I have a friend who thinks all religions are the same.

My name is Gary Priddy, I am the pastor here, but I wasn’t always a pastor. In fact I spent much of my life living as though God and his desire to be in a relationship with me just wasn’t that important.

I wasn’t bad mind you. In fact if I had died back then, you would have come to my funeral and thought…he was a pretty good guy.

THat’s one thing that

There are somethings in life that when I became a pastor, I got a unique perspective on.

He was a good person....she’s in a better place…They weren’t really a Christian, but It doesn’t really matter what you believe, but they were a sincere person.

Elephant Parable

Tail - Rope

Leg - tree

Side - wall

Ear - fan

Tusk - spear

Trunk - snake

The pluralist wants us to see that they all are honestly observing what they can.

The elephant is God, and none of them can comprehend God because they are spiritually blind. What’s important is that they are faithful to their understanding of God.

None of them are completely right...because, all of them are blind.

I love this parable, not because it proves that the monk in Tibet who prays and lives a peaceful life is going to heaven too....no I love this parable because it teaches us two things. First, the parable screams the obvious truth that we are blind to seeing God for who he REALLY is. All these blind guys either need someone to explain to them what they are seeing, someone with a prophetic voice who can tell them to truth, or the elephant must reveal himself in a supernatural way to these blind seekers.

Unless God reveals himself we have no chance of comprehending him or grasping his love for us and his will for our lives here on earth.

Many though use this parable to teach pluralism. The idea that all Gods’ are essentially the same, all religions are the same. They hear this parable to say that since none of them have the full picture, then none of them are wrong, that all of them see the truth but only a partial truth.

That what matters is sincerity.

It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere. The monk in Tibet who fasts, and prays, and lives a peaceful life is worshiping the same God as you and I, just in a different way.

That what matters is sincerity.

A lot of our friends believe this. There are a lot of folks who consider themselves Christians who believe this.

I never thought much about how prevalent this was before I became a pastor. I really didn’t. Some things I did think about, Jesus, heaven, The Holy Spirit, fried chicken. But how many people believed in the sincerity principle wasn’t one of them.

No problem with spirituality

He was a good person....she’s in a better place...

No problem with spirituality

No problem with “God”

No problem with eternity

The problem people have is with Jesus, because Jesus made some pretty significant claims in his life.

Sincerity is the main issue.

If that’s you…or if that’s someone you care about. I would ask them to do one thing. Not commit to Jesus and become a Christian....while I would love that it may be too big a leap for you to take today. What I want for you to do, for them to do is just consider the life and claims of Jesus. Just look at His life, and consider it as it was.

The problem is, all the blind men needed someone to reveal the truth to them.

You see in the parable of the Elephant, the problem is, all the blind men needed someone to reveal the truth to them. The Bible teaches us that that’s exactly what Jesus came to do.

John 14:6 NIV84

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

All world religions are NOT the same. True each one has some truth and each one has some beauty to it, but they are NOT the same.

Buddhism there is no god, no self, no final existence, countless rebirth—end cycle.

All world religions are not the same—some truth & beauty all—not same.

· Buddhism no god, no self, no final existence, countless rebirth—end cycle.

Hinduism—impersonal god—approached thru deities/statues/idols.

· Bud & Hind don’t offer forgiveness of sins or supernatural help—karma.

Bud & Hind don’t offer forgiveness of sins or supernatural help—rely on karma to bring about balance in the world.

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Muslim—worship Allah—personal god—no secondary gods and a total ban on idols. sounds good so far. IN fact I would say if we talked to a Muslim person, we would probably find that ethically we have much in common with them. The problem is in the Muslim faith, your standing before God depends on your religious devotion and works.

New Age—no personal god, God is just a higher consciousness— God is everywhere, the universe or cosmos; In NA, we are all spiritual, and as spirit beings, we can channel good or evil into and through our lives here on earth. There are many versions of NA religion, but all fall back to the teaching that there is no personal God.

Christianity—personal God—sent Jesus—show us love—forgiveness

All world religions are not the same—some truth & beauty all—not same.

Consider Jesus

John 14:1–11 NIV84

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Consider the ministry of Jesus.

Mark 2:16–17 NIV84

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Think of the ones Jesus reached out to. Those are the ones that Jesus reached out to, loved and accepted.

