Being a Japanese-American, I’ve grown up with Buddhism. Mostly around funerals but also other traditions like the Obon festival. Being a firm Christian, I’ve never been attracted to Buddhism, but it has always raised some internal conflicts.
Let me start by saying that I’ve never researched exactly what Buddhists teach although it seems like there are different types of Buddhists and you can end up at different places. What I do understand is fundamentally you must do something like find wisdom or reach enlightenment to get to that place. How you know if you reach enlightenment is beyond me. This differs from Christianity that say that you can’t do anything to reach Heaven, except to have faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. And even that faith is a gift from God. (For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9)
So this leads to that big conflict that nobody, including myself, wants to examine. What happens to our Buddhist and other non-Christian family members and friends when they die? If I’m true to my Christian faith, then I can’t honestly say they are with God. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) See, that’s just not something I want to think about. So what am I to do? Start evangelizing all my friends and family. Sounds good until I start alienating everyone, which might be okay with friends but not really practical for family. So, I just pray that God will send the Holy Spirit into their hearts. Maybe my using me and my family or by some other divine means.
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I don’t think that God intends for us to browbeat anyone — friends or family included — into believing. The obvious fact that that sort of behavior turns people off rather than attracts them aside, to assume this is our role assumes that someone else’s salvation rests in our human hands somehow, and I don’t think it does. At all. Salvation comes through the acceptance of Grace, and I know *I* can’t force someone to accept it. And if I do put a gun to someone’s head until they say they believe, what good does that do? The belief isn’t genuine, and God certainly knows the difference.
We don’t hear much of the particulars about Paul’s ministry; we hear his reflections upon it, but not much in the way of ‘I met this one guy who didn’t believe, and this is what I said.” But we’re definitely given to understand that Paul didn’t approach his role as missionary with a Notched-Belt theology. He takes no credit at all for what his mission work accomplishes; it’s all God’s work, and he’s just the fortunate vector through which God has chosen to work, by virtue of his abilities and history.
I think we’re called in much the same way. Our job isn’t to figure out what to say or to thrust faith into the faces of those around us. Our job is to make ourselves available to the unbelievers around us, to be a friend, to live well as a positive example of what it means to be a Christian. We are to pray and request guidance, since God knows the hearts and minds of the people we love better than we do, and to offer ourselves up as a tool for God if he deems us to be the right person for the job when the time comes.
Wow, a lot has happened to me since this post. Most notably, reestablishing myself in the denomination (LCMS) that I grew up in. My current understanding of vocation would have lead me to the same understanding you have, Wixenstyx. Thank you for commenting on this post and giving me the opportunity to reflect.
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