Би нэг судалгааны талаар өнгөрсөн долоо хоногт бичснийг санаж байна уу? Шашны соёлын талаар болон хүмүүс Ийгл ТВ-ийг хэрхэн хэрэглэж байгаа талаар илүү тодорхой мэдэхийн тулд тэр судалгааны дүнг бид Хэвлэлийн Хүрээлэнгээр шашны бүлгүүд тус бүр дээр нэгтгүүлсэн юм. Гайхмаар шинэ мэдээллүүд илэрсэн. Нэр томъёоны талаар Буддын шашинтнууд болон Христэд итгэдэг хүмүүс дараах ойлголттой байх юм. ?Бурхан? ба “Тэнгэр” хэмээх үгнүүд нь Буддын шашны болон/эсвэл бөө мөргөлийн шашны уламжлалт үгс гэдгийг та санаарай. ?Ертөнцийн Эзэн? гэдэг үг нь Христэд итгэдэг хүмүүсийн итгэгч нартаа зориулан анх бий болгосон нэр томъёо юм.

• Буддын шашинтнуудын 79% нь “Бурхан” хэмээх үгийг Буддын шашинтай хамаатуулсан бол тэдний зөвхөн 10% нь Христийн сургаальтай хамаатуулжээ.
• Буддын шашинтнуудын 59% нь “Ертөнцийн эзэн” гэдэг үгийг Христийн сургаальтай холбож үзсэн бол зөвхөн 0.3% нь тус үгийг Буддын шашинд хамаатуулжээ.
• Христэд итгэдэг хүмүүсийн 78% нь “Бурхан” ба “Тэнгэр” хэмээх үгсийг Буддын шашинд хамаатуулсан бол 89% нь “Ертөнцийн Эзэн” гэдэг үгийг Христийн сургаальд хамаатуулж ойлгодог байна.
• Христэд итгэдэг хүмүүсийн зөвхөн 8% нь “Бурхан” гэдэг үгийг Христийн сургаальтай холбож ойлгодог байна. (бодит амьдрал дээр эсрэгээрээ байдаг, гэхдээ энэ талаар дараа ярина)

Христийн сургааль чухам юун тухай өгүүлдэг талаарх ойлголтыг нь асуухад дараах байдлаар хариулжээ.

• Буддын шашинтнуудын 10% нь Христэд итгэх итгэл нь эд баялагтай болохын тухай байдаг гэсэн бол (цочмоор мэдээ) Христэд итгэгчдийн 44% нь мөн ижил ойлголттой байна.
• Буддын шашинтнуудын 20% нь Христийн сургааль нийгмийн хөгжлийн тухай заадаг гэж үзжээ (нийгмийн халамжын сайн мэдээний номлол гэж үү?), харин Христэд итгэгчдийн 17% нь мөн ийм бодолтой байдаг байна.
• Энэ хоёр категорийг нийлүүлвэл Монголын Христэд итгэгчдийн 60% нь Христийн сургаалийг эд баялагтай болох сайн мэдээ, мөн нийгмийн халамжын сайн мэдээ гэж үздэг болохыг харж болно.

Сүүлийн статистик нь их чухал бөгөөд түгшүүр төрүүлж байна. Сайн мэдээний номлолд эд материалын ивээл болоод нийгэм үүрэг гүйцэтгэдэг ч (Хуучин гэрээний амлалтууд болон тэдгээрийн орчин цагийн хэрэглээ гэх мэт) гэсэн эдгээр үнэт зүйлсийг Христэд итгэх итгэлийг илэрхийлэгч гол хүчин зүйл болгож эн тэргүүнд тавих нь хамгийн наад зах нь сүнслэг өсөлт, олон нийтийн гэрчлэлд асуудал үүсгэнэ. Энэ нь сүмийг теологийн хувьд болон зөв зохистойгоор өсч дараагийн шатандаа хүрэх боломжыг нь бас бууруулж болох уу? Теологийн хувьд Итгэгч хүмүүс амьдралдаа Эзэний гүйцэтгэдэг үүргийн талаар нэлээд ноцтой зүйлсийг хэлж байна гэж би бодож байна. Хэрэв сонгууль байсан бол эд баялагтай болох/нийгмийн халамжын сайн мэдээний төрөл илт давуу ялах байсан. Миний өөрийн ажиглалт, эдгээр судалгааны дүнгээс харахад энд Эзэний бүрэн эрхт байдлын талаар тийм ч их заадаггүй, баримталдаггүй нь тодорхой гэж надад санагдлаа.

