See the Dialectic in Action

Kay Warren will be joining Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Samir Selmanovic and a number of other emerging church leaders at the Envision 08 Conference. A reader clicked on the Envison 08 link for Evangelicals for Social Action, one of the sponsors of the event, and came across the organization’s magazine, Prism from March/April of this year. It contains a most interesting article by Paul Gordon-Chandler entitled, “Following Christ on Eastern Roads.” The article is so bad it has to be seen to be believed. What is highly interesting is the preface the editor attaches to the article.

(Editor’s note: We appreciate the way the following reflections invite Christians to seek to understand and enter into relationship with the adherents of other faiths, looking for commonalities, acknowledging their strengths, and learning from them. Since Christ is the Truth, all other truth is indeed compatible with him.
At the same time, we believe that Christians must continue to understand and proclaim clearly the ways that Christ points to a significantly different reality than those proclaimed by other religions: that Jesus is true God and true man, the only way to salvation, and that God is Trinitarian. After we have listened humbly and learned carefully about what is good and true in other faiths, we must continue with gentle boldness to invite everyone to taste of Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life” for one and all.)

Say what? “Since Christ is the truth, all other truth is indeed compatible with him.” Colossians 2:3-8 infallibly states that “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ.” Dr. Greg Bahnsen, noted Christian apologist, wrote the following:

Note (in this passage) that he says all wisdom and knowledge is deposited in the person of Christ—whether it be about the War of 1812, water’s chemical composition, the literature of Shakespeare, or the laws of logic! Every academic pursuit and every thought must be related to Jesus Christ, for Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6) To avoid Christ in your thought at any point, then, is to be misled, untruthful and spiritually dead. To put aside your Christian commitments when it comes to defending the faith or sending your children to school is willfully to steer away from the only path to wisdom and truth found in Christ. It is not the end or outcome of knowledge to fear the Lord; it is the beginning of knowledge to reverence Him (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).

(Dr. Greg Bahnsen, Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith, pages 4-5)

The “editor’s note” purports to be directing readers back to Jesus as the only way, truth and life. Yet look at this sentence. There is truth and error in the same sentence, separated only by a comma. Note the bold letters that contain truth. Then look at the clause setting it off.

“After we have listened humbly and learned carefully about what is good and true in other faiths, we must continue with gentle boldness to invite everyone to taste of Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life” for one and all.”

To look for what is good and true in faiths that deny the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, is an abomination to God. Again and again, God’s anger at the adultery and idolatry of mankind comes through in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament. There is NO biblical mandate to find what is good and true in what the pagan false religions of the world teach.

The dialectic is fascinating to see in operation. It is critical to understand its application today in the church. One of the laws that governs the use of the dialectic is the Law of the Unity and Struggle of Opposites, meaning that first you have a thesis, or statement of truth. Then that thesis is fused with its antithesis or contradiction. Out of the clash of these this contradiction, a synethesis, or new truth supposedly emerges. Everything is always changing, you see. New truths are needed. People have wondered at how skilled men like Rick Warren are at fusing truth and error, often in one sentence or paragraph. What someone appears to be saying, is, in the end, something very different.

So here we have the editor of Prism appearing to defend biblical Christianity and Jesus as the only way, truth and life, yet he is calling on readers to find what is good and true in religious systems that are, by definition, anti-Christ, and in Satanic rebellion to God. Once you’ve read that little false disclaimer, now go and read exactly what Prism was promoting. It is staggering in its audacity. Here are some quotes to show you where this is all leading.

“In regard to Hinduism, Sadhu Sundar Singh, the mystic and Sikh follower of Christ in the early 1900s, had an interesting personal perspective. “Hinduism has been digging channels,” he wrote. “Christ is the water to flow through these channels…there are many beautiful things in Hinduism; but the fullest light is from Jesus Christ…”

“Just as the beauty of the lotus flower emerges from dark and muddy roots, God communicates in paradoxical ways to individuals in what may seem like the most unlikely places. The Buddhist scriptures proclaim, “It is a Buddha-making universe”—meaning that the nature of reality itself is to enlighten and set free the whole creation, down to the last grain of sand. And for followers of Christ, we see the ultimate purpose of God as enabling all people to fully reflect the “image of God” in which they were created…’”

“Christ himself walks the Buddhist road, and surely we will find him there when we ourselves venture out. Karl Reichelt, a Norwegian who operated a unique ministry serving Buddhist monks in China and Hong Kong in the 1920s,believed that Buddhism found its fulfillment and ultimate revelation in Jesus. In order to present a Christ that walked within Buddhism, Reichelt modeled his Tao Fong Shan Christian Center on Buddhist monasteries, adapted Buddhist symbols to Christianity, and developed a liturgy based on Buddhist worship structure. He also adopted the style of a Buddhist monk, and his Christian witness focused on building on every area of affinity with Buddhism that he could.”

Here we have Evangelicals for Social Action setting before readers the promotion of the cosmic false Christ of the New Spirituality. But wait! What about the editor’s disclaimer about the need to gently share that Jesus is the only way? View the dialectic in action. The Editor’s Note at the front end is itself riddled with contradiction, yet the biggest contradiction of all is the running of this article after the editor claims to believe that Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life. As you can see when you read the article, this “Christ” has been redefined to walk within Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. He is a Christ who wants us to look to the good things in other religions so we can learn from them. This Christ is present everywhere, in all people already. This is, in fact, another Christ, and ESA and Ron Sider are promoting him. The growing interest in interspirituality is evident everywhere today. That Kay Warren could participate in something that is sponsored by deceiving groups like this is deeply disturbing.

By Ingrid Schlueter Email: vcyproducer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles