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Exclusivism, Part I: Is Only One Worldview True?

There is a particular argument the effect of which is that it is arrogant to claim exclusivity, in this case, in claiming that only one worldview is true. We should first request an absolute standard for arrogance but will rather cut to the chase: if only one worldview is true then it is not arrogant to believe that only one worldview is true. In Exclusivism, Part II we discuss whether there is only one way of salvation.

It has, quite logically, been stated that either all of the worldviews are wrong, or one of them is true. Yet, it would appear that we aught to, quite logically, simplify matters (as we reasonably demonstrate) and proclaim that only one of the world’s worldviews is true.

Which one and how do I know?
Well, let us begin with the all wrong or one right aspect of the issue: the various worldviews are contradictory. Therefore, they are either all wrong or one is right.

Well then, perhaps they are all wrong. Impossible.

Why is this impossible, after all there are various propositions and indeed they may all be wrong? For example, the story of the blind men feeling different parts of an elephant-one feels the trunk and proclaims that it is a hose, another feel the leg and proclaims that it is a tree, another feels the tail and proclaims that it is a rope, another feels the ear and proclaims that it is a fan, etc. While this metaphor is generally used in attempting to prove relativism, since each has his own opinion and each thinks that he is right. However, it actually proves absolute truth since we can see that it is an elephant and thus, they are all wrong. If we were merely another blind man we may also have logically stated that either all of the blind proclaimers are wrong, or one of them is right. But we have 20/20 vision and we know for a fact that while they are all groping an elephant they are all proclaiming themselves to be correct when in fact, they are all wrong and we are right-it is an elephant. Only one view of what the object could be is true.

If it is possible to say that all of the blind men were wrong then why not say the same thing about the worldviews? Now, to the reason that we can know with certainty that only one of worldview is true. It is quite simple really-if I state that either all of the worldviews are wrong, or one of them is true and you state that you believe that all of the worldviews are wrong, then you are claiming to be right yourself. In this case what you have really done is to invent your own worldview, and you believe that you are right in your claim that all of the worldviews are wrong. According to you, yours is the one that is true, while all of the others are wrong. And if all of the others are wrong and you are right, then you believe that one of the worldviews is true, namely your own. Therefore, if you say that all of the worldviews are true then you have fallen into pure irrationality since you would be claiming that a plethora of contradictions are all true. But if you claim that none of them are true then you are claiming that your particular worldview is true and therefore you contradict yourself and you prove that one of the worldviews is true.

This contradictory denial of the truth of the various worldviews while maintaining that yours is right is a self-defeating argument that is actually a very common logical fallacy.For instance it is tantamount to the person who claims that all things are relative-except the absolute fact that all things are relative.It is tantamount to claiming that there is no absolute truth-except the truth that there is no absolute truth.It is tantamount to telling people that they are wrong for telling others that they are wrong-which would make a person wrong for telling other people that they are wrong for telling others that they are wrong.It is tantamount to telling people that they cannot push their beliefs on others-which would mean that a person is pushing their beliefs that you cannot push your beliefs on others upon you.

It is tantamount to being an agnostic by claming that we can never really know anything-but apparently we can know for sure that absolute ignorance is a fact.

Oh, you wanted to actually find out which of the worldviews is true. No, it is not the one that states that none of the worldviews is true. Well, what standards would you use in order to determine which is true? What tests would you put to the worldviews? Historic reliability? Archaeological confirmation? Scientific accuracy? Reliably transferred scriptural manuscripts? Fulfilled prophecy? The statistical probability of the prophecies coming to pass? Changed lives? If so, may we recommend accepting Jesus, the Messiah.


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