Pluralism In David’s Day:
The other night we were studying Psalm 96 a glorious psalm proclaiming God’s majesty. The bible study guide that we were using pointed out that many of the people of the day were practicing other religions (not surprising). The study also seemed to indicate that the religious plurisum was a rampant cultural phenomenon then as well as today. The undertones of the questions asked seemed to define plurisum with the belief that ‘there is no one right way to God’. Most of the Christians that I know get really scarred and shut conversations off when statements like that arise. Because of this I have only had a few brief encounters with such subjects.

Start the Conversation:
I think this conversation becomes much easier to have when you shift from the idea that people are worshiping ‘many gods’ to the idea that people have created religion as an attempt to try to understand God (as only one God exists anyhow). Now that we have done this we can examine the religions (including all forms of Christianity) and not argue about one God and many gods. When we look at the way that each religion in its own way falls pretty short of completely capturing all that God is, we become less judgmental.

Truth and Wikipedia:
So what happens with idea of truth when you say that all religions hold at least some good ideas about what God is like? All religions are misguided because men create them. I find more guidance by what Wikipedia has to say on the subject than many of the so-called bible study books I have read on the subject. Here are a few Wikipedia quotes:

“There is not absolute religion, denomination or affiliation.”

“ … no religion is completely true and there is an infinite reality, or God, that is beyond the ability of any single religion to capture with total accuracy. Instead, all religions make an attempt at capturing this reality, but this always occurs within a cultural and historical context that affects the viewpoints of the faith’s holders.”

“Many people hold that it is both permissible and imperative for people of all faiths to develop some form of religious pluralism. They believe that it is intellectually valid to do so because since Biblical times, humanity’s understanding of man’s place in the natural world has changed radically, due to advances in science; since Biblical times, philosophers have challenged humanity to rethink the notion of truth, and the very way that language is used itself…”

This is what I think I know as of today:
My own religion holds many diversions from “trueness” as do many other religions. My bible is a collection of words inspired by God, as it is rightly translated and passed down. As men have created other religions they may have very likely stumbled onto some of the “trueness” of the one God

About Questioning:
If we are not afraid to question our own religious precepts (the rules and traditions we made up) we may learn many valuable lessons. If we are not afraid to questions the religions of others we may learn even more. If man created religion man deserves to be questioned. That is the model that Jesus set as he questioned the religious men of his day.

What if Christians started questioning their own religious practices more often? What happens when they invite others that have practiced another religion to question Christianity along side of them? If it is the inspired word of God that states, ‘knock and the door will be open, see and you shall find’. Maybe we need to start knocking a little louder. Knocking a little harder. Bring our friends who practice other faiths to knock with us. Maybe if we spend more time with others (including those of other faiths) we can understand the ways and the life of Jesus better than we could have on our own.