Proclaimer Blog
Interfaith. Nonsense. But believed nonsense.
Just watching the Mandela thanksgiving service in South Africa. Right at the start, there are prayers (contributions, really) from Rabbi, Hindu leader, Imam and Anglican Archbishop. Each is praying to "their" god with the unexplained assumption that each god is the same. It's nonsense really. They're contradictory in what they're saying – for example, the Muslim prays to Allah who is "unlike any other in all his attributes." I'm not sure what the actual participants believe – I take it that the Imam is unlikely to embrace multi-faithism.
But none of that seems to matter. The irony is that, to onlookers at least, the multi-faith approach is not inclusive. Rather, it diminishes every religion. For if all these (and presumably more) lead to god (whoever he/she is) then there are other equally valid lines to him too. So, holy men. We need none of you. This, it seems to me, is the absurdity of multi-faith approaches. Every one is ridiculed by it, and all emptied of whatever meaning they have.
This is almost certainly the way public events are going in the UK. We already see seeds of this. And it will be accepted without a twitch by the UK public because this nonsense is what is believed anyway. If there is a god (and I accept that many would dispute that), then my way to him is as equally valid as yours. It may be nonsense, but it is believed nonsense.
Which all goes to show, Mr Preacher, how those of us who have the high calling of publicly proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Saviour must do so without compromise. We must not be afraid to say that Christianity is unique and not just one amongst many ways. We need to tackle that directly and proclaim the uniqueness of Christ as his Scriptures teach.