Eastern European Christianity has many similarities to its
Western counterpart. Most have lost faith in the institution of church and much
of its leadership. As a result, the students are searching for an alternate
form of church and spirituality. However, the West has departed further away
from its Christian roots.
Western students term themselves "spiritual but not
religious." They embrace its experiential but not its doctrinal or
cognitive aspects, claiming that doctrine divides, but experience, namely
mystical experience, can unite and form the basis of "the brotherhood of
all mankind." Admittedly, it is hard to argue when we merely report what
we have experienced.
Western students might still believe in a form of God and
might even pray, but their God tends to be non-personal. It has no will,
morality, intelligence, or emotion - a God who will make no demands, bring any
punishments, or require any lifestyle changes.
For the most part, Eastern college students and young
educated adults assure me that they still believe in a Jesus who makes moral
demands. However, for them it is enough to know Jesus and His requirements in
their heart. Consequently, they do not tend to study the Bible and, as their
Western counterparts, believe that faith is strictly about the heart and not
about the mind, rationality, or evidence.
Consequently, they too are not actively searching for God.
Instead, "finding God" is a matter of having an experience with God.
Therefore, I tell them about my experiences with God. Some sincerely confess
that they wished that they too had had such experiences.
Some Westerners also express this, but they are more likely
to say, "I am glad that you've found something that works for YOU,"
meaning that they regard your experiences as imaginary.
Both groups tend to regard faith as very personal and
subjective, having little to do with evidences and rationality. Therefore, they
are surprised to learn that the Bible and even Jesus counsel us NOT to believe
without confirmatory evidences (John 5:31-38; 10:37-38).
However, instead of seeking God through mountaintop
experiences, we have to seek God according to who He is (John 4:23-24) and not
according to what we want Him to be or what we want to get from Him. We are to
seek Him as we do water in a thirsty desert, using our eyes rather than our
demands, dreams, and mirages.
Jesus claimed that we have to let go of our preconceptions
and demands and come humbly as little children:
--And he called to him a little child, and set him in the
midst of them, and said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as
little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little
child in my name receiveth me:” (Matthew 18:2-5)
We have to humbly receive God as He is and not who we want
Him to be. In this regard, it seems that Westerners have taken the wrong path.
Wanting liberty, they have found what they have been seeking in the appealing
triangle of moral relativism, multiculturalism, and religious pluralism.
All of these deny the existence of an absolute moral standard.
Therefore, if morality does not have any independent existence, we are free to
create it according to what feels right for us.
However, this comes with prohibitive costs. For one thing,
it is impossible to consistently live out this philosophy. I asked one young
Buddhist woman if she believed that everything is God, even the moral evils we
find so repugnant. Fortunately, she understood her dilemma and laughed
awkwardly.
If even evil is God, there is no basis for non-evil morals.
Instead, there is a Yin and a Yang, a pursuit of balance between good and
evil. Are we then to do evil to balance our good? Off course, this is
absurd"
If there is no absolute moral standard or answers, then
there is no way to assess other cultures or religions. This would mean that we
cannot reasonably conclude that Mother Theresa's life was better than Hitler's
or that love is better than oppression.
This triumvirate kills Westerners and Western culture
forcing us to live confused and incoherent lives, divided and schizoid. While
our heart tells us that rape is absolutely wrong, our mind tells us that rape
is just relative to the culture, neither right or wrong. This is the religion
of the university.
Why do such intelligent people gravitate to such a dysfunctional
worldview? There is a simple reason for this. Absolute moral law leads
absolutely to a moral law Giver!
Eastern students generally assure me that they haven't gone
so far. They still tend towards the belief in an Intelligent Designer who also
designed moral truth. However, they stand at the crossroads of materialism,
nationalism, and God. They seem more interested in a personal God than
Westerners. However, they also seem to lack the cognitive and Biblical
background to find the water in the midst of the alluring - a good career, a
good income, success, a user-friendly spirituality, and many other persistent
images of which Westerners are now beginning to despair even as they cling to a
hope which has been utterly discredited - the unity and economic equality of
all mankind in a world which has rejected religious dogma.
This is a hope held in utter disdain by every Eastern
student I had encountered. Their heroes are the ones who had given their lives
to overthrow this repressive and coercive socialistic system. They are also
puzzled by the political correctness of the Westerners, which muzzles free
speech and freedom of religion, the very things that they extol.
How then are we to find the Living Water, God? By doing what
we find to be most distasteful - to confess the truth about ourselves. Jesus
had told a parable about two people who had entered the temple to pray. One was
a religious leader who was convinced of his moral superiority and entitlement.
The other was a man who was in touch with himself and consequently knew that he
needed the mercy of God.
Jesus explained that it was this latter man who found the
mercy of God:
--“I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified
rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled;
but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
In one way or another, we all exalt ourselves. In even in
the midst of my depression, feeling terrible about myself, to compensate, I fed
myself with mirages and affirmations of my own superiority.
Whether Easterner or Westerner, we all have to come to the
truth, that we are in desperate need of the Savior and no other Water will
suffice.
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