World religions: Not all the same

RELIGIONS dissimilar Of truth and religious mountain tops

By Ed Rybarczyk

When I was a theology professor, I routinely ran across this attitude: “All religions lead to the same mountain top called God.” In the generous sense, usually one embraced by my sometime Christian students, that phrase expressed the hope that the world’s major religions all wanted the best for people. In the cynical sense, a simmering undercurrent at today’s universities, it was a way to dismiss all the religions as equally fabricated, equally antiquated. Whether generous or cynical, that all religions want the same things is a widely held belief.

And yet, is that really true? Does Orthodox Judaism seek the dissolving of each self into the Is-ness of the universe? Of course not. Do Daoists teach their practitioners to guard against sin and hell, or do they believe that life is comprised of a yin and yang balance? The latter, clearly. Does Islam teach that one should daily bow in prayer toward Rome, the religious center of the earth? Stop! Does Confucianism hold out hope for a bodily resurrection? Not at all. Does Buddhism encourage its adherents to give their entire identities to the resurrected Lord Jesus? Let’s not be silly. To be fair to Buddhists, Buddhism does not even believe in a God, let alone Jesus as God incarnate.

For starters the belief that all religions lead to the same God is dismissive of all the religions. This point is commonly missed by Christians and can make us seem naïve. In the sharing of our faith, or in our mundane conversations with folks who embrace other religious traditions, it does not serve us well to speak like all religions are finally or secretly the same. No, we do better to treat the other with respect and humility. And those two qualities both direct us to allow the other person to genuinely be other, to allow the other religion to genuinely be 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 witness (Ex. 20:16). Better to be honest. It’s better to be charitable and seek clarity than to be dismissive and naïve.

When we process the world’s religions we need to realize that truth is a separating quality. Unless truth is itself a mere fantasmic mental construct, truth variously defines, illuminates, and separates. For example, if God is eternal and I had a beginning then I am not God. Or, if the universe had a beginning – as the dominant scientific model of universal origins now maintains – then it is not eternal and so is not itself God. Or, again to push back on still another widespread notion – “we are really all one!” – if you are authentically you, a person with your own history, genetics, loves, wounds, and aspirations, then you and I are different. We may share a ton in common, including finite human nature, but we individuals are not fundamentally one. Truth separates.

I believe all the forementioned is important because Idaho is experiencing a massive influx of immigrants from other states and nations. I myself was born in Nampa and have family scattered across the Treasure Valley, but I lived in California for 33 years. The Gem Sate is undergoing an unprecedented historical transformation. We who embrace Jesus as Lord ought be mindful and strategic in how we relate to folks inside other religions. Acknowledging the existence of truth should help us in a missional sense. Let’s ask, listen, study, and learn before we say things in conversation that we’ll regret later. But my prior comments about truth are also important as we reflect on the nature of Christian faith. In our generosity, while we do well to first believe the best about others, it is Ed Rybarczyk important that we do not build straw bridges. Again, as a college theology professor I saw that all the time. Undergraduate students, traveling to foreign countries characterized by non-Christian religions, so earnestly wanted to connect with folks inside those other cultures and religions that they would trade biblical truth for relational unity. Share a meal? Of course. Build friendship? Why not? Discuss the arduous nature of life in a political world? Go for it. But for the sake of bridge building, pretend that Christianity is just another manifestation of the one God? Now a line of demarcation has been crossed. Social outcasts were magnetically drawn to Jesus. The chronically diseased (who were therefore deemed religiously unclean and shunned), street-folk, prostitutes, and outsiderGentiles all discerned the meekness of the man from Galilee. Oh, what would it have been like to be near His person?! He exuded love. He walked in peace. His soul was beautiful. And yet for all of that personal presence, Jesus never qualified His own identity; never made it easier to accept His self-referential assertions. He said He is the shepherd before whom all the nations of earth would be gathered and judged (Mt. 25:31-46). He claimed to have the authority of God to judge and forgive sin (Lk. 5:18-26). He conquered death, sin, and the devil. For all His gentleness, Jesus was also unembarrassedly divisive: the truth about Him caused division everywhere He went. The tension between those two – inclusivity and exclusivity – was and is dramatic with the person of Christ. We who exalt Him as risen Lord do well to embrace that same tension: inclusive and exclusive. With our demeanor, posture, words, and hospitality, let us be inclusive. With our commitment to Christ’s unique identity, let us be exclusive. Let us remain faithful to the truths that pervade Christian life. n Ed Rybarczyk, Ph.D., is both an ordained minister and a retired History of Theology professor. He now produces and hosts the Uncensored Unprofessor podcast @ uncensoredunprofessor.com. He may be reached at uncensoredunprofessor@gmail.com.

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WEDNESDAY’S Child Kahli wants to be in a faith-filled family

The following information is provided by Wednesday’s Child, an organization that helps Idaho foster children find permanent homes.

Kahli, 13, is a quirky teen with an adventurous spirit. This brave girl recently let us tag along on a trip to a local salon, where she chose to cut off all her long hair for a new style that better matches the transformation she’s working on in herself as she heads towards a new life with her future adoptive family.

A sweet girl who can be just a little shy at first, Kahli quickly warms up and shows off her fun personality. She loves going for long drives, riding bikes or scooters, going camping, swimming, and taking walks. Kahli is in her school choir and enjoys all genres of music, and she also plays the piano. Her favorite school subject is art and she can’t get enough of anything related to anime. Kahli dreams of someday visiting Japan to fully immerse herself in their culture.

She loves making cakes, brownies, and pies and has set a goal of becoming a professional baker. Kahli is a tender-hearted yet resilient girl and is extremely protective of the people she cares about. She finds a sense of purpose in sharing her own difficult life experiences and how she has overcome them, in ways that might help others. Kahli always tries to be kind to everyone around her and prides herself on how good she is at helping her friends work through struggles

in their own lives. Kahli is SO looking forward to being adopted. She has her sights set on finding her Forever Home with a Christian family, one who will take her to church regularly. She’s open to a traditional family with both a mom and a dad, or to a single mom, with no more than 1 or 2 other children in the home. Kahli loves dogs. She describes her relationship with animals as giving her a sense of comfort and connection that just makes everything better. She is really hoping that her adoptive family loves animals as well and that she can have a dog of her own. Kahli’s Permanency Team is open to hearing from Idaho families, as well as families who reside out of state, and is particularly looking for parents for her who have formal trauma training or a significant unKahli derstanding of the needs of children who come from hard places. Kahli has several siblings and will need a family who is committed to supporting and nurturing those ongoing sibling relationships. If you feel that your family is just what Kahli has been longing for and you are ready for the adventure of a lifetime to begin, inquire today to find out more about this special girl (see below). n For more information on the Idaho Wednesday’s Child Program, visit www.idahowednesdayschild.org, or contact Recruitment Coordinator Shawn White at swhite52@ewu.edu or cell 208488-8989 if you have specific questions.

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