Chapter Fifteen - Does Christianity Differ from Other World Religions?
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1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter will briefly expose the reader to the basics of other world religions. They are presented here to help the reader understand and relate to other religions. This will be especially true for those living among people of various faiths, or even for believers who will one day serve as missionaries to these folk.
This chapter is divided into three major divisions, they are:
We will provide a brief description of other world religions.
We will examine the major differences between Christianity and other world religions.
We will discuss the problems in cross-cultural understanding and communication when spreading the Gospel to other countries.
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2. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS
In a study of comparative religion in major universities, Christianity is on a par with other world religions. In a secular setting, to say that one religion has more authority than another religion is almost anathema. Yet, from an evangelical point of view, we need to affirm God's uniqueness when He revealed Himself to Israel in the Old Testament, as well as in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, as proclaimed in the New Testament (Hebrews 1:1-3). Nevertheless, we do need to understand other religions as we seek to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with non-evangelicals.
We will look at four major world religions in this section, including:
Islam;
Hinduism; and
Buddhism.
2.1 Islam
2.1.1 What does 'Islam' mean?
The Arabic word 'Islam' simply means 'submission', and derives from a word meaning 'peace'. In a religious context it means complete submission to the will of God. 'Allah' is the Arabic name for God, which is used by Arab Muslims.
2.1.2 Who is Muhammad?
Muhammad is the founder of Islam. Muhammad was born in Makkah in the year AD 570 into an idol-worshipping Arab tribe. It is probable that he was a descendant of Ishmael. Since his father died before his birth, and his mother shortly afterwards, he was raised by his uncle from the respected tribe of Quraysh. At the age of 25, he married his employer, a wealthy widow of forty. During his lifetime, he lived with at least 10 other wives. He practiced and preached polygamy. His followers are allowed 4 wives. Muhammad was of a deeply religious nature. It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near the summit of Jaba al-Nur, the 'Mountain of Light' near Makkah.
2.1.3 How did he become a prophet?
When Muhammad was a young man, he met a western Christian missionary, then he believed the Holy Bible as the Word of God. At the age of 40, he claimed that he received his first revelation from God through the angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Qur'an.
As soon as he began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel, and to preach the truth which God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution which grew so fierce that in the year 622 and therefore they emigrate. This event, the Hijra, 'migration', in which they left Makkah for the city of Madinah some 260 miles to the north, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
After several years, the Prophet and his followers were able to return to Makkah, where they established Islam definitively. Before the Prophet died at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as far East as China.
2.1.4 What do Muslims believe?
Muslims (i.e. believers of Islam) believe in One Unique, Incomparable God; in the Angels created by Him; in the prophets through whom His revelations were brought to mankind; in the Day of Judgement and individual accountability for actions; in God's complete authority over human destiny and in life after death. Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ, peace be upon them. But God's final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message and a summing-up of all that has gone before was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (the same angel as mentioned in Luke 1:19).
Islam is a fatalistic religion which presents to its followers a sovereign God who, without consideration of any redemptive program, sends men to heaven or hell according to his own whims. If a Muslim is to have any hope of heaven (beautiful gardens, flowing wines, and lovely virgins), then his good deeds must outweigh his evil ones. Islam appeals to human nature of man, promising all kinds of sensual delights in an after-life. However, those who follow Islam in its purity maintain a pious life-style, abstaining from liquor and pork.
2.1.5 What is the Qur'an?
Muslims assert that the Qur'an is a record of the last revealed words by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. It was memorized by Muhammad and then dictated to his Companions, and written down by scribes.
Muslims assert that the Jewish people and Christians have tampered with the original Words of God (i.e. the Holy Bible). That is to say, the God instructed Muhammad to correct the mistakes which have been deliberately inserted by the Jews and Christians in the original Holy Bible. Some of the mistakes are summarized as follows:
Jesus Christ is one of the prophets sent from the God instead of the Son of God.
There is no salvation through Jesus Christ as there is no redemption work.
The Comforter promised by Jesus appeared in the person of Muhammad.
Ishmael is the promised son of Abraham instead of Isaac.
The Arabs is the God's chosen people instead of Israel and Christian church.
The Qur'an is Islam's "bible." The writings within this book are a plagiarism from the Old Testament and paganism. The Qur'an recognizes Christ as a prophet but totally rejects His death and resurrection. In the teachings of Muhammad, recorded in the Qur'an, are found the ultimate and uncorrupted revelations of the will of God. God's message given to mankind through Jesus was adulterated by the Church, especially the apostle Paul. The truth was restored. Muhammad, therefore, must eclipse Christ as God's last word; the Qur'an must correct the confused narratives of the New Testament; the good advice of the Prophet must replace the good news of the Savior; the crescent must be substituted for the Cross.
