True Christian

Dear Reader,


When is a Christian a Christian? When is a Hindu a Hindu? When is a
Mormon a Mormon? When can we say that anyone is a "true Christian?"


Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them." He did not say "You
can tell them by their names." But neither did He mean that "Anyone
who attends church is a true Christian.


"One of the hallmarks of the Evangelical movement has been the 
observation that "not all 'Christians' are Christians, and not all 
church-goers are Christians." This parallels Jesus' comment that not
everyone who calls him "Lord" will make it and Paul's statement that 
"not all Israel is Israel." This severe caution is Biblical even if 
it is a delicate point. Thus:


Point one: We must be careful not to assume that just because people
say they are Christians or that they attend church that they are real
Christians. This is difficult because we can't be too sure we are
always right if we feel free to make judgments as to who is and who
isn't a true Christian.


Point two: We must be careful not to assume that just because people
are not called "Christians" that they are not true Christians. The
easiest example of this is the "Messianic Jew" who believes and
follows Jesus Christ and yet prefers not to be called a Christian.


On the other hand, can we assume that some groups which do call
themselves Christian are truly Christian? What about Seventh-Day
Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Catholics?


From the standpoint of the usual Evangelical believer, the thing wrong
with all four of these groups is that they believe not less than but
more than the Bible. And they may also not understand the Bible
correctly either.


[I hasten to add that it is a bit unreas-onable to put Seventh-Day
Adventists in the same list with Mormons. But it is really a matter of
degree: both have semi-sacred scriptures in addition to the Bible, and
both, from our standpoint, stand guilty of mis-interpreting certain
verses in the Bible.]


However, a very large perspective is needed here.


THE LARGER VIEW IS BREATHTAKING


It has been fashionable for some time to speak of the times as
"post-Christian." A considerable qualification of such an idea has
come from David Barrett's sturdy statistics which show undeterred
growth of the Christian movement all across the world.


However, although the world is definitely not post-Christian, it
certainly may be possible to speak of "post-Christianity." Evidences
are flowing in from almost every mission field that the Christian
faith has frequently "jumped the tracks" of formal, traditional
Christianity. These glimmers of a new reality are harder and harder to
ignore.


I am reminded of the Catholic popes who tried to ignore the fact that
in their day more and more movements were popping up which did not
track with the full array of features belonging to their contemporary
Catholicism. There was Peter Waldo. Stop him! There was John Hus. Stop
him! There was Wycliffe. Stop him! There were also the Cathari and the
Albigenses. There was more reason to stop them--but not to kill every
man, woman and child in towns as large as 10,000. Eventually the tide
of reaction became so strong that a major anti-Catholic phenomenon
called "The Reformation" broke forth never to be recovered or
reconquered.


Today, if we will open our eyes wide we can see many movements popping
up which do not seem to track with the Christianity we know. Many of
these may consider themselves within "Christianity." Others do not
wish to be identified with "Christianity." In neither case are we as
Evangelicals inclined to consider them standard Christianity. So, are
we, too, on the eve of a new major breakaway movement similar to the
"Reformation?" And if so, is it all pure heresy or is there any
validity to this new Reformation?


You may test your sensitivities about all this with one more ancient
example. An even earlier "Reformation" took place when a major
anti-Roman phenomenon called Islam swept up millions of Christians who
had for various reasons been loath to identify themselves with the
Roman Empire. It was a Semitic reaction to Rome not a Teutonic
reaction to Rome as in the case of the Protestant Reformation, but it
was just as clearly anti-Roman. Unlike the situation where Catholics
and Protestants for many years killed each other without blinking an
eye, Islamic leaders for centuries (prior to the Crusades) were
generally much more friendly to those who continued within their midst
to be "Christians."


In any case, today we are forced to contemplate a disturbingly
dissimilar number of major cultural traditions which have basically
sprung up from Jewish roots: Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy,
Islam, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. All of these desperately
need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Within each of these is staggering
cultural diversity as well as differences ranging from devout souls to
crass nominality. They even overlap. That is, some forms of Islam are
closer to the Bible than some forms of Oriental Orthodox
"Christianity." A recent book tells of the perplexing existence of
churches in Syria today where Christians and Muslims worship together
(William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain, New York: Henry Holt & Co.
1998).


