If one scans the internet, forums and message boards long enough, one will consistently come across several things in relation to sleep paralysis:
- Those who claim to have ended sleep paralysis using the power and authority of Jesus Christ.
- Those who try to explain sleep paralysis as part of a larger array of pluralistic truth claims.
It’s important to remember, that beyond all the rhetoric given from the pulpit, or the short sightedness of some who self-identify as Christians, Christianity is built on truth claims. (the central claim being that Jesus died and rose from the dead.). Christianity, with its exclusive claims to truth, falls under attack consistently from a pluralistic worldview. At this point, defining terms is in order. Pluralism is the view that every religion is true, and that there are many paths to God. Relativism claims that there are no mechanisms by which one can tell which religion is true. Inclusivism is the belief that while one religion is most (or explicitly) true, all other religions are more or less (or implicitly) true.
Typically, the truth claims of Christianity are attacked as leading to conduct no more generous and good then any other religions. Pluralists charge that something like the golden rule (do unto to others as they would do unto you) can be found in a multitude of different faiths. They charge that the concern for others and the basic idea of love is taught in the major world religions. While it is certainly debatable whether or not other religions have statements similar to the golden rule, its also debatable whether or not non-Christian religions display the same levels of the “fruit of the spirit”. While non-Christians certainly may be gentle, good, and kind, do they display agape style love? Even if one were to be able to show some sort of equality between the various moral systems, on close examination, does it follow that all display the same levels of goodness? Pluralists like to point to Gandhi. It should be noted however that Gandhi, was inspired by and acknowledged Jesus’ teachings as unique. He repeatedly singled out the Sermon on the Mount and affirmed his admiration for it. Even giving that Mohandas Gandhi was not informed by the teachings of Jesus in his compassionate walk, does his life of generosity compare with the teachings of someone like Mother Teresa? The comparison seems to fall flat on analysis. More importantly, this standard of measurement of world religions also begs the question in that it picks a semi-arbitrary standard of measurement by which to judge. Christianity is based upon its claims to truth and a universe that it both knowable as well as coherent in its truth claims. Christianity is the only religion that claims an evidentiary chain where in a sense, “A really equals A”.
Pluralists sometimes charge that if we define salvation as “Being forgiven and accepted by God because of Jesus death on the cross, “ then it is merely tautology that Christianity has the only way to salvation. They further charge that if we define salvation as “actual human change for the better, away from self centeredness and towards a radically new worldview centered in other centeredness, then we can affirm that all religions are doing this, at about the same rate.” This assumption does not follow because it assumes that all religious systems have a connection to the Ultimate. Religions are not merely a response by humans to the Ultimate, for they all make exclusive claims that contradict one another. Finally the denial of the exclusive nature of truth is in and of itself a kind of exclusiveness.<.p>
Pluralists sometimes assert that Christ never spoke of His uniqueness as the only way, and that any statements to the contrary in the gospels were in fact invented by the authors. This shows a lack of serious thinking and investigation, in that the reliability of the New Testament documents are beyond any serious dispute, with even liberal scholars taking a position formerly viewed as conservative. There are more records, earlier, and more accurately transcribed then any other document from the ancient world. Most scholars now affirm that most New Testament documents were written between 20-70 a.d. by baptized Jews, during the life of contemporary eyewitnesses to the events described.
Some pluralists reply that Orthodox Christianity’s claim that Jesus was both fully human and fully God lacks coherence. This is based on a confusion of what Christ’s nature truly was. He was not infinite knowledge housed in a finite brain. He had infinite knowledge only in His infinite nature. Jesus could still learn and grow in knowledge in His finite nature.
Finally pluralists often assert that dialogue is the only way to get at the truth. This fails in that if one assumes the worldview is true before entering into dialogue, then no truth will result. While pluralists and relativists often assert that Christians are narrow minded to all options outside of their orthodox position, this can be applied equally at least to pluralists and any other person who claims to have truth, to the exclusion of all other truth. Further, this assumes that there are Christians who have not tried other faiths, or who have not objectively weighed the evidence and found all other forms of religion lacking in truth.
Ultimately, while pluralists would like to assert that they are the truly religious neutral, the truth is really that they come to the table with their own preconceived notions and ideas of what is and is not correct, and refuse even the tenets of logic in their affirmation of pluralism and its related viewpoints.