The Gospel for Buddhists (1)

John Piper, a noted evangelical pastor-scholar, Calvinist, and charismatic to boot presents the gospel to hearers in six minutes. He says it can be given in one sentence:

The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. 

My concern with this excellent kernel and his subsequent elaboration is that I wonder how his particular approach would be received by those outside the Faith with little knowledge of Christianity? In other words, it assumes much that we Christians just take for granted because we have been raised in the Faith and/or taught the Faith by the faithful teachers in our churches.

But if a person doesn't share that background, what then?

For example, what would Buddhist adherents make of this presentation? I'm sure they would find it hard to understand much less believe. Of course, the Lord can save people with little knowledge of him but (as Don Carson said in my last post) God usually uses [human] means rather than special miracles to present the gospel.

I am no expert on Buddhism* and all its variant forms. But from what I've read, Buddhism is primarily concerned with suffering and how we can live with suffering. It locates suffering at the centre of the world. 

Further it gives a reason why we suffer: we suffer because we crave things/people and/or attach ourselves to such things/people in the world. Such strong passions and desires for things lead inexorably to suffering. And suffering is understood to be 'bad'. 

Because we are all crave and desire things in some way, shape or form we need then to rid ourselves of desire/attachment if we want to reduce our suffering. And we can do that through a process laid down by the so-called Noble Eight-Fold Path. Part of the process though is to become 'awakened' to the true nature of life.

As we survey this outline which begins with suffering, then desire, then the extinguishment of desire through an awakening process or sudden experience (Zen Buddhism), we should be able to see a number of contact-points for the gospel of Christ to address.

In my next post, I will grapple with Buddhism using the Pauline model found here in terms of contact-points for the Christian gospel.

*I've chosen Buddhism deliberately because of the immigration of mainland Chinese, Thais, Cambodian, Vietnamese and other Asian people to Southern Australia (where I live).

Explaining The Gospel In Five Minutes?

Dr D A Carson, a noted New Testament scholar, is asked: 

'How would you explain the gospel in five minutes to someone who has no understanding of God, Jesus or sin?'

Carson clearly recognises that for many people in present, Western society the terms of the Christian gospel as used 30 years ago are no longer familiar. People typically don't know the Bible has two Testaments, the Old and the New. That the Old is primarily about the Messiah's people, Israel; the New Testament is about the Messiah and his New people, the Church made up of Jew and Gentile.


Words like God, creation, sin, judgement, sacrifices, prophecy, leading up to Jesus's death and resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the founding of the Church are far from the thoughts of many today.

If people had the background they had 80 years ago gained through religious instruction in school and Sunday School the one could say something like this:

There is but one God who made us, who is sovereign over all and is our final judge. This God finds our rebellion against him entirely unacceptable and hence, stands over against us in judgement. Consequently we ought to fear him. But mercifully, he is also a God of love who is prepared to reconcile us to himself by sending his Son to bear our sins in his body on the cross and to rise from the dead.

But says Carson, most of these words are going to go over the top of people's heads. We cannot begin as Paul did in Antioch when he spoke in the synagogue to hearers who had the background of the Old Testament (Acts 13.16-41). 

We may have to take Paul's address at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17.16-34) as a better pattern for speaking to those without any Christian background says Carson. Paul starts with their altar to the UNKNOWN GOD and proclaims his nature and actions to his hearers. He is the creator who has made the world and everything in it. As he is Lord of heaven and earth he doesn't live in man-made temples as though he needs anything for he is the One who gives to all things, life, breath and all things.

He made men determining their 'times' and the 'places where they should live' (NIV). He did this so that men would seek him, reach out for him though he is not far from any of us. Paul then quotes from pagan writings to reinforce the point that we live in him (v. 28a) and are God's offspring (v. 28b).

Being God's offspring, says Paul, should make us aware that God is not man-made in an image of gold, silver or stone. Although God has overlooked this ignorance [among the Gentiles] he now commands all everywhere to repent. A day is appointed for judgement which will come through the appointed man authenticated by God's raising him from the dead.

