252 Jesus, Prophei of Islam
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There are elements of relative good in the non-Chris tian faiths. While the calI for separation from false reli gions is certainly Biblical, and the demonic character of pagan religions is taught in Scripture ... still it is also true that elements of limited relative good exist in these religions. While it is true that they are demonic in char acter, it is also true (and Scriptural) that they are prod ucts of man's distorted interpretation of God's revela tion in nature. Even though they may be works of the devil, still they are not simply works of the devil, but partIy products of God's common grace and partly prod ucts of sinful man's abuse of God's revelation in nature.' It is significant that Vos does not mention all the'distorted inter pretation' which the New Testament is known to have undergone. Attempts to avoid the dilemma of simultaneous acceptance and rejection of non-Christian faiths has been made by arguing that sorne Christians 'discem in them the influence of the'cosmic Christ' who, as the eternal Logos or revealer of the Godhead, is the 'light that enlightens every man.' This view was summed up by William Temple when he wrote:
By the word of God - that is to say, Jesus Christ - Isaiah and Plato, Zoroaster, Buddha, and Confucius uttered and wrote such truths as they declared. There is only one Divine Light, and every man in his own measure is enlightened by il. 3 The reasoning in this passage relies on the assumption that the ,one Divine Light' and 'Christ' are one and the same. Since 'Christ' is an imagination, the doctrine fails, and the dilemma remains. It can only be avoided by resorting to what George Orwell called ,doublethink'. He defined it thus: Doublethink means the power of holding two contra dictory beliefs simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The party intellectual knows that he is playing tricks with reality, but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. •