In Defense of the Faith

Question: There are thousands of religions in the world, each one answering to the needs of a particular culture or individual. To insist that only one (as Christians do) is right and all others wrong is, in my opinion, so narrow-minded and dogmatic as to be unbelievable. Religious exclusivism does violence to man’s right to freely choose his belief system. What kind of God would reject a sincerely held belief?

Response: I’m afraid you presuppose a god of your own making and a theology to fit your god. Suppose I said that we ought to be more broadminded about the sums of numbers and allow any answer on a math test so long as the student is sincere? Such a suggestion would be preposterous. Why? Because “narrow-minded and dogmatic” is an accusation that is absolutely senseless to make against mathematics.

The very nature of reality demands that there be unchangeable absolutes. Without definite and predictable physical laws, this universe could not function. Is it not reasonable that spiritual reality should be just as definitely defined?

Suppose you go to the examining physician for his diagnosis, and he replies: “I wouldn’t be so narrowminded and dogmatic as to come up with a definite diagnosis. What would you like? Open-heart surgery has been very popular lately; or I could transplant a kidney. I think everyone is entitled to the operation of his choice.” Would you trust yourself to such a physician? Of course not! Then how can you trust yourself to the equally foolish idea that anything goes with God, that He has no definite diagnosis of sin and no definite remedy?

Imagine this announcement coming from the cockpit of a passenger jet: “I’m not narrowminded and dogmatic. I’ll just punch some buttons and see where it takes us. All directions lead to the same destination.” Would you want to fly with that fool? Wouldn’t you prefer a narrowminded, dogmatic, fundamentalist pilot who knows where he is going and follows the rules to get there?

Your theory about religion would bring utter chaos and destruction if it were put into practice in ordinary life. Then why should it be acceptable when it comes to that which is most important in life—one’s eternal destiny? Is God less concerned about order in heaven than He is about order here on earth? Less concerned about things of the eternal spirit than of the temporal body? Hardly!

Everyone knows that to fly an airplane or practice medicine or even bake a cake, one must follow specific procedures. One can’t even play a game without rules. Then why attempt to avoid the rules that God has set in the realm of the spirit? Why not accept the good news of the gospel? That good news is explained in these verses, which are usually the first ones that every Sunday school child learns by heart:

            For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever

            believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

            For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world

            through Him might be saved.

            He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is

            condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only

            begotten Son of God (John:3:16-18 [16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. [18] He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
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Sincerity won’t get astronauts to the moon, nor will it prevent arsenic from killing the person who ingested it by mistake. Yoga won’t even pay a traffic ticket. Nor will church attendance or charitable deeds pay for past sins. It makes no sense to set out from Los Angeles to New York without a map. What folly it would be to refuse to allow a map because maps are restrictive and to insist that any road in any direction will do! How much greater is the folly of insisting that any road sincerely followed will take one to heaven!