I received a comment on some of my previous posts that deserves a specific response and generates an important discussion to do with our relationship to other faiths. Timothy responded to my Patrick Sookhdeo post and made the statement, "I believe that as an evangelical Christian I have nothing to learn from Islam"..."to agree with anything takes away from the proclamation of Jesus as Lord of the universe". Now Timothy raises very genuine concerns for those of us committed to mission, evangelism and the ultimate significance of Jesus. Being able to see what we can learn whilst holding to our Christian identity, I believe, is vital for our relationship with all faiths and none. In fact, it is part and parcel of us staying true to what we believe.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is instructive on this. Coming as it does in Luke after a series of encounters between Jesus and a roll-call of the dodgy and excluded (tax collectors, demonised, the dead, dubious women, Roman centurions, leprosy sufferers), the question from the "expert in the law" is not without its baggage. He asks, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (read that as "be included in the realisation of Israel's redemption by Yahweh in a return to the glory days of King David"). Jesus then responds with a story with the most provocative and outrageous twist in the tail. The cultural and religious outsider, (the Muslim?), as opposed to the priest (the vicar, pastor, missionary) and the Levite (worship leader, Bible teacher), helped the man who was left for dead.
The parable is not the tidy ethic we learn at school, "be nice to people not like you" (good though that sentiment is) but rather, "be careful what boundaries you set up because you will find God's grace demonstrated in some of the most unlikely people and places". Can we get so concerned with "who's in/who's out", so determined to keep our cordon sanitaires that we fail to be what we are called to be in Christ, and miss what God is doing in those we may not believe have access to his grace?
Another account just before this in Luke 9 is helpful. After the disciples have seen Jesus transfigured, with Moses and Elijah at either side of him, revealed in all his glory, they have to go through a Samaritan village. The disciples go on ahead to ask permission to go through across land with their rabbi (relations not cordial: cultural, religious, ethnic and territorial divisions abounded...sound familiar?). The Samaritans give them short shrift and what is the response of James and John: "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"
We might smile at the ignorance and naivety of the disciples: "Let's call the F15's in!" But I wonder how close their reaction is to ours. The thing is, Jesus had been transfigured, Elijah alongside him (that prophet with great kick-butt potential); Jesus had been described as a "type of Elijah". What's more, if you go to 2 Kings 1, Elijah called down "the fire of heaven" on the king of Samaria's soldiers because their king consults a false god rather than God's prophet. Put it another way, James and John had good biblical, evangelical precedent for their reaction to the Samaritans' rejection of Jesus! Jesus' reply was to rebuke them; take the long way round.
What's the small-print in this brief cameo in the gospels? A suggestion: we can be so determined that we have all the truth, be utterly convinced of our "rightness" that we actually miss the heart of God. The disciples knew the hope of the whole universe; they had a privilege to the truth of what God was doing; that hadn't altered in their wayward suggestion. What had altered was how that truth shaped their engagement with the stranger, the outsider and the excluded.
So, take these two stories together and ask again, "can we learn from other religions?" For the church's sake, I hope so.
Just wanted to say thank you (again) for opening my eyes anew to the parable of the good Muslim, I mean, Samaritan... Very valuable indeed.
Posted by: LauraHD | February 21, 2008 at 03:38 PM
"I believe that as an evangelical Christian I have nothing to learn from Islam"..."to agree with anything takes away from the proclamation of Jesus as Lord of the universe"
To think that one can know this without experiencing the lives of individual Muslims is to hold on to doctrine to the exclusion of all evidence.
It also gives no clue as to how all of us -- Muslims, Christians, Hindus, humanists, and so on -- are to live peaceably together on the same planet.
Posted by: Ken | February 25, 2008 at 09:25 AM
I think you're being too short-sighted. This is all fine if you are a universalist. However, as Christians, we beleive that only Jesus Christ can give us access to God.
John 14:6 "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me."
By exhibiting Christ's love, we hope one day for everyone to turn to him, and so leaving their own faiths. Jesus is very clear on this point, and Christian teaching has been fairly consistent on it in the last 2000 years.
I love the muslim and humanist and agnostic people I know so much that I want them to know Christ, Truth, as well.
Posted by: Ross | February 26, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Thanks for your comments Ross but I'm not sure you've heard what I'm saying. Jesus is "Truth" but there are truths that Christians need to hear and affirm in people of other faiths; that is our challenge and joy. The Samaritan stories, for me, are Jesus' way of reminding us that our discovery of the Truth should not become a barrier to us being vulnerable and surprised by God's work by His Spirit in other people. It's not an issue that changes our fundamental appreciation of the uniqueness of Jesus but one that challenges us to humility and grace.
Posted by: Distinctly Welcoming | February 26, 2008 at 04:33 PM
There's a very helpful book that might provide food for thought for folk on this issue. It's called Can Evangelicals Learn from World Religions by Gerald R. McDermott and published by IVP in 2000
Posted by: Andrew Smith | February 26, 2008 at 07:48 PM
My only point is that if we truly love people of other cultures, then we will want them to know Christ and find salvation in Him. There may be other ways to come to know Christ initially, but I think still the Christian Church is the best longterm-- or if not the Church, then something exactly like it.
The Church Universal does have its frustrating qualities, but I really don't believe that there is such a 'lack' of Truth in the Church to the extent that we need to import it from other faiths and religions.
If the truth in another faith leads them to Christ (as it has done, and I have met people this has happened to) then so much the better. However, if it merely clouds the issue by throwing up a smokescreen of mini-truths that can lead you astray, then this should be avoided, drawn attention to, and condemned.
Posted by: Ross | February 27, 2008 at 11:49 AM
One thing in this parable that very few people mention is that it's not the person helping who is overcoming their barrier, but the person receiving the help!
It's easy to feel pity for an "other". It's much, much harder to be helped by them.
Posted by: Pseudonym | March 17, 2008 at 11:27 PM