The Great Buddha (Daibutsu) in Kamakura
A blog by Cyril Nishimoto
Last year in July, I attended a very interesting seminar led by Pat Zukeran, a Japanese American Christian apologetics expert who is on the staff of Probe Ministries and speaks nationally and internationally on topics related to cults, world religions, the Bible, and current issues. Based in Hawaii, he is also the host of a nationally syndicated radio show called “Evidence and Answers.” The seminar, entitled “Do All Roads or Religions Lead to God?” addressed such questions as “Do all roads lead to heaven?” “Don’t all religions teach the same thing?” and “How can I know which religion is true?” In his clear, easy-to-understand, engaging style, Pat did an excellent job of tackling a very challenging topic, and he satisfied many curious and skeptical minds.
What was most interesting to me was Pat’s response to a question that came out of the audience during the Q & A session at the end of the formal presentation. Someone asked, “What do you say when a someone you want to share your faith with says, ‘I’m Buddhist’?” Pat shared three things he would do.
First, he would probe a bit and ask the person some questions that would help him understand better what “I’m Buddhist” means. Oftentimes, the person doesn’t know much about the teachings of Buddhism but belongs to a family that has Buddhism in its background. So that person may not be communicating that he or she really believes in Buddhism, but may be telling you he or she is a “cultural Buddhist.”
Pat might then respond with something like, “Oh. What do you believe about Buddhism?” From the answer to that question, we can get an idea of how strong that person’s attachment to Buddhism is.
He would then follow up with the question: “And why do you believe Buddhism is true?” If the person doesn’t really have an answer to that, which is often the case, the person may ask, “Why do you believe Christianity is true?” And that’s our opening to share about our faith in Christ.
Cultural Buddhists might also raise the issue that if they become Christians, they would be in heaven when the rest of their family would be in hell. They might then say they would rather be in hell with their family than in heaven without them. But Pat’s response would be that if their family members in hell could speak to them, they would very likely tell them to avoid going to hell at all costs.
Pat pointed to Jesus’ story about the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16:19-31. In this story, a rich man dies and goes to hell, and a poor man named Lazarus dies, but goes to heaven. Being in torment, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent back into the world to warn his five brothers about the horrors of hell so that they won’t wind up where he is. But he was told that if they won’t listen to “Moses and the Prophets” (that is, the Jewish scriptures), they won’t listen to anyone who rises from the dead.
So Pat would say that hell is not a place anyone would want to go to. And no family members who end up there would want any other family members to join them in that place.
The third thing Pat shared was that we cannot really know for sure whether our family members who weren’t Christians have gone to heaven or to hell after they died. We know that God does not want anyone to perish, and that God is fair and just. So it would seem to follow that God would surely give each person an opportunity to go to heaven. We may not know when and how God does it (it could even be a last ditch opportunity given by God right before the person’s spirit leaves this earth). But we can trust that being as merciful and just as God is, God would give some opportunity.
So for all we know, the people we’re concerned about are in fact in heaven with Christ. And the person who says “I’m Buddhist” may be passing up the opportunity he or she has been given to enter heaven along with them.
While we can’t be responsible for the decisions our family members and others make, we can be responsible for our own. So it would a terrible shame if the person didn’t take advantage of the opportunity that he or she was given, and ended up in hell, while their family members, unbeknownst to them, did take advantage of it and wound up in heaven.
I believe that Pat’s response is biblically sound and intellectually satisfying. I had never before heard the idea of using the story of the rich man and Lazarus to point out how relatives in hell might feel about being there. And I find it appealing because it’s a perspective that relational people, as people of Japanese and Asian ancestry are, would want to consider.
When I look at it from an Iwa perspective, I find that there’s something that I would want to interject into the conversation.
When we share our faith with people with Buddhist backgrounds, we need to see that it’s not just the Buddhist beliefs that form the barrier against Christianity, but it’s also the ties of family that are woven with Buddhist heritage. If a person’s family has been Buddhist for generations, the person would not only be changing religions if he or she becomes a Christian, the person would be turning against his or her family, including his or her ancestors. Who would want to do that?
