Conversations About God III: God Deceives

Here is a recent quote from an article that has a Q & A with leading Episcopal heretic & Presiding Bishop Frank Tracy Griswold: Q: In a world with so many religions, why should somebody choose Christianity over a hundred other religions? A: Having been shaped and formed by the Christian religion, and seeing the person of Jesus as fundamental to my sense of self and the world around me, I would want to make that deep sense of the joy and life that I receive from Christ available more broadly. But God is not restricted to the church. I think it's interesting that Abraham has three children: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And what does this say about God's capacity to be present in other religious traditions? I think one of the things Christianity does for me is give me a lens through which I can look at other religions and see where God might be at work. Compassion in the Buddhist tradition is not far removed from love in our religion. Certainly, Judaism and Islam at its best have the same core values, and all those core values are reflective of one divine reality. This is very similar to my friend Sharon's position of all religions leading to the same God. Another issue I have with this position is that this makes God a deceiver. Christianity is a religion believing that God has revealed Himself to humanity, and revealed Himself as the only way to salvation. Now if God does this repeatedly in in a variety of religions, he's lying to somebody.