This idea of humanizing religion, or seeing people as people
with a story that needs to be heard, intrigues me. I believe that until we have
listened well we do best not to speak. Dr. Metzger’s guest speaker on Paganism,
Jason Pitzl-Waters, said, “The better you understand us the better your
outreach. Caricatures will never lead to a connection with Pagans. Having actual
human moments with people of other faiths leads to empathy.” This statement has
an even wider application than inter-religious dialogue. It is true in regard
to our efforts at racial reconciliation as well. Having actual human moments
with others tends to bring us together, rather than drive us apart.
I was impressed at Pitzl-Waters’ bringing of another guest
whose very real faith story made his own pagan position a harder play to run. I
can respect that. Don’t you want to bring your ideas and beliefs to engage with
the best representation and understanding of the beliefs of others? Tilting
against windmills and the burning of straw men neither delivers the oppressed,
nor do they nourish the hungry, heal the sick, or comfort those who mourn. Life
is not usually simple, but it can be a great adventure as well as authentically
missional. I wrote about this just last week in Negotiating
the Bridge, asking,
Can we continue to be authentic in
our beliefs while fully listening to the beliefs of others? If we think that
this is unacceptable for us to do, then certainly we cannot expect their attitude
to be any different. If we hope to apply diplomacy to the areas of faith and culture
we need to learn to negotiate differently than what we might see from a tourist
haggling with a bazaar merchant over the price and quality of a samovar.
Dr. Metzger also writes that “Jason encouraged my class to
approach people of different paths as people, not members of enemy armies.” Great
advice! When I read this, I pictured the scene from the movie Braveheart when Edward “Longshanks”, the
brutal English king, sends his Irish conscripts to attack the Scots, “Use up
the Irish. Dead men cost nothing.” As the two armies run screaming toward one
another they meet in the middle but instead of killing each other, they greet
each other as brothers before turning to fight the English together. While this
scene is not historically accurate, it is a good story and might be an apt
metaphor to consider in our efforts to engage those of other religions.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places.
(Ephesians 6:10-12—NKJV)
It would appear that one of “the wiles of the devil” is to
get us to fight the wrong battles while using the wrong weapons and tactics. Lesslie
Newbigin wrote that “Their conflict is not against human beings. It is against
the spiritual power that is—how shall we say it?—behind, within, and above
human beings. It is this that we have to address.”[1]
He goes further to suggest that “principalities and powers” may also refer to
the evil systems and structures of political and economic power in the world.
I have been speaking of entities which
are not just individual human beings, flesh and blood in Pauline language, but
which yet exist and have power. I have been speaking of norms, roles, and
structures. We have to acknowledge the reality and the power of these things,
and we have to ask what the gospel has to do with them.[2]
When we make those whom we perceive to disagree with us out
to be an enemy to be defeated, we are “tilting at windmills” like Cervantes’
character, Don Quixote who jousted with windmills that in
the madness of his self-deception he thought to be giants. Wherever he goes he makes a mess and people are glad to be
rid of him. Followers of Jesus should not be so. We should bring out the best
in people because we are welcoming, open, honest, kind, and have learned to listen
well. We should always seek to humanize others through our words and through
our deeds.
While the Bible teaches that we are in the midst of a
spiritual war, the weapons we use are not the weapons of the world be they
blade, bomb, or baiting. Biblical martyrdom does not involve taking the lives
of others but rather bringing eternal life to them, even at the cost of our own. I offer
one final quote from Newbigin,
The victory of the Church over the
demonic power which was embodied in the Roman imperial system was not won by
seizing the levers of power: it was won when the victims knelt down in the Coliseum
and prayed in the name of Jesus for the Emperor. The soldiers in Christ's
victorious army were not armed with the weapons of this age; they were the
martyrs whose robes were washed in blood. It was not that a particular Emperor
was discredited and displaced; it was that the entire mystique of the Empire,
its spiritual power, was unmasked, disarmed, and rendered powerless.[3]
There is a scene I love in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 movie,
Hook, where the late Robin Williams,
as the now grown-up Peter Pan, has forgotten who he is and what he can do. One
of the “Lost Boys” gets close and touches his face searchingly, much like a blind person
might, and then says, “There you are Peter!”
 |
| "There you are, Peter!" |
I believe that all people are worthy of respect for they are
indeed image-bearers (Genesis 1:26). The mark of their Maker is still upon them… though
it is often hard to recognize from a distance, especially when we have our
visors down.
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