About twenty years ago, I had a conversation with a young man and fellow US Army soldier serving in Germany. We were driving together in my car across the city of Frankfurt from downtown where we worked to our unit’s headquarters in the northeast part of the city. Along the way, in the glacially paced German traffic on Eschenheimer Landstrasse, we had nearly an hour to talk about whatever came to mind.
Eventually, the conversation turned to spiritual things and I was impressed with the young man’s intelligence and serious questions about what the Bible said about Jesus Christ and what these things could mean in his life. He had no hesitation in offering encouragement to me for the strength of my faith in Jesus Christ and the peace I possessed because of it, but he was just as quick to state that he believed all sincere people of faith eventually find God through the many paths which lead to Him.
His words to me were polite and good natured, but he was completely unwilling to agree that Jesus was the only way to God. I remember him particularly saying that Christianity, like all other “paths” to God had both human and divine truth; something which was seen clearly in its most prominent symbol, the cross. The two lines, one horizontal and one vertical, represented the love we should have for each other and for God respectively.
I’ll admit I was initially unsure what to make of his statement about the cross. He was not hostile or negative toward the cross. In fact, at first, the elegance of his analogy seemed attractive. ‘Love God and Love people’ - those are the two great commandments, right?
In the years since then, this conversation has always remained sharp in my memory. Since then, I have had many similar talks with people - people to whom the idea of one way to God seems objectionable. People who, thinking themselves charitable because they seek common ground, congratulate themselves for being "tolerant," “open-minded” and “free-thinking.” They are unaware that this so-called “open-mindedness” and “free-thinking” is nothing but a dark lie clothed in a veil of cleverly worded nonsense about the cross’s symbolism.
In my conversation with the young man, it finally occurred to me that there was a very basic thing he misunderstood about the cross. The cross, to him and to so many like him, is merely a symbol.
I told the young man that the cross is not anything like a Buddhist wheel or Islamic crescent or even a Jewish star of David - all of which are just representative symbols of some philosophical or sociological system. The cross is a concrete representation of a factual event which took place in the history of the world - an observable event out in the open for all to see.
If you take a glance at the "Coexist" bumper sticker found on some cars you'll see a line of symbols showing the major world faiths.
Each one is a visible drawing of an invisible idea. Typically, you'll see symbols representing Islam (Crescent), Buddhism (Wheel), Taoism (Yin-Yang), Shintoism (Gate), Hinduism (Lotus), Judaism (Star of David) and Christianity (Cross). Only the cross is an expression of an historical event, namely the coming of Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, the Creator, the Son of God Himself, who took on flesh, died and rose again from the grave so that he might restore fallen Creation, atone for for the sins of God’s elect people and rule as Lord of all forevermore.
The cross doesn't merely represent some invisible idea or philosophical notion or doctrine, but testifies to an actual historical event subject to the observation and (one day) acknowledgment of the whole world.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:15-20
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