This is intended as more than a play on words, much less as a joke.
I intend it to be a catchy way of remembering a significant difference among religions as to the way of salvation. I do not intend this as an attack on any religious worldview but as a clarification of a key point in every religious and non-religious worldview. Every worldview is giving an answer to the quest for salvation that has been with the human race from as far back as one can trace our origins.
Archeologists speculate concerning pre-historic human beliefs about life and the afterlife on the basis of artifacts such as burial mounds and human remains unearthed from many sites around the globe.
We focus here on religions that survive in our times.
Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism teach that our destiny is determined by our deeds, whether good or bad. The law of reward and retribution causes a soul to either move upward toward liberation from the cycle of rebirths or downward. At the end, the soul escapes re-incarnation and dissolves into the timeless One (Brahman) where there is no further suffering since there is no further personal consciousness. Multiple births into this world is the hell we must endure until the debt of karma is paid in full. One can say, then, that one is saved and damned by one’s deeds. There is no slack given, no mercy, no grace from on high. Brahman is not aware of our struggles to achieve salvation—nirvana.
Judaism is the oldest of monotheistic worldviews, dating from Abraham approximately 4000 years ago. It has developed over the centuries into a small but vital religion. Religious Judaism teaches that the righteous will find the rewards of heaven if one’s life merits the commendation of God. One is saved based on one’s works, whether good or evil. One is damned if one persists in doing evil and saved if one succeeds in being righteous in the eyes of God.
As Maimonides says, I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
Islam is the latest of the great monotheistic religions, purporting to be the culmination of faith that stems from Abraham and on through Jesus and the Apostles of Christianity. Like Judaism, Islam teaches that one is saved by one’s deeds. If one’s good deeds outweigh those done out of ignorance, one may be granted entrance into Paradise where pleasures of food, wine, and companionship are fulfilled. People are not so much willfully sinful as ignorant, often making many mistakes. But faithful obedience to the pillars of the faith can assure one a place in the world to come—with one exception. Allah, being sovereign, is not obligated to reward anyone with salvation. Even the most righteous person could be sent to hell should Allah will it. So one is damned if one does not avoid shirk and follow devoutly the way of Islam. Generally one can hope for salvation if sufficiently devout.
Christianity is the odd religion on this topic, teaching that one’s deeds can never bring one to salvation, only to perdition. Since all our self-styled righteous works are offensive to God, every act only seals one’s doom. How can this be? Because works done in an attempt to justify us before God are motivated by prideful self-seeking. Only deeds done with a pure heart cleansed of all taint of sin are acceptable to God. And there are none such. We stand in a position of rebellion against God and our good works cannot overcome the condition of the heart. Good and evil works alike damn us. Good works can never save us. This idea is counter-intuitive and often incomprehensible to many.
One is saved by throwing oneself upon the mercy of God as a person who sins in thought, word, and deed. The relation must be healed first. This requires repentance and total trust in the provision of God to transform the heart through the work of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose to bring new life to all who believe.
Good works are not a means of salvation but a grateful response to salvation freely given as a gift, not because of works of righteousness that we have done but in virtue of his mercy. (See the New Testament, Titus 3:5) Works can only damn us, not save us. Grace alone can save us, with works following as a result of the salvation that is provided as a gift from God through faith. Faith without works is dead, says the Apostle James. But works cannot raise the dead. We are dead in our sins so far as salvation goes. God kindly provides forgiveness and the life of eternal salvation, even helping us to repent of our rebellious attitude toward God.
We start out already condemned and we continue to be damned no matter if we do or we don’t. Salvation is a gift not a reward. I am damned if I do or if I don’t as far as my salvation is concerned. This does not mean that it does not matter what I do in this life, since my actions have social effects that are good and bad in that context. But when it comes to preparing oneself to meet God, a different set of standards applies.
Some may say this is a cheap free ride. But Christianity teaches the opposite. True faith means turning over one's entire life 24/7 to God, seeking always to serve God's program and not your own plan for life. It's like being on active duty. You serve the will of the Commander 100% of the time.
