What Does God Say About Other Religions?

Sunday, June 6, 2004

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Being religious, all of a sudden, has become popular. Having a spiritual life, all of a sudden, is considered kind of cool in today's society. There has been a radical shift in the whole way that people perceive religion and spirituality in the current culture in which we live. Gone are the days where you can't talk about your spiritual life. Gone are the days when it was taboo to talk about religion. We have entered into an era where people are anxious and hungry to talk about spiritual things. They want to be religious.

All you have to do is look at the magazines. How many times in the last two years have you seen on the front cover something to do with one religion or another? Recently, Time had on its cover a picture of Jesus saying, "Why did Jesus have to die?" Before that, Newsweek had on the cover talking about The Passion of the Christ. Somewhere in between there, it talked about the Muslim religion of Islam and what it is to follow Allah. All around the media, there is talk about religion and there is talk about spiritual things.

Even among celebrities now, it's the hip thing to do to have some sort of spiritual life. Flip on Oprah. You're going to find John Travolta. He's going to talk about the revelations that have brought peace into his life through Scientology. Click on another station. There you're going to see Madonna. Madonna is going to talk about the fact that she has a special room in her home that's reserved just for prayer… all kinds of talk about spiritual things… all kinds of discussion about religion.

The question is what kind of religion, what kind of spirituality? As we, as a society and culture, all of a sudden become open to spirituality, open to religious discussion, then we need to ask the question, "What kind of impact is that going to have?" In other words, what does God have to say about all the other religions, anything else besides Christianity? What does God's Word say about Buddhism? What does God's Word say about Shintuism? What does it say about Jehovah's Witness? What does it say about Mormons? What does God say about all the world's religions and what is the impact, what are the implications for you, for our world, for your friends, maybe even someone in your family?

You see, with the openness we have in today's world about spirituality and the easy access of information, people are discovering that every religion of the world has admirable aspects to it, even honorable things. For instance, here's a quote for you: "A civilization without insanity, without criminals, without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings have rights." Now we, as Americans, should get behind that. That sounds good. That sounds like something noble, something honorable, something we could support. It is the major aim of Scientology, "self contemplation, self control, concentration." Those are the aspects of Buddhism, "morality. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Self control." That's Hinduism, "strict adherence to the will of God, in fact, succumbing your life and turning it over to what God wants you to do in every aspect, strict adherence to prayer, regular fasting." Those are the adherences of the Islam faith.

The list could go on and on of admirable qualities, of practices of the various religions of the world that you and I would not object to, in fact, maybe even you and I would want to strive for, some of the things we'd like to see ourselves doing. But we put them all together and what does it mean? We live in an age that is different from any other age, because something is happening in society that has never happened really before, at least not on the scale in which it's happening today. Since people have easy access to all the different various beliefs and practices of religion, they're doing something that, for lack of a better term, I call mix-and-match religion. More and more people are just mixing and matching. They're taking things they like about one religion, combining it with another religion, combining it with a third religion, and coming up with their own customized religion. So maybe they like something about Christianity, so they take that Christianity part. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." I like that about Christianity. I'll take that. "Strict adherence to prayer," well, that's pretty good from Islam. Well, I like self control and kind of getting into some sort of a state of being where I meditate and I relax, so I'll take some of that then from Buddhism. And I'll take a little bit here and I'll take a little bit there and whatever I don't like about a religion, I'll just push that off to the side. People are mixing and matching, pulling from wherever they want, and having their own customized religion.

The Barner Group did research, and they asked a question to people as far as what were their concepts about the various teachings of various religions. Forty-four percent of the Americans, 44% said there was no difference between the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon, that all of them basically taught the same truths. So, in America today, 44% of our population said there really is no differences between those three, there's really no differences between religion, all of them are viable sources for your belief system and what you want to practice. So you're free to take anything you want and whatever you take, whatever is real, whatever is truth to you, then that's good. And no one should be able to judge you about that. No one should condemn you about that. You should have the freedom to customize your own spirituality.

