Inter-faith Relations, One of Many Ways to God or an Abomination to God? (Part 4)

There are HUGE differences between the major religions of the world. A person faced with this fact has several choices in what to believe:

• Religion is made up by human beings and there is no God.
• There is one true God and all of the other gods are false.
• There is one God and all religions point to that one God.
• There is one God and some of the religions point to that God and the other religions are wrong.
• There are many gods and they are in competition with each other.

The Christian faith, Reformed Tradition and the Presbyterian Church have held that there is one God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), known and revealed through Jesus Christ and God’s written word (the Bible). THIS MEANS that the other religions of the world do not lead to God. Following these other “gods” results in breaking one of the commandments.

The Bible is clear in what will happen to a person who does not worship the one true God. Jesus called us to go to take the gospel to all ethnic groups and make disciples of them--failure to do so is going against Jesus’ direct command. We must remember that Jesus said that not everyone who called him “Lord” would be allowed into his kingdom! The implications are clear—do what he says or you (or I) may not find ourselves in the Kingdom of God for all eternity.

Here is the challenge—how does a church or the PCUSA enter into inter-faith relations and still recognize that we are to be about the process of leading the followers of those other faiths to Jesus Christ?