I'm not suggesting that this outline should be followed word-for-word. What Paul shows us, I think, is the importance of adapting what we say to others' thought-world or world-view starting with what we appear to share in common. However, his message becomes confrontative in various ways and ends with the need for repentance in the face of God's coming judgement.    

What I think is good about Carson's short response above is his pastoral suggestion of inviting interested folk as well as new Christians to view DVDs similar to what he has produced where he goes through the Bible in 14 one-hour weeks. He uses simple headings for the sections of the Bible and covers it from Genesis to Revelation.

The series is entitled, The God Who Is There and it's available free so check it out.

Relationship With God

I believe that Christians should take the opportunities they receive in their daily lives to speak the good news of God to others they meet. 

In this post I will be trying to lay out one way of understanding what lies behind such witness. 

It's common to represent initiation into the Christian walk as the beginning of a relationship with God. And there's nothing wrong with this conception as long as we keep in mind some important differences between human relationships and relationships with God.

1. God Is Not A Person

It's common to hear folk say that God is a person. In the evangelical world it's almost a fundamental doctrine and taken for granted. 

However, although God relates to us in a personal way for we are persons, his being--to use C. S. Lewis' graphic term--is 'super-personal'. What Lewis meant by this language is that God transcends or is beyond what we describe as a person.

And we begin to comprehend the supra-personal nature of God through God's revelation of himself as Triune Being: as Three persons (e.g., Matt 3.13-17)  in One Being (substance)(e.g., Deut 4.35; 1 Cor 8.6).

Bruce A Ware (2005) in speaking about the Trinity says:

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not identical persons, but they are harmonious in accomplishing the one undivided purpose, . . . since they each possess fully the one, undivided divine essence (p. 42).

So seeking a relationship with God is to seek a relationship with a 'three-person'd God' (John Donne), where each divine Person is related to each of the others in One Being ('substance'). 

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth and he spoke often of the love between the Father and himself, and of their intimate, unique knowledge of each other (Matt 11.27; Jn 10.15; 13.3; 14.9-11; & etc.). In addition, Jesus is God's 'only begotten Son' (Jn 1.14, 18) which means that Jesus is not made but begotten and has the same nature as the Father (Heb 1.3).

Furthermore, Jesus had an intimate relationship with the Spirit from conception (Lk 1.35), at his baptism (Jn 1.32-33), inauguration of his ministry (Lk 4.18-19) and also throughout his earthly ministry (Acts 10.38). The Spirit is said to 'proceed' from the Father (Jn 15.26) and to be sent by the Son (Jn 16.7; Acts 1.33). 

The Spirit is definitely a Person because he can be lied to (Acts 5.3), he commands apostles (Acts 10.19, 20) and uses personal pronouns of himself (Acts 13.2; 10.20). And the Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth will be the One to teach them further when Jesus has gone from them. Further, Jesus says that He will send another 'comforter' (John 14.16) with the Greek for 'another' meaning 'another just like me' (not 'another similar to me' as Jesus could have said in Greek).

Now what is amazing about all of this is that Jesus invited his disciples into this relationship he has with the Father and the Spirit (Jn 14.10-11, 20-21, 23, 26). All mankind is also invited and drawn into relationship through the death, 'the lifting up' of Jesus (Jn 12.33-34).

2. A Major Barrier To Relationship With God  

The major barrier to this relationship with God is our many sins we have committed. Or with more sophistication, it's the 'fallen' nature we exhibit, passed on to us as children of Adam and Eve's unfaithfulness to the relationship they had with God in the Garden of Eden. This fallen nature or 'heart' leads us into all sorts of sins and into a complacency towards the things of God.

a) What is the good news about Jesus? 

