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The Interconnections Of Religion
This is a continuation in a blog conversation with Albert Foong from Urbanmonk.net.
 It finally happened to me. I’ve heard stories about them, but never been confronted by one. Maybe I look too innocent. Actually, they probably know that I’m going to burn.
I was jogging by the lake as I always do in the evenings. Sweat was pouring down my face (I must’ve gone at least a quarter mile) and I noticed a guy in front of me. He was leaning against his bike and talking with someone who seemed annoyed. She was sweating. He wasn’t. It just so happened that when I began to jog by him, he was ready to start a conversation with me. He handed me a pamphlet from the 70’s with two men shaking hands and asked me a question.
“Can I talk to you for a minute about how Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life? He is the only way you can get into heaven.”
The Frustrations of Religions
I understand how easy it would be to walk away from faith. Everyday, I have to admit that guys like him belong to the same religious tradition as myself. He called himself a Christian. I call myself a Christian.
 We’ve all read the stories about how a Muslim man killed himself and a number of American sons, wives and parents all in the name of faith or a Christian man either killed or physically removed thousands of innocent families from their homes in order to build a nation under God.
They were missing something. I don’t want to worship their God.
Then there are those other stories. The stories that we love. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a platform for the African-American voice through a peaceful revolution. Gandhi showed us the meaning of love and reconciliation. Mother Teresa became a servant to the misfits of the world.
 They all did this in the name of God.
Similarities In Religion
In our modern interconnected world, religions seem to jumble together. There are good Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jedi. Ones that we all can look up too. On the other side, there are judgmental and purely evil people who claim to be part of one of the major religions.
From our experiences, it would be easy to say that all religions are saying the same things, only in different ways and different contexts. This isn’t true. We might want to say that all religions point to the same general truth. They are either a good source for doing good in the world or a marketing technique to control a set of masses. I agree on both accounts, but they still aren’t saying the same thing.
The Differences In Religion
Religion is based on certain assumptions about how the world exists, the relationship between the creator and his creation, and our personal interactions in the world. No matter how close two people from different religions seem alike, the individuals will always have different assumptions about the world’s existence. What you see is an interconnected belief about our purpose in this world.
They still are different about why they are choosing to make good or bad choices.
I am a Christian man who wants serve the world and improve it while I am here. I do this partly because I believe that Jesus showed us that God is this way and asks us to follow in his path. A Buddhist man wants to improve the world because it is a step in achieving Nirvana, a Hindu man believes that all of existence is part of God and if we hurt the world, we are hurting ourselves, and an Atheist chooses to imporve the world because he feels or thinks its the right thing to do. All of these religions want do good things in the world, but they are still different.
[ two quick notes: 1. I am not an expert on all religions, therefore my assumptions about non-christian religions come from my basic study of them. Correct me if I'm wrong about them. 2. You can have more than one motive for wanting to help the world. I see it as the right thing to do and a calling that God has asked of us.]
The Original Religions
I mentioned this to the Urban Monk about how we can’t say that all religions are pointing to the same truth, but he disagrees. He believes that each religion’s original teacher all said the same thing, but we have misinterpreted the messages. This is more than possible. It is true that we have misinterpreted the entire original message of Jesus (I can’t speak for any other religion), but not his basic message. Anyone can still read the gospels and say that Jesus taught us to serve one another and that God loves us like a loving Father. This is the basic message of Jesus.
It is different from Judaism.
It is different from Hinduism.
Today’s Religions Are Different From Original
I don’t want to come across as saying that Christianity is better than the others. I’m just making the point that they are differen’t. Even if they were the same in the original form, which could never be proved, they are different today. You can have an argument to say that all religions were the same originally, but you weren’t alive at the same time as the original teacher. In order to call yourself by a religion, you would need to follow similar assumptions of today.
The Interconnected Truths
 The real statement should say, “All [major] religions have some interconnected truth.” We cannot deny our experiences of religions. There are similar connections between all religions. I’ve had a Muslim neighbor and a Christian friend from the holiness tradition live very similar lifestyles. They were both careful of their actions and did not want to attract attention to their bodies. They thought that attention would bring temptation, evil and sin.
This is an interconnected truth.
Seek The Interconnections
There are many more throughout all religions and finding these interconnected truths should be one of our goals. Is there one perfect religion? No, religion is man made and has errors (including Christianity). These little interconnnections give us a view of God’s fingerprint in our world. In these truths, we can see how people from various backgrounds and different continents can come to similar understandings about life and God.
They are the beautiful things that should pierce our spirits and the start of connecting people throughout our communities.
