Can There Be Only One True Religion?


Why are we here?

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.’”


The apostles wanted to know about their kingdom, their tribe. When will things be set right? When will the Romans leave and we have full sovereignty again?

Jesus doesn’t answer that question. Much like the questions I ask of God, what about my church, what about my tribe, when will our success come? Jesus doesn’t answer that. This is his answer – look outward and be my witnesses, first near, and then far, and finally everywhere.

One of the things that prevents us from obeying Jesus is our doubts about the “rightness” of witnessing to our faith. We think, “Who am I to tell someone else that my beliefs or my way of living is better than theirs?” Can there be only one true religion? If there can be, then how do we know Christianity is it?

Everyone makes absolute truth claims in their lives, especially people who say there is no absolute truth.


There is the old story about the blind men and the elephant. Several blind men are walking along and come upon an elephant that allowed them to touch and feel it.
“This creature is long and flexible like a snake” said the first blind man, holding the elephant’s trunk. “Not at all –it is thick and round like a tree trunk,” said the second blind man, feeling the elephant’s leg. “No, it is large and flat,” said the third blind man, touching the elephant’s side. Each man could feel only part of the elephant – none could envision the entire elephant. In the same way, it is argued, the religions of the world each have a grasp on part of the truth about spiritual reality, none can see the whole elephant or claim to have a comprehensive vision of the truth.

But the illustration backfires on the teller. The story is told from the point of view of someone who is not blind. How could you know that each blind man only sees part of the elephant unless you claim to be able to see the whole elephant? How could you possibly know that no religion can see the whole truth unless you yourself have the superior, comprehensive knowledge of spiritual reality you just claimed that none of the religions have?

We all base our lives on some answer to the questions of what is true and false about spiritual reality, whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, or atheist.

This is Jesus’ claim – “Father, glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” John 17.1-3

All religions are not the same.

This is the opposite of a popular notion that keeps coming around. It got a lot of attention post 9-11 when we were trying to make sense of the differences between West and Middle East. The truth is, the differences between Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity are huge. If you said to a Buddhist or a Muslim that their beliefs were basically the same as a Christian’s, they would look at you like you were crazy, and they would be right to do so. The insistence that doctrinal differences don’t matter is really a doctrine itself, and one that you find only here in the West.

Remember when the apostles went out of Judea and Samaria into Asia Minor and the Mediterranean Rim, they were going into cultures foreign to them, and the message they were bringing was a new doctrine about spiritual reality. The people of Athens said to Paul, “What is this new teaching that you are bringing?”

Paul knew that he was in a different culture, but he believed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was a message that all cultures needed to hear and receive.

Christianity translates to all cultures.

Why has Christianity, more than any other major religion of the world, been able to infiltrate so many radically different cultures? Andrew Walls writes, that:

Cultural diversity was built into the Christian faith, in Acts 15 which declared that the new gentile Christians didn’t have to enter Jewish culture. . .The converts had to work out a Greek way of being a Christian. So no one owns the Christian faith. There is no “Christian culture” the way there is an Islamic culture which you can recognize from Pakistan to Tunisia to Morocco. . .

Lamin Sanneh, a former Muslim, says that Christianity has “translatablility.” In Islam it insisted that the true Qu’ran cannot really be translated. To truly hear God’s word, you must learn Arabic. But Christianity (according to Acts) was born in the miracle of Pentecost in which every hearer heard the gospel in their own language. So no one language or culture is privileged over any other. The Bible is translated into every culture and language.



So why are we here in this particular country with its history, language, and culture? Why are we here in this northeast region where we say youins, and crick, where we pickle our eggs and our cabbage and still shoot wild animals? Why do we live in this county called Blair and this peculiar little town called Duncansville?

We are here to share Jesus in way and language people can understand.

Do you know anyone that needs Jesus?

Who do I know that has it so together they do not need Jesus?

The reality is everybody sins. Everybody dies. Everybody faces an eternity with or without Christ.

Take out your wallets and purses. Don’t worry, we’re not taking the offering just yet. Do you have any pictures in your wallet? Show them to the person sitting next to you or in front of you. If you have pictures of your kids or grandkids, point out to your neighbor how good-looking they are, your kids that is.

In those pictures, do you have a picture of someone, or can you just picture in your mind someone that you would say about them – “I’m concerned about their spiritual well-being”? Can you picture a family member, a friend, a coworker, a neighbor in your mind?

What is keeping me from pointing people toward Jesus?

If I have committed my life to this Jesus Way, this claim on spiritual and all other reality; if this is good news for me then it’s good news for everybody. What must I do to share this grace with others?

If I take the risk of pointing someone toward Jesus, who can I count on to be at work?

The answer is God. God is at work with us in this awesome calling. When we risk this we step into the stream of Holy Spirit power. There is nothing better inside or outside the church when we give the invitation to someone to come follow Jesus with us, and they accept. It’s a beautiful thing!

We are not the Church in the museum, or the Church in the bunker; we are the Church on the Move!