The Only Way to Sark

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The Only Way to Sark

Posted by Robert Billing on 2002-10-30
Rhiannon asked me to repost this as it got lost from Best Bits:

Steve wrote:

> the eyes to danger.   Presenting a balanced or neutral view of paganism, i.e
> that some aspects are OK and others not, will fail to do this and would further
> seem to invest paganism with a legitimacy that the Biblical worldview does not

Whoops, hold it. I really think you're overshooting by a badger's nadger
here. The Christian world view is that we've been given a limited bit of
revelation about some things. For example Jesus said that he was the
only way to the father - we're stuck with that, if we want to call our
position Christian we have to accept that and disagree with anyone who
says that there is another way. But that doesn't mean everything
everyone else says is wrong. Nor does it mean that the way one
denomination practices is the only way. Time for a parable:

Ignoring exceptional circumstances the only way to get to the island of
Sark is by boat. The island has no airport, helicopter flying is
prohibited and it's too far from Guernsey for most people to swim.[1] We
can say, "nobody comes to Sark, except by boat." If someone sets off
from St. Malo on a boat they arrive on Sark a few hours later. But if
another person in St. Malo doesn't believe this they might start off by
getting a plane to Guernsey, then trying to get an onward flight. This
wouldn't work. They might enquire of my old chum Jeff at the flying
school. No joy. They might phone the RAF with limited success. But all
the time suspicion would be growing in their mind that they need a
sailing not a flight. Different people might then give them different
directions, but in the end they'd probably end up at the White Rock
jetty ticket office and find the boat. So in that sense all means of
transport get you to Sark - but only because they put you on the boat in
the end. Taking the parable a little further there may be well-meaning
people in London who will tell you that you can get a plane to Sark.
They are sincerely wrong - but they may well be right about a lot of
other things. In fact they may be able to give you really good
directions to Tooting. In the other extreme someone may say that they
went to Sark on the "Espirit de Sercq", that's the only way to go - and
anyone who says otherwise hasn't really been. It isn't, the "Etoile"
plys the same route and either will get you there.

So my conclusion is that there are some things revealed to us as
Christians, the truth of which is part of our definition of ourselves.
But if the pagans have worked some bits out for themselves, and got them
right, we ought to applaud them for the quality of their work. And
anyway we ought to be polite to them.

[1] For the purposes of this argument I'm treating Brechou, Moie Fano
and the half tide rocks as part of Sark.