Muslims assert that the Qur'an is the corrected version of the original Words of God. However, when we compare the Qur'an with the Holy Bible, we will find that the Qur'an is merely a modification of the Holy Bible. Please note that both the Old Testament and New Testament have existed long before the Qur'an. As I have mentioned in Chapter 4, modern Archaeology proved that the reliability of the Holy Bible is extremely high. (Note: I strongly recommend the diligent readers to compare the Holy Bible with Qur'an in order to find out their similarities and differences.).
2.1.6 What do Muslims think about Jesus Christ?
Muslims think that Muhammad is the last and greatest apostle of God, they relegate Jesus to the position of the penultimate prophet. He is honored as the next to last in a series of 28 prophets stretching back through Alexander the Great and Abraham to Adam. In other words, they consider Jesus Christ as one of the greatest of God's Messengers to mankind but deny His deity. Muslims await the Second Coming of Jesus. The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Qur'an is entitled 'Mary'), and Mary is considered the purest woman in all creation.
2.1.7 Influence of Islam to the world
Islam is one of the three missionary religions which spread rapidly, beginning about 630 in Arabia. By 640, Islam had conquered the Middle East to the borders of India. By the 700s, all of North Africa was in the hand of Islam as well as Spain. In 732, Charles Martel of France stopped the Arab invasion of his country.
2.1.8 Idolatry and Islam
Though Muslims assert that they reject idolatry, they carefully guards the "two hairs of the prophet" in a grotto in the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem. They also worship the Black Stone, called the Kaaba, which is set in the small stone building in the court of the Great Mosque at Mecca. This "holiest object in Islam" is looked upon as reverently and is guarded as zealously as any idol in Hinduism or any statue of the Virgin in Romanism.
2.1.9 Terrorism and Islam
Islam spread by force - through the Jihad, or called 'Holy War' - and it seemed as if there was no power to check it. In Islam the sword is considered the key to heaven. If one died fighting for Islam, he had immediate access to heaven. That's the reason why we have so many terrorists and bomb attacks in the Middle East as well as in the other countries. In bomb attacks, Muslims have been killing a lot of innocent people. In Islam temples, Muslims teach and train their young followers (including children and women) how to use machine guns and bombs.
2.1.10 Sins and Islam
The sins of Muslims including:
Polygamy. They practice and preach polygamy, their followers are allowed 4 wives.
Idolatry. They worship the "two hairs of the prophet" and the Black Stone.
Terrorism. In bomb attacks, they have been killing a lot of innocent people.
2.2 Hinduism
This religion is the oldest in the world. It follows a caste system, which carefully creates a barrier among the classes of people. The religious system of Hinduism is so structured that it can incorporate all gods and religions. When Christianity came to India, its greatest appeal was to the lower castes, because the Gospel considers every person special and equal in God's sight. It is no wonder that these outcasts, when they heard the message of life, readily accepted Jesus Christ and became His ardent followers.
2.3 Buddhism
2.3.1 Who is Buddha?
Buddhism began about 552 BC. This is the most acceptable date when Buddha, the founder, actually lived. The secular name of Buddha is Siddhartha Gautama. He was born into a high caste home in Nepal (563 - 483 BC ?). For the first 29 years of his life Siddhartha reveled in wealth and luxury. But then, seeing suffering all about him, he forsook his parents, wife, and son to become a Hindu sadhu. He left his comfortable surroundings to seek an answer to the deep problems of life. For 6 years he sought enlightenment through mortification of the flesh and various methods of meditation.
It is reported, as he reclined beneath a tree while meditating. As the result of a special "vision," illumination arrived, Siddhartha Gautama at last achieved the enlightenment he was seeking. He then became the Buddha (the enlightened one). For 40 years he traveled the length and breath of India preaching his message. The seeds of Buddhism began to take root. He, "the enlightened one," died at the age of 80 without The Light.
2.3.2 Divisions of Buddhism
Two divisions of Buddhism developed, they are:
Mahayana Buddhism (including Zen Buddhism); and
Hinayana Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism stressed the likelihood that all persons would be saved due to the supposed sacrificial ministry of certain individuals - similar to the mahatmas of Theosophy - who relinquished further development in order to assist those not so well advanced. Zen Buddhism is a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism. The word Zen means "meditation," and Zen Buddhism emphasizes that method.
