Ravi Zacharias, a native of India, wrote an interesting book called: The Lotus And The Cross. It’s a fictional conversation between Jesus and Buddha putting emphasis on each of their beliefs.
During the conversation, Gautama, Buddha’s actual name, boasts that he was born five centuries before Jesus. The point being that Buddhism outdates Christianity by 500 years. If that tends to shake someone’s faith or give them cause to ponder, they need the answer provided by Jesus in the narrative. “And if we must talk about who predates whom, another of my choice servants was Abraham, who also lived long before you [Buddha]…I say all that just to say this: Abraham came more than two thousand years before you. And just for the record, before Abraham was, I Am.” Ravi Zacharias brilliantly weaves the truth around eternity. Of course, John 1:1 says it better, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
The Lotus And The Cross states some interesting facts about Buddhism. For instance, Buddhism has a catalog of rules by which a Buddhist builds merit: 4 sets of rules for 4 great offenses, 13 rules required for formal participation in the brotherhood, 30 rules to curb greed and possessions, 92 rules of offenses under yet another category, 75 rules for proper behavior of novices who seek admission to the order, 7 ways of settling disputes, 227 rules for the male monk and 311 for the female — plus scores of fine-print contingencies.
Forgive me, but as I read all those rules I thought about the church in which I grew up, as well as myriads of denominations fraught with rules and regulations. Many churches can stand toe-to-toe with the Buddhist rule-making department. After saying that, I’m reminded of the question put to Jesus by a Pharisee, “‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments‘” (Matthew 22:36-40).
Isn’t it wonderful that our God is the great “I Am” and that our unique responsibility is to love Him, others, and self? I can do that!
Our goal must be to lift up Christ, not echo clichés that have become traditional. For instance, our penchant for certain words can diminish Christ while lifting the Church higher than the cross. We seldom say someone believed on the Lord, or became a disciple of Jesus, or began to follow Christ. Instead, we parrot the cliches and say someone “became a member of the Church.” Preachers urge their congregations to “be faithful to the Church” and never “leave the Church,” or if they do, to “come back to the Church”. It’s as though the church died for Christ, not he for the church.
I’m afraid we aren’t offering the bread of life because too many of us are starving for it ourselves. Comfortable church assemblies and Cocoa Puff sermons haven’t answered man’s deepest longing ~ the need for a Savior. The best song leader and the most convincing preacher cannot take the place of a crucified Christ. What lost person cares if we can eloquently articulate the principles of interpretation? Seekers want to see the Lord living in us.
I’ve tossed my old sermons in the trash. I no longer spend time underlining passages to prove points that prove little. Instead, I underline passages that help me praise God and win souls; “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6).
