The Most Rev Desmond Tutu , former Archbishop of
Cape Town, have said in a new book “God is not Christian and
provocations” asking the age old question whether a good man faithful to
his/her own faith tradition can be worship the same God as Christians
do. The example of the Buddhist sage Dalai Lama, a good person by all
accounts was used as a person definitely more “Christian” than many
believers. The uniqueness of true Christianity is that our righteousness
is in Christ, ie it does not depend whether we are more holy than the
Dalai Lama, Gandhi, or even Tutu himself. We can’t be a Christian on
account of how holy we are.
The question posed by the Most Rev is a deep
intellectual question, for which Christianity most obviously contradicts
the Archbishops assertions. The question remains ambiguous without
defining “God”, and “Christian”.
1) "Christians"?
Are “Christians” simply
a belonging to a faith community/church with vague links to the ministry
started by Jesus Christ, or it is a disciple of Christ being a servant
entering into a relationship with God in Christ through faith in the
work of the Cross.
Do we believe in Jesus
Christ as our Lord and Savior? Rather than the institutional church with
its hierarchy of priests, saints, Pope and Mary before we see Jesus? or
is church about a few anointed mega church pastors whose word is law.
Can faith be simply generalized to only one aspect of God’s character of
Amazing grace and love. Perhaps Christ is the stumbling stone that the
builders of religion and intellect have rejected, but found worthy to be
lifted up in resurrection.
For some Jews even the
full name of God is not mentioned, less they violate the reverence of
God. Yet, when Jesus, God incarnate appeared, they executed Him. Is the
church Christian? A pure faith in Christ in the early church have long
been being politicized and nationalized through Constantine abounds in
pagan traditions.
Is the church
christian? for we have long departed from the simplicity of faith in
Jesus Christ being enticed by the world culture which is not
homosexuality but the powerful seduction by the power of darkness using
wealth and power as baits.
2) "God"?
Which God are we
talking about.
The bible reflects a
spiritual reality and realm where people belonged to the gods that they
worshiped. They were by very existence different, yet real and not a
figment of human imagination.
The people of Israel
chose to worship God almighty, a choice amongst the many deities. The
God of Israel was One God, unique, set apart in character and deeds of
love and mercy to the people of Israel so different than the surrounding
nations and their own gods.
We seldom acknowledge
that people of faith in Canaan even the law abiding Jews would fall into
error by worshiping other gods who are the spirits residing behind the
idols even to the extent of joining themselves as one with the gods
through anal sex with the temple priests.
We label such faith worship as the sin of homosexuality because
we fear the image of people of faith so easily changing allegiance and
enter into graphic sexual acts. The sin here is not homosexuality but
sleeping with other gods.
There is a covenant
between God and Israel, just as there is one by grace between us and
Christ who was with God and is God from the very beginning, yet becoming
to us a friend in an enduring relationship. “I know whom I have
believed” lyrics of a well known hymn because of the experiece and
journey in our walk with Jesus Christ.
There is a wideness in God’s grace and mercy, in
sending His Son Jesus Christ. We are accepted in Christ which has broken
down all the frivolous walls society has set us apart such as gender,
wealth, sexual orientation, etc. For in Christ, we are all exalted to
become a child of God, our former status that defines us in society no
more the defining factor in our lives. The wideness of this mercy is not
that the best of us would be saved just because we are of holy stature,
but that the most evil and corrupt person is forgiven when the person
believed that Christ paid for his/her sins. The Amazing grace of God
that touches John Newton to change and release his slaves or for Paul a
murderer of Christians to be given the grace to lead the Gospel message
into the nations shows a great God.
(Rom 8:38
NKJV) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
(Rom 8:39 NKJV) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
We are convinced that as Christians that nothing
can separate us from God even our passing from life to death because of
the bond of love we have from God through Jesus Christ, a love that cost
the life of the Son of God to be exchanged for our life. It is a bond of
love than gives us space and room to be true to ourselves and walk with
wholeness and authenticity in a relationship with Jesus Christ through
the Holy Spirit of God.
God is "Christian" when it is based on the ministry
that Christ started on earth. As Christians we proclaim that Jesus is
God because our faith should be founded on Jesus' death and
resurrection, a worthy sacrifice as Jesus is God. In order to join
ourselves to God, we are baptised into Christ through identifying with
His death when submerged through the waters of baptism, and identifying
with His resurrection by rising from the waters of baptism. Christ is
our Noah's ark through the storms of life for which there is no other
vessel.
(Eph
6:12 NKJV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The unseen the hierachy of principalities in the
Spiritual realm governs much of what is happening even though unseen.
For some evil is inherent in mankind because if there was a spiritual
realm of good and evil principalities, then it follows that mankind
worships not the same God but the various deities they have aligned
themselves to.
The powers of darkness and spiritual hosts seek
worship from men, hence we have various faiths and idol worship in the
bible. As Christians, we belong to Jesus Christ, the Son of the God of
Israel, Elohim, God almighty, the creator of the universe.
The key to accepting people as equals and giving
people space and dignity, their humanity and basic rights eg for the
GLBT population, is to be keenly aware that the bible is less to do
about sex rather how it as been misused to join ourselves with other
gods,
We can accept others as equals when we are humbled
by God's grace and mercy on account of us falling far short however holy
we may be as compared to other faiths, of God's righteousness. If it is
all of Christ, what can we boast? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. We do
not boast that we are Christians or of God, but we boast of Jesus
Christ, God's grace, mercy, love, and salvation made flesh for all to
see.
It is important that we get real, and not to
generalise the spiritual realm to be about "love" and one God, but to
face the reality of a spiritual plane with the many opposing spiritual
forces more real than the physical world we lived in. But we need not
fear, for Jesus Christ is our protector, deliverer and mighty warior. We
are safe and at rest in God's love, grace and mercy - the ultimate
reality.
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