Christianity and Other Religions

Basic Material: Chapter 3 of When Christians Get It Wrong, by Adam Hamilton

Focus: Interactions of Christians with people of other religions, and God’s relationships with people of other religions.

Problem: Christians have sometimes dealt with people of other religions through a combination of arrogance, ignorance and fear.

Arrogance: Let me describe a scenario that you may have seen played out over and over again. Christian X meets non-Christian Y, and X shares the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. For a variety of reasons, Y is not converted by X, and afterwards X either informs Y that they are going to hell, or they tell others that Y is going to hell. Sometimes, X might even tell Y while sharing the “good news” that they will go to hell and be tormented for all eternity if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

There is one fundamental problem with this approach. First, Jesus commands us to love everyone (as we love ourselves). No doubt some Christians would tell me that they acted in love, and part of loving them was being honest with them. But the messenger might want to consider a different approach.

“Pressure to accept Christ seldom leads to desire to become a Christian. No one enjoys a high-pressure sales job.” – Adam Hamilton, WCGW

This message is also communicated by Jesus in Matthew 10:16 –  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” We might do well to follow the teachings in following scriptures: Acts 17:22-34, 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 2:17, 1 Peter 5:5, and 1 Peter 3:15.

In addition, in Luke 11, Mark 3, Matthew 16 and John 3 we see that religious leaders and men who have spent time with Jesus struggle with his teachings. You might have also found this in your own life, as I know I have. As a result, as Christians, we cannot expect someone outside the Christian faith to immediately accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, when the presence of Jesus himself was sometimes not enough. Again, read Matthew 10:16.

I believe a person’s salvation is a matter between them and God. As stated in Job 11:7-9 - “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?  They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”

Naturally, a Christian might answer with John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But there could be multiple interpretations of this scripture, and we will discuss this in more depth.

Adam Hamilton says, “Not all Christians throughout history have held the view that non-Christians would spend eternity in hell.” 

Furthermore, when dealing with people of other religious faiths, do not forget that they have children and their children can be affected by our judgmental attitudes. We should head Jesus’ warning in Mark 9:42 – “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.”

Surely some Christians struggled with this idea when they agreed upon the idea behind the age of accountability. However, there is some troubling logic that comes with this idea. After all, of we believe that not all will enter the Kingdom of God, then wouldn’t it be more loving to kill our children before they reach the age of accountability so that they will enter God’s Kingdom, rather than take the chance that they might spend all of eternity in agonizing torment?

Many Christians throughout history have believed that we will face Jesus at our death, and he alone will decide. This is captured beautifully in C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, when “we find what many interpret as a mythical portrayal of Judgment Day. Jesus is portrayed as the lion, Aslan. A man is being brought before him for judgment. The man, Emeth, has spent his entire life following the false god, Tash. He was raised by his parents to worship and serve Tash. As Emeth sees Aslan the Lion, he suddenly realizes that Tash was not god. He falls to his face, preparing for his own destruction. Here is how Emeth describes what happens next: He touched my forehead … and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.” … Then I said, “Lord, is it then true … that thou and Tash are one?” The Lion growled…. “It is false.” I said, … “I have been seeking Tash all my days.” “Beloved,” said the Glorious One, “unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.” – Adam Hamilton, WCGW.

Of course, this leaves us with an important question. Namely, why should anyone bother to follow Jesus if we can simply wait until our death to make our peace with Him? For me the answer is simple. Aside from my belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and our salvation comes through our belief in his death and resurrection, I believe that the way of Jesus is the best way to live our lives. Jesus teaches us how to become the person God intends us to be.

“I tell others about Jesus, not because I’m afraid God will eternally torment them in hell if I don’t, but because I believe that in him we see God.” – Adam Hamilton, WCGW

Ignorance: Christians have struggled long and hard with the question of eternal damnation for non-Christians. I believe this struggle is born of ignorance and the unfortunate need humans have to say things like

“I have something you don’t have.”
“I am better than you.”
“I am in and you are out.”
“I have it right and you have it wrong.”
“Did you see our new car and pool, and did you hear that our son got into Harvard? It’s really a shame you can’t afford these things and your children aren’t as good as ours.”
“I’m going to Heaven and you are going to hell!”

