In the movie, National Treasure, Nicolas Cage plays a man whose sole purpose in life is to find a treasure described as the greatest in human history. Of course, he has his doubters, one of which is his father played by John Voight. The key to Cage's character finding this supposed treasure is by him deciphering a myriad of clues hidden amongst history's most famous items such as the Declaration of Independence. His father, long since disenchanted with the pursuit of this treasure, has grown cynical at his son wasting time trying to find the treasure. The way he voices his displeasure is by sarcastically telling his son all he will ever find is "more clues." Eventually, the treasure is found to the delight of both men. However, this endless pursuit of clues reminds me of what we see going on in the world when it comes to trying to find God. Is it just me or does it seem that there are so many people out there that seem to always pursue truth, but give the impresson that they don't want to find it? I was talking to a lady at church yesterday about this subject when I told her that I believe there are those people who get meaning and purpose to their lives by constantly seeking the truth. In fact, the worst thing that could happen to them is finding truth, because if they do they won't have anything else to do with their lives. I believe that is why so many balk at the claims of Jesus Christ, and Christians, when He, and they, claim that He is God in the flesh. After all, they must ask themselves, "How can Christians claim to have found God, in Jesus Christ, when millions of people throughout history have spent their entire lives searching for God?" With that in mind here are a couple of quotes from two of the more well respected spiritual minds in the world, the Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra.
"To some people Christianity is much more effective, in some other case, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, or Zoroastrianism." "Even if I say that Buddhism is the best, that everybody should follow Buddhism, everybody is not going to become a Buddhist." "I can say that for me personally, Buddhism is best because the Buddhist approach is most effective to me." "This does not mean Buddhism is best for everyone. "Now, for my Christian brother or sister, Christianity is best for him or for her." "Here, the concept of one religion, one truth, is very relevant for the individual." "But for the community it must be several truths, several religions." -Dalai Lama
"What Jesus calls sin Buddha calls ignorance, lack of awareness. So, yes, the sin part of Jesus's teaching is very much derived from his rabbinical background. The God question is also very different. The God idea is totally from the Jewish tradition. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God created the universe, whereas in the Buddhist tradition, Being is Becoming. So God, or the intelligence that is at the source of creation, is not some outside intelligence but is, in fact, inherent in the consciousness that conceives, governs, and becomes the universe. But still, there is little difference in the moral codes of behavior." - Deepak Chopra
Do you see how these two statements beat around the bush, if you will, finding meaning in their vagueness? They try so hard to not to come to any conclusions so as not to offend others or have to be held accountable for making a dogmatic statement. The Apostle Paul, when talking about the unbelief of Isreal, had something to say to these type of people.
"What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." Romans 9:30 - 10:3
The Dalai Lama's and Deepak Chopra's of the world, and their followers, have stumbled over Jesus in the pursuit to establish their own righteousness. As Paul states, they are "zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." If you notice, these two men make a lot of statements about what they feel needs to be done in order to find God or become a god. However, they never define how to do it. In order to accomodate all religions, they allow the individual to decide for themselves how to reach this goal. They will always focus on what they believe are the similarities in each religion, like love, compassion and forgiveness, but never address the differences. But, even their so-called similarities are not the same. For example, love to a Christian can be defined in terms of rescuing someone trapped in sin. While, love in other belief systems is defined as tolerance of sin. And, in many cases, as stated by Chopra, sin is not even called sin, but ignorance and lack of awareness. It is this fundamental denial of the truth surrounding mankinds problem which leads to the moral and spiritual relativism you see in the world today. If you deny the condition of man, then you won't accept God's provision in Jesus Christ. The belief that man is inherently good leads to the rejection of the need for a Savior.
"The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' " Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied." Matthew 26: 59-64
Jesus affirms, in no uncertain terms, that He is the Son of God! What are you going to do with that? That is evidence that demands a verdict, to use a popular phrase. Jesus is a stumbling block, to the likes of the Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra, because they are Gentiles who don't believe they have a sin nature. And if they acknowledge Jesus as who He is, the Son of God, then they must acknowledge everything He said about Himself and them. They fundamentally have to deny the truth about Jesus because it means the end of their journey in the pursuit of truth. By accepting Jesus as the Son of God, they would have to admit that they are sinners in need of a Savior. And, by doing so, would have to admit that most everything they proclaimed to be true was in error because they believe man to be inheritantly good. This is a claim not supported by Christ. In the end, they don't accept Jesus Christ as who He is, because He isn't the God they are searching for. Unlike Nicolas Cage's character in the movie, they would rather keep searching for clues than disover the Treasure.
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