Friday morning theology

A sure way to launch me into orbit is to make a hateful or bigoted statement, then use Biblical scripture to justify it.

A recent letter to the editor in our local newspaper used this technique to explain why we should condemn all Muslims and convert them to Christianity.

Here’s my take.

We need to appreciate that there are many pathways to God, and that when Jesus said, “I am way, I am truth, I am life,” he probably was adding himself as another way to God, not declaring all other ways invalid.

I have always been taught to view Christ in a larger perspective and emphasize inclusion rather than exclusion. God is a God of love, and those who live in love know God. That is the emphasis of the First Epistle of John, "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God" (I John 4:7 - one of my favs).

I believe that Christ came to reveal to us a God who cares for all people. He constantly broke boundaries and found faith in unexpected places. In a Roman Centurion, he discovered a faith greater than any among his own people (Luke 7:1-10). In John's Gospel Jesus said, "I have other sheep which are not of this fold …" (John 10:16).

I encourage you to reach your own conclusion. For one thing, become familiar with Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and other faiths, see what they truly proclaim, see how faithful adherents of those pathways actually live. I think you will find them very similar to the ways decent Christians live.

We make God too small when we think that only people who think like us can know God.