What makes Christianity special? There is a Chinese proverb that says “There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the (mountain top) view is ALWAYS the same.” No matter how different the various religions or belief systems seem to be, they all lead to the same destination. This is similar to the ancient Hindu story where a King gathered blind men and asked them to describe an elephant Each one grabbed one part of the elephant. The one that grabbed his trunk said “the elephant is like a hose” The one who touched his ears said the elephant was like a fan And so on they went. Each argued that they were right and the others were wrong. The point of the story is that they are all equally right. Today, its popular to have the same view, everyone’s beliefs are equally valid. It seems very tolerant. But are all paths to God equally valid? Can anyone claim to have reached the top of the mountain? Can any of us really claim to have reached the summit, seen all the various roads converging at the top, and have confirmed with ABSOLUTE certainty that all religions lead to knowing God? And then descended from the summit to tell us? If none of us have come back from the top of the mountain then all we can do is speculate. Right? So let’s approach the question of knowing God from another vantage point. If God made us surely he would have an interest in how we relate to him – clearer If God made us then SURELY he must have an interest in our devotion and thus, would do something concrete to grab our attention. SURELY, he would make himself clearer. This is what we find in the first chapter of John’s gospel