The good news is that Christ (i) died for our sins according to the scriptures, (ii) was buried, (iii) rose again the third day, (iv) was seen by various individuals, by the eleven and then twelve disciples/apostles, then by over 500 believers at one time many of whom were still alive when Paul, Christ's apostle to the Gentiles, wrote his letter to the church at Corinth in circa AD 55. Finally, on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Paul, at that time a fanatical, persecutor of Christians (1 Cor 15.1-11) and changed his life around.

Let us enlarge upon this Bible passage in First Corinthians 15 because it is a concentrated snapshot of the gospel that Paul had received and preached. We must remember that the text was written to Christians in the first century AD.

i) Christ died for our sins

Some bible texts (e.g., Jn 3.17) use words like 'saved' and 'save' implying that God's only Son came into the world to 'save' mankind in some sense. Other verses go further directly linking his coming with 'sin' and 'sinners' (1 Tim 1.15; Heb 9.26).

Before Jesus came into the world, coming to God was blocked by our sinfulness, our desire not to do God's will but to go our own way. 

Sin is essentially lawlessness (1 Jn 3.4); choosing to live the way we want to without any wish or care as to how our Creator wishes us to live. A lawless lifestyle is run by wilfulness and pride, themes we will return to later.

We were in a deathly state (Eph 2.1) because of our 'trespasses and sins' but Jesus willingly died a shameful death in our place; he was our substitute (Isa 53.5).

He died our death because our sin required that we should be punished for our sins with death (Rom 6.23); this death was eternal separation from God.  

But the Trinity knew mankind was doomed forever: hence, the Father 'planned' humanity's salvation (Eph 1.4-6); the Son executed the Father's plan by taking upon himself the sin of the world (Isa 53.5-7; Jn 1.29; 2 Cor 5.21; 1 Jn 4.10) and the Spirit continues to apply the work of Christ to this day (Jn 16.13-15; Eph 1.13-15).

ii) Christ was buried

Jesus was buried in a sepulchre and that's important because it tells us he really died. The Romans only buried people who were dead and being a culture of death, they made sure Jesus was dead. They even allowed for a guard to be placed at his tomb (Matt 27.64-66) to ensure his body was not stolen by his disciples.

iii) Christ rose again the third day

One theme running through the preaching of the apostles after Jesus finally left them is that: Jesus was dead but now He is alive. Peter, the apostle, voices this clearly on the Day of Pentecost after the disciples have all received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.4, 24, 32, 36).

Paul declares that faith in Christ is futile if Christ is not raised from the dead (1 Cor 15.12-19) adding that we are still in our sins (1 Cor 15.17) and therefore in danger of eternal spiritual death.

The importance of the resurrection of Christ Jesus is that it authenticates this Man and all he claimed about himself to be correct. He said he would die and rise again the third day (e.g., Lk 9.22) and that's what happened (Lk 24.1-45).

iv) Christ was seen by many

They all seem to be believers though we can't be sure of that because even Thomas one of the original twelve doubted until he was permitted to touch Jesus (Jn 20.24-29). And, on another occasion mentioned by Matthew, we read that 'And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted' (Matt 28.17).

In Acts we're told that 'he shewed himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God' (Acts 1.3). The very fact that Jesus appeared to the apostles over this period of time implies that the disciples required 'infallible proofs' of his resurrection and that Jesus was not reluctant to satisfy their desire for proof.

We note too that Jesus appeared to more than 500 believers at one time so we can definitely rule out hallucination because hallucination does not occur en masse. Furthermore, says Paul, many of these witnesses were still alive when Paul had written the first extant letter to the Corinthian church.

Lastly, Paul sees the Risen Lord himself (Acts 9.1-31) which changes his whole life around. He is no longer a persecutor of the Christian Church but the great apostle to the Gentiles.

b) What is the good of this news for humanity?

This news signifies that the punishment that mankind's sins required has been definitively borne by the Messiah, Christ Jesus, in his death and resurrection (Rom 4.24-25). The penalty incurred for breaking God's law has been paid!

