The Elephant in the Room

Have you heard the parable of the blind men and the elephant? It is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and imagine what the elephant is like by touching it. Can you picture it? An elephant is put in a room, “the elephant in the room,” see what I did there? Since none of these men can see this huge animal, each blind man feels a different part of the animal's body, but only one part, such as the trunk, ears, or the tusk and try to explain the animal.

This parable is often used as an explanation for God and world religion. Or more precisely, an explanation for why there are so many different religions claiming to know God. The point being, since none of the blind men can see or comprehend the whole animal, they describe the animal based on their limited experience. Of course, their descriptions of the elephant are different from each other. And the implication is that, each, while having a small piece of the truth, can not comprehend the whole truth.

Why does this seem to have a ring of truth? It is because God has made Himself known to all men through His creation and our conscience (see Rom 1:19-20, and Rom 2:14-15). So, our hearts yearn for Him. We seek Him. And, on our own, we can’t possibly comprehend Him. And that is the key phase, and I’ll come back to this, “on our own.”

Where this elephant analogy, as a representation of world religions, falls apart is that all of these different views, based on small pieces of information, don’t add up to one big cohesive whole. The simple fact is that they don’t agree. World religions are not simply small pieces of a larger whole. Fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. Again, they don’t agree. And not just about little things. They disagree about the very nature of God and man: Who He is and who we are. This, my friend, is simply not the nature of truth. Truth can’t disagree with itself. Otherwise, it simply isn’t “truth” at all.

So, how can we know the unknowable? As I said earlier, we can’t “on our own.” The unknowable must be revealed to us. We can guess. We can search. But we won’t find the answer unless it is revealed to us. And God has revealed it to us. He has revealed Himself to us through His Son. When Philip asked “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us” (Jon 14:8). Jesus’ answer is pretty straight forward: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (Jon 14:9).

Unfortunately, some are uncomfortable at this point. Why? Because our belief is in Jesus and Jesus alone. Some would say that is so exclusive. But, is it exclusive? Yes. Exclusive in the sense that there is only one way. Just one choice. But Jesus has made it that way. Jesus’ words make the invitation exclusive, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jon 14:6).

At the same time, Jesus does not make Himself exclusive. Instead, He is available to everyone. Regardless of race, culture, nation, or sex. Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (Jon 5:24). Just believe! Anyone and everyone. No exclusivity! He has made Himself available to all simply by calling on His name (see Rom 10:13).

Yet, this presents another “elephant in the room” so to speak. You know, an issue so big that you can’t ignore it. Even if we try. Was what Jesus said true? Is He “the way and the truth and the life?” Or was it a lie? Are there lots of ways to God?

Of course, we can be gentle in our discussions. We don’t have to be combative. But we can’t avoid this particular Jesus issue. There is just too much at stake. If it helps, we can say, as I have before, ”Jesus said it, not me.” Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through me.” We simply have to decide if we believe what He says.

“Ok”, you say, “that makes sense”. But wait, what about all those people who never hear about Jesus? I’ll be honest, the short answer is I don’t know fully. Here’s what I do know, because there are people around the world, and in our towns, who don’t know Jesus, we need to do everything we can to tell people about Him. I also know that God is gracious. He has shown that He loves each of us enough for Jesus to die on the cross. And, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).

So, let’s face the elephant and tell as many people as we can that Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”