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"Mind you, John, the apostle, does present Jesus as saying, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14, 6) But this is set in a discussion where Jesus also says, "In my Father's house there are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you." (John 14, 2) And surely the parable of the good Samaritan indicates that Jesus considered exclusivity to be inappropriate.
"The youth of tomorrow (today even) will not accept exclusivity simply because it is inconsistent with a teaching that says God is perfect Love. They will ask whether this God of Love would condemn out-of-hand, those of his children who had never even heard the name of Jesus. And they will expect realistic answers. And if they receive an affirmative answer, they will respond that no decent earthly father would be guilty of such a despicable act.
"Realistic answers will also be required about the status of the Old and New Testaments. It can't be swept out of sight forever. I noticed that the Catholic Study edition of their Good News Bible (1979) abandoned the divine dictation theory and accepted that the Bible is the word of God in the words of men (p.xii). It also had the courage to state that John's gospel appears to have been worked over during a period of several years and re-edited by John's own community (p.xl). Surely also the presentation of Paul's letters of encouragement to his congregations as being the infallible word of God needs re-assessment. I wonder what Paul would have thought about it?
"Inevitably there will be a lot of mixed up people seeking for answers as the general community becomes aware that our quantum physicists have shown that materialistic determinism is a dead duck philosophy, and that maybe there is a God after all.
"What can be done? My own belief is that by the time most of us attain adulthood, our ingrained attitudes are already set in concrete. Hence trying to change our church congregations, or its hierarchy, via any form of confrontation is likely to be disastrous. But neither do I believe that the logical and doctrinal inconsistencies within our Christian churches are so serious that those who hold them are in jeopardy of losing their ticket to eternity. However, it is already obvious that even the present generations of young people have little interest in the Christian religion as it now is.
"An example of a possibly fruitful approach came up during the 1970's when the new prayer book was introduced. There was such division among the congregation at the church I attended (Christ Church, St. Lucia) that its minister decided to hold two services, one using the old prayer book, the other the new. Then when the people who were unable to change died out, the church was able to re-unite with a minimum of damage. So could the church set up a similar situation with a different routine for those who desired something different? But perhaps there should be a minimum set of statements defining a basic Christian belief system devoid of inconsistencies, and let it evolve from there?
"As an example, a minimum Nicene-style declaration of beliefs might be:
I believe in one God, the heavenly Father of Jesus of Nazareth.
I believe in the dual nature of Jesus, and that his life is a revelation of the perfect nature of God and of perfected man.
I believe that Jesus commanded me personally to love my fellows as He loved them--which .may be quite different from the old adage of loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
I believe in the Fatherhood of God over all men and women, regardless of race and religion.
I believe that all men and women are brothers and sisters in the one family of God.
I believe that, at my behest, the spirits of the Father and the Son dwell within me as my personal spiritual guides. (John 14:16,23; Gal 4: 6; Rom 8: 11)
Everything outside of the minimal creed could be personal. Something of this nature might just work, whereas confrontation has little hope of doing so.
[Note: the video shown at the breakfast was made by a popular English T.V. program, "Songs of Praise," and was about a church in England that is trying out the idea of running concurrent services. This particular church had three such services. Ushers at the door helped people to select the one most suited to their needs. It started as a desperation measure because of a diminishing congregation, approaching zero. Rather than close the church, this idea was tried with quite astonishing results.
My first reaction was that the young people attending were simply there to enjoy themselves because of the music. Careful observation revealed that what I initially thought were kids fantasizing about their current boy or girl friend was, in most cases, genuine worship. There is hope. Ken Glasziou]
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