On this score Christianity is distinct from other religious worldviews.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Virtual Village
Global Village: Living in the Circle of Virtual Grass Huts
Following a seminar on the Millennial Generation, a bolt of insight struck my brain from the clouds surrounding the Ivory Tower where this philosophy professor sits.
We have come back to our ancestral tribal villages after centuries of fragmentation.
Picture the typical African village with its grass roofed huts and wattle fence. You know everyone in the village and quite a number from villages nearby. You know almost everything about people who live near you—their quirks, their habits, their opinions and talents. In short, the good, the bad and the ugly.
In a way, you know more than you need to know or want know. You hear their arguments and the sounds emitting from their huts. Everything seems to hang out in the open.
In York, England, the Yorvik Centre recreates a Viking village of the 10th Century. A man is sitting in an outhouse, screened off by a waist-high fence, all the while conversing with a neighboring housewife a few yards away who is shaking out the thresh in her doorway. Life was very public then, especially compared to a modern home where each person has a private room and maybe a private bath, plus a personal computer, a cell phone, and myriad other gadgets that give control over all unwanted intrusions.
Life for many affluent people today is isolated and hermetically sealed against the natural rhythms of society.
The younger generation, by contrast, is in constant contact with any number of virtual neighbors by texting and social utilities like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
The intimate and often embarrassing details of life are now shared with the world. It’s a virtual Viking Village or African compound where one knows many titillating details of a person’s hopes and dreams, their minds and sometimes their body parts.
This seems to be a way of overcoming the excessive isolation of their narcissistically-inclined parents.
We are coming full circle to the closeness of the ancient villages our ancestors lived in. Only this time we can choose which village to live in, simply by being selective about the networks we sign on for. We can admit new people to our village any time we choose. And we can marginalize or de-select those whom we find obnoxious.
Following a seminar on the Millennial Generation, a bolt of insight struck my brain from the clouds surrounding the Ivory Tower where this philosophy professor sits.
We have come back to our ancestral tribal villages after centuries of fragmentation.
Picture the typical African village with its grass roofed huts and wattle fence. You know everyone in the village and quite a number from villages nearby. You know almost everything about people who live near you—their quirks, their habits, their opinions and talents. In short, the good, the bad and the ugly.
In a way, you know more than you need to know or want know. You hear their arguments and the sounds emitting from their huts. Everything seems to hang out in the open.
In York, England, the Yorvik Centre recreates a Viking village of the 10th Century. A man is sitting in an outhouse, screened off by a waist-high fence, all the while conversing with a neighboring housewife a few yards away who is shaking out the thresh in her doorway. Life was very public then, especially compared to a modern home where each person has a private room and maybe a private bath, plus a personal computer, a cell phone, and myriad other gadgets that give control over all unwanted intrusions.
Life for many affluent people today is isolated and hermetically sealed against the natural rhythms of society.
The younger generation, by contrast, is in constant contact with any number of virtual neighbors by texting and social utilities like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
The intimate and often embarrassing details of life are now shared with the world. It’s a virtual Viking Village or African compound where one knows many titillating details of a person’s hopes and dreams, their minds and sometimes their body parts.
This seems to be a way of overcoming the excessive isolation of their narcissistically-inclined parents.
We are coming full circle to the closeness of the ancient villages our ancestors lived in. Only this time we can choose which village to live in, simply by being selective about the networks we sign on for. We can admit new people to our village any time we choose. And we can marginalize or de-select those whom we find obnoxious.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Christianity - or Jesus?
The Uniqueness of Jesus Among the Religions of the World
James W. Gustafson
Jesus stands as the unique figure in all of history, fulfilling the ideals of both religion and philosophy.
It may sound arrogant to say this. I believe it to be true, nonetheless, and ask you the courtesy of hearing me out with an open mind and heart. If at the end of this presentation you think I am blind, narrow-minded and ignorant, then I’ll not object if you consign me to intellectual outer darkness.