Шашны сургаалиуд хоорондоо нийцдэг эсэх талаар:

• Христэд итгэгчдийн 53% нь Христийн сургааль, Буддын шашин хоёр хоорондоо таардаг, эсвэл зарим нэг нийтлэг зүйлс байдаг гэж үзжээ. Энэ ч бас нилээд сэрэмжлэхээр мэдээ байна. Христэд итгэдэг болон итгэдэггүй хүмүүст библийн түлхүүр ойлголтуудыг заахдаа анхаарал болгоомжтой тайлж хүргээгүй гэдгийг энэ статистик мэдээ үнэмшилтэй болгож байж болох уу? Энэ бол илүү сайн дагалдагч бэлтгэх болон олон нийтийн мэдлэг боловсролыг дээшлүүлэх ажил жинхэнэ өөрчлөлт авчрах боломжтой талбар юм. Мөн телевиз энэ ажлыг хэрхэн нэмэгдүүлж чадах вэ гэдгийг нилээд хүчтэй бодож үзэх хэрэгтэй.
• Буддын шашинтнуудын 33% нь Христийн сургааль Буддын шашин хоёрт зарим нэг нийтлэг зүйлс байдаг гэсэн боловч 36% нь нийтлэг зүйл огт байдаггүй гэжээ.

Тэд Христэд итгэх итгэлийн талаарх мэдээллээ хаанаас авдаг вэ:

• Буддын шашинд итгэдэг хүмүүсийн 38% нь Ийгл ТВ-ээс авдаг,
• Шашинд итгэдэггүй хүмүүсийн 36% нь Ийгл ТВ-ээс авдаг,
• Бөөгийн шашинтнуудын 31% нь Ийгл ТВ-ээс авдаг,
• Дээрх гурван үзүүлэлт гайхал төрүүлж байна. Гэхдээ хамгийн том эргэлт нь эндээс гарч ирж байна: Христэд итгэгчдийн 53% нь Христэд итгэх итгэлийн талаарх мэдээллээ сүмээс авдаг, зөвхөн 11% нь Ийгл ТВ-ээс авдаг гэжээ.

Бид дээр дурдсан асуудлуудыг авч үзэхдээ сүмүүд Монгол итгэгч нарт тодорхой юуг зааж байгаа талаар албан ёсны судалгаа хийх талаар бодож үзэх, магадгүй хийх хэрэгтэй. Эндээс нэг зүйлийг авч үзэж болох юм. Юу вэ гэвэл, хэрэв Монгол итгэгчид гол төлөв эд баялаг/нийгмийн халамжын сайн мэдээнд чиглэгдсэн байвал, тэгээд тэр боловсролыг сүмээсээ авдаг бол энэ судалгаанд Ийгл ТВ-ийн үзүүлэлт доогуур байгааг энэ тайлж байж болох юм. Учир нь Ийгл ТВ эд баялаг/нийгмийн халамжын сайн мэдээний нэвтрүүлэг зөвшөөрдөггүй юм. Тиймээс, бид итгэгч үзэгчдийн хүсэл хэрэгцээг хангадаггүй учраас тэдгээр итгэгч үзэгчид тийм төрлийн мэдээлэл авахаар өөр газар ханддаг байна гэж хэлж болохоор байна. Эдгээр асуудлуудыг (дэмжилгүйгээр) тактиктайгаар анхаарал хандуулж засч залруулахад туслах (цаг хугацааны явцад) арга замыг олох нь бидний өмнө сорилт болж магадгүй юм.

