All Things Seen & Unseen

T he Buddhist religion begins with d octrines known as the Four Noble Truths * . The first noble truth is that human existence is unsatisfactoriness ( dukk ha ), that is, ' things are not as they should be '. (Even the happi est of times will end and hence, they too are unsati sfactory.) And life is that way because we crave and cling to what are the impermanent things and ideas of this life. One author suggests that dukkha is derived from the image of riding in a horse- drawn vehicle where an ungreased axle on one side of the buggy is c ausing occupants to become nauseous through its la ck of pr oper movement. No wonder humans feel uneasy and even despair at times as they ride in the buggy of normal life !

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 u nk nown g od' (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 - p oint 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 eviden t that trying to present t he gospel to someone without some sort of contact-point as a bridge between the other and us risks an experience of di sconnectedness and alien ation for both persons. Gospel Contact-Point with Buddhism: Desire

John Piper, a noted evangelical pastor-scholar, Calvinist , and charismatic to boot presents the gospel to hearers in six minutes. He says it can be given in one sentence: The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy.   My concern with this excellent kernel and his subsequent elaboration is tha t I wonder how his particular approach would be received by those outside the Faith with little knowledge of Christia nity ? In other words, it assumes much that we Christians just take for granted because we have been raised in the Faith and/or taught the Faith by the faithful teach ers in our churches .