Billy Graham

In response to Time magazine’s story about Billy Graham, a reader wrote: “As a Hindu Indian who has been a naturalized American for many years, I have been deeply concerned by the clout and popularity of Graham. To believe that whoever receives Christ as his Savior goes to heaven is quite acceptable to me. To say Christianity is the only way to God and heaven is outrageous.”

This expresses the reason I wrote God Is Not Three Guys in the Sky: Cherishing Christianity without Its Exclusive Claims.

I agree completely with Bradford Smith in Meditation who writes that “a new faith is taking shape in our time.” It recognizes “many equally valid forms” of one universal spiritual impulse and knows that the myth and symbol of a particular religion can have “meaning for a particular seeker” but “a common symbolism” cannot be forced on all.

I believe this inclusive realization is happening under the surface while exclusive Christian claims triumph on the surface of our society.

In God Is Not Three Guys I offer inclusive interpretations of Christian myth and symbol to bolster this “new faith.” The Paschal Mystery, for instance, can easily be harmonized with the spirituality of Hellenistic pagans, who were the rivals and relatives of early Christians. Jesus of Nazareth’s Reign of God can easily be harmonized with the core message of authentic spirituality in all times and places.

But the message that Jesus is the one and only way to eternal peace did not come from Jesus and is not my belief.
Jeanette