One of his closest followers was one who stole from his people and was loyal to Rome. He rescued and forgave the woman caught in adultery. He healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, the mute. Lepers he made clean. Turned water to wine, raised the dead, walked on water, multiplied the loaves and fishes before thousands, and cast out demons.

Caught in adultery—Without sin—throw first stone!

All throughout his ministry, not a single one of his opponents questioned his miracles or said he was a fraud....what they questioned was his declaration of being the Son of God. Because they expected something different.

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Some of our friends are expecting something different, some of you may be expecting something different…That was true for me, I expected judgement from God. Not love and acceptance. I didn't’ think God could love a person like me, what all I had done, but what I discovered that screw-ups, mess-ups are Jesus’s specialty. And that’s a good thing because I’m not the only screw-up or former screw-up in the room. Some of you have experienced the ministry of Jesus. Maybe our friends need to hear our story, who we used to be before we experienced the ministry of Jesus first hand.

but step back and consider his ministry,

Then

Opened blind eyes, Healed deaf ears, Mute to speak, Heals lepers

Water to wine, Walked on water, L&F, Raised dead

Critics didn’t question his miracles—just wanted him to stop!

Some of you are miracles!

Consider the resurrection of Jesus.

I mean, consider how much God loves us and at the same time hates sin. He loves us so much he gave his son who would die that the penalty of sin would be overcome.

Loves us—hates sin!

Father forgive them—It is finished—Into Your Hands

Cross—centurion—Surely this was son of God!

3 days later—stone was rolled away!

Acts 3:15 NIV84

15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

The Romans could have put an end to this resurrection talk…all they had to do was go to the tomb and pull out the body, but they couldn’t.

Father forgive them—It is finished—Into Your Hands

Cross—centurion—Surely this was son of God!

The story they tried to promote was the disciples when and beat down the guards at the tomb and took Jesus’s body so they could then say Jesus had come back to life.

3 days later—stone was rolled away!

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. (Peter)

Roman soldiers stole body—Enemies would have loved produce dead body.

Disciples took body—Overpower Roman guards—testimony of guards

But that means that 11 uneducated average men devised the most elaborate and deceptive plan in history. Then actually pulled it off.

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you really expect any rational thinking person to believe

Do you really expect any rational thinking person to believe

Fooled the rest of the followers into believing that Jesus had rose for the dead and lead them into developing one of the most world changing movements of all time while gaining nothing personally.

11 small town, uneducated average men devised most elaborate and deceptive

And all 11 of them died keeping it a secret. Not just dying, but dying what is recorded as some of the most cruel deaths, comparable to that of Jesus, without saying a word.

Pulled it off—kept it a secret

Tremendous personal loss—death!

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2000 years later—massive persecution—more than 2 billion follow Jesus!

Including this couple from Laos. I got a request to pray for them in my email from the Voice of the Martyrs. An organization that organizes prayer for Christians around the world. They live in an animist village, and because they believe in the resurrection.

Consider the resurrection.

Consider the teaching of Jesus.

Many other faiths teach that we have to live a more pure life as the Buddhist, live a sinless life as the Muslim.

But Jesus teaches something very different.

Romans 3:22 NIV84

22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,

This is Paul the apostle teaching here. Paul who grew up learning to live into the Jewish covenant that it mattered who you were born to be.

IF you were born jew you were in.

You may also remember he was struck blind while on his way to round up some Christians in order to have them killed. Stuck blind, then having his eyes opened. Not only his physical sight, but through an encounter with Jesus right on the side of the road, his spiritual eyes were opened. and now he saw.

That righteousness didn’t come by being born Jewish and orienting your life around the Law. Righteousness came by faith in Jesus.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

What I do What Jesus has done

About me About Jesus

Religion VS Relationship

Do Done

If I obey God will love me Because God loves me can obey Relationship

What I do VS What Jesus has done

About me VS About Jesus

Do VS Done

If I obey God will love me VS Because God loves me can obey

We have to… We get to… Obligation—Response.

I saaid earlier I loved the parable of the elephant for two reasons, one is that it shows us the need for a revelation and the second is it teaches us the need for humility.

WE were all blind to Jesus, but now we see. It’s not of our own ability that we see, its of God’s. Yes Jesus loves me, but I only know that because God has blessed me with the ability to see. In humility we are given the task of telling others what we see, not from a place of pride, but out of humility, we ask others to consider Jesus,

Because

Jesus—loves—you!

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