Дээрх дөрвөн тохиолдолд тавигдсан асуултынхаа хувьд дэндүү том үзүүлэлтүүд байна. Үүний дараа өөр сонин дүгнэлт гарч ирнэ. Судалгааны дүнг олон шашны бүлгээр салгаж гаргасан байгаа. Үүнд бөөгийн шашинтан, шашингүй үзэлтнүүдийг ч хамруулсан байгаа. Нэр томъёоны хэрэглээний хувьд бөөгийн шашинтай гэж өөрсдийгөө тодорхойлсон хүмүүсийн хариултыг харна уу. Нэр томъёоны хувьд:

• Бөөгийн шашинтнуудын 82% нь “Бурхан” гэдэг үгийг Христийн сургаальтай холбожээ, харин “Ертөнцийн Эзэн” гэдэг үгийг 49% нь Буддын шашинтай холбоотой гэж үзжээ. (Энэ асуултын хувьд судалгааны мэдээлэл асуудалтай байна гэж бодож байна. Гэсэн хэдий ч, манай эндэх миссионер найзуудад энэ үзүүлэлтийн талаар хэлэх зүйлс байгаа байх.)
• Шашингүй үзэлтнүүдийн 52% нь “Бурхан” хэмээх үгийг Буддын шашинтай хамаатуулсан, харин зөвхөн 3% нь л Христэд итгэх итгэлд хамаатуулсан.
• Шашингүй үзэлтнүүдийн 60% нь “Ертөнцийн Эзэн” гэдэг үгийг Христийн сургаальд хамаатуулсан бол Буддын шашинд хамруулсан хүн байсангүй.

Нэр томъёог хамаатуулсан байдал нь маш чухал дүгнэлтэд хүргэж байна гэж бодож байна. Хэрэв энэ судалгаа үнэн зөв бол ихэнх Монгол итгэгч нар хамгийн түгээмэл үгийн сонголт болох (Бухан) хэмээх үг нь утга/гарал үүслийн хувьд Буддын шашны үг болохыг мэддэг боловч амьдрал дээр энэ үг хэрхэн хэрэглэгдэж буйг анхаардаггүй гэдгийг харуулж байж болох юм. Судалгаанд оролцогчдын ердөө 8% нь энэ үгийг Христийн сургаальтай хамаатуулсан (энэ судалгаанд) боловч энэ үг нутгийн хэлэнд хамгийн түгээмэл үгийн сонголт хэвээр байна. Энэ үзүүлэлт Монголын сүмийн талаар теологийн болон нийгмийн хувьд юуг илэрхийлж байна вэ? Энэ их сонирхолтой судалгаа болно доо.
Энэ судалгааны үр дүнд бид өөрсдөөсөө нэр томъёоны хэрэглээ, эд баялагтай болох сайн мэдээ/нийгмийн халамжын сайн мэдээ, болон мэдээллийн эх сурвалж хоорондын харилцан хамаарлын тухай олон асуулт асуух хэрэгтэй болж байна.

Хожим надад илүү олон бодлууд төрөх байх. Энд мэдээж хэсэг хугацаанд эрэгцүүлэхэд хангалттай зүйл бичлээ.

Eagle TV competitor C1 television recently aired a show about Eagle TV’s translation of Christian programming. The guest on the program evaluated our use of Mongolian language on translated programs like Way of the Master.

The guest on the program, a linguist, had some interesting and even helpful things to say about improving our translation quality. But what interested me was his position on Eagle TV promoting Christianity through television. He noted that since Buddhism and Christianity share some things in common that the terminology that is used should be Buddhist so that the common concepts will be understood by the audience.

Of course, using Buddhist terms to describe Christian ideas is not something that we do on Eagle TV. Can you imagine, for instance, the Lord’s prayer being translated to say, “Buddha, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come…” etc.?

For most of our programs Eagle TV uses terminology known as “descriptive terminology.” This uses terminology which is religiously neutral to describe Christian concepts. We do this because using Buddhist terms to describe Christianity can be confusing to the mostly non-Christian audience. In fact, our most recent survey reveals that most people who associate Buddhist terms associate them with Buddhism, but not with Christianity. Therefore, using those terms to describe Christianity would end up in theological confusion and would do a disservice to both religions.

One of the comments made by the linguist was that since Buddhism and Christianity have so much in common, they should therefore work together for their common objectives. The problem with this thinking is that Buddhism and Christianity do not share anything in common—they are mutually exclusive.

