Christianity in Dialogue with the World

Dave sent this article to the staff at ChristLife the other day, and I found it pretty interesting. Peter Kreeft, a philosophy professor at Boston College and a Christian apologist, works from a logical perspective as he writes about 12 common beliefs that Christians come in contact with when they share their faith with others. The essay, “The Uniqueness of Christianity,” deserves to be read in its entirety, but here are a few key passages:

The objection is not that Christianity is not true but that it is not the truth; not that it is a false religion but that it is only a religion...This is the single most common objection to the Faith today, for “today” worships not God but equality. It fears being right where others are wrong more than it fears being wrong. It worships democracy and resent the fact that God is an absolute monarch.

This really is at the heart of it. Democracy is more comfortable than monarchy. At least in democratic societies, we can claim a vote, claim to have a little bit of power. If God is King, if Christianity is the truth, then we’re entirely dependant on Him.

It’s a lot more comfortable to think of religion as a journey in which we can take whatever highway we please and still reach God in the end. We get to be driver’s seat. We get to be in control. However, as Kreeft explains,

Christianity is not a system of man’s search for God but a story of God’s search for man. True religion is not like a cloud of incense wafting up from special spirits into the nostrils of a waiting God, but like a Father’s hand thrust downward to rescue the fallen.

That’s the message that we have to convey: that while God is an absolute monarch, King of the Universe, Lord of Lords, he is also Father, Abba, a Person to be loved and a Person who so loved the world that He gave His only son (John 3:16). That Son told us that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that all must go through Him to get to the Father (John 14:6).

Of course, as Kreeft points out, the exclusivity of this message tends to rub some people the wrong way. And he answers objections in this vein, like “It fosters religious imperialism to insist that your way is the only way,” and “All religions are the same, deep down.” While going through each of his responses would take more words than a reasonable blog post, I’d like to close with his reply to the belief “All God expects of us is sincerity.”

How do you know what God expects of us? Have you listened to God's revelation? Isn't it dangerous to assume without question or doubt that God must do exactly what you would do if you were God? Suppose sincerity were not enough; suppose truth was needed too…
The…implicit assumption here is that there is no objective truth in religion, only subjective sincerity, so that no one can ever be both sincere and wrong… True sincerity wants to know the truth.

As these objections are obstacles that we must overcome in the new evangelization, it’s great to have Kreeft’s essay as a resource for simple answers to some common questions.

May the Holy Spirit make us truly sincere and grow in our desire to know the Truth, which is Christ.