MT533: Theology of Religious Encounter Course Info:
Pluralism & Christianity’s Good Deeds Deficit
by Joseph B. Bustillos
A Paper Submitted to Dr. Arthur F. Glassar
of the School of World Mission
of Fuller Theological Seminary
March 15, 1985
It often amazes me how intelligent Christian writers always seem to make the particular point of Christianity that they are writing about to be the interface, the turning-point, the battlefield upon which all of Christianity will survive or crumble to ashes.1 They sometimes seem like adolescent bullies with a chip on their shoulders, willing to put out an eye for a minor question of doctrine or practice. They seem to miss the point that the only interface that really matters to the world outside is in the lived out example of those people that call themselves Christians among those that do not call themselves Christians.
There's a call to us all to love all humanity
Every race on the face of earth come to unity
"Love your neighbor as you love yourself."
These, the Master's words, would do us well
But Man's belief, religious creeds, can make him blind
The narrow way is not a narrow mind.
Love eliminates all the fear and hate
it illuminates the soul
Love will make us whole.
There's a call to us all to love all humanity
Every race on the face of earth come to unity
Reach a hand to the Hindu mother
And a hand to the Buddhist father in love
("Love one another as I have loved you.")
Hold the hands of a Muslim baby
and you'll see we're all created by God
(All the Image of God)
Sweet salvation calls the nations with His voice
Every man who hears must make the choice
Who are we to know another's heart or mind?
For God alone is judge. He loves all kinds
Love eliminates all the fear and hate
It illuminates the soul
Love will make us whole.
There's a call to us all to love all humanity . . .
"Ubi Caritas Et Amor, Deus Ibi Est,
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor."
- Teri DeSario2
Much of Christian theology often seems to be relegated to that realm of the Other World. We seem to have inherited from the Jews their perspective on reality and the acts of God. Things are understood as being of “that Age” as opposed to “this Age,” or “that Dispensation” verses “this Dispensation.” Unfortunately this often necessary dichotomizing frequently makes
its way into our personal lives, dividing between our theology and our existence, our beliefs and our acj^ions. This is probably nowhere as pronounced as in the area of Pluralism, how we as ^ Christians relate to those that do not share our faith.
It is very easy as a seminary student to wall myself off from the rest of mankind with a mountain of Christian books, only venturing out to make contact with other Christians and to purchase more books. There is a sense of security in this. It’s less threatening. And our society seems to be geared to having us keep to ourselves. We go to our little jobs, talk small-talk, go to our little Christian meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays, and try to get ahead of the game (whatever that means).
Then every once in a while something goes wrong. I am stopped in my tracks by the sound of a friend in need. I want so much to help her, but I am helpless to do much of anything except . . . except words of advice and some emotional feedback and …. My Christianity sometimes feels like such an albatross it just hangs there and I don’t know what to do with it. To come off and give this person the gospel at this point sounds so much like giving the children scorpions when they asked for fish. No, not because Christianity is a scorpion but because her problem isn’t one of religion but one of life.
Besides whenever Christianity is offered as the “Cure-all” not only is the need not really addressed but then everyone pulls out their nasty little tales of woes and hypocrisy that have been tucked away for just such an occasion in a little corner marked “Reasons For Rejecting Religion.”
“Tell them anyway,” you say, “Toss the seed and don*t be too concerned that most of it will be eaten by the birds!” That wouldn’t bother me nearly as much if we were just talking about birds or seed but we’re not. We’re dealing with people and their eternal destinies. “Your problem is that you don’t know Jesus Christ.” No, that may be a problem but it probably has nothing to do with this problem.
Midday in London The terrorists were evidently on strike So we chanced the tube Subterranean refugees that we were Up through the sidewalk in Soho We chanced only the meat pie A man was being propositioned It was a middle-aged female prostitute "I make love for a living: Want to do business?" "No thanks, I'm just having a sandwich." Mister Freddie B. Morris Insists that we are Communists He, aided by two bottles of rum And half his remaining live brain cells He's crying over his lost wife whom he left He's going to France He wishes he could go to Canada An hour out from Dover he doesn't feel the deck move beneath our feet Hollywood on a November night The volcano's ashes wouldn't fall through the smog blanket The air casts a shadow... Good and bad news from the same messenger "Hot and cold running reality" I said to the guy in the next car Waiting for the light to change Leave me alone man I want to go home." - Mark Heard3
When did I become so timid about what Jesus means to me? I*ve never been an extroverted person but this fear seems unnatural. I guess after ten years I’m still shell-shocked from all the casualties I littered the countryside with as a young reckless convert.4 There was so much that we did in the name of Jesus that was wrong. And it seems so foolish to long for those days, but sometimes 1 do.
The black and white, the us and the them, the Truth and the lies of the Devil, the Bible and philosophies of man; I remember in high school sitting with my Christian friends at lunch looking out over the senior lawn at the clumps of people and knowing that we weren’t like them. In fact one time we got up and in groups of twos we went from clump to clump and preached at them. Nothing intelligible mind you, but we babbled on about Jesus. And when they shouted at us to sit down and shut up we shouted back that they were going to hell. In my rampage I guess I didn’t think about how they felt or what the best way of reaching them would be. I was caught up in the hot passion of religious experience. It was that unutterable encounter with “mysterium tremendum et fascinans.”5 It was the naked ignorance of the old ways exposed to the brilliant light of the new. It was that primal burst of freedom and destruction. It was “God is love” and “The Church is stupid!” It was confused but knowing, passionate but peaceful, timeless but bond up in the heart of a frustrated fifteen year old boy.
