Questions Week 5 Day 5
DAY 5 THURSDAY
But do Jesus’ unique claims and identity invalidate other religions completely? Before addressing this question tomorrow, I want to reflect on another fact that seems to make a purely pluralist position impossible and untenable. That fact is the actual disagreement among the different religions about central issues. The law of noncontradiction says that two contradictory claims cannot both be true at once, and this law is the basis of our reason. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism, for instance, differ starkly in many basic ways. They see God’s character and will differently. In Buddhism God is not personal, and in Hinduism there are many gods. These traditions differ on the purposes of human life, the roles of men and women, the relationship of faith and politics, the nature of Heaven, the way revelation works, and the shape and purpose of a faith community. Since different religions describe different Gods and different understanding of what religion is, how can they all be true? How can they all be equivalent? Have you studied other religions? If not, why not?
FAMILY TIME— Take one other religious tradition and explain what it is about.