As a Christian can you believe in the validity of other religions?

Question

I don't believe you can be a true believer if you accept there is another way to God. It invalidates your belief system.

All those saying yes, can you see how confused you are? You are actually saying the word of God is like picking a different amke of Cereal from Walmart. Either there is one true message or all messages are rubbish.

God gave his only begotten son.. Only through him can you enter into the Kingdom of God. These words can not be ignored.

Answer 1

No way....

Acts 4:12 neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Salvation can only be found in Jesus....He said I am the Way, the Truth and the Life......not a way a truth and a life...

Jesus is the only saviour!!!

Answer 2

In the book of Acts, Paul walked on Mars Hill and was upset by the idols he saw there. But he used a plaque or memorial with these words--"To An Unknown God"--as a springboard to introduce the Athenians to the Jewish God and to Jesus. Paul also noted that God can be perceived through the world around them.

Therefore, there is limited validity in other religions, but not ultimate validity. As a Jewish proverb goes, "There is only one God. All others are false or a part of him."

Answer 3

I believe that other religions have truth. That does not invalidate my belief system in any way. I am a Catholic Christian and as such I believe the Catholic church is the Fullness of the Faith. Now I can say that other branches of Christianity also have truth in them, just not the fullness of the truth. Look at it as a baby walking with tiny wobbly baby steps....as they grow and mature, they begin to walk with secure footing and so it is with the faith....they may start off with the wobbly baby steps and can then grow and mature into the fullness of maturity.......baby steps and then the fullness of the faith in the Catholic Church. Some never make it, some are on their way but they all start from a point(s) of truth. This belief in no way invalidates my belief that I have the fullness of the faith and truth. Even religions that are not Christian, they have some truth in them and are journeying to the fullness of truth.

Answer 4

This is a difficult question for me to answer. I believe in the validity of all religions, but I am a Hindu. The Hindu Scriptures teach that God can be reached in more than one way, and I firmly believe this. Since Christians very often condemn my own religion, I would most certainly like to believe that one CAN be a Christian and accept religious pluralism.

However the matter is not so simple. If one believes in the inerrancy of the Bible, then it is difficult to see how one could embrace religious pluralism. I do not want to say it is impossible, because so much depends on a correct interpretation, which is sometimes hard to arrive at (or to know that you've arrived at it).

But, one important thing I think in this discussion is whether or not you have to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible to be a Christian. This is where there may be some possible leeway. And I believe it is entirely legitimate for a Christian to not accept inerrancy. If the Christian studies textual criticism, literary criticism, and redaction criticism, he or she may indeed conclude that the Bible is not inerrant. However, this does NOT mean that he must therefore reject the Bible. Just because the Bible was given into human hands does not mean that it was not ultimately given by God. And indeed, this is what many liberal Christians believe. (Here, I do not mean liberal in the sense of loose morals, but just that they will accept some academic Biblical scholarship and some metaphorical interpretations of the Bible).

My favorite Christian theologian is John Hick. He advocates religious pluralism, and he is a devoted Christian. See the wikipedia article below for some information on what he teaches. I've also included his own website link. He has some very intriguing books that I highly recommend.

ADDED:
I cannot agree with you when you say that religious pluralism for a Christian would be like saying that the Bible is just one among many equally valid choices. It is not necessary at all for a Christian pluralist to hold that. He may instead hold that the Bible is the ONLY true scripture that God Himself revealed to man. However, he may believe that that one true God accepts the mistakes of human beings. He may conclude that it is ONLY Jesus who saves, but that someone who grew up in another religion does not REALIZE that it is Jesus who saves him.

Let me give this analogy: Let us say you are falling over a cliff. Jesus rushed to you and pulled you up. But you are blind and you don't see that it was Jesus who saved you. Your family tells you that the man who saved you was named Bob. So, you are thankful to Bob. But the thing is, Jesus knows that when you are giving thanks to Bob, it is really Jesus that you are thankful to. It's just that you innocently do not realize it was Jesus instead of Bob. How would you know? You were told by your family, whom you have no real reason not to trust, that his name was Bob. So, God is forgiving. That is what it boils down to.

Another way to be a religious pluralist and be a Christian is to postulate that God accepts those as saved who WOULD HAVE accepted Jesus, if they were raised in a Christian culture, or if their circumstances had been different. This would account for the bizarre fact that according to statistics, far more people are accepted by God in America than in China or Indonesia. Perhaps there is a good person in Indonesia that was raised a Muslim, but IF that person had been born in America, he would have been a good Christian. So the Christian pluralist may conclude that God would save that person, out of His grace.

MOST IMPORTANTLY.....
What is it that saves a Christian? Is it not the blood of Jesus? Is it not that the Christian believes that Jesus died for his sins and rose from the dead? THIS is what saves a Christian. What the Christian believes about other doctrinal issues is not supposed to matter for salvation to be effective. According to the Bible, you are saved through faith by grace. That's it. So you have faith in the salvific death and resurrection of Jesus, and this saves you, whether or not you can recite how many books are in the Bible, or how many animals Noah took on the ark.

Answer 5

i'm with you... examining the Jewish interpretation/translation of the scriptures is what finally made me comprehend that Jesus ought to no longer were the Messiah. The Jews merely have a better appropriate argument. i imagine the region is that maximum Christians quite belive that the Jewish beliefs are the very similar as they were taught about the OT. they don't comprehend Christians replaced it somewhat, interpreted and translated it in a unique way. there isn't any longer some thing in the Tenakh about a virgin delivery, about a 2d coming, or about eternal damnation & torment. they think there is, because they have in reality been taught the Christianized version. they imagine the Jews bypass by ability of a similar version... for sure no longer.

Answer 6

See, the reason I can't buy that there is no other way to salvation is that it is terribly unfair. What happens to unbaptized babies? What about people living in a culture where they have never had the chance to even HEAR about Jesus? What about all those who lived before Jesus? I can't believe in a God of absolute love who would refuse these people his mercy.

Besides, look at the core tenants of many non-Christian religions and you'll find the same basic truths that Jesus taught. That gives them validity in my eyes.

Answer 7

No, but there is some truth to other religions, as C.S. Lewis says, because all men were once at the Tower of Babel and had known who God was, it is likely that they would pass on stories (but slowly warped) about a global flood (as exampled in Native American accounts of such a flood and the Gilgamesh Epics). However, God has given us His revelation in the Bible.

Answer 8

Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and it's gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.

Jesus said," I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.

Answer 9

Jesus died and was resurrected. We have religious and secular records of this. So the question is this: If any other religion could provide the path to God, then Jesus' death was for nothing. And as I said, we have ample secular documentation as well as religious, so the fact of Jesus' life, death & resurrection cannot be effectively denied. It is denied, but asll arguments against it can be easily defeated by the use of the availble evidence.

Answer 10

I have studied them therefore I will not try them especially secular humanism and islam because they lack competence. My beliefs are validated. There is no other way to God but thru Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior which is True Christianity.