We Look Funny, Too

One of our Bible teachers asked me to help with a question that arisen in class the week before. The topic of voodoo rituals had come up in the discussion, and there had been quite a been of laughter about such superstition. But afterwards, a member of the class wondered if Christians don't look just as strange. If our Bible refers to witches and dragons and other such antiquated novelites, how can we suppose that we are in any way superior to those misguided and ridiculous people?

The question makes an intelligent point: if other religions are to be rejected and mocked whenever they look backwards to the spirit of our age, then Christians deserve to be mocked and rejected as well. That is, the Church has commonly seemed foolish/out of step with the times/superstitious to people in every generation since Jesus came. We have been labeled atheists, arsonists, practioners of incest, and kooks, and have often seemed to support end times predictions which proved to be demonstrably wrong. Perhaps that's why Paul boasted that we must be willing to be fools for Christ.

Granted, the Holy Spirit has convinced you and me that Christ is true and anything outside of Christ is error. However, for people who are trying to discover the truth about religion, it would seem there are some valid, rational tests which can be applied to any religious tradition. Those tests would include:

1. AUTHORITY: Is this based on folk tales and mysterious secrets that can't be tested? Or is it based on objective truth which is presented in some concrete form that can be considered and evaluated? The Christian Faith has stood the test of time because it is based on an ancient text which has accurately recorded history, made correct predictions centuries in advance, and has demonstrated scientific prescience (writers expressing scientific concepts that were not known to their generation.)

2. UNIVERSALITY: Does this religion only appeal to one particular cultural or geographical group, or does it transcend borders and barriers to impact all kinds of men and women in every age? Islam, for example, appeals largely to people of Middle Eastern descent and is growing today primarily on the basis of global immigration, political duress, and heavy birth rates. Christianity is transmitted largely through conversation and has transcended every age, every national boundary, every demographic division.

3. IMPACT: Does this religion positively transform communities and lift people out of despair and hopelessness, or does it promulgate poverty, ignorance and hopelessness? Voodoo and witchcraft around the world and throughout history have encouraged practioners to remain in dark, intolerant, violent, barbaric conditions. Islam literally transports 7th century cruelty, sexism, and bigotry into the 21st Century. In sharp contrast, Christianity has historically fostered education, built schools, and encouraged people to become educated. The Church has led the way in bringing equality to women and racial minorities.

I actually enjoy apologetics and could continue this discussion for several pages, but this is probably sufficient. One should not discount a religion solely because their practices look foolish and superstitious to our 21st Century American perspective, which is a very small window in time. Rather, one should evaluate a religion on the basis of authority, global universality and historical impact. On the basis of objective, rational measures, Christianity shines like a brilliant star in a pitch black sky.