Pluralism Sunday!

Wow--I thought I had seen it all. I came across the following article at Religion Press (I don't endorse the site--I'm just stating my sources). This particular article is not really about apologetics, but it certainly reminds us of how important it is for Christians to study the evidence and proof for why we believe what we believe!

The article reports that tomorrow, Sunday, May 11, 2008--yes, Mother's Day and Pentecost Sunday--is also occupied by another great Hallmark holiday: Pluralism Sunday!

Here's the report:

Pluralism Sunday - May 11, 2008 - Worldwide Christian churches around the world will celebrate Pluralism Sunday on May 11 in worship - in recognition that other religions may be as good for others as their faith is good for them. The worship services will include speakers from other faiths, and music and liturgical elements from other religions, honoring the religious diversity of the world.

Pluralism Sunday is sponsored by The Center for Progressive Christianity...a network of over 5000 affiliates and nearly 400 churches nationwide which have adopted a "Welcome Statement" that affirms that other religions can be as good for their followers as Christianity is for Christians. Churches in Australia, New Zealand and Britain are also participating in Pluralism Sunday. "We do not claim that our religion is superior to all others. Instead, we celebrate that we can grow closer to God and grow deeper in compassion, and we can understand our own traditions better, through a deeper awareness of the world's religions," says Rev. Jim Burklo, the event's national coordinator.

Here are the plans of a few of the other churches participating in Pluralism Sunday around the U.S.: Epiphany Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Fenton, Michigan, has invited a Zen Buddhist with a Christian background to be the preacher that day "so that we can experience the similarities of our faith paths," according to Anne Lerche, the pastor Mizpah United Church of Christ in Hopkins, MN, will do a pulpit exchange with Bet Shalom Temple (Jewish) on Fri, May 9, and Sunday, May 11.

The Prince of Peace Church in Anniston, Alabama, will conduct a service that will include readings from the Muslim and Buddhist traditions, and hopes to have a guest speaker from a local mosque. Barbara Currie, pastor of the Congregational Church in Deering, NH, will preach about how Jesus is the church's gate to God, yet there are other equally important and creditable gates to God for other people.

WHAT?!?!

Either the Bible is true or it isn't. And either Jesus Christ is the ONLY way, truth, and life, or He isn't. Pluralism asks us to believe that what we follow as truth is probably not really true. If it were true, we would be trying to convert all these people from other religions rather than giving them our pulpits!

To be fair, the so-called "Christian" churches that are participating in "Pluralism Sunday" are not really Christian at all. To be a Christian is to be a "lover of the Truth." It is to view Jesus Christ as the ONLY way to the Father. It is to believe that He died, rose to life, and ascended into heaven so that we could be set free from sin, given new life in the power of the Holy Spirit, and invited into intimacy with our Father in heaven. It is to see that apart from Christ, we would be hell-bound...and such is the condition of people serving false gods and false religions.

But, then again, maybe there is something to be said about the so-called "Christians" celebrating Pluralism Sunday. At least they identify themselves as a religion! They're right--there is nothing about their religion that is of any more benefit than any other religion. They don't have a crucified, risen, and ascended Lord and Savior of all who has been exalted above every rule, power, title, and authority in Heaven and on Earth. They don't serve the Jesus who has been given the name above every name--the Jesus whom God has placed "all things under His feet." They're just an empty religion.

Real Christianity is not a religion--it is a relationship. Yes, we may carry out some practices in a religious way, but Christianity at its core is a relationship with our Father in heaven that has been made possible by Jesus Christ paying the necessary sacrifice for our sin with His own blood. That's not a religion--it's a world-transforming reality!

I suppose it makes sense that these religions can be seen as interchangeable. An empty "Christianity" like the one in the above article is just as dead as a gathering of Satanists...and probably more dangerous.

I encourage you to dig into apologetics--we all need to make sure our hope in Christ is unshakeable!

--Art--