Truth in a Pluralistic World - Assignment Example

Truth in a Pluralistic world In the current world scenario concerning religion tolerance to any particular concept concerning faith is debated or criticized. Especially the Christians claim on Jesus Christ being the only savior has been viewed as unreasonable and unacceptable by other religions even though this belief has its reasons and logic to claim its stand on salvation. Christians say that salvation is through Jesus Christ, Hindus believe that with positive karma one can escape reincarnation, Muslims claim that abiding to the religion and submitting to Allah can bring salvation while the Buddhist state that Nirvana is by renouncing worldly desire. While every religion has its claims to salvation all of them contradict each other. Hence either all are wrong or one of them is right since they all cannot be true as well as this would violate the law of non-contradiction thereby making religious pluralism invalid. We can however base the truth of Jesus being the only way to salvation with proof of history, documented reliability of the bible and the resurrection of Christ. The world situation today certainly brings us to a point where we are left to contemplate on our ways and create new means of holding on to our sanity through religious means. This brings us to look upon someone who can show us the way and enlighten us with the truth. Who else can fit the role precisely other than Jesus Christ who has been acknowledged through the ages as the savior of the world. Why Jesus? People try to follow their accepted religion with fervor and hope, it is when they fail to attain the peace and happiness that they so long for, that they look for guidance. When they realize that with their own ways and means of adhering to rituals and rites cannot gain satisfaction they reach out to other means of salvation. There are many prophets and teachers who have enlightened the human race with their concepts and ways. But this has failed to change the attitude of people who rebel against religion itself. In the name of religion there has been a phenomenal effort put into creating our own gods and god men who have laid down the rules and rituals to encourage their religion with dynamic zeal all through history. While the pluralistic world has great appeal to most people for its wide tolerance and defiance to back any religion, this is another way for person to live his life without restrictions and boundaries. It is difficult to relate to very different religion like atheistic Buddhism to the monolithic Islam or Christianity. Judging the beliefs and aspects of each religion can be viewed upon as unacceptable. Hence we can stress upon the fact that why Jesus is the only savior of the world. The new pluralistic world is more a secular and orthodox society with minimum tolerance towards religious views. There are true saying in most religions but they all lack the saving truth that we find in Christianity. These similarities can never be taken as identity. There is no religion that has the provision for atonement of sin through Jesus Christ except Christianity. We can consider Inclusivism as the bridge between pluralism and exclusivism as it maintains the fact of salvation through Jesus Christ while giving it a universal blanket of gods love and salvation for all. Proof in History Christianity itself is based on the fact that God had reached out to mankind in the physical form instead of being just an abstract and died a physical death to save us from our sins. This is absent in all other faiths. By studying the other faith alongside Christianity we can see the stark differences of light and darkness in certain areas. One of the dynamic factors of Christianity is that it has its roots firmly in history dating back almost 2000 years. This is no mythology or fiction as it is the only religion that has proof of the existence, miracles and life of Jesus. Many have tried in vain to disprove the facts of Christ’s resurrection but to no avail. The historical event of Christ’s resurrection has been the significant background of this world religion. The all familiar line of all paths lead to the same god seems like they have all traveled through it and found the answers. In reality the paths are different with various gods for various religions and the pluralists would be ignored as ignorant in the bargain. Faith as we see it gives others to have the freedom to choose whether to believe or not. Most religions have the common concepts of right and wrong, love and caring but Christianity says we need grace as we can never be good enough without his grace. The doctrines of grace clearly state that there is no other way for salvation except through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone can try to get salvation by meditating, fasting or even self immolating but Jesus has taught that grace cannot be earned yet it is there for all who need it. Jesus is the Way the Truth and Life The documented biographical account of Jesus’ life in the New Testament can underline the facts regarding his life, death and resurrection. Human beings can rightfully distinguish between right and wrong and thereby judge without prejudice the truth and reality of life. The qualities about Jesus distinguish him from the others and his character defies human theories. He is perceived by some as a fanatic, socialist or even as a mystic. But his command over sympathy, power and authority remains undisputed over generations. The fact that Jesus sympathizes with all classes in society is a significant fact that he is not just the savior of Christians but the whole world. He is the only one who spoke with the authority from heaven and God unlike all others who have spread their own values and concepts. He is the only one to claim that he is God “In Isaiah 9:6 it is prophesied the Messiah that comes to Earth in the flesh will be called “Mighty God, everlasting Father” and in Isaiah 7:14”, here is it essential to take into consideration the fact that the Bible is Gods word it is also a history book documented by real people who had witnessed and lived before during and after Jesus. Even though the teachings of other religions are similar to the teachings of Christ, he is the only one who has claimed to be the Way, The Truth and the Life. Though all other religions give us the ways and means to attain salvation Jesus is the only one who claims that he is the only way to get salvation which is significant in comparison. Conclusion His claims can be logically proved by the historical facts of all his miracles performed by Jesus including bringing the dead back to life which is also a documented incident during his time. All other religions fade in comparison to this as all other religious leaders and prophets were just normal humans with theories and philosophies to convince people to follow them. No one was able to defy the laws of nature like Jesus did. Anyone can claim to be God or even the enlightened one, religion can be created by anyone but anyone cannot claim to be god himself and give us proof with his heavenly powers like Jesus did by conquering death itself. The reliability of the bible is proof of the truth in Christianity and sayings of Jesus any contradictions on this would mean that history is false. Jesus is the one and only savior not due to his amazing wisdom or his righteous life and power but for the fact that he died for our sins and rose again to be that eternal salvation for anyone who seeks him. Works Cited Sherbindy Robert. Christianity and other good topics. 22nd April, 2008. Accessed: 4th May, 2008. http://www.christianityetc.org/why_Jesus.php Cowley David. St.Albans. The Anglican Church Strasbourg. Jesus : Unique, Universal, and Supreme.Accessed: 4th May, 2008. http://www.saintalbanstrasbourg.org.uk/ourpages01.asp?pageid=95 Johnson Keith. Do all paths lead to the same destination? 1997. Accounts of Christs life found in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Accessed: 4th May. 2008. http://www.leaderu.com/wri/articles/paths.html. Dutko Bob. Top 10 Proofs. Evidence for Christianity. 2007. Accessed: 4th May, 2008. http://toptenproofs.com/article_christianty.php Read More