Hinayana Buddhism, on the other hand, taught that each one must work out his own deliverance.
2.3.3 What do Buddhists believe?
This religion is an outgrowth of Hinduism, but it has an emphasis upon asceticism, and mystic contemplation as a religious expression. Buddhism offered a way to escape the pain and sorrow of life in the outside world. By turning inward and relating to the dominant force in the universe, one was supposed to achieve a sense of peace and satisfaction. It is very apparent that faith in Buddhism is faith in oneself. It is egocentric. The human being is both the subject and the object of faith. The Buddist layman may receive merit through offerings, pilgrimages, meditation, feeding the monks, and helping in the unkeep of the shrines.
2.3.4 The teachings of Buddhism
There are four major teachings of Buddism, they are:
Karma;
The four basic truths;
The eightfold path; and
Nirvana.
2.3.4.1 Karma
The Buddhist method of salvation is called karma. Karma may be described as the sum of an individual's thoughts and actions in all his previous incarnations. In each incarnation, he modifies his karma for either good or bad. Karma can be bettered by good moral deeds, ritual, and ascetic self-discipline. The ultimate aim is not only to improve one's karma, but to do more, namely, to escape from the endless series of changes, the appalling eternal succession of births and rebirths. This would be salvation.
2.3.4.2 The four basic truths
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) taught his views in a simple summary. The hopeless reincarnation pattern could be broken if certain virtues were cultivated and actions taken. Here is a brief summary of his four truths:
Human existence automatically involves suffering.
Suffering is caused by the desire for pleasure.
Release comes only through extinguishing the desire for pleasure.
An "eightfold path" must be followed to drive out pleasure.
2.3.4.3 The eightfold path
Buddhism developed an eightfold path to forget the outside world and become one with the dominant world force:
The right beliefs - the correct ones are the four listed above (in section 2.3.4.2).
The right aspirations - the right kind of feelings, renounce pleasure; desire good.
The right speech - with no lying permitted; don't use idle words.
The right conduct - behave yourself.
The right vocation - don't sell people as slaves or butcher animals; begging for a living was permitted.
The right effort - cultivate positive states of mind through mystic contemplation upon the dominant world force.
The right mindfulness - master yourself in every respect; blotting out the outside world.
The right meditation - meditate till peace comes; where the mind becomes a blank about the outside the world.
2.3.4.4 Nirvana
The goal toward which the Buddhist strives is a place where the desire for pleasure - the cause of suffering - is eliminated. This state is called nirvana. It is not clear that this involves death itself, but it does entail the elimination of all improper striving for pleasure. An ideal future was possible in a non-conscious existence, blended with the dominant world force. The individual becomes one with the supreme God in a pantheistic system, where God is all in all, and all is God. This is the Buddhist equivalent of heaven.
2.3.5 The Monastery
Buddhist priests practice celibacy, poverty, and renunciation. They live in monasteries. Within Buddhism there is a concept of a goddess as well as a god. This goddess is supposed to be one of compassion.
2.3.6 Influence of Buddhism to the world
Though there are millions of Buddhists in Ceylon, Indonesia, Korea, India, China, and Japan, Buddhism has its strongest hold in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Tibet.
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3. THE MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS
How Christianity differs significantly from other religions is a subject often discussed in our shrinking modern world. There is, currently, a meeting of cultures, nations, races and religions on a scale unprecedented in history. As one has contact with friends from overseas and becomes aware of their religious beliefs, the question naturally arises as follows:
Whether or not Christianity is unique among world religions?
Is it only a variation on a basic theme running through all religions?
Does not the sincere Muslim, Buddist, Hindu or Jew worship the same God as we do, but under a different name?
Is Jesus Christ the only way to God?
In answering these questions, it is extremely important that we first empty it of its potentially explosive emotional content. When a Christian asserts that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, and that apart from Him there is no salvation, he or she is not suggesting that Christians think they are better than anyone else. "Why bring Jesus Christ into it?" we are often asked. "Why can't we just agree on God?" And this brings us to the fundamental issue.
3.1 Christians Assert that Jesus Christ is the Only Way to God
Christians assert that Jesus Christ is the only way to God because Scripture says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Christians believe this, not because they have made it their rule, but because Jesus Christ our Lord taught it (John 14:6). A Christian cannot be faithful to his Lord and affirm anything else. If Jesus Christ is who He claims to be, then we have the authoritative word of God himself on the subject. If He is God and there is no other Savior, then obviously He is the only way to God. Christians could not change this fact by a vote or by anything else.
