Inter-faith Relations, One of Many Ways to God or an Abomination to God? (Part 3)

Interfaith relations have to be about discerning and understanding different world views. Each person has their own worldview. For simplicities sake, it is important for the followers of Christ to have a basic understanding of the world view put forth by the world’s main religions. Each person may shape that “religious” world view to fit their own beliefs and thus it is important to deal with individuals as individuals.

Let me give an example of what I am saying. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints officially believes and teaches that Mormons who fulfill all of the requirements of the Book of Mormon, The Doctrines and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price will be allowed into the highest of three heavens. At that time the men will become gods and be able to call their wives to join them. They will receive their own plant which they will populate from the spirit children they have. While serving a PCUSA church in Moses Lake, Washington, it was common place for my kids to hear the Mormon kids to talk about this belief on the school bus. These children were as young as second grade. Moses Lake has a HUGE population of Mormons. Many years later in Graham, Washington, many of the Mormon kids at the junior high school did not know the official teaching of the LDS church on becoming gods! A year later, these kids where taught that doctrine in their “seminary” – classes before school. We have known Mormons who do not accept their church’s teaching on becoming gods. So, their individual world view had modified the world view taught by their church. It is for this reason that Christ’s followers should know the basic world view taught by each of the world’s main religions and discern the individual world view of each person that we know.

I taught the world religions class at Sheldon Jackson College. The best book on world religions is The World’s Religions by Huston Smith. Huston’s book is very detailed and not an easy read. There are many other good books on the subject (such as World Religions, by Warren Matthews or A History of the World’s Religions by David S. Noss and John B. Noss).

I continue to be amazed at how self centered Americans are—this includes American Christians. We live in our own little world and fail to make even a token effort to learn the basic world views of people around the world.

Let’s return now to the idea of inter-faith relations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It is important that someone in the denomination be an advocate for learning about other faiths. The purpose of this exercise is to gain knowledge so that communication can take place. A Mormon believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Their definition of “Son of God” is very different from an orthodox definition of “Son of God.” The LDS church believes the Elohim (the god of this world) had sex with one of his god-wives. Thus, Jesus is the Son of God. They also believe that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers! It is impossible for there to be clear communication between orthodox Christians and Mormons unless we understand the basic Mormon world view! The same can be said for every major religion.

I do not believe that the PCUSA need to produce books or lessons for inter-faith relations. There are wonderful books available-no need to reinvent the wheel.