DAY 125
CHALLENGE
“How can Christians be so arrogant as to think they alone have the truth?”
DEFENSE
Nobody has a monopoly on the truth. Almost every perspective— religious and otherwise—has elements of truth in it. If it didn’t, then nobody would believe it. All human beings possess the gift of reason, and we all use it to discover aspects of the truth.
“The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in [other] religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men” (Vatican II, Nostra Aetate 2).
Consequently, we can use the truths that we hold in common as a basis for mutual respect and dialogue: “The missionary task implies a respectful dialogue with those who do not yet accept the Gospel. Believers can profit from this dialogue by learning to appreciate better those elements of truth and grace which are found among peoples, and which are, as it were, a secret presence of God” (CCC 856; cf. CCC 39, 843).
At the same time, Christians recognize that they have been given truth in the Person of Jesus Christ, who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). This is not arrogance. One is not being arrogant by supposing that he has learned a truth. We do not say that a student of math or science or history is arrogant if his teacher has taught him a truth in one of these fields. The same is true of Christians who have been taught by Jesus.
Indeed, Christians hold that their faith is a gift from God, not something they have earned or deserved. Many of the truths God has revealed exceed the power of human reason to discover, and it is only because of God’s grace that we have come to learn them and to have the opportunity to share them with others.
TIP
Sometimes other Christians ask Catholics how they can think they uniquely possess the truth. The same principles above apply when answering this question, and they can help non-Catholic Christians understand the Catholic point of view as well as to examine their own attitude regarding the truth of Christianity in general.