In proclaiming the exclusiveness of Christ, a Christian does not assume a superior posture. He speaks as a sinner saved by grace. As D. T. Niles, of Ceylon, so beautifully put it, "Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find food."
3.2 The Question of Truth
Sincerely believing some thing does not make it true, as anyone will testify who has ever picked a wrong bottle out of a medicine cabinet in the dark. Faith is no more valid than the object in which it is placed, no matter how sincere or how intense the faith is. A nurse put carbolic acid in the eyes of a newborn baby, sincerely thinking she was applying silver nitrate. Her sincerity did not save the baby from blindness.
These same principles apply to things spiritual. Believing some thing doesn't make it true any more than failing to believe truth makes it false. Facts are facts, regardless of people's attitudes toward them. In religious matters, the basic question is always, "Is it true?"
Take, for instance, the fact of the deity, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity affirms these facts as the heart of its message. Islam, on the other hand, denies the deity, death and resurrection of Christ. On this very crucial point, one of these mutually contradictory views is wrong. They can't simultaneously be true, no matter how sincerely both are believed by how many people.
A great deal is said about the similarity of world religions. Many Christians wrongly assume that other religions are basically the same, making the same claims and essentially doing what Christianity does, but in slightly different terms. Such an attitude reveals complete ignorance of the doctrines of other religions.
Though there are some similarities, the differences far outweigh, and are much greater than, the similarities.
3.3 Is the Golden Rule Enough?
One of the similarities is the essence of the Golden Rule, which is contained in almost every religion. From Confucius's time we have the statement, in various forms, that "we should do unto others as we would have others do unto us." Our problem has never been not knowing what we should do. Our problem, rather, has been that we lack power to do what we know we should.
There is a major difference between Christianity and other religions. Christ offers us His power to live as we should. He gives us forgiveness, cleansing and His own righteousness, all as a free gift. He reconciles us to God. He does something for us we cannot do for ourselves.
Every other religious system, however, is essentially a do-it-yourself proposition. Follow this way of life, they say, and you will gain favor with God and eventually achieve salvation. In a sense, other religious systems are sets of swimming instructions for a drowning man. Christianity is a life preserver.
3.4 A Free Gift
D. T. Niles has also observed that in other religions good works are an "in order to." In Christianity, they are a "therefore." In other religions, good works are the means by which one hopes to earn salvation. In Christianity salvation is received as a free gift, through the finished work of Christ, the "therefore" good works becomes an imperative love of God. Or, as another has put it, other religions are do; Christianity is done.
Christianity is what God has done for human beings in seeking them and reaching down to help them. Other religions are a matter of human beings seeking and struggling toward God.
Because of this profound difference, Christianity alone offers assurance of salvation. Because our salvation depends on what God has done for and given us, we can say with the same wonderful certainty as the apostle Paul, "To be away from the body ... is to be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).
3.5 No Assurance in a Works Religion
In every works religion, however, it is impossible ever to have assurance. When do you know that you have done enough good works? You never know, and never can know. Fear persists because there is no assurance of salvation.
What salvation is, and what we are pointing toward, is quite different in the world's religions from what it is in Christianity.
3.5.1 Islam
In Islam heaven is though of as a paradise of wine, women and song. It is achieved by living a life in which, ironically, one abstains from the things with which he or she will be rewarded in paradise. In addition to this abstention, one must follow the Five Pillars of Islam:
repeating the creed;
making a pilgrimage to Mecca;
giving alms to the poor;
praying five times daily; and
keeping the fast of Ramadan.
3.5.2 Hinduism
In Hinduism the ultimate goal is also nirvana, but the term here has a different meaning. Nirvana is ultimate reunion with Brahma, the all-pervading force of the universe which is the Hindu's God. This experience is likened to the return of a drop of water to the ocean. Individuality is lost in the reunion with God, but without the total self-annihilation of Buddhism. Nirvana, in Hinduism is achieved through a continuous cycle of birth, life, death and re-birth. As soon as any animal, insect, or human being dies, that being is immediately reborn in another form. Whether one moves up or down the scale of life depends on the quality of moral life one has lived. If it has been a good life, one moves up the scale with more comfort and less suffering. If one has lived a bad life, one moves down the scale into suffering and poverty. If one has been bad enough, that person is not reborn as a human being at all but as an animal or insect. This law of reaping in the next life the harvest of one's present life is called the law of Karma. It explains why Hindus will not kill even an insect, not to mention a sacred cow, though these inhibitions pose grave sanitation and public health problems.
