Interfaith Stupidity Comes to Christmas

Dr. Randy WhitePeace and harmony is all the rage. Evangelicals have gone ecumenical, Rick Warren has talked about “our Pope,” reformed theologians have forgotten the root of “protestant,” and those of us who believe in some form of doctrinal narrowness have become the ones that denominational leadership loves to hate.But, now it’s gone even further. I’m visiting family in Pueblo, CO (a strangely liberal and ecumenical town for its largely Roman Catholic population), and I read this headline:  Interfaith service to celebrate Christ, Buddha.  That, my friend, is too good not to read.It turns out that a local Christmas Eve service is “the area’s first conjoint Buddhist meditation and Christmas service.” After all, Buddhism without Christmas wouldn’t be nearly so fun, and Christianity without Buddhism wouldn’t be nearly so popular. The service theme was “The Seed of Christ/Buddha Within You,” notwithstanding the fact that such a seed would be a twisted perversion of anything remotely Biblical.During the Christmas Eve service, the “meditation practice leader” was scheduled to give a welcome, followed by two Buddhist chants, then “A 25-minute period of meditation” and “five minutes of walking meditation.” If such a period of meditation wasn’t becoming common-place in many Christian churches, this would be laughable. With the rise of meditation in Christianity, however, I’m afraid that many Christians (even many of my fellow Southern Baptists) would welcome 25-mintues of meditation and five minutes of “walking meditation” (we would call it a “prayer walk”) in the Sunday morning service.  If the pastor were to announce it, too many would say, “This is wonderful, I’m glad our Pastor is helping us be in touch with God, so that we can hear from Him.” So much for Biblical faith.The interfaith service was going to have a Christmas Eve feel, complete with the singing of Silent Night and the lighting of the candles, but was to conclude with “the Four Boundless vows:

• I vow to wake the beings of the world.
• I vow to set endless heartache to rest.
• I vow to walk through every wisdom gate.
• I vow to live the great Buddha way.

Honestly…For a Christian to attend a service like this (or even hear of one) and not be repulsed means that he or she is unaware of even the most basic Christian doctrine.  These four vows alone should cause any Christian to condemn the Buddhist worldview.The Christian worldview is becoming much more like the Buddhist worldview, however. So much so that I’ve begun talking about a Biblical worldview rather than a Christian worldview. The Christian worldview is one of peace, justice, harmony, unity, and equality. The Biblical worldview is one of faithfulness, doctrinal knowledge, eschatological hope, and a Creator who redeems through Jesus Christ exclusively. Biblical meditation and Buddhist meditation are not even remotely the same thing.The interfaith service was, “a call to contemplative oneness to discover the unitary point of view that holds the promise of a more just and peaceful planet.” From the Biblical perspective, the participants wasted their time. There is no “point of view” to be discovered that holds such promise. The Bible teaches that a “more just and peaceful planet” comes when “the zeal of the Lord of hosts” accomplishes it.Watch for more interfaith stupidity. If it isn’t already in your community, it will be soon. If it is in your community, most likely Christian hearts are warmed and praise is given by local ministers. If you speak against it, you’ll be considered narrow in your thinking and unspiritual in your practice when you condemn rather than shower the praises.And we’ll be together on that!