There's a huge danger lurking with that kind of mentality, because there is a falsehood, the falsehood that says spirituality equals salvation, that any kind of spirituality, any kind of religion is better than no religion at all. So, as long as you hold onto something, as long as you have a belief system and as long as you're true to that and you practice that, then that's good enough. And everyone else should respect that.

I struggle with how to describe the danger of this, so I'm going to have to stretch back in time a little bit. So those of us who can remember the 80's, you remember the 80's and Michael Jackson back in the 80's, not Wacko today, I mean Michael of the 80's, okay? Something happened there, we don't really know. But let's go back to the 1980's. Michael Jackson was wildly popular. He had one hit album after another, and he had a humongous following of him. And also, he had parents who were advocating him, why? Because, back in the 80's, Michael Jackson was a Jehovah Witness and he was an advocate of Jehovah Witness. That meant he lived his life differently than a lot of the pop stars at that time. He had morals about him, and he had certain convictions of things he would do and things he wouldn't do. Therefore, you had parents saying that Michael Jackson should be the one you should be listening to. He's the one you should follow. I remember watching something on 20/20, parents putting up posters of Michael Jackson in their kid's room to steer them away from some of the other pop stars and the crazy things they were doing, saying, "Well, at least he's following something. At least he has some morality to him and some ethics." The Jehovah Witness church grew as a result of that. Jehovah Witnesses are not Christians. They don't believe in salvation through Christ. Do you understand the danger of saying your spirituality is okay for you and your spirituality is okay for you?

Spirituality does not equal salvation. The real question is can the other religions offer salvation. And God's Word is clear. No, they cannot. There is only one way to salvation. There is only one name under heaven that can be called upon for salvation, and it is Jesus Christ. Christianity is different from every other religion. Every other religion promises salvation or they'll promise some kind of life after this world, but every other religion says that life after this world must be earned. There are things you have to do and if you do those things and if you do them well and perfectly, then you'll be rewarded with some state of heaven.

So if you're a Buddhist, that means you're probably going to be reincarnated I don't know how many times until you get it right, until you shed yourself of all the things of this physical world and then finally, maybe in that last life, when you're able to do that, then nirvana is yours.

If you're Islam, that means four times a day, you're down on your knees, you're facing Mecca, and you're praying. If you're Islam, it means that you adhere to the strict code of Islam and if you don't, you're in hell, you're lost, that's it. Either you follow the code or you don't.

If you're a Jehovah Witness, if you're not one of the 144,000 elect, you're lost, sorry, pal, you're not part of the group.

Every other world religion states what you have to do if you're going to earn salvation. Any religion that says salvation has to be earned offers no salvation at all. Because you and I, if we're honest with ourselves, know we can't do it. No matter how simple even the stipulations might be, we'd try and we'd fail. And we'd try again and we'd fail again. World religions offer no hope, and they offer no real salvation. Salvation is a gift from God. Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ, and it has to be a gift from God. Otherwise, we would be lost. Christianity sets itself apart from every other religion because Christianity says that salvation heaven is something God gives to us. As Christians, we admit, we recognize that, left to ourselves, we're lost. We admit and we recognize we can't make up for past sins. And we certainly can't stop ourselves from being disobedient in the future. No matter how much we want to, no matter how hard we might try, it just isn't possible. Christianity says God gives it to us because we can't earn it.

From the very beginning of time, God planned for your salvation. When God created this world, He created it in perfection and He created perfect human beings. And God demanded nothing less than perfection; and, if imperfection came, then there would have to be justice. There would have to be punishment for that. Well, you and I know this world is now imperfect, and you and I know we are imperfect. We know our shortcomings. We know our disobedience. We know our sins, and we fall under the judgment of God, the judgment that says there must be punishment for that. Well, in the same way, God is just and righteous, He is also merciful. So God demanded perfection from humanity, so He sent His Son, Jesus, to become a human being and Jesus was perfect. God demanded that there must be justice; there must be payment for the transgressions, for the sins, so Jesus steps in and Jesus takes the punishment for sin. God says the punishment is separation from Him. It's in hell itself, so Jesus hangs upon the cross and He takes upon Himself all of our sins and all that we deserve and He goes through hell for us just so then God could look at you and declare you perfect, so God could give to you salvation.