3.5.3 Buddhism
In Buddhism, for instance, the ultimate goal is nirvana, or the extinction of desire. According to Buddha's teaching, all pain and suffering come from desire. If this desire can be overcome by following the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment, one can achieve nirvana, which is total nothingness. It is likened to the snuffing out of a candle. This is said to happen to life and consciousness when nirvana has been achieved.
Again, there is no possibility of assurance. I have often asked Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists whether they would achieve nirvana or go to paradise when they died. I have not yet had one reply in the affirmative. Rather, they referred to the imperfection of their lives as being a barrier to this realization. There is no assurance in their religious systems because there is no atonement, and salvation depends wholly on the individual's gaining enough merit.
3.6 Concept of God
Even the fundamental concept of God, on which there is a plea that we should agree, reveals wide divergences.
3.6.1 Islam and Judaism
In Islam and Judaism we have a God much closer to the Christian concept. Here God is personal and transcendent, or separate from His creation. Surely, we are urged, we may get together with those who believe in God in personal terms.
But as we examine the Muslim concept of God - Allah as he is called in the Qur'an - we find he is not the God and Father of Jesus Christ, but rather, as in all other instances, a God of people's own imagination. Our knowledge of Allah comes from the Qur'an, which came through Muhammad. Muhammad, like Buddha and unlike Jesus Christ, did not claim deity. He taught that he was only the prophet of Allah. The picture of God which comes through to us in the pages of the Qur'an is of one who is totally removed from men, one who is capricious in all of his acts, responsible for evil as well as for good, and who is certainly not the God who "so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). It is this totally distant concept of God that makes the idea of the Incarnation utterly inconceivable to the Muslim. How could their god, so majestic and beyond, have contact with mortal human beings in sin and misery? The death of God the Son on the cross is likewise inconceivable to a Muslim, since this would mean God was defeated by his creatures, an impossibility to them.
3.6.2 Hinduism
Hindus are pantheistic. Pan means all and theistic means God. Hindus believe that God and the universe are identical. The concept of maya is central to their thinking. Maya means that the material world is an illusion and that reality is spiritual and invisible. Brahma is the impersonal, all-pervading force of the universe, and the ultimate goal is for people to be reunited with this God in nirvana.
3.6.3 Buddhism
Buddha, contrary to popular belief, never claimed to be deity. In fact, he was agnostic about the whole question of whether God even existed. If God existed, the Buddha taught emphatically, he could not help an individual achieve enlightenment. Each person must work this out for himself.
Buddhism also teaches that the material world is an illusion. It is readily apparent why science came to birth through Christians, who believed in a personal God and an orderly universe, rather than in the context of Oriental philosophy. It is clear why most scientific progress has come from the West rather than the East. Why would one investigate what he believes is an illusion?
3.7 The Jewish God Is Close
The Jewish concept of God is closest of all to the Christian. Isn't the God whom they worship the God of the Old Testament, which we accept? Surely we can get together on this!
Again, however, closer examination shows that the Jews would not admit their God was the Father of Jesus Christ. In fact, it was this very issue that precipitated such bitter controversy in our Lord's come. God we accept, they said to Jesus Christ, but we do not accept you because as a man you are claiming yourself to be God, which is a clear case of blasphemy.
In a conversation with the Jews, our Lord discussed this question. "God is our Father," they said. Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God ... He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God" (John 8:42, 47). In even stronger words he says, "You belong to your father, the devil" (John 8:44).
Here, in our Lord's own words, we have the clue as to what our attitude should be toward those who are sincerely seeking God. If they are seeking the true God, their sincerity will be evidenced by the fact that they will receive Christ when they hear about Him. Missionary history has numerous examples of those who have been following other unknown gods but who have responded when presented with the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. They have immediately realized that He is the true God, whom they have been seeking.
Scripture is clear throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament that worship of gods other than the true God originates with the devil. "They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols" (Leviticus 17:7), and "The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God" (1 Corinthians 10:20).
3.8 Christ Alone Claims Deity
Of the greatest religious leaders of the world, Christ alone claims deity. It really doesn't matter what one thinks of Muhammad, Buddha or Confucius as individuals. Their followers emphasize their teachings. Not so with Christ. He made Himself the focal point of His teaching. The central question he put to his listeners was, "Whom do you say that I am?" When asked what doing the works of God involved, Jesus replied, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:29).