There’s also a sense that if a person gives up Buddhism for Christianity, the person will lose something “Japanese” about himself or herself. To say, “I’m Buddhist” may be akin to saying, “I’m Japanese. And Japanese people are Buddhist. So don’t try to change me or my identity.” So the tie of Buddhism to a person’s Japanese identity may be another strong barrier that goes beyond the barrier of Buddhist beliefs. So how can we break through these barriers?
I think it is important to see our sharing not as trying to get people to change their belief systems—trying to convince people that Christianity is true and Buddhism is false—but to see it as introducing them to a person—Jesus Christ--a person who is alive and real and with whom they can have a relationship. (Pat may see it that way too, but when we’re sharing our faith, we may not see it that way when we’re faced with the challenge of answering the question of why we believe Christianity is true).
Because Japanese- and Asian Americans are culturally wired so that they look at the world through their relationships, they will respond more readily to God as a person they can relate to than to a doctrine they need to believe in. So if we can get them to wrestle directly with Jesus, there’s a chance that they will experience who he really is, be convinced of the truth, and have a change in their beliefs as a result.
So if we have an opportunity to explain why we believe Christianity is true, it would be important to talk about the personal, intimate relationship with God we have that is made possible by Jesus Christ. The idea of having a relationship with God like that is not something that Buddhism or other religions offer, so it can be intriguing and attractive, especially to those who never knew such a relationship with God was possible.
And if we look relationally at the question of who gets into heaven and who does not, we can see it as a matter that Jesus himself decides. It’s not decided by some set formula or checklist. It’s Jesus who will determine whether or not a person has a relationship with him. He will be the one who will say, "Enter into my kingdom, good and faithful servant" or "I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers." So we can never know for sure who’s in or who’s out because only Jesus knows what his relationship with each person was like. The decision is all ultimately up to him. I think we may be surprised when we actually find out who is in heaven and who is not. In any case, I think we can trust him to make the wisest, fairest, and most loving decision that can be made.
Last year in July, I attended a very interesting seminar led by Pat Zukeran, a Japanese American Christian apologetics expert who is on the staff of Probe Ministries and speaks nationally and internationally on topics related to cults, world religions, the Bible, and current issues. Based in Hawaii, he is also the host of a nationally syndicated radio show called “Evidence and Answers.” The seminar, entitled “Do All Roads or Religions Lead to God?” addressed such questions as “Do all roads lead to heaven?” “Don’t all religions teach the same thing?” and “How can I know which religion is true?” In his clear, easy-to-understand, engaging style, Pat did an excellent job of tackling a very challenging topic, and he satisfied many curious and skeptical minds.
What was most interesting to me was Pat’s response to a question that came out of the audience during the Q & A session at the end of the formal presentation. Someone asked, “What do you say when a someone you want to share your faith with says, ‘I’m Buddhist’?” Pat shared three things he would do.
First, he would probe a bit and ask the person some questions that would help him understand better what “I’m Buddhist” means. Oftentimes, the person doesn’t know much about the teachings of Buddhism but belongs to a family that has Buddhism in its background. So that person may not be communicating that he or she really believes in Buddhism, but may be telling you he or she is a “cultural Buddhist.”
Pat might then respond with something like, “Oh. What do you believe about Buddhism?” From the answer to that question, we can get an idea of how strong that person’s attachment to Buddhism is.
He would then follow up with the question: “And why do you believe Buddhism is true?” If the person doesn’t really have an answer to that, which is often the case, the person may ask, “Why do you believe Christianity is true?” And that’s our opening to share about our faith in Christ.
Cultural Buddhists might also raise the issue that if they become Christians, they would be in heaven when the rest of their family would be in hell. They might then say they would rather be in hell with their family than in heaven without them. But Pat’s response would be that if their family members in hell could speak to them, they would very likely tell them to avoid going to hell at all costs.
