In our day in age, where tolerance and coexistence are exalted as the pillars of religious and social utopia, Christianity’s claim that Jesus is the Only Way to salvation is becoming increasingly more and more unpopular.
Many people outside of Christianity say many things in response, such as:
“How can you be so exclusive?”; “It’s so arrogant to think there is only one way for salvation, and that you know!”; “What about the innocent, hopeless people who never hear the gospel?”; “I know plenty of non-Christians who are much better people than some proclaiming Christians I know!”
I understand all these objections, and I have encountered them countless times from both students and faculty in the university atmosphere. However, I want to point out a contradiction that is implied in the standpoint that perceives Christianity to be only exclusive and the philosophy of pluralism to be only inclusive. In fact, there seems to be common belief that exclusivity and inclusivity are fundamentally opposing terms, like repelling magnets. It’s either be inclusive or exclusive. But I believe, as this blog will point out, that the relationship of these two seemingly contradictory terms actually functions as a striking paradox, and not as an antithesis, in the gospel of Christ.
Let’s dissect this a bit:
For one, Christianity is exclusive. It proclaims one ultimate problem of humanity (sin), one ultimate need of humanity (salvation), and one ultimate Savior for humanity (Jesus). It levels the playing field among all people by announcing that all are equally in need for the same Savior. But here’s the kicker: Christianity’s proclamation of exclusivity, one Savior for all people, is also its proclamation of inclusivity: one Savior for all people. Christianity’s principle of exclusivity implies its principle of inclusivity, and its principle of inclusivity involves its principle of exclusivity. Its exclusivity and inclusivity fundamentally necessitate and presuppose each other, such that each principle doesn’t work at odds with the other, but functions only together. Christianity’s exclusive ‘one savior’ decree is softened by its inclusive ‘for all people’ news. In addition, Jesus is the Savior because he is the only savior and for all people. In fact, an ultimate savior is made ‘ultimate’ by those conditions.
On the other hand, religious pluralism is the philosophy of tolerance and coexistence that fundamentally teaches that there is no absolute truth or one way for salvation, and that salvation is given to those who live respectably according to their own personal, private, and pragmatic systems of morality and religion (whatever it be, i.e. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Agnosticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Humanism etc.). This sounds great, appealing, and personally palatable, I’ll admit.
However, in pluralism’s aim to be as inclusive as possible by accepting every religion–as long as people are ‘good enough’ or are ‘good people’ or don’t harm others–they inevitably become exactly what they are trying to avoid: exclusive. Their exclusivity stems from the idea that you have to be ‘good enough’, which means that those who aren’t ‘good enough’ will be excluded. It leaves no hope for moral failures, outcasts, and rebels. There is no hope for those who have a problem they can’t shake, a habit they can’t break, and a past they can’t escape. And there is no hope for the person whose scales are more heavily weighed with wrongs than rights.
Indeed, pluralism’s notion of inclusivity for all people will invariably lead to exclusivity, because some people will be ‘better’ than others. But on what basis is someone measured ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than another? This problem uncovers an underlying fallacy: pluralism establishes an arbitrary, relative basis of morality, leaving people to be the judge of their own standing and the standings of others for salvation. And if we are all using different standards of measuring our morality, then how can we know? We can’t.
Christianity differs, claiming that all people are moral failures, outcasts, and rebels because of our sin nature, which has estranged our hearts in self-lordship since birth. And it judges our attempts at righteousness upon the standard of God’s holiness. Thus, it renders all people to depend on God’s grace to the same degree for salvation; and God extends the same degree of grace to all people through one Christ.
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To conclude, let’s end with several comparisons:
Christianity’s inclusivity and exclusivity for salvation is based on Christ’s righteousness for you, not your own righteousness–Christ being the savior. Pluralism’s inclusivity and exclusivity for salvation is determined by your own righteous living–you being the savior.
Pluralism’s exclusivity and inclusivity hinges upon what you do or don’t do. But Christianity’s exclusivity and inclusivity hinges upon what Christ has done for you.
Pluralism, then, is not as exclusive as Christianity and not as inclusive as Christianity. And conversely, Christianity, then, is more exclusive than pluralism and more inclusive than pluralism.
Pluralism’s inclusiveness comes from the idea that all people can be ‘good enough’, and its exclusiveness can be implicated from the reality that not everyone will be ‘good enough’, nor does it provide a standard to measure ‘good enough’ anyways.
Christianity’s inclusiveness comes from the reality that no one will ever be good enough, and exclusiveness comes from the fact that only One has been good enough–and he offers that one salvation as a gift for all people. Christianity says there is one, exclusive Savior, who inclusively welcomes all people to himself for salvation–no matter their track record.
Christianity, then, is the most exclusive and most inclusive religion. It has one door, but it’s a door that everyone can walk through–a type of inclusiveness opened for all people, which is an inclusiveness that even pluralism can’t manage to achieve.
Indeed, Jesus is the exclusive savior who inclusively invites all people. It all hinges on Jesus.
And if it all hinges on Jesus, then he is the only, exclusive door unto this ever-inclusive salvation.
