Are Christian missionaries doing something wrong by trying to share their faith with others? I mean, they have to believe that they have some elite status with God. After all, they think that their faith has given some sort of audience with God, and those who do not hold to their particular view are mistaken and are failing to embrace something that is extremely important. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be handing you that tract or knocking on your front door on Saturday morning when you’re trying to watch College Gameday. For them to push their beliefs on someone has to be the apex of spiritually snobbery, no?
So what is the young and eager missionary to do, other than look for a new line of work? Well, she or he could stop believing that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” altogether, or they could just be agnostic about it, refusing to believe one way or the other. For the Bible-believing Christian, neither option is appealing.
If the missionary chooses the former, he’s still being exclusive, because now he’s saying Christians are wrong and what he believes is right. If he chooses the latter and decides to withhold judgment, it’s just a tacit way of saying that his status is privileged. After all, if people were smart as he was, they’d follow his lead. So really there is no neutral ground to be found. The criticism that there cannot be only one way to God is a double-edged sword. In saying that the missionary is arrogant and immoral, the religious pluralist wants you to adopt their view that there can’t be only one way to God. But then by their own criteria, they are arrogant and immoral. Therefore, I don’t think the arrogance charge sticks.
Moreover, it could be that the missionary has done their due diligence in looking at other religions and worldviews and concluded that the Christian worldview has the most explanatory power and scope. Furthermore, they may have had a life-changing encounter of God’s love through Christ and want to share that with others.
Think about it: This might be a crude illustration, but if you recently had car troubles and found a good, honest and affordable mechanic, wouldn’t you tell someone about this mechanic in the proper circumstance? Think about what the Christian believes, (or at least most do, I think): The Christian believes that they found the answers to the meaning, value and existence and that anyone can do likewise, not by merely adopting a moral code or repeating a creed, but by knowing Jesus as Lord. They believe they God can be personally experienced now and want to help lead others in enjoying that same experience.
Can they be blamed for wanting to share this with others? I fail to see how.