What I have to say is not original. Others have made the same claim in various ways.
I hope to induce you to consider who Jesus is as presented in the original presentations of his life and teaching by those who were close to him.
Jesus did not come to start a religion. He was born into a religious community and he never rejected his spiritual heritage. He did correct and purify and enlarge upon that heritage, as his contemporaries understood it. As he put it, he did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets of the Jewish Bible, but to fulfill them.
The uniqueness of Jesus’ teaching is the distinction between relationship and religion. A direct relationship with the one and only God is everything. Religion without such a relationship is nothing.
Religion is man’s attempt to relate to the Ultimate Reality in which we live. That Reality has been conceived in a variety of ways, some more religious and some more philosophical. The goal of religion is to enable human beings by their own efforts to tap into a reality that is larger and more powerful and enduring than us in order to fulfill what it means to be human. Everyone agrees that we came from some ancient origin. We did not create ourselves. Something or someone else brought humans into being.
Religion, broadly speaking, tells us what we should do in order to secure whatever peace or power we need to maximize our existence. The main idea is basically this. “Do this and you will live a satisfying and flourishing life.”
Jesus contradicts this. Life is not what we do. It is not an achievement of our own will or intellect.
Rather, he said, it is embracing what has been done not by us but for us by connecting with the Person who has already accomplished all that is needed for a satisfying and flourishing life.
We do not strive to achieve a relationship with God. We accept God’s offer to have a relationship with us. God has done it all. We embrace what God is willing to give us. God offers an invitation; we accept it. It’s like any friendship. You cannot earn a friendship. You cannot buy a friendship. Friendship is always a gift another person freely gives you.
Religion advises us on how to make our selves presentable to God or to the Ultimate Reality as each worldview understands it. Accept these doctrines. Do these good deeds. Train yourself to be a noble person of virtue. Then you will be rewarded with the fruits of your efforts—Heaven, or Paradise, or NIrvana.
Jesus says that all of this is fruitless because what is required for salvation (a satisfying and flourishing life both here and hereafter) cannot be achieved in this way. Human effort cannot provide what we need.
All that is needed for our salvation (a satisfying and flourishing life) has been provided by God himself and is a gift to us provided we choose to receive it.
We must do something. But what we must do is not to participate in building our salvation but to accept it as offered to us. That requires us to completely change our minds, our direction. Instead of justifying myself as a sincerely good person (with faults and mistakes, to be sure) who is trying to be good enough to achieve salvation, I must admit my helplessness and own up to my sins against God, throwing myself upon God’s mercy and grace.
In other words, I give myself up to God. I admit that I have not loved God with all my being. I see that I have focused on myself—on what I want, rather than on the God who gives me life and offers me salvation. This twisting of the soul has resulted in my loving things and formulating dreams that I think will help me achieve a satisfying and flourishing life according to my own notions. This is at the root of what induces me to deceive myself, to hurt other people, and in the end to ruin myself.
Jesus says that forgiveness and healing come only as gifts received in a relationship with God—the one who loves us and gave himself for us. “For the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “It is not because of works of righteousness that we have done, but in virtue of his mercy that God saves us.” “It is the gift of God, not because of works, that none should boast in God’s presence.”
There is no religion or philosophy that speaks like this. Jesus’ message is unique. He alone claimed to be the Infinite-personal Creator come to Earth to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. He then offers his accomplishment as a gift to any who will forsake their self-designed plans for a satisfying and flourishing life and give themselves wholly to the One who came to save us. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
There are dozens of passages in the writings about Jesus that say this.
By contrast, consider other views on how one can achieve a flourishing and satisfying life.
1. Secular humanism (or philosophical naturalism) teaches that you are on your own. There is no God or spiritual entity to provide salvation or advice or hope. Others have written their viewpoints, but they are merely human ideas in the end. Therefore you must do what you think is best with the short time you have in life. When you die, that’s it. Your person is extinguished—forever gone. A good life is up to you and you alone.