I’ve run across this before. This is usually the argument that is made by people who are ignorant of the deeper issues of religious doctrine; who usually only have a surface level of understanding of the faiths. Because both religions supposedly advocate love, forgiveness, right thinking, avoidance of sin, etc., they can therefore work together on these issues. However, that assumes, wrongly, that Buddhism and Christianity have these things in common. In fact, they do not. The definition of what these things are, are different. Just because someone may use similar terms does not mean the terms mean the same thing relative to both religions. It’s like a Mormon saying he believes Jesus is the Son of God. The definition of “Son of God” under Mormon theology is very different from what it means in orthodox, evangelical Christianity. Only those with a surface level of understanding, or ignorance, can make such a declaration. As for the Mormon example, this is one reason why Mormonism is classified as a non-Christian cult instead of being a branch of the Christian faith. So too, what Buddhism means by common terms is completely different from what Christianity means, and therefore, they—by definition—cannot work together. They are mutually exclusive.

As a mass media organization we are responsible to God for how we portray the Gospel. Sometimes that means separating ourselves from other concepts, which can be a bit controversial at times. Nevertheless, it is necessary if we are going to represent Christianity faithfully and truthfully to the community.

Remember the survey that I wrote about last week? We had Press Institute break down the answers into different religious groups to get a better understanding of the religious culture and how individuals use Eagle TV. There is some startling new information. Here’s what Buddhists and Christians had to say about terminology. Keep in mind that “Burhan” and “Tenger” are traditionally Buddhist and/or shamanist words. “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” was originally developed by Christians for the Christians community.

• 79% of Buddhists associate the word “Burhan” with Buddhism, and only 10% associate it with Christianity
• 59% of Buddhists associate the title “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity, and only 0.3% associate it with Buddhism
• 78% of Christians associate the words “Burhan” and “Tenger” with Buddhism, and 89% associate “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity
• Only 8% of Christians associate the word “Burhan” with Christianity (this would seem to fly in the face of real-world practice, but I’ll touch on that later)

When asked what they believe Christianity is about:

• 10% of Buddhists said Christianity was about becoming prosperous (prosperity gospel), whereas (and here’s the shocker) 44% of Christians said the same thing
• 20% of Buddhists think Christianity is about societal development (social gospel?), whereas 17% of Christians think the same
• When combining categories we see that 60% of Mongolian Christians think Christianity is about prosperity gospel and social gospel.

That last statistic is significant and alarming. While there is certainly a role that material blessing and society play within the Gospel (such as with the Old Testament covenants and their application in modern times), primarily placing these values as “the” or “a” driving force in Christian expression is, at the very least, problematic for spiritual growth and community witness. May this also undercut the church’s chances of growing theologically and properly into the next generation? Theologically, I think this says dire things about the role that believers think God plays in their lives. If this were an election, prosperity/social gospel categories would win by a landslide. It seems clear to me from my own observations combined with these survey results that the sovereignty of God is not much taught or adhered to here.

On questions of compatibility:

• 53% of Christians think Christianity and Buddhism are compatible or share some things in common. This is also highly alarming. Could it be that this statistic lends credence to the idea that key scriptural concepts are not being carefully unpackaged to both the believing and non-believing audiences? This is an area where better discipleship and community education can make a real difference—and how TV can augment this should be strongly considered
• 33% of Buddhist say Christianity and Buddhism have some things in common, but 36% say they have nothing in common

Where do they get their information:

• 38% of Buddhists get their information about Christianity from Eagle TV
• 36% of atheists get their information about Christianity from Eagle TV
• 31% of shamanist people get their information about Christianity from Eagle TV
• The three stats cited above are staggering. But the big turn comes here: 53% of Christians report that they get their information about Christianity from church and only 11% from Eagle TV.

When considering the problems already mentioned above we should consider, and perhaps do a formal study on what churches are specifically teaching Mongol believers. One thing that might be considered in this vein is that if Mongol believers are primarily prosperity/social gospel oriented, and they are therefore getting that education through their churches, it might shed light on the low number for Eagle in this report, because, Eagle TV does not allow prosperity/social gospel programming on air. Thus, we might be able to say that since we don’t meet that desire in the believing audience, that believing audience goes elsewhere for that kind of information. The challenge for us may be to find a way to tactfully address these issues (non-supportively) and hopefully help correct the problem (over time).

