I grew up west Texas, surrounded by fields of cotton and oil. In my little hometown, I can’t remember encountering anyone who would claim an alternative religion to Christianity. Some were good, some were bad, some were barely, but just about everyone I knew claimed Christianity as their religion.
Now, things couldn’t be more different. I spent six years in the Northwest, surrounded by every kind of faith imaginable and a few that are beyond imagination. Things are not all that different in Tulsa. Peel away the Christian veneer of this city and you’ll see a great deal of religious pluralism.
I want to keep this post short so I’ll cut to the chase. How do we as Christians cope with the growing pluralism in our culture? By pluralism I mean the diversity of cultures and religious beliefs that are now bumping up against one another.
Here’s my strategy for coping:
1. I try to celebrate good faith that produces good fruit where ever I find it.
2. I try to honor the truth wherever I find it. (Another post is needed to explain how I’m defining truth in this sentence, but that’ll have to wait. I also believe that other religions can teach us something about Christianity if we’re willing to listen and learn.)
3. I try to emphasize the common ground I share with people of other faiths while not ignoring the substantial differences. Better to start with what you have in common than with where you disagree.
4. I try to proclaim the Truth about Jesus with humility and courage.
5. I try to leave matters of judgment up to God.
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Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
You should check out Harold Netland’s ‘Encountering Religious Pluralism.’ Really good work of philosophy/philosophical theology.
Our culture holds so many similarities to the Roman Empire, I can’t even name all of them! Religions were varied and intermingled then too. As long as people worshipped the emperor first, and their religion caused no problems, people worshiped who, what, and how they saw fit. Paul dealt with this in nearly every letter, so fortunately we have and excellent model for how to cope with this in our increasingly post-Christian culture.
One major difference:
Paul was introducing a new religion, we are holding up a well-founded one. Both challenges, but I think overall we have an advantage he didn’t.
So what you’re saying is treat everyone like we should treat other Christians – even of other denominations – even within like denominations? Hmmm. Quite a novel idea, I must say.
God is a jealous a God. He wants and demands that we worship him and put him first in our lives.
Jesus tells that all men will know that we are disciple if we love one another. So, love is a must.
I believe that if mission minded in the 21st century. So, we must the Churches of Christ must stop focusing on the elementary teaching (versions of the bible, fellowship, praise teams, styles of worship, how to do church, womens role in the church,etc.) and move on towards maturity. We must be more in tune with the Holy Spirit. We must be mission minded. Focus on reaching the lost and extending God’s grace to other religions. We must understand that we are living in the end times.
I love the idea you posed in #2 of finding truth in places that no one would expect or think to look. There are fragments of truth everywhere, in many different religions. It would be silly to dismiss them as fault, just because they were a part of a different belief system than ourselves. Beauty has a way of finding its way into lots of places, that we neglect to look. Would our view of life be hightened to a new level if we expanded our ranges of what is truth and what is false? Maybe, maybe not.
Excellent comment Ali, we tend to miss the truths in the world views and religions of others, not because they aren’t there, but because we are often so busy looking for their flaws and loopholes, we never think to look for truth.
I relate to #5. I have been trying to practice this in my life for years now. Share what God has done for me and allow someone to have their own experience in their own time and need, not an exact replica of my experience!
By doing this, it takes the judgement away and allows God to work in people as He sees fit, not what I think He should do.
Hard to practice, but more peace when practiced!
I liked your good faith post.
Ok – here’s a perspective that has worked for me in this arena and I think it’s very related to what you’re saying:
I believe Jesus also respected faith even when it was in the heart of someone ‘outside’ the kingdom … and in the heart of someone who was “not far” from the kingdom.
I wonder what the centurian soldier actually placed his faith in … publically. What was it in? God fearer? Frustrated Agnostic? Polytheism?
What role does that faith have in the way that eternity will play out for people who have it?
With all of the possibilities – the Centurian had faith in the authority of Jesus to heal his son BUT probably had a very limited understanding of his identity … and was deemed to have “better” faith than anyone in all of Israel… perhaps even “better” than the 12…?
The thief on the cross is another example of this ambiguity in regards to the true nature of his faith – but some certainty in the “faith” he had in the authority and power of Jesus.
Have you ever thought about the number of people on this earth who have respect and faith in the authority of Jesus – as the centurian did – but do not know the God of Israel through Judaism, the law, and holiness of the participants in the covenants nor the Lordship of Jesus through the revelation of the new covenant?
Wade, I like your “good” faith language… and am interested to hear what your honest definition of “truth” is.
Still smiling over my new daughter today!
Wade,
I didn’t get to tell you in person but I really enjoyed your sermon at Memorial this morning. I have read Acts many times but I had never gone on the journey you took us on this morning. I am one of those who never really thought about how the struggles the early church encountered are not any different than ours.
Also, the analogy of the liquid of God was great. Thank you so much for spending time with us this morning.
This is probably a little off topic, but you may find it interesting. I started to do some reserch (and haven’t gotten very far) about Islam and the theory that it began in the middle east as a splinter off of Christianity in reaction to Christanity becoming the state religion of Rome, who were the “evil empire” if you were one of the many nations under their rule. So the theory goes, as I understand it, that Islam began as a way for arab Christians to distance themselves from their Roman oppressors who were now their “brothers”. I’m sure that I’m over simlifying it but here is the link. This was a document written in 1925 so I imagine there is a lot more out there. Hopt this is helpfull.
http://www.muhammadanism.org/bell/origin/p000i.htm
1. I try to celebrate good faith that produces good fruit where ever I find it. – Does “good faith” exist that is not Christocentric? Is there such a thing as “good fruit” that is not produced by the Holy Spirit?
2. I try to honor the truth wherever I find it. – I guess your point would be that all truth is God’s truth, which I agree with 100%. But what about half-truths? I would say a half truth about God is actually a lie.
3. I try to emphasize the common ground I share with people of other faiths while not ignoring the substantial differences. Better to start with what you have in common than with where you disagree. – Can common ground can be found between religions that claim exclusivity? I don’t care that individuals in all these groups brush their teeth, thus emphasizing the importance of dental hygiene. Who is against dental hygiene? Not me! But that is hardly the point. The so-called common ground ethic is based on a myth that is extremely quaint and entirely insular.
4. I try to proclaim the Truth about Jesus with humility and courage. – Amen and amen.
5. I try to leave matters of judgment up to God. – A legitimate struggle for a life long Church of Christ-er. Judgementalism is embedded in your DNA.
Jay, I saw Wade’s #3 point more along the lines of what Paul did with the “unknown god” in the pantheon. If you try to find something familiar to start with you are more likely to make a connection. If you start with “the short list of why you are wrong”, you almost immediately alienate them.
An example of a good place to start is the Buddhist philosophy of “do not increase suffering,” this sounds very similar to the golden rule, but the Christian version is proactive, it calls you to DO rather than the passive Buddhist version DO NOT. The similarities make it a great discussion starter.
I like your list, Wade. And I agree with you that some of your words could go in a variety of directions. For me, what really resonated was your statement about how looking at other religions can help us Christians understand and appreciate our Christianity. That’s so very true.