Board index ‹ Assorted Bible Questions

[Iron Maiden]

Since you're a Christian, I will assume that means that there are lots of gods you don't follow. You don't believe that mythic figures such as Zeus, Osiris, Thor, Baal, or Astarte were real entities, nor do you believe in those gods that some are still worshipped today, such as Ganesha, or even "offshoots" of the Abrahamic god such as Allah or the loa of the Vodoun.

Why not?

If my initial assumption is faulty , please correct me, but I have to imagine that your acceptance of Jesus means your rejection of all the other gods and goddesses that some part of humanity have worshipped in the last ten thousand years. Without referring to the things you do believe, will you please tell me why you do not believe in, say, Odin or Aphrodite or The Flying Spaghetti Monster?

[jimwalton]

You are right that there are lots of gods we don't follow. It is impossible to believe in the equality of religions and still be a Christian. All religions can't be equally true. Some beliefs are false, and we know them to be false. If all beliefs are equally true, we have just made a self-contradictory statement: To regard all religions as equally true is sheer nonsense for the simple reason that to deny that statement would also, then, be true. All religions can only be equal if none of them has any meaning—that is, if none of them is true (referring to reality). The very idea of all gods being valid implies that religions are a matter of taste, no different from interior decorating.

There is such a thing as objective truth. In the real world of right and wrong, justice and injustice, life and death, truth matters. All religions are not the same. All religions don't point to God. All religions don't say that all religions are the same. Christianity and other religions contradict each other. We know for a fact that they can't all be true, even though all religions contain some truth. Their contradictions don't tell us which one is true, but we know at the very least they can't all be true. To sound graciously tolerant by saying "I accept all religions" is actually either to violate them all or violate reason, or both. The thinking person must honestly weigh the evidence and come to the right conclusion.

There are three tests for truth: (1) logical consistency, (2) empirical adequacy, and (3) experiential relevance. Simply put, Christianity fulfills all three, and the other religions do not. Rational critiques of mythic figures, and even Hinduism and Islam reveal that they do not meet the ordinary tests of truth.

Christianity also offers a unique metaphysics. In contrast to other religions, the Christian God reveals himself to be absolutely independent and self-contained, yet also absolutely personal, both transcendent and immanent. God is personal and communicates personally. We don't believe in Aphrodite or the Flying Spaghetti Monster because reasoning shows them to fail the tests for truth. This doesn't mean there aren't elements of truth in all religions, because there are. But they are not true.