In all four cases above, these were the overwhelming large numbers for the questions asked. But after this it gets kind of freaky. The survey was broken down by multiple religious groups, including shamans and atheists. When it comes to terminology usage, look at what those identifying themselves as shamanists had to say. When it comes to terms:

• 82% of shamanism adherents say they associate “Burhan” with Christianity, whereas they associate “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Buddhism by 49% (I cannot help but think that there is a problem in the survey data on this question. However, our in-country missionary friends might have some light to shed on this
• 52% of atheists associate “Burhan” with Buddhism, and only 3% associate it with Christianity
• 60% of atheists associate “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity and none associates it to Buddhism

I think that the terminology associations are significant. If this survey is accurate, it would seem to indicate that most Mongol believers know that the most popular word-choice (Burhan) is Buddhist in meaning/origin, but in practice, they don’t care how it’s used. Clearly, only 8% of respondents associate it with Christianity (in this survey), but it still remains the most popular word choice in the vernacular. What does this say, theological and socially, about the Mongol church? That would make a very interesting study.

In light of this survey, we should be asking ourselves questions about the relationships between terminology usage, prosperity/social gospel, and information sourcing.

Perhaps more thoughts from me at a later date. There’s certainly enough here to stew over for some time.

In the last year one of our ministry objectives has been to discover how Eagle TV is impacting the community spiritually. One of our tools is a series of surveys asking the audience specific questions about perceptions of Christianity, Bible knowledge, etc.

Our most recent survey was done in June, and we just got the data in this week. What did we learn?

First off, we discovered that Eagle TV is having a huge impact when it comes to what people think Christianity is. 30 percent of respondents said that they get their information about Christianity from Eagle Television. Only 10 percent said they received their information from churches and 12 percent from the Bible. That’s not really unexpected since only 6.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as Christian, with the remaining 93.4 percent identifying themselves as Buddhist, shamanist, or something else other than Christian. I have to say, a 30 percent impact from Eagle TV is huge. To be honest, I don’t know of any other TV ministry that can claim such a large percentage of impact. In fact, I don’t even know of any radio ministry that rates that way. I don’t say this to boast, rather, it seems truly remarkable to me that Eagle is having that level of impact with its audience.

One of the issues we face in Mongolia is about people’s perceptions of what Christianity is all about. In my nearly 8 years in Mongolia I’ve noticed a strong thread of prosperity Gospel influence among Mongolian believers. For those unaware, prosperity Gospel is a Christian heresy that, essentially, makes the accumulation of wealth and material possessions the primary goal of Christian expression.

I was, however, surprised when I learned that the Mongolian view is a bit more varied than I thought. When asked if Christianity is about becoming prosperous only 10 percent answered positively. But a whopping 39 percent answered that they did not know what Christianity is all about at all! On top of that, 41 percent of those surveyed said that they did not know if Buddhism and Christianity are compatible (they are not).

These responses were shocking. Ulaanbaatar has had a full blown television ministry for 15 years. That’s not to say that everything about the Gospel is dependent upon Eagle TV—it’s not—but it does tell us that there is a lot of work to be done to help educate the audience about what Christianity is. It has been said more than once that Eagle TV made Jesus a household word in Mongolia. Yet that’s just the beginning. The need for a deeper understanding of the faith is huge. That means we have to take a careful look at our programming to see where we can make things even clearer.

One of the questions we asked was focused on terminology. We wanted to know, in general, what terminology people most associate with Christianity, Buddhism, shamanism, etc. We asked this because it is natural for certain words to carry specific historical and conceptual associations. In Mongolia there has been a long controversy about what name to use for “God.” In this survey 70 percent of respondents associated the word “Burhan” with Buddhism. 57 percent associated the title “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity. “Burhan” is the term primarily used to identify Buddha, though most of the Mongolian church also uses it to identify God in a generic sense. In this part of the survey there was a natural overlap of 23 percent of those who use multiple terms.

What makes this part of the survey so interesting is that the overwhelming number of respondents did not identify themselves as Christian. Therefore, the non-believing audience is drawing a distinction among terms, to some degree delineating in their minds what they perceive as Buddhist and what they perceive as Christian. To be sure about this we are having a new set of calculations on responses being draw up to clearly identify what the non-believing audience associates between specific terms and ideas, minus the responses from believers.

All in all, the survey has really opened our eyes to some of the perceptions that Mongolians have about Christianity. Yet we also know that we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. Further surveys will try and dig deeper about these perceptions and hopefully help us refine our ministry presentations even more. The fact is, with 30 percent saying their primary source of information about Christianity comes from Eagle TV, we have a sacred responsibility to make sure we are getting our presentations right.