On the question of who and what God is, the nature of salvation and how it is obtained, it is clear that Christianity differs radically from other world religions.
3.9 The Only Way to God
It is not true that "it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe it." Hitler's slaughter of 6 million Jews was based on a sincere view of race supremacy, but he was desperately wrong. What we believe must be true in order to be real. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). There are many ways to Christ, but if we are to know the true and living God in personal experience, it must be through Christ, the only way to God.
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4. THE PROBLEMS IN CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING AND COMMUNICATION
4.1 The Necessity to Contextualize
As we face the distinctive problems which people in the third world have to experience, as well as their culture and religion, we find it to be a genuine challenge. For example, how do we, in the West, communicate to people who suffer because of poverty, as in so many refugee camps in third world countries? How do we relate to people who have become so desperate that they want to revolt against an oppressive leadership, which has deprived the masses of benefits held by only a few? How do we relate to people who have been enslaved? How do we share with black people, who perceive the Gospel as the white man's religion within a framework of racism?
4.2 The Distinctives for Contact
One major consideration is how we verbalize biblical distinctives for the point of contact, particularly through Bible translation that makes the biblical message meaningful. The Bible translator has to immerse himself in the culture where he lives and works. For example, "redemption" for black people in West Africa means, "God took our heads out."
In days past, when a black chief redeemed an enslaved fellow black man, the slave owners removed the iron collar from around the neck of the one being redeemed. The verbal picture clearly shows how Jesus Christ makes redemption possible.
Even non-verbal communication frequently has deep meaning. Some cultures are very unemotional, but among other cultures, people are extremely emotional. We relate to the culture in both expression and manners. In some cultures, joy is a way to express sorrow. People in southern Mexico received the story of how John the Baptist was beheaded with roars of laughter, which was a way to keep them from crying.
4.3 Sharing A Core Message
Don Richardson, in his book, Peace Child (Glendale, California: Regal Books, 1974), describes the tribal belief that through the exchange of infants from warring tribes, peace could be experienced between them. Through this redemptive analogy, Richardson was able to bring out the core of the Gospel message - that God sent His Son into the world to be the peace child, making our peace with God possible.
On the other hand, we cannot preach to Muslims that Jesus is the Son of God without a sharp rejoinder from them (how can God have a son?). Yet in their culture, every father's name is always associated with his son. For example, if we are looking for Ahmad, and he has a son, Boulos, we must always ask for Ahmad, abu Boulos, or, father of Boulos. In the same way, we can talk to a Muslim about the great God of the Bible, but then we introduce him as the Father of Jesus. This is exactly the opposite of what is proclaimed in the West, where the tendency is to emphasize the deity of the Son in the Gospel proclamation.
Poetry and music are also a means by which to communicate a particular Gospel presentation. Jewish believers use music with a Jewish background, but introduce the Gospel message into it. On the other hand, believers from a pagan background will not use certain types of pagan music because they were used in connection with pagan rites and rituals. But most of the time, the use of distinctive ethno-music is important.
4.4 No Analogies for Sharing
What happens when there are no redemptive analogies to be found in the culture which will bring out basic biblical truths? When a culture has no common ground, and there is no possibility for equivalence, as the peace child among the Sawi peoples, then basic Bible beliefs have to be brought into the specific culture and explained. Once the unique message is understood, the Holy Spirit, in His power, can impress upon the unbeliever the distinctive truths of the core message, and elicit the decision for salvation.
There is a distinctive plea that those who aspire to the mission fields truly understand the culture of the people to whom they are going to minister. By the year 2000, the balance of believers will shift, and the centers of Christianity could very well move from the West and Northern Hemisphere to Latin America, Africa, the Far East and China. While we will always need to defend theology, expressing basic core beliefs, we will also need to learn how to contextualize it in cultures other than our own.
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5. REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER STUDY
Know Why You Believe, Chapter 11, InterVarsity Press, 1988, by Paul E. Little & Marie Little.
Varieties of Christian Apologetics, Chapter 5, by Bernard Ramm.
The Biblical Basis of Missions, Lesson 2, Moody Bible Institute, 1977 Edition, by Don W. Hillis.
Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally, by Hesselgrave.
Christianity and World Religions, 2nd edition, Downers Grove, III, InterVarsity Press, 1984, by Anderson Norman.
Christian Faith and Other Faiths, Downers Grove, III, InterVarsity Press, 1984, by Neill Stephen.
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