When my sister and I were both kids, one of our favorite games to play was ‘dark-hide-and-seek.’ We’d turn off every light in the whole house, each of us with one of Dad’s keychain LED flashlights (which inevitably got lost). Then whoever wasn’t ‘it’ would bumble around for a good hiding spot, but since we were in the dark that also meant we could ‘hide’ standing in the middle of a room! Of course, we’d break the rules, switching on the light to laugh at how ridiculously obvious each other’s hiding places were. 

As Christians, sometimes our spiritual journeys go through games of hide and seek, too. We try to find ourselves in this World, but that is essentially looking for darkness. Then we find the darkness – or maybe it finds us – and then of course we can’t see anything. A blind idea becomes a dangerous game. But God mercifully shows us that in the dark, we can’t even see ourselves or the World to know where to hide from Him. To know where we actually stand with God, and where everything else lies, God has to turn on the light (2 Corinthians 4:6, Acts 26:18).

One place where my journey with God requires me to face my own blindness is how, as a Christian, I should view other religions as opposed to how I am to look to other Christians. At first, I tried to feel it out for myself by church hopping and connecting with other religious groups outside of Judeo-Christianity. God eventually showed me His light through my Christian friends and His Word, but still there’s something else l believe He is asking me to see. That is the Bible’s stance on other beliefs, especially those outside of the Church. My conflict-avoiding instinct would be to try and equate Christianity as best as possible with all other world religions, but is that the message God leaves?

Religious tolerance and unity is a huge current issue for the Church; there’s undeniable rife between the Church and nonbelievers over disagreements in doctrine (for example, lately relevant to Church stance on ethics and politics). Consequently, a focus on peace and unification in Christianity is often mistakenly placed above the primary goal to glorify God as His children (Isaiah 43:7), and thus is often watered down to achieve a Worldly peace. But such a temporary peace requires compromise between religions that can’t allow the Bible to be interpreted literally in many aspects, thus weakening the bible’s authority in hopes of uniting unbelievers and believers (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Yet where do we draw the line? Just how exactly right can someone or some group ensure they are by following the Bible? Nonbelievers witness the hypocrisy of the Christian church not only in separating themselves from other religions, but separating themselves from each other as well. Corruption spawns revolutions that split the Church, birthing new denominations. These in turn are accused of heresy or occultism, in a cycle that is off-putting to those outside as well as within Christendom. The answer then, can be neither a road so narrow it can’t be found, nor a path so broad it isn’t even a path at all (Matthew 7:13).

How do Christians reach equality without compromising? It depends on what our frame is for such unity and peace. God calls for a unity that is built on the oneness of His truth through Jesus, which is inherently exclusive in a post-truth world (Luke 12:51). We so often fall into the trap of testing ourselves: How little light do I need to still see in the dark? But God did not create light and darkness to work that way. The light of Jesus will always overcome the darkness (John 1:5).

One way I tested myself was by trying to blend God’s light in Catholicism with what I had discovered of NeoPaganism, and let me summarize that phase by saying that it did not work! Granted, both Catholicism and Paganism seem to emphasize that everything physical can be spiritual, and both acknowledge spiritual realms that humanity generally ignores. But their differences outweigh similarities. I found that only one demanded belief in the true God. My motive for this unitarian-esque worldview had not truly been to find peace, but to comfortably disregard contradictions; for example, polytheistic religions could not be equal with what the Bible actually says (Exodus 34:14).

What is true peace, and what does the Bible have to say about religious equality? (Psalm 85:8, John 16:33, 1 Cor 2:10-16, 1 Peter 2:9). God calls me as a Christian to come out from the world, not to stumble around in the darkness of humankind’s collective mind. I think we are to discern, not to decide. When we as Christians try to decide where we are in God’s sight, or even where we think others stand with God, the darkness grows. The Church fractures again and again, all the while pushing nonbelievers further into the corners. Discernment is like a flashlight from God, but to be given it we must be willing to love Him instead of the World (Romans 12:2).

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

As easy as they are to whitewash in the context of our overly tolerant culture, religious systems are nonetheless a part of the World. Regardless of how I feel about any worldview, if I am not comparing its teachings with the Word of God who is Jesus, then I am subconsciously cultivating a love for the World, no matter how spiritual it seems to me. After a particularly in-depth conversation with two sisters recently, God gave these Christian friends the words I needed to hear: I could never find what I thought I was seeking in other belief systems, because I was looking from one darkened mind into the window of another’s. By establishing with myself what peace is according to God, understanding the World on my own and ‘knowing myself’ became as senseless as believing I had night vision. And I am learning to be mindful that I don’t lose the flashlight God gave me.