mercredi 7 juillet 2004
Difference in revelation
Religious pluralism espouses a new idea of revelation. Over the years, Christians have understood revelation as God's disclosure of truth to humanity. They believe He did this generally in ways accessible to all people, through nature and conscience, specifically in the Scriptures, and supremely in Jesus Christ. According to religious pluralism, truth is not disclosed to us but discovered by us through our experience. The writings of the different religions are thought to be different discoveries - through human experience - of the one God. And since the different religions are taken to be different expressions of the Absolute, each is believed to contain facets of the truth.
Most careful students of religion, however, recognize that different religions move on different axes. In truth, the similarities between Christianity and other religions are in peripheral things, not in the essentials of the faith. It is simply not correct to say that they teach essentially the same thing. Those who promote pluralism today must reckon with the fact that this attitude is completely opposite to that of the New Testament church. New Testament preachers and writers responded to the pluralism of their day with strong affirmations of the exclusiveness and supremacy of Christ.... While a view of Christ that denies His supremacy gains followers all over the world, the life and work of Jesus Himself show there are reasonable grounds for believing that Jesus is indeed supreme.
- Ajith Fernando, "The Supremacy of Christ", Crossway Books, 1995
Libellés : missions
