Do We All Worship the Same God?
In an effort to avoid offending anyone, we often hear such claims as, “We all worship the same God.” Well, do we? This is an important question! If we don’t and we say that we do, consequences follow.
I’m reminded of Christopher Seitz, author of Nicene Christianity, who commented on the “God at 2000″ conference. At this conference, Marcus Borg claimed:
I grew up in a time and place where it was taken for granted that Christianity was the only true religion and Jesus the only way to salvation… I find it literally incredible to think that the God of the whole universe has chosen to be know in only one religious tradition.
This statement expresses the pluralism which so characterizes religious thought in western religion today. Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and every other -ism all really worship the same God, so we should not be divisive by claiming to have “the” truth about God. There is a problem with this statement - It cannot be correct! For example, Christians claim that Jesus Christ is God and to reject Him is to reject God. Islam claims that Christ is not God and to equate any other being with God is the unforgiveable sin. Are both correct? Hardly. One commenter at the “God at 2000″ conference rightly summed up the conference when she said:
Surely, there is no one participating in this conference who really believes that this conference is about God at 2000. This conference is about us at 2000.
Seitz also quotes an Islamic follower who was present at the conference who provided sound advice:
If you accept that your religion is relative you will not follow it. There must be something of absoluteness within religion… Otherwise, there weill just be languages that don’t mean anything.
Well said!