2. Eastern religions have many variations but agree on something like this. You are in a cycle of incarnations that will carry your soul through many experiences. Each incarnation is another round of suffering for failures of a previous life. You must accept your duty to live in such a way as to build up good karma so that you will rise eventually to a point of release and not return to this world again. Your soul will then achieve nirvana and you will lose individual consciousness by being absorbed into the ultimate One. It’s up to you to save yourself by selfless effort until your individual existence ceases.
3. Monotheistic religions.
a. Judaism advises you to live by the Tanack given by God’s prophets so that you will be admitted to the realm of the just. Worship God and do the good deeds he requires and heaven will be your reward when you die.
b. Christianity is often portrayed as a religion in which we do our best to love God and be good to others with a sincere heart. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and mistakes and you will probably go to heaven to live with God, if your good deeds show you are sincere.
c. Islam requires that you sincerely confess there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet. Submit to the requirements of the Koran in which Allah shows his will. Allah knows you are weak. He is merciful. If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you will enjoy the virgins of Paradise (unless Allah decrees otherwise, for Allah can do whatever he wants with you no matter what you have achieved.) Allah, being incomprehensibly lofty, does not relate personally with you as a friend, but he provides a place for you to experience happiness.
4. The Way of Jesus. You have already offended a God so holy he cannot tolerate any sin whatever—not even one. You sin because you are sinful. You are therefore doomed—without God and without hope. Nothing you do can make yourself eligible for salvation. But—Good News! God loves you and wants you to be in personal direct relationship with Him. He has provided salvation without your help. Admit you have no chance of fixing yourself. Accept the free gift of salvation provided through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Turn your life entirely over to God through Jesus and God will accept you into his family. He will fill you with his own life. You will follow Jesus in everything you do. You will have joy and peace, eagerly doing anything to serve God every day—not out of fear you may be rejected, but out of love for the God who has rescued you and adopted you forever.
The stark contrast between the Way of Jesus and the religions of mankind comes down to two words: Do or Done! Religions say Do this or that. Jesus says everything is all done already.
This is unique—one of a kind. Jesus is either Lord (as he claimed) or a deluded fanatic or a lying charlatan. He is not merely another good moral teacher advising us what to do to achieve the ultimate flourishing life. As C.S. Lewis said, Jesus did not leave us that option—he did not intend to leave us that option.
Let me end with an analogy.
I once set my hopes on getting into Heavenly Timeshares. The description of this place was exactly what I wanted. If I could just go there everything I truly longed for would be mine. I knew that you had to live up to high standards. Not just anyone was admitted.
I would have to learn about the life of the Founder—his mission to reach people who suffer a lot and have little or nothing. I thought he was the most wonderful person who ever lived. I wanted to be like him. So I started imitating his lifestyle. I knew it was way above my ability. But if I tried hard I thought maybe I would be accepted. I knew Heavenly Timeshares was expensive. That was understandable, for the best always costs a lot. So I started an account to put in everything I could—money, time, even prayer. Maybe I wasn’t Mother Teresa, but I was going for it as best I could.
After many years of my best effort I talked with a representative of Heavenly Timeshares, telling him all that I was doing. I was making constant deposits in the Good Deeds account. I was gathering endorsements from references that I though would put in a good word for me when it was time for my Final Interview.
What the rep told me was such a SHOCK!
“Hey, man, you are already in! They are putting the finishing touches on your Timeshare now. The Owner says he knows you and you are one of his relatives—a brother I think he said. It’s all settled. So Heavenly Timeshares appreciates all you are contributing—that really helps our mission. But as for you—you are all set. It doesn’t get any better than to be on the Friends and Family list! And actually, you may not know this, but everyone in Heavenly Timeshares has to be on the Friends and Family list. That’s the only way in. Congratulations!”
James W. Gustafson
Jesus stands as the unique figure in all of history, fulfilling the ideals of both religion and philosophy.
