Jesus Christ – Unique and All Sufficient
In his address to the first Parliament of World’s Religions which met in Chicago in 1893, Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda recited a hymn which met with the approval of most who were in attendance. In part, the hymn says: “As the different streams having their sources in different places all min
gle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.” To reinforce the message of the hymn, the Swami then quoted the following verse from the Hindu Book Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to Me.”
A century later author Erwin Lutzer attended the Parliament’s meeting in Chicago, and in his Christ Among Other gods, he reports that this same all paths lead to God theme permeated the 1993 conference. According to Lutzer “At times, Jesus was variously admired, quoted, and favourably compared to other religious teachers, ancient and modern.” However, Jesus was treated as “only one enlightened man among many.” Evidently, some described Him as “a revealer of God, a man who had achieved the highest degree of enlightenment,” some spoke of Him as “the Master of Masters,” but in Lutzer’s words, “though He was respected, He was not worshipped.”
Given the declared mission of the Parliament, these comments by attendees are not surprising. More surprising is the fact that according to a 2017 Barna Poll “almost three in 10 (28%) practicing Christians (in the
US – Rex) strongly agree that ‘all people pray to the same god or spirit, no matter what name they use for that spiritual being’ (www.barna.com). And therein lies the problem. Whereas God does not share His glory with enlightened teachers (Isa 42:8) He does bestow divine glory upon Jesus (Jn 17:5). That’s why Jesus will not permit us to simply revere Him as an extraordinary man, but instead demands that we fall at His feet and ascribe to Him the glory and honour due the Lord of creation (Phil 2:5-11).
0 Comments