For most of my life, religion meant nothing much more than the struggle to follow a bunch of rules. Despite this thinking, I still would have said I followed the religion of Christianity. Notwithstanding (and even though I wouldn’t have formally understood the concept), I really believed in Pleuralism. Pleuralusm is the idea that different religions or beliefs contain some aspect of an all-encompassing or ultimate Truth, and are all valid and lend their respective followers to a final peaceful existence (Nirvana, Heaven, etc). Moreover, pleuralism is the maxim of the modern, educated, inclusive/tolerant culture. So despite being a hillbilly from Appalachia, I’ve been highly educated and am (usually) kind and tolerant of people; therefore, I had to adopt Pleuralism. However, I’m not a Pleuralist now. I’m a Christian. What happened?
Even though I claimed to be a Christian years ago, I didn’t know much about Jesus. How was that? I went to church most Sundays (and even listened occasionally), prayed periodically (when I wanted God to give me a good grade on a test or wished a particular girl to say ‘Yes’ to a date), and even occasionally helped serve meals to poor folks at a shelter. How could I not know Jesus? Simple; I didn’t study His story in the Bible. And one day I did. And when I started to read through the gospel of John, I was struck by His teachings. But more so I was amazed at His claims. He stated that God personally sent Him (John 8:42), He was a king in another world (John 18:36), and He alone can bring a person to God (John 14:6). In fact, He claimed to be God (John 8:58)!
I then began to read more in the Bible. Soon I realized the religious rules, or God’s laws, were not about preventing my happiness, but were intended as instruction for my life to find it. I next became alarmed by the fact there was nothing I could do to earn or work my way to God, understanding for the first time the fact (which my life demonstrated over and over) that I was really not all that good. My life needed more than just subtle behavior improvements; it needed rescued! And then Christianity came full circle to me and my lost soul: I found grace. Jesus didn’t just die to save the world, but He died to save me! He died to provide me life! Salvation is truly from the Lord (Psalm 3:8). Amen!
However, now I had a problem. I believed that Jesus was the Way and Truth, but what about my Pleuralistic beliefs? Did I have to abandon them? So I did what all us nerdy types do in this situation: I read and studied to find some answers. What I discovered was many different religions have some similarities with Christianity: Buddhism shares many similar virtues, Hinduism has a mysterious triune deity, and Islam trusts the teaching of many of the same prophets. However, the popular adage of “all religions are the same” in contemporary culture is objectively incorrect. The only and obvious conclusion when comparing various religions is this: Christianity is unique and is not like all these other religions. How?
All other religions have one common thread: they are all performance-based, meaning they teach a person must “be good” and do enough good deeds/works in order to be accepted into heaven, nirvana, or paradise. If a person does not perform well enough and hit some unknown quota of good deeds/works, then they are cut-off. What are the effects of this performance-based thinking? One, fear and/or anxiety because a person will never feel secure to know if they’ve done enough. Two, a feeling of superiorority over others because a person will feel more virtuous compared to other people because they’re living “right”. But isn’t Christianity the same? What makes Christianity any different?
As a follower of Jesus, I am not saved by “being good” because even my good deeds/works are like filthy rags to the Holy God (Isaiah 64:6). I’m saved only by grace through my trust in Jesus’ deeds/works of His life, death, and resurrection; it’s a gift of God (Eph 2:8-9). Why is this distinction so important? One, there’s no fear or unrest because I know I’ll never be good enough. Two, because I’m no “better” than any other person (Rom 3:23), I can’t have a superiority complex; instead I’m grateful and humbled because heaven is a gift that I didn’t earn or deserve. This truth doesn’t make a Christian perfect (obviously seen in mine and others’ lives), but they are completely accepted through love and forgiveness.
If you believe the idea that “all religions are like roads headed up a mountain that lead to the same place”, then I ask you what brought you to that conclusion? Have you made your determination because of seeing hypocrisy of a “religious” person or Christian? Have you really looked into the subject yourself? Or have you come to believe that only because someone told you it was true? School and culture told me Christianity was like any other religion and just another “road up the mountain”, and I embraced it for years. Truth became relative, and thus, I soon found myself concluding life is meaningless which led to personal disillusionment (exactly where our Postmodern society is headed). I realized I didn’t live life day to day as if it was meaningless, so I investigated my beliefs. This took some time and effort leading me away from watching TV or surfing the internet, but it was worth it. I found the Truth, and it’s Jesus Christ.
“The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it”, Prov 18:15 (CSB).
