One Mountain Many Paths?




During one of the earliest Assemblies that I recall attending as a Commissioner shortly following my ordination a visitor from another faith was introduced to the Court. I take it that this has been a matter of courtesy for some time. Shortly after saying how nice it was to be with us he then went on to say; “You know that we are all travelling up the same mountain we are just taking different paths.” A strong hissing sound could be heard coming from the commissionaires indicating their disapproval over what he had said. I thought to myself, “We are not travelling up the same mountain but he was correct when he said that we are on different paths.”

How am I called upon to respond to people of other faiths? The subject came up again in 2001 when I was interviewed by the Board of World Missions of the Church of Scotland. The Board was considering sending me to one of their Mission Churches in the Bahamas. I recall one of their questions going something like this; “In the Bahamas you will find people of several different faiths. How will you respond to these other faiths?” Twelve years later I can still recall almost word for word my reply to their question. “I respect people of other faiths. I will not use a baseball bat in an attempt to make them believe. But, I will not back down nor will I compromise my own faith simply to be accepting of them.” There were many other questions as well but the long and short of it was that I did get the appointment!

What may be my last Assembly as I near retirement years took place this past June at Seneca College in Toronto. Interestingly enough the question of responding to other faiths came up once again. A gentleman of the Hindu faith was welcomed to the Court and asked to bring greetings. He may have started out on a positive note but it was downhill from there on. As I listened to him I said to myself he is mocking my faith and desperately abusing his invitation to bring greetings. I heard him say that Hindus worship all things created believing that their god is in all things. “We don’t worship God as creator because we believe God is creation.” He then went on to say such things as; “You insult me and you are not accepting of me when you think you have to convert me.” But the most offensive thing which he said and he said it in comical tones was; “If you believe that you can only get into heaven through Jesus Christ then tell me where do those people reside who lived on this earth before Christ?” Now, he wasn’t only insulting my faith but he was insulting the very God whom I have faith in.

During the next day and a half I talked with many other commissionaires and they all shared similar thoughts. They couldn’t believe what they heard this man say. I even spoke with our moderator who told me that he also was very concerned. Sunday evening as I sat in my room I wrestled with myself or perhaps I should say with God! Something had to be said about our guest’s comments. Perhaps someone else will speak. I don’t want to be the one Lord. I do not want to suffer the scorn of Assembly for speaking out on this issue. Maybe we should just forget it and it will all go away. There was no booming voice and there was no handwriting on the wall there was just that little voice within me that said; “you must say something.” I didn’t want to address the Court off cuff so I texted the following words on the notepad of my phone.



Moderator, I was offended that we gave our Hindu guest a platform that he used to mock our faith and our Savior Jesus Christ.

We do not worship the same God as they do. We worship the God of creation not creation itself.

We worship the Triune God made known through Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our God calls us to make disciples which to him is an insult.

We believe that God calls his children through Christ from the foundation of the world. Our guest made a joke of that when he said that if we believe that people get to heaven through Christ then what about those who lived before Him.

We were mocked and we responded with applause and gifts. I am very concerned.



I immediately took my seat and waited for the hissing that would be directed towards me. I was more than surprised when instead of hissing I heard what has given me greater confidence in my denomination and that was applause. You see the clapping was not for me but was an affirmation of what I had simply put into words.

After the Assembly was closed officially by the moderator a woman seated at the table ahead of me turned and asked; “Were you the one who just spoke on the matter of our Hindu guest?” I responded that I was and prepared for the rebuke. She replied; “I am so glad that you spoke because what you said is exactly what I believe.” She went on to say; “I awoke in the middle of the night and I was sick I couldn’t sleep because of what that man said; thank you for saying what you did.” I had several people speak to me many of whom I had not met before saying that they fully agreed with what I had said and thanked me for speaking where others were reluctant. Those who perhaps disagreed with my comments simply did not speak with me at all. Silence can be another form of hissing!

My concern over all of this is not just that we allowed a person of another faith to address our Assembly in the manner that he did but even more importantly that many within our church may believe as he did that there is no real difference between our faiths. Are we simply going up the same mountain by a different path? I don’t believe that for a moment and I thank God that He gave me the courage and conviction to address the Assembly. I also thank the Lord that many others at Assembly hold to the same conviction. So what do we do? Where do we go? Do we continue to invite people from other faiths to address our Courts? I believe that needs to be looked at seriously. Invite people of other denominations perhaps but if we invite people of other faiths there needs to be restrictions placed on what they can say. If we had gone into a Hindu temple and addressed worshippers there in the same way that our guest addressed our Assembly we would have been ushered out quickly and never invited back again.

The more important question is not whether we invite other faiths to address our Assembly but the more important question is whether we, who proclaim ourselves to be Christians, believe Jesus Christ is the only means unto salvation. We need to affirm again and again and again the words of our Lord in John 14:5-6.



Thomas said to Him, Lord, we know not where You go; and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me.”