Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The Gospel of John
14:6
Grace:
These words of Jesus, so sacred to Christians, are often used as words of comfort at Christian funerals. Yet heard outside Christian tradition or misunderstood within it, they can be bitterly divisive, especially if they are interpreted to mean that non-Christians have no access to God or that only Christians who declare their faith in a certain way—using specific words or performing a specific ritual—are “saved.” In an earlier statement within this same biblical passage, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.”[1] Later Jesus emphasizes once again that the Father dwells with those who “obey my teaching.”[2] Thus, as a Christian, I believe that I come to the Father through striving to live a Christ-like life, a life rooted in the sacrificial way of love—love without conditions and without exceptions.
Yasmina:
Muslims understand the way to God as a path, referred to in
the Quran as the “straight way,” and defined as “the way of those on whom Thou hast
bestowed Thy Grace, those whose portion is not wrath and who go not astray.”[3] God has shown this path to
all of His prophets and messengers,
including Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jesus and finally Muhammad [Peace and Blessings
be upon them all]. One reference to these
honored prophets reads: “Those were some of the prophets on whom God did bestow
His Grace, of the posterity of Adam, and of those who We carried [in the Ark]
with Noah, and of the posterity of Abraham and Israel of those whom We guided
and chose. Whenever the Signs of God Most Gracious were rehearsed to them, they
would fall down in prostrate adoration and in tears.”[4] As a Muslim, I revere
Jesus [Peace and Blessings be upon him] as the Messiah who was born of an
immaculate birth. I follow the teachings of God in the Quran and I humbly strive
to emulate the character of Muhammad [Peace and Blessings be upon him], who
gave the perfect example for loving and serving God and His creation, and
embodied the true meaning of Islam.
Tziporah:
I admire Grace for choosing a challenging text,
which she described as having been “used too often in terribly disparaging,
exclusionary ways.” It immediately
brings to my mind the many times I learned that Judaism allows all people of
faith entry to olam ha-ba, the world
to come, provided that they uphold 7 basic laws.[5]
This teaching was often invoked by Jewish Studies professors to demonstrate
Judaism’s superiority as a universal and welcoming religion. This assertion—that all religious paths are
acceptable but only mine is the
“truth”—has proven personally dissatisfying and, at times, destructive to
relationships between people of different faiths. I can certainly appreciate
how this idea originated with the early rabbis, perhaps in response to emerging
Christian teachings that acceptance of Jesus was the only path to
redemption. I can also see why later
rabbis perpetuated it through centuries of persecution and forced conversion of
Jews to Christianity. Nevertheless, I am
uncomfortable with our apparent compulsion to declare ourselves and our beliefs
as most right and exclusively true. I
pray that in the world to come, humanity will have evolved to accept the Baha’i
teaching that all religions express a single Divine purpose[6]
and serve as multiple paths leading to God’s presence in paradise.
[1] The Gospel of John 14:2
[2]
The Gospel of John 14:23
[3] al-Fatihah, 1:7
[4] Maryam, 19:58
[5] Jeffrey Spitzer's excellent explanation of Noahide
Laws is at www.myjewishlearning.com.
[6] This is reflected in the Baha’i teaching
of The Oneness of Religion.
