UPDATES

• I had a great week last week teaching an intensive course for United Theological Seminary: The Missional Church. We held the class on Ginghamsburg’s campus complete with early morning workouts, lectures and field trips to Ginghamsburg mission sites. I really enjoyed meeting 18 new friends.
• A big shout goes out to my friends Ira and Mary Pat who were married last week in Troy, Ohio. You both will be missed, but what an opportunity to begin your new journey together in New Orleans!
• Can you believe that it is the first of July already? We are half way through ‘08. Carolyn and I are spending a few days together in the North Carolina mountains, and then we are heading to Boston to see our daughter and son-in-law over the holiday weekend.

SURVEY FINDS THAT 70 PERCENT OF AMERICANS BELONGING TO A CHURCH FEEL MANY RELIGIONS CAN LEAD TO ETERNAL LIFE

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted the study.  Among the more surprising numbers were that 57% of evangelical church attendees said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional biblical teaching. We have discussed many issues on this blog that should be informed by biblical witness and Spirit-filled thinking. This one stands alone! The uniqueness of Jesus Christ and God’s redemptive act of love revealed in the cross for all of creation is the heart of the biblical message. Jesus Christ is the Gospel. When Philip asked Jesus to “show us the Father,” Jesus response was both unique and exclusive. “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Any one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” Jesus’ declaration to Thomas was absolute. “I am the way and truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Now why have I chosen to bet my life on this exclusive worldview?

• In no other religion or ideology can I see more clearly the complete face of God. There is a moral integrity that is revealed in Jesus that stands heads above any other. The great Hindu leader Gandhi took much of the moral directives for his movement from the Sermon on the Mount. A Buddhist friend of mine told me that she became a Buddhist because compassion is one of the highest ideals. Jesus is compassion incarnate!
• Jesus is grace incarnate. Many religions understand law and the consequences for the violator. All of us carry some kind of baggage from our inner sense of brokenness. As Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “I do not condemn you. Go and live above your brokenness!” He also empowers us to do so.
• Jesus is God’s offer of inclusive reconciliation regardless of race, gender, nationality, and political or cultural ideologies. Jesus transcends all cultures. He is truly the universal savior who transcends any one particular culture or ideology. For example, Hindu religion is encapsulated in Indian culture and Islam is encapsulated in Middle Eastern culture but the movement of Jesus becomes incarnate and distinctive in every culture.
• Jesus values the poor and disfranchised and calls his followers to go into the entire world and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God through practical and sacrificial works of service. In other words the good news of the gospel is not just about getting people into heaven but the intentions and resources of heaven into the world.
• Jesus as “The Way” does not give any human being the right to judge or determine who gets in or who is out. God alone is judge and the ultimate One who makes those calls!

God bless...