One God, Three Persons

Many times we have heard recently, "We all worship the same God" in attempts to play down our differences. It reminds us of how theologically pluralistic our culture is and how offensive it is to claim to believe the truth. In the midst of horrific tragedy the only thing sometimes seen as worse than terrorism is to be narrow-minded and bigoted about religion. Ironically, in the minds of many there is little difference between Islamic fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists.

At a publicly held prayer meeting I recently attended, several speakers used the "we all worship the same God" line. One even defended this idea by saying that since we all worship one God, it must be the same one. In private conversation Christians need to defend the uniqueness of our belief in the triune God and the fact that salvation is found only through Jesus Christ. Yet in public it is enough to proclaim the truth about the God we worship. In other words we ought not be on the offensive in defending Christian theology. I don't want to be seen either as a pluralist or strident and uncompassionate in delineating the distinctives of my faith. We must speak the truth in love. This might be a time to go overboard on the love. There is enough "ungrace" in the world. We must be people of grace in that context.

About the Contributors

Glenn R. Kreider

Prior to teaching at DTS, Dr. Kreider served as Director of Christian Education and then as Senior Pastor in Cedar Hill, TX. His research and writing interests include Jonathan Edwards, theological method, theology and popular culture, and our eschatological hope. Dr. Kreider believes that grace really is amazing; it is a thought that will change the world. He is married to his best friend, Janice, and they have two grown children and one granddaughter, Marlo Grace. He and Janice enjoy live music, good stories, bold coffee, and spending time together and with their rescue dogs—a terrier/greyhound mix named Chloe and a black lab named Carlile.