God loves all human beings. He formed us in the womb, and he sent his Son to die for our sins. Amazingly, God has sent people outside his faith to spread his good news. Consider the story of the wise men (or magi). Adam Hamilton tells this well in his book Christianity and World Religions,  where he reminds us that “Western churches, on Epiphany, celebrate the remarkable story of the wise men being called by God from the East to pay homage to the baby Jesus.” It’s remarkable that few people ask questions about the wise men (or the magi). These men were Zoroastrian priests. According to Adam Hamilton, “Zoroastrianism is a faith that shares with Judaism a belief in one God, a belief in a devil, and a belief in what we would call angels and demons. Zoroastrians believe in many of the same moral teachings that Judaism teaches, although they hold to a number of beliefs that are contrary to Judaism. These magi apparently were astrologers; they looked for signs from God in the heavens.” These men were not Jews, and they were not living under the law. Yet God singled them out and communicated with them.

God also has a history of giving human beings many chances. Consider the story in Jonah. Most people recall the part about Jonah being swallowed by that large fish, but do they grasp the struggle that is taking place between Jonah and God? You might want to do some historic reading about the relationship between the Jews and the people of Nineveh. The Jews had been treated horribly by these Assyrians, whose empire was extremely powerful. Their goddess was Ishtar, and they took great pride in the strength of their army and their violent conquests of others. Jonah wanted God to punish the people of Nineveh, but God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach so that they would turn from their evil ways. After resisting God (the fish part), Jonah finally agrees to go, and afterwards the people of Nineveh (at least temporarily) repent of their ways and give sacrifices to God. Because of this, God spares them the punishment Jonah wanted them to receive, and because of this, Jonah goes on a tirade against God. Like Jonah, we are often more into punishment than love.

The bottom line is that we do understand the depth of our God. We receive his grace, not because we are worthy or because we have performed great acts, but because our God loves us unconditionally. Our lives are a miraculous gift from God, as is the grace we receive from God.

Fear: Many people are afraid of other religions out of fear that they or other Christians might be persuaded that these other religions are better than Christianity. I believe we should take the time to learn more about the Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. I agree with Adam Hamilton when he says that this knowledge can only strengthen our faith and help us when we have dialog with people of other Religions. Furthermore, we need to be especially aware that Islam and Judaism share our God of Christianity.

In the case of Judaism, there has also been an unfortunate underlying feeling that the Jewish people were responsible for the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is far from the truth. The crowd that gathered to yell “Crucify Him” could not have been very large. Recall that this took place very early in the morning after Passover. Furthermore, Jesus’ own disciples abandoned him, and yet we do not blame them.

There have also been many unfortunate statements from Christian leaders. For example, the renowned Martin Luther wrote in 1543 “What shall we Christians do with this damned rejected race of Jews? First, their synagogues should be set on fire, secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down . . . thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer books and Talmud.” 

As Adam Hamilton recalls in Christianity and World Religions, “Hundreds of thousands of Jews were put to death over the centuries, long before Hitler launched his "final solution." They were blamed for the Black Plague in Europe, and whole communities of Jews were murdered. They were segregated into ghettos. They were forced to convert to Christianity or leave countries like Spain. They were prevented from entering certain occupations. They actually were treated much better under Muslim authority during those centuries than under Christian rule.”

Discussion:

1. What do you know about the Muslim religion (Islam)? What do you know about the Hindu and Buddhist religions?
2. How can we apply Matthew 10:16 – “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” when dealing with people of other religions?
3. What are some possible interpretations of John 14:6?
4. How do you feel about people of other religions attending our worship services over a long period of time? It might help us to read the story in Adam Hamilton’s WCGW concerning a married couple who attended his church, where the wife was a Christian and the husband was a Muslim.

Supporting Material:

When Christians Get It Wrong, Adam Hamilton
Christianity and World Religions, Adam Hamilton
Counterfeit Gods, Timothy Keller
Christianity on Trial, Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett