I had an exchange with a ministry student recently about absolute truth, the nature of faith and what it means to believe. Bearing in mind the obvious differences between our chosen traditions, the struggle with what it means to believe deeply and how we nurture that belief is relevant to anyone who cares about any system of belief or practice.

Rabbi,
In your book you wrote the following on p. 112:
“But religions must always be on guard about the cost to those who don’t embrace them or who embrace other religions. It is so easy to forget that the system that is right for you, even one that you believe God wants for you, may not be right for everyone. After all, how could the will of an infinite God, ever be made so small as to fit into one finite system.”
I have difficulty accepting these thoughts for two reasons. 1. I believe in Absolute Truth. And while I believe that on some level expressions of that truth can be seen differently, there are fundamental and exclusive claims that my “religion” makes that expresses the very nature of the religion. 2. I have to challenge that last statement, because I believe (not just by a subjective feeling, but also by objective reason and historical evidence) that the infinite God became a finite man (Jesus). Thus, the Incarnation of God, and even more so the Resurrection of Christ changes history.
Either Jesus is God (the Infinite becoming Finite or he is not), If he is not, Christianity is a hoax. If he is who he and others claims that He is, then Christianity makes exclusive claims: Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, THE Life.
I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.
Blessings,
E.
Dear E,
Happy to respond, if briefly, to your very important questions.
As to question one, I too believe in absolute truth. The difference between us is that I take seriously that it is a faith statement and must therefor be held with modesty. I don’t and can’t know if there actually is absolute truth (neither can you or anyone else, for that matter), so while I may stake my life on the belief that there is, I retain the awareness that I may be wrong — hence the obligatory modesty.
Furthermore, the claim that there is an absolute truth does not mean that it is necessarily contained within a single religious narrative or faith tradition. Again, your struggle is not really for absolute truth as much as for the claim that you possess it absolutely. The two are not the same.
As to question two, you again base yourself, as you should, on faith. You should because there can be no objective proof that Jesus was God become human. Historic evidence of his existence is not evidence of his divinity. We should also recall that your Christology is not that of all confessing Christians, so there is plenty of room to move on this question, even within your own tradition.
Finally, the Gospels speak in many voices and to build one’s entire spiritual identity on a few passages from one Gospel, says more about the one making that choice than it does about God, truth, Jesus or the Bible. We are all free to make such choices, but we must admit that they are just that, choices.
Ultimately you will have to decide for yourself if your faith is strong enough to be just that — a faith — and allow yourself to give up the proof games which actually render our faiths rather small. You must decide if the goodness you find in your faith is sufficient to sustain you, or if you can only feel good about your faith because the others are so poor.
I hope this helps and wish you all blessings as you continue to wrestle with these questions.
Peace,
Brad Hirschfield

There is more, but you get the point. Feel free to add your thoughts and keep this conversation going.