Where Everybody's Crazy

When you're in the UK, you don't really have to think about the question of other religions in any great detail. Most people are either Christians or atheists, apart from a few who follow strange and exotic belief systems. It suffices just to write these people off; they are wrong, we are right, and we need not think anything more about it.

When you're on the field, and most people are, say, Shintoist-Buddhists or atheists, and you are the one bringing the strange and exotic belief system, such a simple and dismissive way of thinking (or not thinking) is a luxury that fails the test of doing unto others what you would have them do to you.

Now some people will read that and assume I am being pluralist. I am not. I honestly believe that the God of Israel is the sole creator of heaven and earth, and solely through the work of Jesus, we have the privilege of being part of his Kingdom. My concern is how we, who believe these things, handle in a loving and neighbourly way those who do not believe such things.

For instance, I often hear people talk about how the Japanese are "trapped in bondage" to Shintoism or Buddhism. I do not consider this a particularly loving way to talk about people. To be fair, it's usually people who've never lived here who say things like that. Now there are some people groups who follow their religions out of fear. I'm told that the Burmese and their offerings to nat spirits are in this category. But the Japanese generally go to worship when they want something, whether it's to pass an exam or to have something to do over New Year. This is the opposite of being trapped in bondage; if anything, the Shinto gods are at the beck and call of their worshippers.

Ah, but it's a spiritual bondage. The "darkness" of Buddhism over the country. Would we appreciate Christianity being called a darkness? Why do we do it to others? Anyway, I'm getting a bit off the point here.

I used to think that Buddhism was a "dark" religion too. All those dimly lit temples, the scary-looking statues, and all that monotonous chanting. That was before I knew the first thing about it. Now when I do visit a Buddhist temple, the "spiritual atmosphere" is quite different from before. It used to feel "oppressive"; now it does not. All that has changed is that I used to be afraid of Buddhism and now I am not. Perhaps I should not trust my ability to evaluate the "spiritual atmosphere" of a place when there are so often much simpler explanations for things.

And the "gods" of Shintoism? You see, another bizarre tendency I've noticed is for some Christian commentators to take the claims of other religions at face value. For instance, when the present emperor was being enthroned, the JEB wrote a concerned prayer letter, asking people to pray about one of the ceremonies in particular, because

In this ritual, the sun goddess (maker of the Japanese islands and people) imparts the status of divinity to the new emperor.

Aha. OK. Next up, George Otis, commenting on this ceremony, wrote that:

By repackaging the ancient rites of spirit welcome and appeasement as popular, seemingly more benign, festivals and pilgrimages, the tenant rights of demonic powers are thereby reaffirmed by successive generations.

Wait, we suddenly believe in the spiritual power of the sun goddess now? I missed the memo. Even recently, I heard a WEC missionary teach about demonology, taking his examples from the Koran. I knew that the Scriptures were meant to be authoritative for doctrine, but I also missed the memo that said that any Scriptures will do. (He was also the one telling me I didn't believe the Bible, so I really had to make an effort to keep my mouth shut at that point.)

If you want a Biblical view, go to Jeremiah: the fact that someone takes a bit of wood or a stone and calls it a god does not make it one. It doesn't make it a demon either. The view that simply believing in it gives "tenant rights" to "demonic powers" is a common one, but one which owes much more to animism than Christian thought.

If you want another Biblical view, go back to Exodus. Members of God's community are strictly forbidden to serve other gods. This does not legitimize the claims of other gods; as Jeremiah puts it, they are not really gods at all. God has no rivals. When God forbids his people to serve other gods, it is not because He is worried about their "power"; it is because He is worried about our betrayal.

This is not to say that we are not in a spiritual battle. The Christian worldview definitely includes that dynamic. But we should not let our fear and our credulity magnify the size of that battle, and we absolutely should not let it impact the way we speak about or relate to those we are trying to reach. To them, we should do as we would have them do to us.