The Ends of Religion
Recently Katrina and I have been getting into the show “30 Days” (check it out here); the same guy who did Super Size Me (ate nothing but McDonalds for 30 days) is now out to see other people try another life (usually a diametrically opposed lifestyle) for several weeks to see what personal changes take place. (e.g. A upper-middle class from NYC couple move to Ohio to live on minimum wage).
I was especially impressed with the episode Muslims in America, which reports on a Christian from West Virginia moving to Dearborn, MI to live with a Muslim family and experience Islam up close and personal. He engaged in political/theological dialogue with the Muslims he lived with, he went to Jumuah (Friday prayer service), ate Halal foods, and basically lived “on the other side of the tracks” for a whole month. It got me thinking about my own preconceived notions of who Muslims are – and what they believe as part of their faith.
Even beyond that, it reminded me that each religion of this world, while they share many of the same tenets, practices, principles, and even forefathers, are all going in different directions.
Buddhists are after enlightenment through emptiness.
Hindus seek the absorption and unity with the ONE.
Animism goal is cosmic harmony, and human well-being.
Islam’s religious end is total surrender to Allah.
Christianity’s ultimate goal is communion with God.
What does this say about the world’s religions? To me, it says that they are not necessarily “right” or “wrong” but it shows me what their aims are. After 30 Days, the man who had lived with Muslims learned to embrace the people, the culture and even their prayers/worship because he saw their aim as different from the aim of Christianity.
Can one aim be “better” than another? Sure! Before the world began, God existed in community. He is innately a relational God – he IS communion. Seeking communion with him through the salvation that Jesus Christ offers is the ultimate goal a “religion” can have. There are not many ways of being saved – because only Christ offers salvation. Salvation from self. Salvation from sin. We are only like God when we are tied in with God, and become communal just as God is by participating with God in communion with others. There are however many different genuine goals world religions can have which do not compromise the ultimate goal of communion with the one God.
If Christians took seriously the fact that they are fundamentally relational, then our outreach and good works would not come from a form of guilt, but from a deep sense of who we are as relational beings. As God is communal, so I am communal. We become the sacraments to the world.
I am sure that I do not have the authoritative voice on the issue of the world’s religious diversity. I do know that Jesus is the only one that offers salvation – and that is what I am desperate for. All other religious ends seem fickle in light of eternal communion at the Lord’s Table. In the end, a Buddhist gets what he is looking for: the end of existence. Could it be that Christ will offer then the ultimate goal of salvation in the moments after a Buddhist’s death? That’s a question I’m definitely not qualified to answer. …maybe if I got my doctorate…
