This morning I was running late to "church" and when I did get there I could not find a parking spot, so I took the hint and decided to listen to a Beyond the Box podcast and blog today. The most recent Beyond the Box episode is an interview with Brian McLaren about his new book, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?. While listening to their discussion, I bought the Kindle version of the book so that I can better respond to McLaren's ideas here on my blog.
As I mentioned in my last post, religious pluralism and tolerance is a hot theological topic right now in churches and Christian groups across America. I would like to blog further on this subject as I read through Brian's book, but for now I'd like to outline some main points and questions I wrote down while listening to Beyond the Box today.
Who Am I?
I will never forget the moment in my life when I fully realized that my identity was completely and totally found in Christianity. I was riding the bus in Wahiawa, Hawai'i, on my way to my part-time nanny job on Wheeler AFB (Air Force Base, for those of you who are unfamiliar with military acronyms), when a fellow bus-rider asked me who I was, or how would I define myself. I remember being taken aback by this question. It was a simple question, very straightforward, but I had never answered such a question before because no one had ever asked it before. Despite being caught off guard, I knew my answer instantly, "I'm a Christian." That's who I am.
The primary purpose of Brian's book is to address Christian identity and how Christians relate to followers of other religions based on the identity we take on. Many Christians take on an identity based on their denomination, or theological beliefs. For example, "Presbyterian", "Baptist", or "Methodist". Others take on an identity based on a broader group such as "Calvinist" or "Evangelical". Still others may prefer to say, "I'm a believer" or "follower of Christ". No matter which specific identity a Christian chooses, having a Christian identity poses a problem when relating to the rest of the world. When we define ourselves as Christians, we automatically must ask the question, "what does being a Christian mean, exactly?" We all know it means following Christ, but there are so many issues we face today that Jesus did not directly address (that we know of). Many times we are left to listen to whichever theologians or philosophers we subscribe to, because we just don't know what it means to be a Christian in every single circumstance.
Brian talks about a dichotomy between Christians who are hostile towards those outside of Christianity, and those who are becoming more liberal and sort of accept every religion. He says neither of these is the best way to be, because the former is not at all in accordance with how Jesus lived, and the latter is basically a loss of Christian identity altogether. Brian suggests that there is another option, which is to have a strong sense of Christian identity, yet that Christian identity actually invokes benevolence and kindness towards those who practice other religions or have different beliefs than we do. Unfortunately, many Christians think that if we show kindness or good-will towards people who worship other gods, then we are somehow being unfaithful to Jesus.
However, this is an invalid way of thinking because we do not have to give up any part of our own identity as Christians in order to be kind to others. Jesus commanded us to love one another, and to go even further and love our enemies as well. How can we love our enemies if we don't talk to them?
Many Christians think that loving our enemies means trying to convert them. This is because we seem to think that all religions are simply different ways of addressing the same question. For example, what happens when we die? In reality, each religion has its own set of unique questions. Yes, various religious teachings overlap and have surprising similarities as well as equally striking differences, but overall the only reason each religions' answers are different is because the questions are different.
How Should We Address People Who Do Not Identify as Christians?
When Muslims are asked how they are taught to relate to non-Muslims, many respond by quoting from the Quran, "I made you different so that you would seek to know one another." Yet many Christians are trained to respond with this verse: "Jesus is THE way, the truth, and the life," (John 14:6). What if instead, we were trained to respond by quoting 1 John 4: "My
beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes
from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a
relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the
first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him
if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his
only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind
of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but
that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins
and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God."
I think maybe its time for those of us who identify as Christians to reconsider what being a Christian really means. In order for us to have a strong identity, we first need to understand it.
Let me ask you this question: When you share Christ with someone, does the person you are sharing with feel threatened or enlightened?
When we talk about Jesus with people, many times what they hear (whether we intend it or not) is, "if you don't believe in Jesus, you are going to hell," but what we want them to hear is, "Jesus is God's love in human form. He came to reveal the incredible goodness and grace of God towards humanity. When we truly understand that and follow Jesus, we walk in His love and grace, which causes us to be humble, hospitable, loving, and kind people. Isn't that the kind of world you want to live in? A world where love and kindness towards one other are people's first priority?"
We can absolutely identify as Christians and respond to those who are different from us in a hospitable rather than a hostile way.
Grace and peace to you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment