{"id":3941,"date":"2015-09-23T14:28:08","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T21:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/uncommongodcommongood\/?p=3941"},"modified":"2017-01-04T10:50:22","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T18:50:22","slug":"if-i-werent-a-christian-id-be-a-buddhist-beyond-straw-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uncommongodcommongood\/2015\/09\/if-i-werent-a-christian-id-be-a-buddhist-beyond-straw-men\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf I Weren\u2019t a Christian, I\u2019d Be a Buddhist\u201d\u2014Beyond Straw Men"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"MetzgerStraw\"<\/a>
\u00a9Paul Louis Metzger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIf I weren\u2019t a Christian, I\u2019d be a Buddhist.\u201d I remember sharing these words several years ago during an apologetics seminar in the Pacific Northwest. I was concerned that the Christians with whom I was sharing about a Christian engagement of various religious traditions, including Buddhism<\/a>, did not realize how deep, mysterious and profound many non-Christian faiths are.<\/p>\n

When we view religious others in superficial ways, we often approach them and their arguments as straw men, which we can easily dismantle in battle. But they are not straw men, nor will straw men arguments penetrate the armor and engage the hearts and imaginations of those skilled in battle in alternative spiritual arts. As I write in my latest book Evangelical Zen: A Christian\u2019s Spiritual Travels with a Buddhist Friend<\/em>,<\/a><\/p>\n

you can never reach someone\u2019s heart for Christ if you don\u2019t connect with his or her heart, and if you don\u2019t find the person and what that person holds dear beautiful in some way. Straw men questioning in order to win arguments to show Christianity\u2019s superiority (and perhaps one\u2019s own?) have resulted in many Christians winning battles and losing wars. \u2026 I\u2019m not about arguing and debating and fighting with my Buddhist friends. Most of them are pacifists anyway. But I do want to defend them from misunderstandings and ridicule, and make clear what really separates us. My Buddhist friends don\u2019t hold their positions because they\u2019re stupid. In fact, many hold their positions because they\u2019re actually very smart, significant, and sensitive human beings, putting many of us Christians to shame (Evangelical Zen<\/em>, pages 100-101).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While I passionately love Jesus Christ, and believe him to be the only way, truth and life through whom people enter into relationship with God (John 14:6-7), I still sense profundity in Buddhism. The Buddhist approach to suffering and the Buddhist aim to move beyond grasping and egoism challenge me and call me out of complacency in my spiritual sojourn, even as a Christian. If I weren\u2019t a Christian, I would quite possibly be a Buddhist.<\/p>\n

\"Evangelical_Zen__A_Christian_s_Spiritualh_a_Buddhist_Friend_-_Paul_Louis_Metzger_1024x1024<\/a>
Get your copy at Amazon.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Certainly, Evangelical Christians and Zen Buddhists approach ultimate reality, suffering and non-grasping very differently, though we can learn from one another. My Buddhist friends teach me in their zealous adherence to their tradition to cherish Jesus\u2019 call to die to myself if I am to find life. Only as I move beyond grasping and die to my egoistic desires in view of Jesus will I lead others to consider Jesus as worthy of serious consideration. If I don\u2019t take him seriously, why should they? And if I don\u2019t take their\u00a0convictions, stories and practices seriously, why should they consider mine? They are not straw men, nor are their perspectives. If I do not cherish them and seek to guard their dignity as humans created in God\u2019s image, I do not love them.<\/p>\n

Apologetic arguments and rhetoric not shaped by love of the spiritual other is like wood, hay, straw, and stubble. Such\u00a0disengagement\u00a0will burn in the end, just like cold, unfeeling hearts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf I weren\u2019t a Christian, I\u2019d be a Buddhist.\u201d I remember sharing these words several years ago during an apologetics seminar in the Pacific Northwest. I was concerned that the Christians with whom I was sharing about a Christian engagement of various religious traditions, including Buddhism, did not realize how deep, mysterious and profound many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1284,"featured_media":3943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cIf I Weren\u2019t a Christian, I\u2019d Be a Buddhist\u201d\u2014Beyond Straw Men<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cIf I weren\u2019t a Christian, I\u2019d be a Buddhist.\u201d I remember sharing these words several years ago during an apologetics seminar in the Pacific Northwest. 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