{"id":2215,"date":"2013-03-28T15:05:30","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T20:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.totellyouthetruth.net\/?p=2215"},"modified":"2013-03-28T15:05:30","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T20:05:30","slug":"being-loose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davecruver.com\/?p=2215","title":{"rendered":"Being Loose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christianity is necessarily true. Without the Person and Work of Jesus of Nazareth, we are left in our sin and without hope. But aren’t all religions true in some ways? Aren’t there many paths to God?<\/p>\n

Is it easy? Not always. Will you receive everything you ever wanted in this life? Most likely not.<\/p>\n

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Maybe you\u2019ve heard the parable of the six blind men and the elephant. In this parable, six blind men feel a different part of an elephant and come to different conclusions regarding what the elephant is actually like. One blind man grabs the tusk and says, \u201cAn elephant is like a spear!\u201d Another feels the trunk and concludes, \u201cAn elephant is like a snake!\u201d The blind man hugging the leg thinks, \u201cAn elephant is like a tree!\u201d The one holding the tail claims, \u201cAn elephant is like a rope!\u201d Another feeling the ear believes, \u201cAn elephant is like a fan!\u201d The last blind man leaning on the elephant\u2019s side exclaims, \u201cAn elephant is like a wall!\u201d This parable is often used to illustrate a view known as religious pluralism. Like the blind men, no religion has the truth. Rather, all religions are true in that they accurately describe their personal experience and the spiritual reality they encounter, given various historical and cultural backgrounds. There are various types of religious pluralism, but one way to define it is as follows: \u201cthe view that all religious roads \u2013 certainly all major or ethical ones \u2013 lead to God or to ultimate reality and salvation.\u201d This idea is commonly reflected in such statements as \u201cAll religions basically teach the same thing\u201d or \u201cAll roads lead to the top of the mountain.\u201d The elephant parable, while attractive to many, suffers from a number of problems.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n