It may sound arrogant to say this. I believe it to be true, nonetheless, and ask you the courtesy of hearing me out with an open mind and heart. If at the end of this presentation you think I am blind, narrow-minded and ignorant, then I’ll not object if you consign me to intellectual outer darkness.
What I have to say is not original. Others have made the same claim in various ways.
I hope to induce you to consider who Jesus is as presented in the original presentations of his life and teaching by those who were close to him.
Jesus did not come to start a religion. He was born into a religious community and he never rejected his spiritual heritage. He did correct and purify and enlarge upon that heritage, as his contemporaries understood it. As he put it, he did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets of the Jewish Bible, but to fulfill them.
The uniqueness of Jesus’ teaching is the distinction between relationship and religion. A direct relationship with the one and only God is everything. Religion without such a relationship is nothing.
Religion is man’s attempt to relate to the Ultimate Reality in which we live. That Reality has been conceived in a variety of ways, some more religious and some more philosophical. The goal of religion is to enable human beings by their own efforts to tap into a reality that is larger and more powerful and enduring than us in order to fulfill what it means to be human. Everyone agrees that we came from some ancient origin. We did not create ourselves. Something or someone else brought humans into being.
Religion, broadly speaking, tells us what we should do in order to secure whatever peace or power we need to maximize our existence. The main idea is basically this. “Do this and you will live a satisfying and flourishing life.”
Jesus contradicts this. Life is not what we do. It is not an achievement of our own will or intellect.
Rather, he said, it is embracing what has been done not by us but for us by connecting with the Person who has already accomplished all that is needed for a satisfying and flourishing life.
We do not strive to achieve a relationship with God. We accept God’s offer to have a relationship with us. God has done it all. We embrace what God is willing to give us. God offers an invitation; we accept it. It’s like any friendship. You cannot earn a friendship. You cannot buy a friendship. Friendship is always a gift another person freely gives you.
Religion advises us on how to make our selves presentable to God or to the Ultimate Reality as each worldview understands it. Accept these doctrines. Do these good deeds. Train yourself to be a noble person of virtue. Then you will be rewarded with the fruits of your efforts—Heaven, or Paradise, or NIrvana.
Jesus says that all of this is fruitless because what is required for salvation (a satisfying and flourishing life both here and hereafter) cannot be achieved in this way. Human effort cannot provide what we need.
All that is needed for our salvation (a satisfying and flourishing life) has been provided by God himself and is a gift to us provided we choose to receive it.
We must do something. But what we must do is not to participate in building our salvation but to accept it as offered to us. That requires us to completely change our minds, our direction. Instead of justifying myself as a sincerely good person (with faults and mistakes, to be sure) who is trying to be good enough to achieve salvation, I must admit my helplessness and own up to my sins against God, throwing myself upon God’s mercy and grace.
In other words, I give myself up to God. I admit that I have not loved God with all my being. I see that I have focused on myself—on what I want, rather than on the God who gives me life and offers me salvation. This twisting of the soul has resulted in my loving things and formulating dreams that I think will help me achieve a satisfying and flourishing life according to my own notions. This is at the root of what induces me to deceive myself, to hurt other people, and in the end to ruin myself.
Jesus says that forgiveness and healing come only as gifts received in a relationship with God—the one who loves us and gave himself for us. “For the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “It is not because of works of righteousness that we have done, but in virtue of his mercy that God saves us.” “It is the gift of God, not because of works, that none should boast in God’s presence.”
There is no religion or philosophy that speaks like this. Jesus’ message is unique. He alone claimed to be the Infinite-personal Creator come to Earth to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. He then offers his accomplishment as a gift to any who will forsake their self-designed plans for a satisfying and flourishing life and give themselves wholly to the One who came to save us. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
There are dozens of passages in the writings about Jesus that say this.
By contrast, consider other views on how one can achieve a flourishing and satisfying life.
