Standing Alone; or: Religions Do Not Share Teleological Perspectives

In the introduction to a fantastic essay on faith, knowledge, and fideism, my good friend Chibi made a passing reference to the difference between Christianity and other religions. At the time, Chibi lamented that there was no place for that discussion within the essay. As her friend and fellow schemer, I will now pick up the dropped thread and attempt to weave a section of the fabulous tapestry that Chibi and I both defend.1

We’ve all heard the complaints many times: why can’t all religions just get along? Why do they always have to fight each other over unimportant stuff when there’s people dying of hunger and AIDS in Africa? Aren’t they all saying the same thing, anyway? 2

The answer is, not at all. Religion is INCREDIBLY important to the human race. Religions disagree over the origin of men, the nature of God, and thus: what the purpose is of men on earth. Why are we here? Our purpose on this planet decides whether we should help the sick and starving in Africa. Our purpose, you see, decides what our DUTIES are. If there is a God and he made us for a purpose, then we must have moral obligations and/or duties that he calls us to complete. Science and the study of nature can’t tell us anything about who we are, why we’re here, what duties we have, and how God relates to us. If a scientist attempts to answer these teleological questions (teleological means ‘related to purpose’), he is no longer being scientific but philosophic – and religious. 3

I can’t argue for religions other than Christianity, since I believe they are all man’s creation. But I will attempt to show, in this essay, how and why Christianity is unique among all religions. Christianity is unique in its treatment of man, it’s treatment of God’s nature, and its view of the relationship between God and man.4

Most people, including many of my readers (I assume), believe that man is a basically good creature. Sure, he messes up sometimes, but if he does enough good stuff, he’ll go to heaven. Most religions also hold to this is a tabula rasa, or blank slate. If you teach him to do good things, he’ll be good, and God will let him into heaven. Christianity is the only religion I’ve encountered that believes in the total and utter depravity of man. The second he comes into existence, man is tainted by sin(I’m using sin as ‘any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God’). He is naturally in rebellion against God and his law. Because of this, nothing man does is good in God’s sight. By his very nature of rebellion, man is “disqualified”, so to speak, for heaven.5

This may seem unfair to many readers. After all, we do seem to do good things. How is my donation to charity NOT a good thing? We don’t understand why God seems so harsh. The answer lies in the nature of God. God is absolutely holy and perfect, and even the tiniest sin is abominable to him and worthy of eternal condemnation. We cannot fathom how averse God is to sin because we are born INTO sin. Man’s rebellion has made his presence odious to God, and yet God loves us with a perfect love. We have destroyed our relationship with him and it must be repaired if we are to be made clean and admitted into God’s presence.6

Most religions agree on God’s transcendence – that he is over and above and distant from everything (pantheism is the notable exception). Most religions also admit that there is a rift in the relationship of God and man. Most religions would also say that man is obligated to do good things to restore his relationship to a transcendent, distant God. Christianity ALONE says that man can do NOTHING to restore his relationship to God.7

And now we come to the aspect of God that only Christianity emphasizes: the immanence or nearness of God. This is not the same as pantheism, which says that God is in everything. Christianity believes that God is immanent as well as transcendent. His Holy Spirit lives within his people.8

But by far the most offensive part of Christianity (to other religions, that is) is our belief in the divinity of a man named Joshua of Nazareth. Only Christianity claims that God loved man enough to make himself a man, to clothe his transcendent glory in man’s flesh and walk among us as a Jewish carpenter – a nobody. He wasn’t a conqueror, or a great man among us, but a subject of the Roman Empire who was executed for insurrection and inciting the people to revolution with his radical claims. The idea of God becoming man and being put to death for it is absolutely REPULSIVE to all non-Christian religions. They refuse to conceive of a God willing to humble himself in order to restore us to our former glory. Instead, they would rather see man earn his way back to the glory of God.9

So why does Jesus have to be divine? Why couldn’t he have been just a great moral teacher? I refer you to the argument of Saint Augustine in his volume Cur Deus Homo. When man was created, he owed every aspect and particle of his being in devotion and worship to God. But when man fell, something was needed to restore his relationship to God. But everything man had was already owed to God because of what he was created to do. So somebody who was not a man had to become a man in order to have something not already owed to God to restore God and man. But at the same time, the Restorer had to be a man. It was man’s debt being paid off, after all. God couldn’t just pardon the debt, because it wasn’t his to pay. Pardoning the debt does not cleanse mankind, and men would still have lived in sin and rebellion. It took a Person who was a perfect mixture of 100% God and 100% man to be the Restorer that became a bridge between man and God. And that Person – that hypostatic union – was Jesus.10

So what’s the point of my argument? Obviously, this is only a piece of how Christianity differs from other religions. As I said before, Christianity and its defense is a tapestry, of which Chibi and I hold only the corners and a tiny fraction of the pattern. There are differences in practice and many more in doctrine between Christianity and any other religion. But in this essay, I believe I have contended that Christianity’s teleology and restoration theory are akin to no other religion. The view of man and God in other religions determine their teleology. Christianity’s teleology is unique in that God is necessary for man to fulfill his purpose. If you have comments or questions, please leave them below. I am open to discussion.11