When We "Christianize" Religion

EDITOR NOTE: Another long (and this time unexpected) absence. I apologize for the delay in posts, but we had a death in the family last week (my wife's grandmother) and so my wife and I traveled to Tennessee to help with arrangements and for the funeral.

I recently stumbled across an article (thanks to Pastor Mark Driscoll via his Twitter posts, @PastorMark) from the USA TODAY that describes an emerging church practice of Christians participating in Ramadan fasting with Muslims. During the fast Christians go through the same fasting rituals as their Muslim counterparts - including prayer, then break the fast after the sun goes down together. The only difference in the ritual is that Christians pray to God through Jesus Christ whereas the Muslims pray to Allah as instructed by the Koran.

This got me thinking: is it okay for Christians to adopt the religious practices of other faiths as long as they Christianize them (pray to the right God)?

There are several instances where Christians take regular worship practices of other faiths and Christianize them (these are but a few):

• YOGA (Hinduism - a form of prayer) is probably one of the biggest, especially since most Americans use it as a form of exercise
• Meditation/Centering Oneself (Buddhism and other eastern religions)
• Fasting for Ramadan (Muslim tradition that celebrates the giving of the Koran to the Prophet Mohammed)
• Karma ("someone does something bad to you, don't worry, it'll comeback to them in the end")... Christians instead say, "don't worry God will judge them" (or believe simply that "if you do good, good will happen to you in return - do bad, bad will happen to you in return")
  
• Superstition (that if we do something incorrectly, there will be immediate consequences - break a mirror, walk under a ladder, spill salt, knock on wood, etc.)
• Relativism (or Pluralism depending on the degree of the practice) - blending religious practices from multiple practices/backgrounds

It is one thing for Christians to sincerely approach other religions out of respect, love and humility (something we all ought to do), but it is a completely different venture if we begin to adopt their practices and incorporate them into our own. Three major reasons adoping other practices is dangerous:

1) God has given us all we need, for us to insert new practices or rituals minimizes His Word and role in our lives and completely ignores GRACE! Scripturally, we see such activity in Israel's history as insane or obscene. Over and over again their idolatrous practices (taking religious practices of neighboring countries/religions and blending them into their own) became major stumbling blocks for them. How many times did their doing so lead to their own demise? Every time. Why? Because they got so caught up in the ritual (and false gods associated with them) that they lost sight of God.

2) Christ died to free us from rituals and empty religious practices. Why would we intentionally subject ourselves to ritualistic practices that REQUIRE those rituals as a form of earning favor with their god (or gods)? I believe Pastor Mark Driscoll is absolutely correct (in the article) in saying that observing other religious rituals is completely dishonoring to Jesus Christ.

3) It confuses the world. They see us adopt other religious practices and think that what they are doing to earn favor with God (theirs or ours) must be correct. The Muslim man (Ahmed) confirms this in the article (about Christians participating in Ramadan fasting): "Here is a pastor who wants to understand us, who does not want to convert us, and who is even prepared to walk with us, to fast with us. That is a big gesture."

Anyone who truly knows me knows of my absolute fascination with and respect for truly religious people around the world. I am awed and humbled by their devotion to their faith and practice of faith (though equally brokenhearted by their lostness). As kind, romantic and wonderful a gesture it is for Christians to participate in other religious practices, it is also a dangerous step that is misleading at best and altogether self-centered (dishonoring to God) at worst.

And in closing, while I appreciate Christian's attempts to seek God and grow in their faith, I find that their pursuits that incorporate other religions are typically less about finding God and more about feeling better about themselves or their own spirituality. This, sadly, can have long-lasting and devastating affects to the end goal they had hoped to achieve.

PARENTS: Instead of teaching our children/teens to be hateful toward other religious practices we ought to embrace such knowledge and use what we learn to teach them about the sufficiency of God's love through His Son Jesus Christ. FAMILY ACTIVITY: Research online traditional religious practices, their origins and then compare them with your own practices (those found in Scripture). As a family discuss why we do/embrace certain traditions and reject others.

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