Last time I indicated that I would look at the 'Pauline model' for evangelism of pagan Gentiles that he used in Athens at the Areopagus ('Mars' Hill', KJV) (Acts 17.16-34).
As is well known, Paul began his address by focussing on the spiritual state of the Athenians: their 'very religious' nature as evidenced by their altar, 'To an unknown god' (Acts 17.23, RSV).
We can say that Paul's model was to find a 'contact-point' with Athenian worship for the gospel; this contact-point was the Athenian acknowledgement of 'an unknown god'.
I want to use this concept of a contact-point with the religion* of those we speak to about the gospel; I do so because it is evident that trying to present the gospel to someone without some sort of contact-point as a bridge between the other and us risks an experience of disconnectedness and alienation for both persons.
He began to meditate under the now famous fig ('bodhi') tree and achieved enlightenment. He realised that suffering lay in the wrongful desire for transient things.
After the Buddha (the 'awakened one') reached 'enlightenment' he began to preach what he learned which revolved around suffering and desire: The Four Noble Truths.
This present, repetitive cycle can only be broken free of through enlightenment into the liberation of nirvana where worldly things are understood for what they truly are and rebirth ceases to occur.
The desire spoken of in Buddhism seems to be wrong desire defined as 'unskilful'; that is, desire that leads us away from the path to nirvana. Hence, good desire is defined as 'skilful', meaning the desire that takes us to nirvana.
A Buddhist writer, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, has summed up the Buddhist contentions regarding desire brilliantly in this passage:
Rather, it revolves around divine grace: God's unmerited favour to any who come to Him through Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 26.18; 2 Cor 5.21; Eph 2.8-9; Col 1.14).
For Christianity, suffering became embedded in the human condition consequent to the unfaithfulness of Adam and Eve (Gen 3.1-6) to God's commands. And yes, Eve's wrong desires led her to involve her husband in the rebellion against God.
Christian revelation given in its holy Scriptures says that God then judged Adam and Eve and punished them for their wrongdoing AGAINST HIM. Their wrongdoing against him is judged as SIN which is a central theme of Christianity.
SIN calls for a powerful Redeemer to liberate man because sin is not just rebellious acts but a power that holds man in its demonic clutches at the core of his being. Of course, evil desires work to bring on sin (Jas 1.13-15).
When will this Redeemer, Deliverer and Saviour come is a major theme of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. God sent his only begotten Son (Jn 3.16) in 4-7 BC to deliver all mankind from sin (Titus 2.11-14).
Once a person has become a Christian, a new creation appears (2 Cor 5.17)! Christians are said to be seated in heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus (Eph 2.5-6; Col 2.12, 3.1-4).
Nevertheless, Christians as members of the Body of Christ still await the final resurrection and thus still struggle with temptation, evil desires (passions) leading to sinful actions.
The Christian scriptures are filled with many warnings about the need to be vigilant about evil desires (2 Tim 2.22) to the point where Christians are called to 'kill' evil deeds (Rom 8.13; Col 3.5-11).
Next time I plan to look at the use of liberation as a contact-point.
*I appreciate that some Christian readers might view 'religion' as a negative term being equivalent to an allegiance to beliefs or a denomination rather than to the person of Christ Himself. However, 'religion' is mentioned in a positive way within the Christian scriptures (see Jas 1.26-27).
As is well known, Paul began his address by focussing on the spiritual state of the Athenians: their 'very religious' nature as evidenced by their altar, 'To an unknown god' (Acts 17.23, RSV).
We can say that Paul's model was to find a 'contact-point' with Athenian worship for the gospel; this contact-point was the Athenian acknowledgement of 'an unknown god'.
I want to use this concept of a contact-point with the religion* of those we speak to about the gospel; I do so because it is evident that trying to present the gospel to someone without some sort of contact-point as a bridge between the other and us risks an experience of disconnectedness and alienation for both persons.
