Imagine a child sitting with Jesus. OK, ignoring the Disney-character image of ‘blonde-haired blue-eyed’ Jesus, just focus upon that image of the child sitting with Jesus. And then the disciples clamour for this attention once more: “we saw someone doing great stuff in your name, but he wasn’t one of our team“. Great example to the child? [Apologies for the paraphrase] Check it out Mark 9: 38-50.
A fortnight ago the Pope’s PR team released a quote saying: “All religions are a path to arrive at God,
they are like different languages to arrive there. But God is God for all.”
AP News
For some who made comment upon the quote, they said that they liked “the Pope’s analogy of different languages, not least because lots gets lost in translation between different languages, and I guess also that languages can be more or less effective in their ability to describe the indescribable?” Another said: “If you seek God for your own power and glory – you will lose him and your own self. The earth shattering moment of the crucifixion reaches across time an space and touches all people of faith. Through christ all are saved even though not all know or had the opportunity to know his name.” Whilst another said: “God is the strand that runs through the pearls…“
What struck me was that although we liked what the Pope said, our own understanding of our faith was seemingly clear. For many, whoever had a faith in ‘god’ , Christ was still central to their equation. How interesting.
I have noticed on some social media channels of late, people asking “how would they try to convince a non-believer of God?” There were numerous responses, many of which were aligned with John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life“. This is a defining facet of Christianity: yes? Many were keen to emphasise that only through Jesus would people be saved and go to heaven. Is there another way?
The Way
In the Gospel according to John, the author(s) picks up on what was written in Acts, but ‘the Way’ is also used in Psalms 5:8; 18:30; 25:9; 27:11; 37:34; 50:23; 67:2. We have from Isaiah and in John’s Gospel the words of John the Baptist “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths”. ‘The Way’ is a Jewish term, originating in Jewish circles, applied to Jewish followers of Jesus. It may originate from the Hebrew word ‘aurkha‘, which can mean in the singular or plural. ‘The way’ is also seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls; but here, we may have an issue. The Dead Sea Scrolls are purportedly written by the Johanine community in the Qumran Desert. They were certainly isolationist in nature.
Contextually, this partiuclar verse may well have emphasised the growing dilemma facing those of the Way during the Jewish War 66-74AD, with the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. Then, there was no need for priests as the Pharisees had become the dominant force. They controlled the synagogues in the instruction of the Law. Those of the Way, declaring that the Messiah was Jesus, was a problem to the Pharisees – a big problem. The tensions were very much evident, including references of those ‘the Way’ being expelled from synagogues.
Today, people may accentuate that Jesus is the only ‘way’ to God. Was that the teaching of Jesus throughout his life, as portrayed in the Gospels, and with the teaching from Paul? I don’t think so.
Back to Mark 9:38:50
Those who do not follow ‘our ways’ are possibly acceptable to Jesus. “If you cause one of these little ones” Jesus said, holding onto the child… “it’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to be thrown into hell“. He seemingly didn’t have a watershed time for toning down his statements 😉 Hell was not seen as a physical entity but as Daniel Migliore1 says “a weariness and boredom of a life focussed entirely upon itself“, although I might add “or barricaded there due to illness”. For those diagnosed with a terminal disease or greatly suffering from grief, they might describe their circumstances as ‘hell’.
Hierarchy
When we argue ‘who is the greatest?’, as the disciples were doing just prior to this passage, we start to imply hierarchy. In the same week, the Pope decided to make a comment regarding the US Presidential election, stating that “people should vote for the lesser evil“. That is not for one who advocates abortion, or one who seeks to deport many thousands (estimates vary) of immigrants. When the word abortion is used, we may wish to clarify whether the emphasis is upon those women who are raped and left with a child: in other words ‘why abortion before a certain period of time’ is desirable?
Could it be that society is still dictating what we can do to women’s bodies,
but with little reference to the man in this situation?
Surely, misogyny should have been defeated centuries ago? Whether it is gender, race or whatever, there are no barriers which can be imposed on what we believe.
Conclusion
This all started when the disciples were squabbling over whether someone was part of their gang or not. Can we also pause when such a thought or phrase comes to mind? If our faith is one based upon love one another, where does it say that we should put down barriers or even a set of hoops that others need to jump through? If you want to focus everything upon how we, ourselves, can find God: ok, go for it; but, our attention should really be on all those who we meet – for we shall find God in all of them – what the Pope said. As one person commented I’m glad that “you asked the question because I was surprised by my own reply“. May we all find a new ‘Way’ forward.
- Faith Seeking Understanding, p. 347 ↩︎
I loved the dialogue
My experience of the world of so many religions, languages, castes, cultures is that whenever I needed help, I got help from random people regardless of their faith – sometimes even from strangers. And I believe that we see God’s work through some people, regardless of their faith.
However, I think it is okay for people to agree or disagree with some aspects of any religion. Everyone has the right to believe and freedom to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. Religious fundamentalism is a bad thing when it attempts to force itself on people who do not willingly choose it. Sadly, there are places in this world where religious freedom is not even a constitutional right.
One commonality in all the religions which I have observed is that all religions, more or less, talk of women as second-class citizens.