 Read the first part of the blog conversation. It is about compassion. Click Here to read my contribution and click here to read the Urban Monk’s contribution
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As an apostate Christian, I found this article very interesting and thought provoking.
I’m not sure I agree with you on the basic message of Jesus. He did talk about serving others, and the love of God, but the central message of Christianity is our sinfulness, and the redemption of Christ through his death. Our service to man and God should be from our gratitude for this redemption. To me, this is what set Christianity apart from other religions. Other traditions teach service, and a loving God, but no other current religions teach of any redemption apart from the works of the individual.
I definitely agree that all religious traditions contain valuable truths. As a matter of fact, one of the many reasons I left the church was the insistence that the Christian bible was the ultimate arbiter of truth. As you said, all religions are man made. Ultimately, we all end up with a faith in some world view that is probably not representative of a pure religion in any way.
The real struggle comes when the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) claim exclusivity. As nice as it sounds to find nuggets of truth in other religious traditions, in the end, Christianity and others claim to be the sole source of salvation. The idea of interconnected truths may make us feel good, but the central message of many religions is one of Us vs Them, the saved and the unsaved, the clean and the unclean. When the end comes, those who do not accept the One Truth will end up in hell. How can there be any sharing of truths when the bedrock of Christianity and other religions is based on such exclusivity?
It is funny that you mention the exclusivity of religions Quint. This article is the opening piece in a 3 part series. The next one will discuss where our search should begin.. Stay tuned
When you say man-made churches, I understand an example of Churches or faiths that makes that claim themselves, but for the purpose of this discussion, what about Churches that claim to be the same Church that Christ formed when he was here on earth?
@DT
Good question Big D. Here’s some quick thoughts.
1. Lets stay away from using religion and church interchangibly. In some aspects they can be used that way, but not in this article. Church is a group of people or anorganization that follows a teacher, religion, or philosophy. It the us.
On the other hand, religion is the authority [the leader] by which a church follows. Two completely separate perspectives.
Church = follower
Religion = leader
2. Now we can move to the claim that the church is the same church that Jesus formed 2000 years ago. Both the Catholic and LDS claim that they are this, but this is an impossible claim. A church follows the guidance of a leader (teacher, religion, philosophy) that is here today. it is much like how I said that we weren’t alive when the original teacher gave his message - the church of today wasn’t alive when the teacher gave his message.
One of my favorite analogy’s to use is a river and it applies here. You throw a leaf into the river and it begins to move. Afterward you throw a second leaf in the river then it begins to follow the first, and every subsequent leaf follows the one ahead of it.
When God gave us Jesus he was created in a certain time. As time (the river) flowed, people were born and began to follow his path; yet they are distant from him. They can only follow the ones that are ahead of them.
If we agree that God is unconditional love and total inclusion then it is easy to see how religion essentially includes in order to exclude.
Religion requires that you believe to belong. The concept of “church” merely further reinforces the diversification and separation that religion’s demand.
If I believe in God, but not in “membership” will I still be saved? The church upholds the idea that “membership has its privileges.”
I often wonder why many Christians continue to espouse the theory that Jesus “formed” Christianity and the Christian church. This justification is claimed essentially through one simple quote by Jesus, “upon this rock I will build my church…” If Jesus condemned the churches and priests of his day why would he desire the same in His name?
In addition, I would kindly disagree that leaves “follow” leaves. Leaves simply “follow” the current. The current, or status quo, determines direction not the first leaf. Thank God we have fallen tree limbs scattered along the length of the river to break up that status quo.
I respect that you allow for difference of opinion on your blog and in your interviews. I believe It will be that allowance that will keep readers returning.
Thanks,
Mike S
@mike
I actually agree with most of what you said this time :).
Religions, whether right, wrong, on purpose or just happens do naturally exclude. It just is a fact. The exclusion shouldn’t be made the point, because it has to be so.
Funny thing you mention the “concept” of church. When Jesus talk about his church, he is referring to the people who follow him. It isn’t a building, event, experience, or organization. It is just the people who follow Jesus.
I agree that Jesus didn’t form Christianity in one aspect. It is true that it is just a continuation of Judaism, but this isn’t believed by everyone. There was a shift after him and while his followers are really the ones that should get the credit, many establish him as the creator of a new religion.
I do disagree with one point though,
If you drop two leaves into a rivers current, they are following the other’s lead. Yet, like you said, they are guided by the river’s current. They might be guided or moved by the current, but they are still following the leaf before it. This also may be taking the analogy beyond its implications.