“This does not make for good diplomacy, but we are called to witness, not public relations. We must aim to be gracious and winsome in our witness to Christ, but the bottom line is that the gospel will necessarily come into open conflict with its rivals.”

Amen. So say we all. Read the original here.

Every once in a while a new movement comes along that seeks to capture the attention of people away from traditional faith commitments. My attention was grabbed by one so-called spiritual movement last week. Calling itself the “Spiritual But Not Religious” movement (SBNR), it portends to offer true spirituality instead of that stuffy, old time religion. What does SBNR offer?

According to the movement’s website, SBNR folk are those who avoid, “Guilt—A set of rules to follow.” SBNR people are those who “walk beyond all religious forms that bind our humanity.” Additionally, the movement claims that “There is no longer such a strong need for a minister, church or sacred texts to put boundaries on an experience of wonder.” Or to put it more succinctly, “Spirituality is more concerned with experience than dogma.”

The movement is founded by a supposedly Christian pastor of the innocuously named church, “Christ Community Church.” The name seems to ring with “Christianity,” but the movement’s principles clearly defy the definitions in scripture of what is spiritual and what is not.

For instance, take the quotes just offered in the paragraphs above, such as avoiding, “A set of rules to follow.” It sounds pleasant, doesn’t it? Not to the ears of the Apostle Paul who said of those rules to follow, “For we know that the Law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14 emphasis mine).

If the Law is spiritual then why do men create movements that seem to repudiate God’s word? The same scripture provides the answer: “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin” (Romans 7:14).

It is the nature of all so-called spiritual movements to redefine what spirituality is. Last week I asked on my blog site, “What is spirituality?” Not too many takers on that one. It seems that in our post-modern world true definitions are difficult to come by.

Unless we go to the Bible.

We’ve already seen one definition from Paul—the word of God is spiritual. If you want to be a spiritual person then you must go to the word of God to assist you in that endeavor. But movements like SBNR deny this fundamental truth. They not only deny it, they turn the definition of “spiritual” into some kind of feel-good-only sense of wonder and mysticism. Amongst its many examples, here’s how SBNR defines spirituality.

•    A rainbow emerging through violent storm clouds,
•    A newborn baby cradled in your arms,
•    A brilliant sunset illuminating mountains

Are these “spiritual?” They look an awful lot like “natural” to me. Therein lies part of the problem. SBNR and movements like it redefine spiritual so that it is really nothing more than a personal, subjective, emotional experience—regardless of religious profession. In fact, SBNR seems to embrace the feel-goods of every religion. SBNR claims that true spirituality includes the “universal wisdom” of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, nature traditions and more. In fact, SBNR is nothing more than Buddhism disguised. According to the movement’s website: “There is a way out of this fallen state (of sin or illusion or disharmony), there is a path to our liberation. If we follow this path to its conclusion, the result is a rebirth or enlightenment, a direct experience of spirit within and without, a supreme liberation, which marks the end of sin and suffering.”

That’s not spirituality. That’s Buddhism.

So what is true spirituality? As already mentioned, we cannot have true spirituality without the Bible. “For we know that the Law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14). The Apostle Paul—a true spiritual man—defined for us what a spiritual person is. Notice how closely Paul ties the spiritual man with the wisdom of God’s word instead of human systems.

“We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (I Corinthians 2:12-13).

What do those spiritual words say to us? “Who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (I Corinthians 2:16).

Did you catch that? We have the mind of Christ. We have, through the Holy Spirit—who is the origin of all true spirituality—the ability to know what God thinks. What does God think? He thinks this:

“No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ…Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness” and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless” (I Corinthians 3:11,18-20).

A truly spiritual person recognizes Christ for who he is, submits to the authority of Christ and his word, and orders his life according the the principles of Christ.

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

Without these things our so-called spiritual experiences may offer emotional satisfaction, but they cannot progress beyond that. Man’s own mind may deceive him into believing his is spiritual when in fact he is only acting according to the sin nature which thrusts itself against submission to Christ and his word.

Came across this today while surfing ConversantLife.com. Great piece. Take a read.

I want to point out two things: first, there is no God in Buddhism. And secondly, there is no grace in Buddhism….

