RELIGIONS dissimilar
Of truth and religious mountain tops
states and nations. I myself was born in Nampa By Ed Rybarczyk and have family scattered across the Treasure When I was a theology professor, I routinely Valley, but I lived in California for 33 years. ran across this attitude: “All religions lead to the The Gem Sate is undergoing an unprecedented same mountain top called God.” In the generhistorical transformation. We who embrace ous sense, usually one embraced by my someJesus as Lord ought be mindful and strategic in time Christian students, that phrase expressed how we relate to folks inside other religions. Acthe hope that the world’s major religions all knowledging the existence of truth should help wanted the best for people. In the cynical sense, us in a missional sense. Let’s ask, listen, study, a simmering undercurrent at today’s universiand learn before we say things in conversation ties, it was a way to dismiss all the religions as that we’ll regret later. equally fabricated, equally antiquated. Whether But my prior comments about truth are generous or cynical, that all religions want the also important as we reflect on the nature of same things is a widely held belief. Christian faith. In our generosity, while we do And yet, is that really true? Does Orthodox well to first believe the best about others, it is Judaism seek the dissolving of each self into the important that we do not build straw bridges. Is-ness of the universe? Of course not. Do Dao- Ed Rybarczyk Again, as a college theology professor I saw that ists teach their practitioners to guard against sin all the time. Undergraduate students, traveling and hell, or do they believe that life is comprised of a yin and to foreign countries characterized by non-Christian religions, yang balance? The latter, clearly. Does Islam teach that one so earnestly wanted to connect with folks inside those other should daily bow in prayer toward Rome, the religious center cultures and religions that they would trade biblical truth for of the earth? Stop! Does Confucianism hold out hope for a relational unity. Share a meal? Of course. Build friendship? bodily resurrection? Not at all. Does Buddhism encourage its adherents to give their entire identities to the resurrected Lord Why not? Discuss the arduous nature of life in a political Jesus? Let’s not be silly. To be fair to Buddhists, Buddhism does world? Go for it. But for the sake of bridge building, pretend that Christianity is just another manifestation of the one God? not even believe in a God, let alone Jesus as God incarnate. Now a line of demarcation has been crossed. For starters the belief that all religions lead to the same God Social outcasts were magnetically drawn to Jesus. The is dismissive of all the religions. This point is commonly missed chronically diseased (who were therefore deemed religiously by Christians and can make us seem naïve. In the sharing of unclean and shunned), street-folk, prostitutes, and outsiderour faith, or in our mundane conversations with folks who Gentiles all discerned the meekness of the man from Galilee. embrace other religious traditions, it does not serve us well Oh, what would it have been like to be near His person?! He to speak like all religions are finally or secretly the same. No, exuded love. He walked in peace. His soul was beautiful. And we do better to treat the other with respect and humility. And yet for all of that personal presence, Jesus never qualified His those two qualities both direct us to allow the other person to own identity; never made it easier to accept His self-referential genuinely be other, to allow the other religion to genuinely be assertions. He said He is the shepherd before whom all the other. Or to put it in the negative, to believe and act as if all the world’s religions are ultimately the same is to bear false wit- nations of earth would be gathered and judged (Mt. 25:31-46). ness (Ex. 20:16). Better to be honest. It’s better to be charitable He claimed to have the authority of God to judge and forgive sin (Lk. 5:18-26). He conquered death, sin, and the devil. and seek clarity than to be dismissive and naïve. For all His gentleness, Jesus was also unembarrassedly When we process the world’s religions we need to realize that truth is a separating quality. Unless truth is itself a mere fantas- divisive: the truth about Him caused division everywhere He went. The tension between those two – inclusivity and exclumic mental construct, truth variously defines, illuminates, and sivity – was and is dramatic with the person of Christ. separates. For example, if God is eternal and I had a beginWe who exalt Him as risen Lord do well to embrace that ning then I am not God. Or, if the universe had a beginning – same tension: inclusive and exclusive. With our demeanor, posas the dominant scientific model of universal origins now ture, words, and hospitality, let us be inclusive. With our commaintains – then it is not eternal and so is not itself God. mitment to Christ’s unique identity, let us be exclusive. Let us Or, again to push back on still another widespread noremain faithful to the truths that pervade Christian life. n tion – “we are really all one!” – if you are authentically you, a person with your own history, genetics, loves, Ed Rybarczyk, Ph.D., is both an ordained minister wounds, and aspirations, then you and I are difand a retired History of Theology professor. ferent. We may share a ton in common, includHe now produces and hosts the ing finite human nature, but we individuals Uncensored Unprofessor podcast are not fundamentally one. Truth separates. @ uncensoredunprofessor.com. I believe all the forementioned is imporHe may be reached at tant because Idaho is experiencing a masuncensoredunprofessor@gmail.com. sive influx of immigrants from other Image by Klaus Dieter vom Wangenheim from Pixabay
8 September / October 2021 | Christian Living
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