many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion. Also we must say that religion in general does divide people because it produces pride in the heart that we have performed the truth and others have not. We should be quick to affirm that this objection corrects a Western cultural arrogance toward all things not Western in the past. We should also be quick to affirm that many religions do share certain ideas and concerns. But ultimately, I think we must gently and respectfully challenge this objection to Christianity based on several things. First, it requires us to uphold ideas that are completely contradictory as equally true which contradicts logic. For instance A and non-A cannot both be true at the same time. Christianity says that Jesus is the only way to God and the Savior of the world whom we must believe in to receive eternal life, but Islam says that Jesus is only the fifth of six great prophets, not as great as Mohammed. It says that Jesus was only a good teacher and the way to salvation is through submission to the will of Allah. These things cannot both be true at the same time. Ultimately, we must say that 2 + 2 = 4 and not 5, 6, or 7. Any truth claim is by nature exclusive because it says that the opposite truth claim cannot be true at the same time and the same way. So we must acknowledge that this is not just a problem with Christianity but with any religion, or worldview for that matter, because they are all by nature exclusive. Second, if in our effort to promote peace, respect, and unity, we say that all religions are essentially the same, we actually do great violence to each individual religion. What I mean by this is that to say that all religions are essentially the same, you would have to gut each religion of major teachings, even to the point where that religions own followers could hardly recognize what is left. Again, if you say that Jesus is just a great teacher of morals as all the other religious teachers are (Mohammed, Buddha, etc.), then you are tearing out the very heart of Christianity which says that Jesus was not just a great teacher but God come in the flesh and to pay the penalty for our sins. In other words, the cost of this kind of unity is radical disrespect to each tradition. Is that really what we want to do? Lastly, the inclusivism that at first seems so humble and peace-promoting is actually just a “covert exclusivism” (see Dr. Tim Keller’s talk on “Exclusivity: How can there be just one true religion?”). What I mean by this is that for us to say that all religions lead to the same God would mean that we would have to believe that God is an impersonal force who really doesn’t care what we believe or how we worship him or choose to live. In actuality, this is a very narrow view of God and who He is; it necessarily excludes Christianity, Islam, and Judaism because of their beliefs in a personal God who does make certain demands of us (which, by the way, is excluding a huge chunk of the world’s population). And by asserting this view as the one true view of God that trumps all others, it seeks to convert us to its view just as any other religion does. Though they often say how arrogant it is to say that only one religion could be true, those who hold this view (even though many don’t realize it) are in actuality saying that only their view is ultimately true. So, what at first looks inclusive is, in reality, just as exclusive as any other truth claim. That leads me to my conclusion: all truth claims and religions and faith statements are by nature exclusive – we can’t get away from it. So the real question is: which exclusive truth claim will you and I believe and why? Which truth claim, as we consider them, is most intellectually credible and experientially satisfying? Which religion will by it’s necessarily exclusive beliefs best lead us to be the kind of people the world needs – people who love their enemies, pray for those who persecute them, and center our reality on a God who actually dies for and forgives those who kill Him? I submit that Christianity is the best answer.