1. Secular humanism (or philosophical naturalism) teaches that you are on your own. There is no God or spiritual entity to provide salvation or advice or hope. Others have written their viewpoints, but they are merely human ideas in the end. Therefore you must do what you think is best with the short time you have in life. When you die, that’s it. Your person is extinguished—forever gone. A good life is up to you and you alone.
2. Eastern religions have many variations but agree on something like this. You are in a cycle of incarnations that will carry your soul through many experiences. Each incarnation is another round of suffering for failures of a previous life. You must accept your duty to live in such a way as to build up good karma so that you will rise eventually to a point of release and not return to this world again. Your soul will then achieve nirvana and you will lose individual consciousness by being absorbed into the ultimate One. It’s up to you to save yourself by selfless effort until your individual existence ceases.
3. Monotheistic religions.
a. Judaism advises you to live by the Tanack given by God’s prophets so that you will be admitted to the realm of the just. Worship God and do the good deeds he requires and heaven will be your reward when you die.
b. Christianity is often portrayed as a religion in which we do our best to love God and be good to others with a sincere heart. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and mistakes and you will probably go to heaven to live with God, if your good deeds show you are sincere.
c. Islam requires that you sincerely confess there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet. Submit to the requirements of the Koran in which Allah shows his will. Allah knows you are weak. He is merciful. If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you will enjoy the virgins of Paradise (unless Allah decrees otherwise, for Allah can do whatever he wants with you no matter what you have achieved.) Allah, being incomprehensibly lofty, does not relate personally with you as a friend, but he provides a place for you to experience happiness.
4. The Way of Jesus. You have already offended a God so holy he cannot tolerate any sin whatever—not even one. You sin because you are sinful. You are therefore doomed—without God and without hope. Nothing you do can make yourself eligible for salvation. But—Good News! God loves you and wants you to be in personal direct relationship with Him. He has provided salvation without your help. Admit you have no chance of fixing yourself. Accept the free gift of salvation provided through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Turn your life entirely over to God through Jesus and God will accept you into his family. He will fill you with his own life. You will follow Jesus in everything you do. You will have joy and peace, eagerly doing anything to serve God every day—not out of fear you may be rejected, but out of love for the God who has rescued you and adopted you forever.
The stark contrast between the Way of Jesus and the religions of mankind comes down to two words: Do or Done! Religions say Do this or that. Jesus says everything is all done already.
This is unique—one of a kind. Jesus is either Lord (as he claimed) or a deluded fanatic or a lying charlatan. He is not merely another good moral teacher advising us what to do to achieve the ultimate flourishing life. As C.S. Lewis said, Jesus did not leave us that option—he did not intend to leave us that option.
Let me end with an analogy.
I once set my hopes on getting into Heavenly Timeshares. The description of this place was exactly what I wanted. If I could just go there everything I truly longed for would be mine. I knew that you had to live up to high standards. Not just anyone was admitted.
I would have to learn about the life of the Founder—his mission to reach people who suffer a lot and have little or nothing. I thought he was the most wonderful person who ever lived. I wanted to be like him. So I started imitating his lifestyle. I knew it was way above my ability. But if I tried hard I thought maybe I would be accepted. I knew Heavenly Timeshares was expensive. That was understandable, for the best always costs a lot. So I started an account to put in everything I could—money, time, even prayer. Maybe I wasn’t Mother Teresa, but I was going for it as best I could.
After many years of my best effort I talked with a representative of Heavenly Timeshares, telling him all that I was doing. I was making constant deposits in the Good Deeds account. I was gathering endorsements from references that I though would put in a good word for me when it was time for my Final Interview.
What the rep told me was such a SHOCK!
“Hey, man, you are already in! They are putting the finishing touches on your Timeshare now. The Owner says he knows you and you are one of his relatives—a brother I think he said. It’s all settled. So Heavenly Timeshares appreciates all you are contributing—that really helps our mission. But as for you—you are all set. It doesn’t get any better than to be on the Friends and Family list! And actually, you may not know this, but everyone in Heavenly Timeshares has to be on the Friends and Family list. That’s the only way in. Congratulations!”
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