Gospel Contact-Point with Buddhism: Desire
1) Buddhism and Desire
Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BC) became dissatisfied with his life of luxury after unexpectedly discovering ageing, sickness and death, and turned to asceticism to discover the answer to suffering. However, although he practised extreme asceticism for six years that did not provide the answer.He began to meditate under the now famous fig ('bodhi') tree and achieved enlightenment. He realised that suffering lay in the wrongful desire for transient things.
After the Buddha (the 'awakened one') reached 'enlightenment' he began to preach what he learned which revolved around suffering and desire: The Four Noble Truths.
- Life means unease (or dukkha, a multifaceted word, often translated as 'suffering'); 'dukkha is our existence'
- Unease is caused by desire, attachment, craving for the transient things and ideas in the world.
- Extinguishing desire is attainable
- The pathway is via self-improvement from practising The Noble Eightfold Path which finally leads to 'enlightenment'.
This present, repetitive cycle can only be broken free of through enlightenment into the liberation of nirvana where worldly things are understood for what they truly are and rebirth ceases to occur.
The desire spoken of in Buddhism seems to be wrong desire defined as 'unskilful'; that is, desire that leads us away from the path to nirvana. Hence, good desire is defined as 'skilful', meaning the desire that takes us to nirvana.
A Buddhist writer, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, has summed up the Buddhist contentions regarding desire brilliantly in this passage:
All phenomena, the Buddha once said, are rooted in desire. Everything we think, say, or do — every experience — comes from desire. Even we come from desire. We were reborn into this life because of our desire to be. Consciously or not, our desires keep redefining our sense of who we are. Desire is how we take our place in the causal matrix of space and time. The only thing not rooted in desire is nirvana, for it's the end of all phenomena and lies even beyond the Buddha's use of the word "all." But the path that takes you to nirvana is rooted in desire — in skillful desires. The path to liberation pushes the limits of skillful desires to see how far they can go.From this passage we can see what a large scope desire, skilful and unskilful, has in the Buddhist understanding.
2) Christianity and Desire
Buddhism and Christianity speak about desire but in contrastive ways. Buddhist practice revolves around extinguishing wrong desire because suffering is caused by wrong desire and the way then to end suffering is to eradicate craving. Christianity, on the other hand, does not revolve around extinguishing wrong desire so that a blessed state might be attained.Rather, it revolves around divine grace: God's unmerited favour to any who come to Him through Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 26.18; 2 Cor 5.21; Eph 2.8-9; Col 1.14).
For Christianity, suffering became embedded in the human condition consequent to the unfaithfulness of Adam and Eve (Gen 3.1-6) to God's commands. And yes, Eve's wrong desires led her to involve her husband in the rebellion against God.
Christian revelation given in its holy Scriptures says that God then judged Adam and Eve and punished them for their wrongdoing AGAINST HIM. Their wrongdoing against him is judged as SIN which is a central theme of Christianity.
SIN calls for a powerful Redeemer to liberate man because sin is not just rebellious acts but a power that holds man in its demonic clutches at the core of his being. Of course, evil desires work to bring on sin (Jas 1.13-15).
When will this Redeemer, Deliverer and Saviour come is a major theme of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. God sent his only begotten Son (Jn 3.16) in 4-7 BC to deliver all mankind from sin (Titus 2.11-14).
Once a person has become a Christian, a new creation appears (2 Cor 5.17)! Christians are said to be seated in heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus (Eph 2.5-6; Col 2.12, 3.1-4).
Nevertheless, Christians as members of the Body of Christ still await the final resurrection and thus still struggle with temptation, evil desires (passions) leading to sinful actions.
The Christian scriptures are filled with many warnings about the need to be vigilant about evil desires (2 Tim 2.22) to the point where Christians are called to 'kill' evil deeds (Rom 8.13; Col 3.5-11).
Conclusion
So Buddhism's identification of dukkha (unease, suffering, dissatisfaction) and its creation by clinging to the impermanent things of this life can be a contact-point for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.Next time I plan to look at the use of liberation as a contact-point.
*I appreciate that some Christian readers might view 'religion' as a negative term being equivalent to an allegiance to beliefs or a denomination rather than to the person of Christ Himself. However, 'religion' is mentioned in a positive way within the Christian scriptures (see Jas 1.26-27).
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