Other Faiths - A Christian Approach

A CHRISTIAN APPROACH TOWARDS OTHER FAITHS

"Jesus said to the fishermen: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men". (Mark 1.14).

The invitation to follow Jesus carries with it the implication to share Jesus with others. This is called evangelism. We are to be "fishers of men",

Now that is easier said than done. Whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, we are living in a pluralistic society.

No longer do we find ourselves living in a would-be Christian society. Today, Christianity is one of many religions being practised in our country, and all the signs are that this trend is likely to continue to grow. Several factors have contributed to this in recent years..

Firstly, just as the nineteenth century witnessed tremendous missionary activity on the part of the Christian Church, to the extent that it established itself as a world-wide religion, now other religions are beginning to spread their missionary wings and to establish themselves in countries throughout the world.

Secondly, recent years have also seen a significant migration of people from their native soil to other parts of the world. Sometimes this has been through political force. Sometimes this has been through economic necessity. Wherever such people have moved, they have taken their religion with them.

Thirdly, there has been a remarkable resurgence of some religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Freed from the shackles of their colonial past they have rediscovered their own identity as they have reacted against their former servitude.

And fourthly, the world has become a much smaller place by means of modern communication and air traffic. The peoples of the world have been brought together into a common history, a common fate and a common future. (For instance, this can be seen in the current world-wide concern about the environment.) With this has gone the distinctiveness of other civilisations and religions.

In short, the invitation to be “fishers of men" brings us face to face with the pluralistic society in which we live. It challenges us to face the question: “What should be the Christian approach towards men and women of other faiths?”

Certainly the approach used to be that we were right and they were wrong. The Christian therefore sought to rescue them from their pagan ways by collecting Christian scalps in their missionary endeavours.

The nineteenth century Christian missionary, Hudson Taylor, once wrote: '...and every day tens of thousands were passing away to Christless graves. Precious China so filled my heart and mind that there was no rest day by day, and sleep by night until my health broke down.’

Similar evangelistic fervour can be found in some of the missionary hymns.

J Montgomery, writing at the turn of the eighteenth century says:

"The heathens perish; day by day.

Thousands by thousands pass away;

0 Christian, to their rescue fly.

Preach Jesus to them ere they die.”

And L Hensley in the nineteenth century writes:

"O'er heathen lands afar,

thick darkness broodeth yet,

Arise, 0 morning star,

Arise and never set".

Taylor, Montgomery and Hensley reflected the attitude of their time which suggested not only that evangelism took place overseas, but, more importantly, that other religions were wholly wrong, mistaken, and at worst, sinful, insofar as they were judged to have deliberately chosen to ignore God,

Such an attitude was based on the selective use of some verse of scripture which they interpreted literally. Verses such as "I am the way, the truth and the life", and "...there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved".

In short, being "fishers of men", meant rescuing, non-Christians from their erroneous and sinful ways.

But were they erroneous? Were they sinful?

We have come to see in recent years, through the insights of biblical scholarship, that the Bible is essentially the language of faith and love and not of absolute truth. The Bible was written by people, inspired by the Spirit, to express what they believed about God, as known through their personal experience of Him, This, alas, is something that is often overlooked by those who would interpret the Bible literally. Individual verses cannot be taken out of context and always need to be interpreted in the thought forms of their time.

Let me try to illustrate what I mean with particular reference to men and women of other faiths. I quote words of an Indian Methodist minister, Wesley Ariarajah.

"When my daughter tells me that I am the best daddy in the world, and there can be no father like me, she is speaking the truth. For this comes out of her experience. She is honest about it; she knows no other person in the role of her father. The affirmation is part and parcel of her being. There are no doubts about it in her mind. She may be totally disillusioned if she is told that in fact her father is not the best daddy in the world.

But of course it is not true in another sense. I myself know friends, who I think are better fathers than I am. Even more importantly, one should be aware that in the next house there is another little girl who also thinks that her daddy is the best father in the world. And she too is right. In fact at the level of the way the two children relate to their fathers, no one from outside can compare the two fathers and say which one of them is the best father. It is impossible to compare the truth contents of the statements of the two girls. For here we are not dealing with absolute truths, but with the language of faith and love".

In a similar way, the Bible is the language of faith and love of the Christians only, and can only be used to support our own viewpoint. We cannot use it to deny or discredit the truth of other religions. It expresses our own convictions, in the same way as other beliefs express the convictions which others have.

When we approach men and women of other faiths we need to do so with an open mind with a view to discovering the God who is active in their own religion.

After all, there is only one God in whose image we are all made. There is not a Muslim God, or a Buddhist God or a Hindu God and a Christian God. God is the God of all humankind. He is not the tribal God of the Christians only.

Again, Wesley Ariarajah sums this up very well when he says, "Christian theology should allow God to be God and should not own God as we do a piece of private property. We cannot fence God in and say: “If you want to know God, come through this gate".

When I used to go on board ships and meet seafarers of other faiths, I always looked for the good in a man. And when I found the good, I believe that I found God. At the end of the day, there can only be one source of goodness, truth and love, and that is God himself, no matter what name we may give him.

To sum up then, if we are to become effective "fishers of men" in our pluralistic society, we need to go in humility of heart, with an openness of mind, so that through dialogue with those of other faiths, we may come to know the one true God, whom we all know, love and worship. However, as Christians, we believe he is to be found uniquely revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.