Pat pointed to Jesus’ story about the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16:19-31. In this story, a rich man dies and goes to hell, and a poor man named Lazarus dies, but goes to heaven. Being in torment, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent back into the world to warn his five brothers about the horrors of hell so that they won’t wind up where he is. But he was told that if they won’t listen to “Moses and the Prophets” (that is, the Jewish scriptures), they won’t listen to anyone who rises from the dead.
So Pat would say that hell is not a place anyone would want to go to. And no family members who end up there would want any other family members to join them in that place.
The third thing Pat shared was that we cannot really know for sure whether our family members who weren’t Christians have gone to heaven or to hell after they died. We know that God does not want anyone to perish, and that God is fair and just. So it would seem to follow that God would surely give each person an opportunity to go to heaven. We may not know when and how God does it (it could even be a last ditch opportunity given by God right before the person’s spirit leaves this earth). But we can trust that being as merciful and just as God is, God would give some opportunity.
So for all we know, the people we’re concerned about are in fact in heaven with Christ. And the person who says “I’m Buddhist” may be passing up the opportunity he or she has been given to enter heaven along with them.
While we can’t be responsible for the decisions our family members and others make, we can be responsible for our own. So it would a terrible shame if the person didn’t take advantage of the opportunity that he or she was given, and ended up in hell, while their family members, unbeknownst to them, did take advantage of it and wound up in heaven.
I believe that Pat’s response is biblically sound and intellectually satisfying. I had never before heard the idea of using the story of the rich man and Lazarus to point out how relatives in hell might feel about being there. And I find it appealing because it’s a perspective that relational people, as people of Japanese and Asian ancestry are, would want to consider.
When I look at it from an Iwa perspective, I find that there’s something that I would want to interject into the conversation.
When we share our faith with people with Buddhist backgrounds, we need to see that it’s not just the Buddhist beliefs that form the barrier against Christianity, but it’s also the ties of family that are woven with Buddhist heritage. If a person’s family has been Buddhist for generations, the person would not only be changing religions if he or she becomes a Christian, the person would be turning against his or her family, including his or her ancestors. Who would want to do that?
There’s also a sense that if a person gives up Buddhism for Christianity, the person will lose something “Japanese” about himself or herself. To say, “I’m Buddhist” may be akin to saying, “I’m Japanese. And Japanese people are Buddhist. So don’t try to change me or my identity.” So the tie of Buddhism to a person’s Japanese identity may be another strong barrier that goes beyond the barrier of Buddhist beliefs. So how can we break through these barriers?
I think it is important to see our sharing not as trying to get people to change their belief systems—trying to convince people that Christianity is true and Buddhism is false—but to see it as introducing them to a person—Jesus Christ--a person who is alive and real and with whom they can have a relationship. (Pat may see it that way too, but when we’re sharing our faith, we may not see it that way when we’re faced with the challenge of answering the question of why we believe Christianity is true).
Because Japanese- and Asian Americans are culturally wired so that they look at the world through their relationships, they will respond more readily to God as a person they can relate to than to a doctrine they need to believe in. So if we can get them to wrestle directly with Jesus, there’s a chance that they will experience who he really is, be convinced of the truth, and have a change in their beliefs as a result.
So if we have an opportunity to explain why we believe Christianity is true, it would be important to talk about the personal, intimate relationship with God we have that is made possible by Jesus Christ. The idea of having a relationship with God like that is not something that Buddhism or other religions offer, so it can be intriguing and attractive, especially to those who never knew such a relationship with God was possible.
And if we look relationally at the question of who gets into heaven and who does not, we can see it as a matter that Jesus himself decides. It’s not decided by some set formula or checklist. It’s Jesus who will determine whether or not a person has a relationship with him. He will be the one who will say, "Enter into my kingdom, good and faithful servant" or "I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers." So we can never know for sure who’s in or who’s out because only Jesus knows what his relationship with each person was like. The decision is all ultimately up to him. I think we may be surprised when we actually find out who is in heaven and who is not. In any case, I think we can trust him to make the wisest, fairest, and most loving decision that can be made.
| Please leave any comments you may have on this blog and feel free to share it with others. |  Pat Zukeran |
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