The writer, drawn to the presence of grace in Christianity, wanted to find such grace in Buddhism. He tried hard, and gave many suggestions about where grace might be found in Buddhism. But then the whole thing fell apart at the end of the article, when he wrote this:

“So you see, we have many examples of “grace” – the big difference in Buddhism is that it is not “unmerited” as in Christianity. As Pema Chodron is so fond of pointing out, us westerners often operate from a sense of poverty. We feel we are not deserving of this or that – and I believe this is especially true when it comes to grace.”

See the whole article here.

As we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I want to offer up five significant thoughts about what the resurrection of Jesus Christ provides to us. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is far more significant than any other event in history. While most people tend to give more attention to Christmas, I’ve always felt that the resurrection was of greater importance. If there had been no resurrection there would be no Christmas celebration; the resurrection gives Christmas its meaning.

Aside from Christmas, the resurrection provides five things that make Christianity stand out as unique, remarkable, and superior to every other philosophy and faith.

THE RESURRECTION REVERSES THE GARDEN CURSE

We don’t often think of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden when we think of Easter. But the scriptures actually tie the two together. The first pronouncement that man would die was in Genesis 2:17. God warned Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” After their disobedience, in Genesis 3:19 God confirmed the consequences of their sin: “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

From that point on all men were subjected to the punishment of death for the disobedience of sin: “Through ?one man sin entered into the world, and ?death through sin, and ?so death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12). But Jesus, as the “last Adam” of I Corinthians 15:45, negates the final effects of the curse. Though we will one day all partake of death, the death of the Christian is only a temporary condition while we await our own resurrection that will give us a body like his: “Just as we have ?borne the image of the earthy, ?we will also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Corinthians 15:49).

THE RESURRECTION JUSTIFIES THE BELIEVER

Justification is the pronouncement by God that he has accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as the punishment for our sin. This acceptance by God results in the freeing of the believer from the terminal consequences of our sin. Romans 4:25 tells us that Jesus “was raised because of our justification.” No Christian need ever be concerned with his or her eternal destiny. The resurrection of Jesus Christ makes our destiny a surety. We will enjoy eternal life with Christ in our own resurrected, transformed bodies.

THE RESURRECTION TRANSFORMS

We already know from I Corinthians 15 that we will receive resurrected, transformed bodies during the resurrection of the righteous. But we sometimes forget that the resurrection provides transformation in this earthly life. We have two dramatic examples in the scripture of this very fact.

Following his death, Jesus’ disciples hid themselves away from the Jewish authorities. Their hopes for the coming kingdom seemed crushed following the crucifixion. Yet when the risen Lord Jesus showed himself to them, they were radically changed. This was not simple case of resuscitation. Jesus was horribly mangled from beatings and the cruelty of the cross. The flesh of his back had been ripped away. His body had been beaten, swollen, bruised, and bloodied. His death was attested to by soldiers, his friends, and religious leaders. A sword pierced his side, rupturing his heart. So when the disciples saw Jesus standing before them on the third day they could not help but be transformed. They had seen a man destroyed as well as dead, and suddenly there he was standing before them, restored.

The result for the disciples was a transformation from fear to courage. Each of them took the message of the risen Jesus with them. They had become dynamic missionaries, serving for years, with each of them dying a martyr’s death proclaiming the risen Savior.

The Apostle Paul is another significant example of the power of the resurrection. Paul, in a frenzy of murderous rage persecuted Christians from place to place until the risen Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Paul’s response to seeing the risen Jesus? “Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus ?in the synagogues, ?saying, “He is ?the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

THE RESURRECTION IS REVOLUTIONARY

In our English Bibles we read the word “resurrection” and think of nothing more than a rising up from the dead. But in Greek there was more than one word used that we translate as “resurrection” or “raised.” One of those words has as a root meaning to rise to revolt, as in political revolution. How appropriate is such a word! The person who embraces Christ is doing nothing less than experiencing a revolution in his soul, rejecting the old sinful nature for the transformation of a new nature. The Scriptures say that since our old self was crucified with Christ we are freed from our sin (Romans 6:5-11). “Therefore do not let sin ?reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). The Christian is to experience nothing less than a revolution of character having “rescued us from the ??domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of ??His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13).

THE RESURRECTION PROVIDES PURPOSE AND MEANING TO LIFE

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ Christianity is meaningless. “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and ??if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain…and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; ??you are still in your sins” (I Corinthians 15:13-14,17).

How dreadful life would be without the sure hope of the resurrection. Knowing our future state, that of bodily resurrection to become whole people the way God intended, gives us purpose and direction for life.

