PTM E-UPDATE -- MARCH 8, 2010
Sikh temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Photo by Vinish K. Saini. Does God cause or allow miracles in religions other than Christianity?
Q. I have a friend who was a Sikh -- not really a practicing Sikh but his entire family is involved in the Sikh religion. His wife, however, is a Christian and has been praying for him from the time they were married. He went to a Sikh temple one day and said that he felt the presence of God and it made him really think and opened up his eyes. Several weeks later a pastor was praying with him and his wife at their home and he felt the presence of God again -- a supernatural event. At this time he elected to accept Jesus into his life. For two or three years after that he was really fired up for the Lord. He was involved in his church and was speaking at services.
However, within the past several months, he has quit attending church and is backing away from Christianity because of the hypocrisy he sees -- especially from the elders and other pastors in several congregations he has visited. He does not know what being a Christian or means anymore. He says that he is trying to find truth. He actually seems to be interested in the Sikh religion again because that is when he first felt God's presence at the Sikh temple years ago.
A Hindu woman was waiting for a subway train. The women had a small baby in a stroller and the stroller fell over the edge of the platform just as the train arrived. The train ran over the stroller, but miraculously the baby was not hurt -- not one scratch.
He told me a story he heard on the news of a Hindu woman who was waiting for a subway train. The women had a small baby in a stroller and the stroller fell over the edge of the platform just as the train arrived. The train ran over the stroller, but miraculously the baby was not hurt -- not one single scratch. The woman praised and thanked her god and therefore her faith in her god increased.
My friend's question was -- why does God allow miracles to occur in other religions, when such miracles cause people to increase their faith in that religion and their false god? He wonders about his feeling and experience at the Sikh temple years ago -- was that Jesus or the Sikh god? If it was Jesus then why did it occur in a Sikh temple? Why would God reveal himself in another religious setting if it would increase a person's faith in that religion?
My friend is beginning to think that that maybe other religions are not false -- but still believes in Jesus at this point and is trying to find the truth. I don't know how to answer him. I worry that he will walk away from the Lord, who I reminded him is the "Truth, the Way and the Life." I reminded him that Jesus is the answer he is looking for. I worry that he will return to Sikhism or another religion or that he may start to think that all religions have the same god in which most of the non-Christian world believes. I could definitely use your advice.
A. Several thoughts that may be of some help as you and your friend discuss this topic:
1) Whether or not anyone actually experiences God when his presence is "felt" is, of course, a subjective topic. For more, listen to last week's CWR message, "Hooked on a Feeling." What we may attribute to God may or may not be God. Hindsight -- the long view -- is generally a better way to make such determinations.
2) Hypocrisy happens -- in politics, in families, in friendships, in religion in general and within Christendom specifically. The fact of hypocrisy does not invalidate the core values or beliefs of an activity, profession, vocation or involvement. It might be a reason to change a relationship, of course.
3) Regarding the Hindu woman whose baby was saved when the train destroyed the baby stroller -- two observations: a) according to John 3:16, among many other scriptures, God loves the whole world. God loves, as one popular song said several decades ago, all the little children of the world. He does not simply perform miracles for those who are in the "right" religion -- beyond that, as Jesus said, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Perhaps the gods of religion may be seen or viewed as only rewarding those who serve them and them alone -- but the God of the Bible is not revealed to us in such a way. Nothing in the Bible suggests that God waits until we get all of our doctrinal ducks lined up before he performs a miracle. If he is believed to be such a God, then mis-teaching and misinterpretation has been involved. b) How do we know that God performed a miracle for this Hindu lady? We don't know that -- we are assuming it to be the case.
4) Can Jesus be experienced in a Sikh temple? Of course. God has no boundaries. Jesus can be experienced in any religious setting -- AND, perhaps more telling, a religious setting (a specific building, icons, idols, incense, whatever) is not necessary to experience God! Sometimes a religious setting is adversarial to a personal relationship with God.
5) Your friend can "back away" from institutionalized religion without backing away from Jesus.
In Christ,
Greg AlbrechtRETURN TO PTM WEEKLY UPDATE CONTENTS PAGE
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