So the good news is that the sin-barrier between God and mankind has been broken down by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

3. BUT . . .

The Bible says that those who don't believe the good news about Jesus the Messiah are alienated from God (Jn 3.16-18, 36) and subject to God's wrath and condemnation (Jn 3.36; 2 Thess 1.7-10).

a) Being judged

Being judged is an unpopular notion today to the point where even the idea of judgement of any kind is rejected. But all human societies, in one way or another, practice human judgement when serious laws have been broken. In everyday life too, only the gullible fail to exercise judgement. When faced with the many demands of living the exercise of judgement proves to be an inescapable feature of human life.

On the divine level, we cannot escape the number of references to God's judgement throughout the bible beginning as early as the first book of the Bible (Gen 3.16-19). In fact, judgement occurs in this life to us all because we are all part of the human race subject to the curse that came upon us for Adam and Eve's rebellion (Rom 5.17-18).

In the New Testament, many exist references (e.g., Rev 20.1-10, Rom 11.13-24). At the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17), Paul spoke about God 'judging the world in righteousness by that Man whom he has ordained' and reinforced the credibility of this claim by citing the fact that the Man, Jesus was raised from the dead after his crucifixion (Acts 17.31; see also Matt 25.31-46; Rom 2.6; 2 Cor 5.10).

All eternal judgement for sin has been visited upon Jesus, the Son of God (even if in this present life we will still experience judgement of a temporal nature).

A final judgement will occur for believers to apportion rewards but not to condemn. But the rub is, such judgement will occur for believers (2 Cor 5.10).

If we are not believers in Jesus who is the only way to the Father (Jn 14.6) then we need to be 'saved' from the judgement leading to 'the second death' (Rev 20.6, 14).  

b) Being saved

To be saved in normal language may be defined as being rescued from something bad such as financial ruin or death. Hence, life-savers at the beach save bathers from drowning if they get into difficulties in the ocean by rescuing them from the water. This needed rescue is what Christians call 'being saved'.

So we could all be likened to drowning swimmers in the ocean waving our hands wanting desperately to be rescued. We need to be rescued because we live under the judgement of God as sinners who have broken his holy laws by 'leaving undone what we should have done' as well as, 'doing things we should not have done'.
 

i) by grace

Though hard to grasp from any human perspective, this God seeks for humanity. (We may think we are initiating a move towards him, but our moves are a sign that he has already inclined our hearts to seek him. When we think about that, it should encourage us even more to press on towards him!)

Being 'saved', experiencing God's salvation from sin, is by God's grace. The notion of 'grace', 'the unmerited favour of God to those who deserve the opposite' is the hallmark of Christian teaching and life.

ii) through faith

Our faith doesn't save us but it is the sole instrument God uses to bring about our salvation (Rom 1.16; 4.2-3). Without faith, that is, a wholesale trust and reliance on the truth of God's promises to forgive our sins and make us right with him, we 'cannot please God' (Heb 12.6).
 
God seeks us all loving us with a holy love (Jn 3.16; 1 Jn 4.10). The truth is he was moved with compassion for man's pitiful state to give His 'only begotten Son'  for the welfare of His creatures.

iii) for good works

Although we are not saved from the penalty of sin by doing good works, we are saved to do good works. This teaching abounds in the New Testament (Matt 5.16; 1 Tim 5.9-10, 24-25; 1 Tim 6.17-18; Titus 2.12-14; Jas 3.13; Heb 10.24; 1 Pet 2.12).

A beautiful summary of how grace, being saved, faith and our good works go together is given in this verse:

By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk therein (Eph 2.8-10).

Coda

In writing further on this theme which arose out of various contacts I've made and discussions I've had, I intend to draw attention to the limitations of presenting what I've outlined above to members of our post-Christian society.

The presentation of the Gospel always requires that we be sensitive to the context in which we present it. That doesn't mean we should compromise its message but we must do the groundwork so that what we say is intelligible to those with which we speak.