Faith, truth, and tough questions
Are Christians deluded? Who are the "other sheep" Jesus spoke of? And should believers be conscientious objectors? Mark Ryan explores faith, reason, and responsibility in a complex world.
Are Christians deluded?
There are four situations where delusion occurs: 1) when someone is not given facts but an untrue narrative; 2) when someone wants to manipulate our lives to their advantage; 3) when someone coerces another to follow a repeated lie; 4) and when people don’t make rational decisions about the choices being offered.
Christianity is founded on facts that have a strong historical basis, and its narrative is both life-giving and coherent. As Christians, we seek to help others. Certainly, Jesus did not come to seek his own advantage but to give up his life for us.
Becoming a Christian can involve high emotional intensity, but going forward we then make rational decisions to continue following Christ. It was Jesus who said that we are to take up our cross and walk this pathway from a clear personal decision of our own free will ‒ we are never coerced to do this.
Delusion robs people of their free will, whereas the Christian faith actually gives us back our mind, releasing our will to make the real choices we want to make over our lives. That’s not delusion, that’s freedom!
When Jesus said, “I have other sheep not of this fold...” (John 10:16), who did he mean?
When Jesus announces to his largely Jewish audience that he has other sheep not of this fold, he was foreshadowing the great influx of Gentile believers and preparing his Jewish followers for the type of multi-ethnic church that he always wanted. He started with the Jews, but the family of God was always going to be much wider than the Jewish nation.
Later, the Apostle Paul builds on this theme when he says the “dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down,” (Ephesians 2:14). For the Jews, this was difficult to accept because for all their lives they had heard it was they alone who were God’s chosen people. Jesus was now introducing them to God’s full heart of blessing the whole world through them.
Some have tried to use this statement by Jesus to say that all religions will be accepted by God and that the ‘other flocks’ are possibly Muslims or Hindus. This cannot be the meaning of this verse, because Jesus sets out certain criteria: those who listen to his voice and those who accept him as their shepherd, which other religions do not.
Should Christians be conscientious objectors?
All Christians should seek peace. One of the key statements of Jesus was “Blessed are the peacemakers.” We have all been appalled at the level of destruction that modern warfare can wreak upon ordinary settlements. None of us can watch such scenes and think war is a good thing. Having a conscience about the ethics of war is not a bad thing, and none of us should take any engagement in war lightly.
Some feel that they could never engage in any sort of armed service combat, and it’s their right to walk that pathway. Others, however, see it as a calling to actively ensure peace by being part of the armed forces. They see it as their duty to protect the weak and defend the freedom of the society they belong to.
One thing we can all agree on is that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and he will one day banish all strife and conflict from our world.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.