Nothing else in life offers the hope, purpose, and meaning that the resurrection of Jesus does. The atheist mistakenly looks to a future of nonexistence. The Buddhist hopes for a better rebirth and nonexistent nirvana. The deceived Muslim awaits his virgins. None of these offer the hope that the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings.

I recently read an interesting quote about Buddhism’s impact on real world problems. Check this out. ”Christmas Humpreys, an influential Western Buddhist, admits…’It may be asked, what contribution Buddhism is making to world problems, national problems, social problems, appearing among every group of men. The answer is clear as it is perhaps unique. Comparatively speaking, none.”[1]

I’ve long wondered why Christianity seems to be able to so successfully generate an enormous number of mercy-oriented ministries, organizations, and movements that serve both man and beast. Why did Christianity produce so many educational institutions, hospitals, prison ministries, anti-poverty movements, and more while competing worldviews like Buddhism seem unable or unwilling to do so? It’s not that they don’t make the attempt, it’s that they are just so darn infrequent and invisible. If Buddhism was truly a mercy-oriented system, why hasn’t it generated such things at a level competitive with Christianity?

It turns out that the answer is also provided by Humpreys, “The reason is clear. One man at peace within lives happily.”[2] In other words, when your system of philosophy is “self” centered the motivation for such mercy-oriented movements is, to echo Humpreys’ words, comparatively, none.

In contrast to the “self” centeredness of buddhist movitations, apologists John Ankerberg and John Weldon note that, ”We never ask, ‘Why is there so much good in the world?’ It is always, ‘Why is there so much evil in the world?’ We know that evil is an abberation in a universe whose Ruler is good and righteous.”[3]

Ankerberg and Weldon are correct. We instinctively know that something is wrong with the world (sin, and the suffering caused by sin), but it should be good because we have a good Creator. Creation is supposed to reflect the goodness of the Creator. In many ways it does. But in the case of man our behavior often reflects that which is not good, and thus not from a good Creator. As Christians we recognize that something must be done about this inequity since we are motivated by God’s goodness, just as the scripture says, “Be holy for I am holy.”[4] We want to bring order, and justice, and good to the world because God’s character reflects these good things. The Apostle Peter notes our motivation. After quoting the “be holy” passage from Leviticus he says, “You have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart”[5] (emphasis mine).

I’ll never forget the story my daughter’s told me about an experience they had in Mongolia. They were walking home with friends one evening in the freezing sub-zero temperatures of Ulaanbaatar when they came across a teenager who had been beaten to a pulp. He was on the sidewalk bleeding profusely, unable to stand, with hundreds of people strolling by him. The kids tried to get the attention of a police officer to help the young man, but he simply laughed at them. Everyone walking by steered clear. Not a single person would stop to help. It was a scene reminiscent of the Good Samaritan. Then a buddhist monk happened by, but he too walked right passed them, electing not to stop. There was no mercy. In true Good Samaritan form these Christian teenagers did all they could to try to help the young man, with one of the girls even removing her coat and putting it on the bleeding, freezing teen. She walked home, freezing.

Every religious system inculcates in its followers a model that is to be emulated. For Buddhism the model is Siddhartha Gautama. But for Christians the model is supremely different—Jesus Christ. He wrapped himself inside humanity and suffered as one of us while at the same time rising above us in ethics and glory. Just as those teenagers tried to save the life of a stranger and gave sacrificially to try to revive him, so too Christ did what was necessary to save us by giving of himself through the ultimate sacrifice and suffering.

Where are the Buddhist mercy-oriented movements? I’m sure there are a small number out there. But the model necessary to motivate such things isn’t found in Buddhism’s core. So as Humpreys’ notes it is comparatively, none. Thank God we have a model in the Savior, Jesus Christ who motivates those who love him truly, differently.

1. In F.L. Woodward, Trans., Some Sayings of the Buddha (New York: Oxford University Press 1973), p. X.X.I.I.
2. Ibid
3. Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, John Ankerberg and John Weldon, “Buddhism and Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism,” page 62.
4. Leviticus 11:44
5. I Peter 1:22

Today I am the guest for the PreachItTeachIt.org podcast. Our discussion revolved around missions, Mongolia, and the unique challenges Mongolian culture poses for missionaries.

Enjoy.