A few weeks ago I received this ["http://view.lists.biblegateway.com/?j=fe5816787c6001757416&m=fe621570756203757117&ls=fdbf1572766d0375731771756c&l=fe4b15777d630d7f7c1d&s=fe2e117675610278771070&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe2817737167037e711d73&cm_mmc=ExactTarget-_--_--_-View+as+a+Web+Page&r=0"] in my email from Biblegateway.com [I signed up for daily emails titled “Standing Strong Through the Storm”]. For those of you who have known me a while, you know that for a long time I'd had a pro-interfaith/buffet-style view on religion. A few years back I read a book by AJ Jacobs where he spent a year following the Bible as literally as possible, and except for the fact that at the end of that year he remained an agnostic, I came to essentially the same conclusions ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2009/11/if-i-ever-write-book.html"] he did. The Bible had truth in it, but there were a lot of problems. Christians are too rigid. They don’t understand people’s problems and all they do is call it “sin” and condemn them. … stuff like that (I haven’t read the book in over two years, so I don’t recall exactly Jacobs’ conclusions; I just remember agreeing with them for the most part).
Case in point regarding my old views: about four years ago I was staying with a few friends in Minneapolis while looking for work after I finished college when I sat in on a religious discussion. One friend had commented that the Bible explains things the way they really are, while the other interjected and said: “can we agree that that is not a true statement?” At the time I agreed with the second friend, because I could see no reason why it would be true.
If I could share all what God has done ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/search/label/Vineyard"] for me and in me over the last two years (and is still doing for and in me), all the personal expositions and revelations, I could not only point out that interfaith/buffet-style viewpoint is crap, but also paint what I feel is a pretty accurate picture of why. There is a reason everything that is in the Bible is true, and a reason why things not in the Bible aren’t.
Syncretism, as I’m reading the devotional from my email, is one of the most deceptive tools the enemy can use. Sure, “all religions lead to God” sounds like a good, happy argument. After all, the important thing is we all get along and there will be no more war, poverty, etc. It also gives birth to the lie that the Bible is the cause of all these wars.
What AJ Jacobs and other syncretists fail to understand is that Christianity, while a religion in form, is a relationship in essence. There is no relationship between man and God in Judaism, nor in Islam (the emphasis is the law for both, as I understand it). There is no real God in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, nor any of the other eastern religions; there is only discipline. And grace is certainly a foreign concept in all of these religions.
[Also around four years ago I blogged about Hafiz ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-spiritual-journey-search-for-truth.html"] and some of his writings ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2008/05/im-still-wayfarer.html"] ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-frontier-in-world-of-self.html"] ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2008/10/moment-of-duh.html"] ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2009/04/2009-lenten-devo-3.html"]. Certainly this author was on the right track when it concerned relationship and a return to God’s presence. But there was no mention of salvation or grace or proof of God’s love.]
Syncretism emphasizes not relationship between man and God, but instead enlightenment, which at its core is a reaching of truth that is of man’s spirit and not God’s. To wit: the idea that desire is the root of all discontent is certainly true in that immediate context, but not all desire is bad. The “enlightenment” that suggests all desires are bad often leaves one lacking, and certainly leads one to not be who he or she was created to be. Now, some desires certainly are bad, but it is perfectly ok to seek something; you can ask God for something, and if he wills it you will get it. Sometimes he wills that you don’t get it, but only because he will give you something that’s better for you. Again, this is part of the relationship; like an all-knowing parent who knows what’s best for his children, God knows what’s best for each and every one of us. We as human beings were created to desire, but we were also created to desire something(s) specific, and ultimately we were created to be in relationship with God, and with each other.
Proselytizing, by definition, means to convert or to recruit, or to attempt to do so. For example, universities whose athletic programs compete in the NCAA's Division I will proselytize the best athletes from the best high schools for their programs. And the US Military will send representatives of its different branches (Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, etc) to high schools and colleges to proselytize students who might be interested in serving their country. Proselytizing is not necessarily a bad thing. It does not nor should it entail using force to convert or recruit, which I sense many people tend to think. Last I checked, we live in a world (at least a country) of free choice and free will, which means that anyone can turn down recruitment offers for any reason. Even Jesus says, "Let anyone with ears listen!" He doesn't say: "Believe, or die!" or "Believe, or you're going to hell!" There is no force or manipulation involved. Proselytizing simply refers to appealing or selling a product or idea to someone. Heck, salesmen and -women proselytize all the time.
So, now that we have diffused the lie that automatically associates proselytizing with force or manipulation (one final time: the two are not connected), we can move on to specifically Christian proselytizing. The email I received mentioned a mass interfaith group meet at the Vatican. Among the reported 10,000 present were the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and the Muslim Imam. It is said that there was a unilateral and universal condemnation of "aggressive proselytizing," which I'm sure would involve street ministry, specifically healing prayer, prophecy, and a general blessing (I've been involved in these on occasion). If such condemnation becomes law, it would be illegal to share the Good News, the Gospel of Christ.
Given that there is healing in Christ Jesus ["http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4:23&version=NIV"] ["http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+9:35&version=NIV"] ["http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2010:37-38&version=NIV"] (this is the aforementioned "Good News": Jesus actually heals people from all sorts of things, illnesses, injuries, deformations, even mental and emotional ailments), a syncretist view essentially condemns one from having the opportunity to be healed! This is precisely the devil's tactic! He wants people to think that this world and life in this world is as good as it's going to get, because this is his domain! [Remember, Earth is "enemy-occupied territory." For you non-believers, we still have war, poverty, famine, pestilence, genocide. We can call that proof.]
Christian proselytizing is meant to free people from a life without God (in which they think they are alone), and it is meant to free them from the idea that they are their own gods! We were born to be in relationship with God, and not in relationship with ourselves! Trust me, one who reaches "enlightenment" on his own is only kidding himself! I've had some breakthroughs over the years myself, some "enlightenments" (see Hafiz), and what have these realizations gotten me? Nowhere! It doesn't mean a thing unless I take risks in life, and oftentimes those risks involve things out of my control to go my way! Is it luck? Is it coincidence? No! It's God, freely giving me grace and blessing!
One last thing, concerning the whole "threat" of going to hell: the only ones who go to hell are those that choose. My question to you is: what do you choose? Really think about it.