I got the chance to hang out with a rabbi yesterday. A cussing rabbi. A rabbi who travels with a Christian author whose subject matter is all about common grace. So, yes, a highly unorthodox rabbi... who was a lot of fun to be around.
As I sat there listening to the rabbi speak, I heard him say a lot of things I totally agreed with. Even though I'd never met anyone so different than me in terms of perspective, I liked him and even respected him. And in all the charming words he spoke, the parallels between his beliefs and mine began to seem so similar. What's the difference between a Jew and a Christian again? I mean, besides Jesus being the messiah and all? As the rabbi would say, "We're all trying to get to the top of the same mountain, were just taking different trails."
If the mountain itself is achieving ethical uprightness, he might be right. But if the mountain is heaven, I must humbly yet absolutely confidently stop all agreement here. I thought about how Peter felt when he realized that Jesus was the Son of God... and how that understanding only grew as his life went on, and he would eventually die declaring this essential message: that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in to the world to die on the cross, in our place, and for our sins. And there is no substitute for that.
Morality is not the goal. Heaven, eternity with Jesus, is the goal. In fact, I wonder if aspiring towards morality without Jesus is the worst of all sins (if we could categorize like that) because at that point you lose the ability to feel your need for a Savior. Thanks, Jesus, but... the perfect blood you spilled was in vain. I have another way.
Am I narrow-minded? No, I'm single-minded. One thought pervades all for me - that it's all about Jesus. Jesus plus anything ruins everything, and anything minus Jesus is nothing. It's a tightrope tension; yet I'm learning that it's my favorite part about being a Christian.
How should I encounter people of other religions then? It seems that I can neither accept nor reject them. From here on out I'll be looking for the genuine, yet inadequate belief systems of the people around me and asking God how He would have that change. Yes, I'll try to use my words, because they are necessary (sorry, St. Francis of Assisi).
7 years ago
