The Gospel for Buddhists (2): Contact-Point

Last time I indicated that I would look at the 'Pauline model' for evangelism of pagan Gentiles that he used in Athens at the Areopagus ('Mars' Hill', KJV) (Acts 17.16-34).

As is well known, Paul began his address by focussing on the spiritual state of the Athenians: their 'very religious' nature as evidenced by their altar, 'To an unknown god' (Acts 17.23, RSV). 

We can say that Paul's model was to find a 'contact-point' with Athenian worship for the gospel; this contact-point was the Athenian acknowledgement of 'an unknown god'. 

I want to use this concept of a contact-point with the religion* of those we speak to about the gospel; I do so because it is evident that trying to present the gospel to someone without some sort of contact-point as a bridge between the other and us risks an experience of disconnectedness and alienation for both persons.

Gospel Contact-Point with Buddhism: Desire

1) Buddhism and Desire

Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BC) became dissatisfied with his life of luxury after unexpectedly discovering ageing, sickness and death, and turned to asceticism to discover the answer to suffering. However, although he practised extreme asceticism for six years that did not provide the answer.

He began to meditate under the now famous fig ('bodhi') tree and achieved enlightenment. He realised that suffering lay in the wrongful desire for transient things.

After the Buddha (the 'awakened one') reached 'enlightenment' he began to preach what he learned which revolved around suffering and desire: The Four Noble Truths.

1. Life means unease (or dukkha, a multifaceted word, often translated as 'suffering'); 'dukkha is our existence'
2. Unease is caused by desire, attachment, craving for the transient things and ideas in the world.
3. Extinguishing desire is attainable
4. The pathway is via self-improvement from practising The Noble Eightfold Path which finally leads to 'enlightenment'.

Buddhism understands dukkha (also rendered as: 'suffering', 'pain', 'stress', 'unpleasantness', 'dis-ease', 'unease', 'frustration', 'distress', 'sorrow', 'affliction', 'unsatisfactoriness' et al.) as inherent in the eternal birth-and-rebirth process of normal, human life. Man is born, ages, gets sick and dies; over and over again.

This present, repetitive cycle can only be broken free of through enlightenment into the liberation of nirvana where worldly things are understood for what they truly are and rebirth ceases to occur.

The desire spoken of in Buddhism seems to be wrong desire defined as 'unskilful'; that is, desire that leads us away from the path to nirvana. Hence, good desire is defined as 'skilful', meaning the desire that takes us to nirvana. 

A Buddhist writer, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, has summed up the Buddhist contentions regarding desire brilliantly in this passage:

All phenomena, the Buddha once said, are rooted in desire. Everything we think, say, or do — every experience — comes from desire. Even we come from desire. We were reborn into this life because of our desire to be. Consciously or not, our desires keep redefining our sense of who we are. Desire is how we take our place in the causal matrix of space and time. The only thing not rooted in desire is nirvana, for it's the end of all phenomena and lies even beyond the Buddha's use of the word "all." But the path that takes you to nirvana is rooted in desire — in skillful desires. The path to liberation pushes the limits of skillful desires to see how far they can go.

From this passage we can see what a large scope desire, skilful and unskilful, has in the Buddhist understanding.

2) Christianity and Desire

Buddhism and Christianity speak about desire but in contrastive ways. Buddhist practice revolves around extinguishing wrong desire because suffering is caused by wrong desire and the way then to end suffering is to eradicate craving. Christianity, on the other hand, does not revolve around extinguishing wrong desire so that a blessed state might be attained. 

Rather, it revolves around divine grace: God's unmerited favour to any who come to Him through Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 26.18; 2 Cor 5.21; Eph 2.8-9; Col 1.14). 

For Christianity, suffering became embedded in the human condition consequent to the unfaithfulness of Adam and Eve (Gen 3.1-6) to God's commands. And yes, Eve's wrong desires led her to involve her husband in the rebellion against God.

Christian revelation given in its holy Scriptures says that God then judged Adam and Eve and punished them for their wrongdoing AGAINST HIM. Their wrongdoing against him is judged as SIN which is a central theme of Christianity.

SIN calls for a powerful Redeemer to liberate man because sin is not just rebellious acts but a power that holds man in its demonic clutches at the core of his being. Of course, evil desires work to bring on sin (Jas 1.13-15).

When will this Redeemer, Deliverer and Saviour come is a major theme of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. God sent his only begotten Son (Jn 3.16) in 4-7 BC to deliver all mankind from sin (Titus 2.11-14).

Once a person has become a Christian, a new creation appears (2 Cor 5.17)! Christians are said to be seated in heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus (Eph 2.5-6; Col 2.12, 3.1-4).

Nevertheless, Christians as members of the Body of Christ still await the final resurrection and thus still struggle with temptation, evil desires (passions) leading to sinful actions. 

The Christian scriptures are filled with many warnings about the need to be vigilant about evil desires (2 Tim 2.22) to the point where Christians are called to 'kill' evil deeds (Rom 8.13; Col 3.5-11).

Conclusion

So Buddhism's identification of dukkha (unease, suffering, dissatisfaction) and its creation by clinging to the impermanent things of this life can be a contact-point for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Next time I plan to look at the use of liberation as a contact-point.   

*I appreciate that some Christian readers might view 'religion' as a negative term being equivalent to an allegiance to beliefs or a denomination rather than to the person of Christ Himself. However, 'religion' is mentioned in a positive way within the Christian scriptures (see Jas 1.26-27).

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.