But never mind the confusion of overlap. The inevitable question today
is: "Is there room, for better or worse, for one more major tradition
with roots in the Jewish faith?" In other words, "Do we today see the
essential, true Jewish-Biblical Christ-centered faith being expressed
irretrievably in clothing which does not easily classify as
Christianity?" That is, must we more consciously and honestly yield to
the fact that there are already various major movements on the world
level (even within the Hindu culture) which really aren't historical
Christianity but which in some way are valid cultural carrier vehicles
of true Jewish-Biblical faith?


SWALLOW HARD; GO FORWARD.


I think so. In fact, I think it is very overdue that mission leaders
especially need to loosen up a bit and recognize what anyone might
have been able to predict: that other cultural expressions of
authentic Biblical faith are bound to develop, more and more allowing
our precious Christianity to be seen as merely one particular
historical stream of truth and faith. We need also to recognize that
as with other major streams of Biblical faith, our Christian culture
is, alas, accompanied by a good deal of arbitrary, cultural nonsense.


I advance this perspective for discussion because it has monumental
practical implications.


As an aid in seeing these immediate, major implications, let us go
back to the Bible again. Consider the perfectly enormous consternation
and turmoil exploding when Peter, by divine initiative, was loosened
up enough from his own historical tradition to welcome into the
kingdom a cultural tradition so far removed as that embodied in the
other world of Cornelius. Far more than a sheet full of repugnant
foods was involved. And it was not a temporary incident. No less than
perhaps a million Gentile "God fearers" were in the next few years to
crowd into the essentially Jewish faith (not culture) of the nascent
Christian movement. This marginalized Jewish believers (like Peter)
who continued to exercise their faith within the Jewish carrier
vehicle. Indeed, Jewish believers would almost continually be
persecuted for the next 2,000 years. Talk about practical
implications!


In earlier issues of Mission Frontiers I have spoken of the fairly
recent discovery of a very large number of "Hindu Christian
believers." Many might feel this phrase is a contradiction in terms.
If I were speaking of Hinduism--the religion--they are right. But I
speak of the cultural traditions in general of the Indus valley, a
cultural complex also called Hindu.


There is a crucial difference between speaking of the religion typical
of Hindus and the myriad details of their culture. The word Hinduism
may refer to a religion just as does Judaism. But being a Hindu or a
Jew does not necessarily define that person's religion. There are Jews
who follow Christ and--guess what--there are (now) Hindus who follow
Christ, just as there are also Muslims who follow Christ.


A parallel question is whether all "Christians" are truly Christians.
And my point here is whether we who are Evangelicals can dare to
continue the Evangelical tradition of its early years. Thus the
question:


Is "Christianity" What We are After, or Christian Faith?


After all, we may do well not to assume that God has called us merely
to extend the social phenomenon called Christianity, much less our
particular denominational brand thereof. Rather, shouldn't we be
content with heralding the blessing of knowing Jesus Christ through
His Word, and enlisting all those who call upon Him to do the work of
His Kingdom, "to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with God"?


For example, the Presbyterian Church (USA) in its mission work around
the world long followed a policy of not planting "Presbyterian"
churches. Many substantial Christian movements around the world thus
owe their origin to Presbyterian missionaries but yet are not called
Presbyterian. Granted that donors might feel it safer to plant
"Presbyterian" churches, nevertheless that was by no means what was
always done.


Thus, might it be only one small step further not to plant churches at
all of the kind that would be called by any name associated with
Christianity (this is to deliberately "go beyond Christianity").
Rather we might settle on fostering true, Christian, Biblical faith
distinctly within the Islamic or Hindu cultural (not religious)
spheres. Even before that, we may do well to recognize and seek to
foster Biblical faith wherever we find it, whether a movement's origin
can be attributed to our efforts or not.


Otherwise we will not see all that God is doing around the world. We
may miss the next major groundswell, just as centuries ago earnest
Catholic leaders deplored the Reformation (and some still do).


Otherwise we will be more pessimistic than we need to be about what is
happening to our faith in our tumultuous world.


Otherwise in the face of seemingly impregnable Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Islam we may soon be discouraged with the "global stalling" of formal
Christian growth around the world, thinking that our preaching and our
outreach has had no effect.


The fact is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is right now penetrating
all three of these traditions amazingly--unless we are merely looking
for the kind of Christianity with which we are familiar.


Todaywe can see many movements popping up which do not seem to track
with the Christianity we know.

		
Ralph D. Winter


Sumber:
Brigada-Pubs-MissionFrontiers (MF00.04.04-Winter).