The Slander of J.K. Rowling

With great shame and sadness, I have witnessed the church's reactions to the Harry Potter books over the last several years. This isn't so much a blog to defend the Harry Potter books- although I have read them all and will read the seventh one after it comes out tomorrow night. The Bible clearly calls witchcraft a sin- particularly looking to a supernatural power to control the circumstances of life for your benefit rather than looking to God. This is the story of I Samuel 28. The question is can stories that exist in a world where people use magical powers be edifying and appropriate for Christians. First, let me ask for consistency. If it's the use of magic that makes the Harry Potter books bad, then Disney movies, fairy tales, the Lord of the Rings, and the Chronicles of Narnia must also be regarded in like manner. The reality is all of these stories exist in worlds where we realize people have certain powers given to them that we don't have. We don't feel encouraged to try to seek out the wardrobe to find Narnia, nor to build orbs that will allow us to see as far as our wills will allow us, or to summon fairy godmothers. What these situations do is illuminate how people use the power they are given. Also, in the Harry Potter stories, the magic is taking place in an alternate universe that coincides with our own real world- much in the way that occurs in The Chronicles of Narnia. I don't want to go more into the biblical view of magic, imagination, and stories. Because in the attacks on JK Rowling, the author of the series, by Christians, they have not focused here. Instead, they have participated in the spread of lies to attack her character. In an article in the satirical, fictional, comedic paper, The Onion, they report how the Harry Potter books have increased the enrollment into satanism and quote several kids who are inspired by the characters of the story and demean Jesus Christ. Then, they even quote JK Rowling as even saying that she wants to lead people away from Jesus. This is all very satirical. The problem is that Christians have taken those quotes and spread them as real. There are websites that post them as if they are true. One sight claimed that the initials of JK stand for Jesus Killer. I have heard people tell them that they heard that Rowling's intentions were to have evil and darkness triumph in the end of series. On the eve of the seventh book coming out, I would be shocked if that were the case. This has been what has embarrassed and made me ashamed for the church. Nowhere is a Christian allowed to spread lies and slander about anyone in the Bible. Ephesians 4:31 says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you." Christians are called to point out things they disagree with, and to point out and warn against dangerous ideas that are in our culture, but never is a Christian allowed to show disrespect towards another human being or to communicate in an unloving way with someone. In an age of increasing celebrity tabloidism when we feel free to comment on the lives of assorted movie and music stars, it's easy to de-personalize celebrities- to treat them as if they are not someone's daughter, someone's mother, much less a being created in the image of God. Our human sinfulness always wants to make ourselves superior to other people. It's easy to do that with celebrities by assuming the worst about them and cutting them down with our friends. Shame on us. We must always speak about people, even celebrities, as if they were in the room with us- in a way that expresses love and concern for them as a person. Let us all be quick to listen and slow to speak- even about people we might disagree substantially with.

Living Counter-Culturally for the Kingdom of God...

Last night at the Artisan we talked about our culture's idols. I'd like to revisit that discussion and carry it forward in another direction. To catch up, at the Artisan we talked about how idolatry doesn't always look like golden calves and burning things on altars, and if we limit our search to those "idols" we will miss all the ways our culture and our own selves worship things other than God every day. An idol is anything that displaces God as the center of worship. Idolatry is asking created things to give us that which is only to be found in the Creator. It is bowing down and turning over the practical, everyday rule of our lives to lesser things than Christ.

I once heard a story about a pastor who went to India and had a conversation with the wife of a pastor planting a church there. He asked her if she would ever consider coming to America and visiting it. Her response was that she did visit once and never will again because she could not stomach the idolatry she saw there. Mind you, as they were having this conversation they were in a place where there were idols lining the streets, with blood and chicken feathers everywhere, and it was in that environment that she said that she would not return to America because she could not stomach the idolatry she saw there.

Idolatry is something we see elsewhere, but when we look around at ourselves we just think of it as entertainment, as climbing the ladder of success, as providing our security, as sport and hobby, as luxury and comfort, as efficiency. We do not see it as idolatry, but sometimes it is.

The idols of our culture might reveal themselves in what we sacrifice for. Or perhaps in what we spend our resources for. What is upheld as a valuable life in our culture? What is seen as a wasted life? What is our culture most proud of? What is heaven according to the culture? What would be hell?

Christians are called to worship the true God only and always, and as they fulfill that calling at times they will stand out from the surrounding culture that does not share that value, but worships and serves other gods. This "standing out" has always been a part of God's plan for his people, that they might be a light to the surrounding world, that they might live after the truth and be a demonstration of that truth to all who see.

My question is this: how are we to follow that calling in our culture today? How do we live counter-culturally and display what the worship of the true God looks like in this generation? Think about how you have answered that question in your life and then if you have something to add to the discussion, post a reply on this thread.