Is it intolerant for us as Christians to claim that Jesus is the only way to God?

Something inside me twitched...

The young man, just back from the Far East, was trying to convince my friends and me that all religions lead to God. To prove his point, he told us a story about four blind men and an elephant.

One blind man touched the elephant's side and announced it was like a wall. Another man found the elephant's leg and described the large animal like a tree. The third man held its tail and declared the elephant was like a rope. And the fourth man grasped the trunk and concluded that it was like a snake.

"Are any of them wrong?" he asked us rhetorically. "No. Of course not," he continued. "Each of them just has a different perspective on the same animal. It's similar with religions. They just have a different perspective on God."

His argument seemed quite persuasive and yet I knew deep down there was something wrong with it. As I sat tongue-tied, not knowing how to respond, I felt disturbed and helpless as my friends listened intently.

We were a group of typical university students. Asking. Doubting. Challenging. Searching for truth. Some of us were Christians; others were spiritually interested but had not yet made a personal commitment to Christ. And here we were at a weekend retreat, listening to this stranger among us.

I knew Jesus is the way and the truth, but beyond quoting some Bible verses and sharing my testimony, I didn't know how to identify the error in this man's thinking or what to say that would challenge his analogy.

My friends, in their quest for truth, gave it serious consideration. They even nodded in agreement. "That makes sense," they replied. "Maybe all religions do lead to God."

Would you believe it took me 12 years before I learned how to adequately respond to that illustration?

Believe it or not, the blind men and elephant story is still one of the most common arguments used by people who claim all religions lead to God. They think we can all have a share in the truth as we approach God from different angles.

Today, as I travel and debate across North America and even internationally, university students frequently ask me: "How can you claim Jesus is the only way to God?" Some challenge me: "You're intolerant. How can you say that what's true for you is true for everyone?"

Is it intolerant for us as Christians to claim that Jesus is the only way to God?

Don't worry. We don't need to fear being intolerant or even being labelled intolerant once we properly understand the relationship between truth, tolerance and pluralism.

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