Think of it this way. If God were standing here this morning and He handed out a test to every one of you and there were 100 questions on the test, God says, "For every person who gets 100% on the test, heaven is yours." Each and every one of you takes out your Number 2 pencil finely sharpened. You take a look at the first question, and you don't know the answer. The first one, right at the top, and you can't answer it. And then Jesus walks into the back of the room, and He comes up and He takes your test for you and He takes your Number 2 pencil and He fills it all out. When He gets done, He puts your name on top. Then He comes over to you and He takes your test and He fills it all out and He puts your name on top. And He goes through the whole sanctuary, and God says you all got 100%. You didn't answer a question. God did it all for you. That's the message of Christianity. That's the only way salvation can be ours.

Now would you call that judgmental? Would you call that being closed minded? Some people would. Some people would say that's closed minded to say all the other religions don't offer salvation. I call it being compassionate and loving because it's honest, because it's telling the truth to people. There is only one way to salvation, and there's no denying it.

Another way of looking at it is this. Let's say, after service today, all of a sudden, I have a pain in my side and I'm just not feeling very good at all. So one of our many doctors in the congregation comes up to me and starts poking and prodding and says, "Ron, you better go to the Emergency Room." Okay, I head off to the Emergency Room. They do an examination, and they say, "You know what? You're having appendicitis right now." "Oh, really? What does that mean?" "Well, that means if we don't do anything, that appendix is going to burst and it's going to fill you with poison and you're going to die." "Oh, gee, I don't want to die. What are some of my options here, Doc?" And the doctor says, "Well, there's really only one option. And the one option is quite simple. We're going to take you into the operating room. We're going to remove the appendix and you're going to be fine." Now am I going to look at the doctor and say, "Well, gee, that seems kind of closed minded, Doc. I mean, only one option? Golly. You know, I've been reading in a magazine if you eat well and you exercise, that's pretty good for you. So I'll tell you what, I'm going to try a high fiber diet for the next week or so and I'm going to get in a good regimen of exercise. Those are all good things for me, right?" How do you think that's going to go for me? I'm going to die, that's what. If I don't get the appendix removed, I'm going to die.

Other religions may have all kinds of good practices, admirable qualities to them; but if they don't remove the sin, you're going to die. And there's only one way the sin is removed and it's through the blood of Jesus. That's not closed-minded. That's not judgmental. That's just honesty and the truth, and it's telling people what God has done for them.

And it is God's will that all people would know that, that all people would be saved. My friends, we have an opportunity in our world because the first time in known history, our world is open to spirituality. People are searching. Granted, they're looking in the wrong direction, but they're open. We can talk to them about our faith. We can talk to them about religion. We cannot stand idly by while we have the truth. It's time to stop being politically correct and start being biblically correct, to stand up for what God has told us and to reach out with God's message because that's what He's told us to do, that's what He's entrusted us to do. We cannot sit here idly while 50% of Polk County, 50% of all the counties in Iowa, do not have a church home. Fifty percent of our population claims no church home. They have no place to go to hear about Jesus, no place to know the truth and the freedom and the salvation that is theirs. We can't sit on the sidelines and watch that happen. There should be a burning in our hearts that if they're open to spirituality, let's show them true spirituality. If they're open to God, let's give them the one true God. Let's let them share in the gift of salvation you and I have. Let's not let them run off about a bunch of others things that may seem good on the outside but don't offer eternity.

We have an obligation to do whatever it takes, to use whatever means are possible, so we can bring Jesus Christ to people for the first time and for a lifetime. That's our mission. Amen.

Copyright 2004 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church