"The conversation of interfaith dialogue is always one where we look eagerly and expectantly for enrichment. We're not playing for victory, we're seeking understanding from one another," declared the Archbishop of Canterbury at the launch of the Hindu Christian Forum at Lambeth Palace last week.
In that astonishing remark the divergence between the attitude of the liberal Anglican establishment and that of Christ's Apostles is on full display.
Christians are not playing for victory indeed. According to the New Testament, over an idolatrous religion such as Hinduism, we certainly should be.
In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul, having affirmed the historicity of Christ's bodily resurrection and its guarantee of the future resurrection of all who are in Christ, give thanks to God for giving us the 'victory' through our Lord Jesus Christ (v57). He then exhorts his Christian readers in the Corinthian church to 'be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord' (v58 - King James Version).
In the context of 1 Corinthians, the work in which Christians are to abound, labour that is not 'in vain' in the light of Christ's resurrection victory, includes standing firm for Christ in the face of idolatry.
This is the epistle in which Paul exhorts his Christian readers to 'flee from idolatry' (10v14) and declares that 'the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye have fellowship with devils' (10v20).
The multi-faith issue facing the Western Church is arguably much more serious than the divergence over human sexuality. It is quite possible that the primacy of heterosexual marriage will come back into fashion by the end of this century. It is glaringly obvious that the departure from this bedrock of stable society is inflicting huge damage on the West.
It is quite possible that a hybrid religion capturing the Western soul would seek to restore the central place of heterosexual marriage and the family in society. But such a religion, combining elements of Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, would be a high-road to hell.
For all its social morality, it would not be a saving faith, for it would deny the supremacy and exclusiveness of the victorious Lord Jesus Christ.
If UK Christians listen to Dr Williams and stop playing for victory, then eternal salvation is lost to the next generation.
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Julian,
ReplyDeleteIt is a great pity that for the sake of appearing 'open', Archbishop Rowan should put aside his promises which he made (like us) at his ordination.
For readers of this blog who may not be familiar with the doctrine of the Church of England this is what we believe:-
Declaration of Assent.
The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. In the declaration you are about to make, will you affirm your loyalty to this inheritance of faith as your inspiration and guidance under God in bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and making Him known to those in your care?
Ordinand
I, AB, do so affirm, and accordingly declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness; and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, I will use only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by Canon.
If you turn to the back of a copy of the Book of Common Prayer you will find the Thirtynine Articles of Religion.
Article XVIII says:-
Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ
They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.
This I have promised to uphold and this I believe.
Blessings
Terry
Thank yoiu Terry - excellent point. In providing a platform for this, the Church of England is denying its own doctrine.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered whether anyone actually reads the Declaration of Assent before they agree to it. If you're a Bishop, that will have happened several times in your life, and on each occasion you will have assented to the worship of 'the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit' and of 'the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures'. Not 'a true God, one of many' or 'the faith which the Holy Scriptures shed a bit of light upon'.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that, mostly for political reasons, they forget such fundamental things as these? A man who stands up in court and declares that he will state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth will rightly be castigated if the truth turns our to be something else - but Rowan? How does he live with his own historic formularies?
Why do you guys waste your time with the C of E? Be honest. Get out.
ReplyDeleteThe doctrine is sound.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that this shows nothing more than how little you know about Hinduism - the assumption that so vast a range of traditions and so subtle a palette of philosophies can be lumped together and labelled 'idolatrous' is frankly risible. Then, quite where the supposed affirmation of homosexuality or the suggestion of a syncretistic hybrid religion comes in, I'm not sure, but the Archbishop's remarks do not imply either of these things. The idea that Christians may have something to learn about God from Hindus is surely not that controversial.
ReplyDeleteThis little rant is rather below its author's usual standards, I fear.
However 'subtle its palette of philosophies', Hinduism is not a saving faith. Its insistence that the supreme being manifests himself in a pantheon of deities is contrary to the New Testament affirmation that God become Incarnate exclusively in Jesus Christ and that His propitiatory death for sins is the exclusive means by which God and fallen mankind are reconciled.
ReplyDeletePS an idol is a man-made substitute for the true God who has made himself known in Jesus Christ. So Hinduism in presenting a man-made alternative route to the knowledge of the divine is idolatrous.
ReplyDelete