“One commonality in all the religions which I have observed is that all religions, more or less, talk of women as second-class citizens.”
That’s interesting. It might suggest that all religions are influenced by the culture of that time. It’s like seeing the true image through a net curtain. What we see is a diffused understanding of what was intended.
It should never be hierarchical. Jesus sought that the ‘children’: lowest and with no societal power; the woman alone, with no influence nor support – could find their true position within society.
“For those diagnosed with a terminal disease or greatly suffering from grief, they might describe their circumstances as ‘hell’”.
I thought the hell which Jesus was describing was eternal hell and something that does not end with death. I watched a couple of episodes of the movie “Messiah”. This Messiah killed the dog who was injured and in pain, saying that the dog would be at peace from then. The movie is quite interesting 😄.
Hell as popularly held today would not be recognised by Jesus nor Jews of the day. Hell was known as Sheol, where all the dead go – regardless of their attitude or goodness. God visited them, known them as the shades, in Sheol. The other word used in the NT is Gehenna, the smouldering, burning stinking rubbish heap outside of Jerusalem.
The word eternal means a long time and has no reference to after death.
The Messiah is a different portrayal of Jesus in today’s world – well, the USA 😉 – so, a healthy pinch of salt is needed at times.
Whenever we speak of hell and eternal life we may need to consider the above understandings.
Different religions have different understandings of what happens after death. My understanding of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains is that they believe in the theory of rebirth. Rebirth, as you know, is the philosophical or religious concept that the soul of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body (either animal or human) after biological death based on how good or bad the soul was in the previous birth. Probably this could be the reason for some of them being strictly vegetarian, I am assuming. Well…they also explain that one birth is not enough for God to judge how good or bad a soul is. After a few such births (7 as I remember), the soul goes to either heaven or hell based on God’s final judgment.
Christians generally believe that there is just one earthly life and Christian God is smart enough to make judgment based on one life 🙂 and we Christians, at least me, do not have the patience to go through many earthly lives. 🙂
Now, coming back to the topic of “after life”, I will go with what you have responded to before regarding my question on paradise here : https://dbobstoner.com/response-about-paradise/
“The other word used in the NT is Gehenna, the smouldering, burning stinking rubbish heap outside of Jerusalem.” The first thing that came to my mind was the similar situations at every nook and corner in Bangalore :-), although we never considered it to be hell.
Depends if they couldn’t provide a place for the body to decay, an ossuary. The body could ‘decay’ on the pyres or fires of Gehenna…
“The word eternal means a long time and has no reference to after death.”
Jesus mentioned that we stay away from sin so that we do not go to this eternal hell which, according to you, as I understand, could be even before our biological death.
Does that mean that those who are terminally ill are in that situation because of their sins?
The phrase
needs to be careful unpacked. Eternal means a long time and could refer to from now on, with regard to include when we die. Hell was not seen as a physical place but a metaphorical state which could be described by places such as Gehenna (but I am starting to read more of what pre-Christianity might also perceive of as Hell which might have influenced such later thought).
More to come later but this might also help:
That annihilation was seen to refer to being forgotten.
Quotes taken from r/academicbible on Reddit
Do people get punished/annihilated for their sins in their earthly life and/or after death? Hindus and other religions believe in “Karma”.
Meaning of karma in English:
(In Buddhism, Hinduism, and some other religions), it is the force produced by a person’s actions in one life that influences what happens to them in future lives. Hindus believe in karma, meaning they will answer for their actions – if not in this life, then in the next.
It would depend upon whether you believe all are saved or only a few, leaving the rest.
I remember you saying this during one of the bible studies that you consider all to be saved. ‘Saved’ should then mean that they should be free from sins, which doesn’t sound possible, as many die before they even realize their sins. Many die before they even feel remorseful for their sins.
Ah, but already loved by God
Jesus said, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” in both the Bible’s Matthew 19:24 and Luke 18:25. I guess this “kingdom of God” does not mean being saved.
If everyone is saved, some people who consider themselves to be good would not like it. I think that this situation is similar to what we see in workplaces today (especially IT). If someone who deserves promotion is promoted, they would not feel happy about their own promotion if they find that others who did not deserve a promotion were also promoted. I think this is human nature.
I talk about this phrase shortly in one of the blogs. It is seen as hyperbole rather than anything literal. But it does cause me problems. It suggests a clause which needs to be fulfilled before that person can be within the kin_dom of God. I struggle with that.
To your second point. Could it be that we celebrate the promotion of someone without thinking of where’s my promotion? I would have definitely been in the case you illustrated – what about me? It might also offer a dilemma in what is good? If riches aren’t the answer perhaps what God is looking for in us is something else than what deem to be good.
Great points!
“It suggests a clause which needs to be fulfilled before that person can be within the kin_dom of God. I struggle with that.”
Also, once we have a clear answer to this, it will also explain the reason why God created mortal human beings. If everyone was going to be saved, then why had God created us to live on this earth? If the reason was to teach us how to live and understand God’s mind, then not everyone goes through the same kind of experience in their life in order to understand life and God. Not everyone learns or understands God before they die.