I took this class to get a better understanding of how one deals with the demands of living in a pluralistic society. I’ve grown tired of lamely nodding to the silence code of my generation, I’ve grown tired of my religious detente, my peaceful co-existence. This isn’t to say that I’m going to take up my old Holy Ghost Flamethrower and cook a few sinners for Christ, Not at all. Hopefully I’ve learned a few things about people and about the way that God moves in the last few years.
In the course of this past quarter I’ve come to see that though we claim to be a Pluralistic society, that is not the same as saying that we live in a Secularistic-Atheistic Society, Behind Southern California’s cosmopolitan facade is a generation of altar boys and daughters of Protestant ministers, Man is a religious animal and those living in Southern California are no exception. Tucked away in the childhood memories of most is a crucifix or a star of David or a crescent moon. And the seed of these childhood memories cannot be erased but later in life will be asked to be addressed to. Thus in our Western society we have a point of continuity between Christianity and our supposed Post- Christian existence,6
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians a point was made that spoke to this issue of Pluralism, It’s really a passing comment made on the way to another statement, but in chapter five verse nine and following he writes:
I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not at all meaning I the people of this world who are immoral, or greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. (1 Corinth. 5:9-11a)
One gets the distinct impression that it was not Paul’s vision to see the Christian community cut off from the surrounding unbelievers. Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew’s gospel:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light sine before men, that they may see your good deed and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
This brings us back to an issue that I brought up in the beginning of this paper. That is, while we Christians are busy running about, cutting each others legs off over whether Christ will return before, during or after the tribulation or whether a non-historical Jonah invalidates Christ’s resurrection, while we expend so much energy on these “important” issues our non- Christian audience is nowhere closer to seeing that we have an answer to anything (other than filling up empty time and putting kooks on TV).
In a world where nearly everything is measured by what can be seen and observed anybody worth his weight in salt will reject out of hand any supposed “Truth” that is not demonstrated in the life of the person making the claim.7 The vagueness of life is bad enough without having to deal with some nebulous religion that doesn’t even seem to be working in the lives of those that claim it. I really don’t think enough can be written about this point. Don’t talk to me about truth claims, show me your life.
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” (James 2:18b-22)
This train of thought should not be brushed aside as some sort of Salvation-by-works game. It*s not a question of Salvation-by-works, but if your Salvation doesn’t produce any works than is it true? How can it be true? Again: show me something that works in the Real World,
We do the Lord a disservice when we fail to take seriously his call to discipleship. If we are not serious enough to see the dilemma that our “good deeds deficit” is creating in the eyes of our non-Christian neighbors than two thousand years of Christian history has taught us nothing. In the eleven years that I have sat in churches an overwhelming percentage of time spent in the pulpit has been devoted to evangelizing the saved or dealing with problems generated because of Christians* narcissistic inability to see beyond themselves. What I am trying to communicate, in my own stammering way, is that the American church (at least my generation) has come of age years ago. And it’s long past time to take what we know and live it. Let the Evidentialists ramble on about the Uniqueness of Christ (which I believe) and the Inerrant testimony of Scripture (which I also believe) but as long as these “other things remain undone” (justice, mercy and faithfulness – Matthew 23:23) the world and our non-Christian neighbors will turn a deaf ear.
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FOOTNOTES:- Harold Lindsell, The Battle for the Bible. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), the whole book. Josh McDowell, Daniel in the Critics Den. (San Bernardino, California: Campus Crusade for Christ International, 1979), p 3. Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster. (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1984), pp 43ff. The question of Biblical Inerrancy is a critical one, but for the” non-Christian it remains a non-issue as long as we fail to- demonstrate love for each other.[↩]
- Teri DeSario, "A Call To Us All" off the album of the same name, Dayspring Music, 1983.[↩]
- Mark Heard, liner notes off the "Stop the Dominoes" album. Fingerprint Communications, 1981.[↩]
- This may seem odd but I wanted to dedicate this paper to those in my life who have put up with me over the years and have seen me through my babbling younger years as a Christian to my present state of babbling. I love you and appreciate the patience. I didn’t know where to fit a dedication in so I thought that this would be an appropriate spot.[↩]
- Herbert Ryan, S.J., Exploring Christian Mysticism (RS 160), Loyola Marymount University, Fall 1976.[↩]
- Unfortunately this is not as readily true in the East. Though I believe points of continuity exist this should not be interpreted in any way as saying that there are genuine salvific elements in these other religions. Their value is in the I sincerity of the human expression of their desire to be united with the Divine, but in so much that they exclude or preempt Christ whatever value they might have had is viewed as a liability.[↩]
- It will be noticed that this paragraph and the next is virtually lifted from my treatment on the Lausanne Occasional Papers (no. 10: Christian Witness to Nominal Christians Among Roman Catholics) pp 2ff. I couldn’t help it. I liked the way it came out.[↩]
