Andrew Bowen embraced Christianity in high school. But the kind of Christianity of which he became a part made him intensely critical of those who did not share the religion he embraced. One time, he even chased away a couple of missionaries on bicycles who had visited his house.
Years later, he and his wife lost their third baby to complications in the pregnancy. His response was a “two-year stint of just seething hatred toward God.” He realized that this hatred threatened to consume him. And so he embarked on what he named “Project Conversion.” This was not so much a journey to “find faith in God” but “faith in humanity.” In 2011, he chose to “practice” 12 religions in 12 months: Hinduism, Baha’i, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Agnosticism, Mormonism, Islam, Sikhism, Wicca, Jainism, Roman Catholicism. In his own blog, he describes this journey as “spiritual promiscuity.” After the project, he reports a better tolerance of the different religions. And he practices some elements of each religion on occasion.
Perhaps the idea of learning to develop a gracious, even respectful, attitude toward people of other faiths is commendable. But I am quite skeptical how much depth a person can reach through the superficial practice of a particular faith and its traditions. It would be quite easy to claim one is a member of that faith tradition, yet not be a true follower.
This brings me to the matter of what it means to really embrace Christianity. Often, in our attempts to encourage people to become a Christian we simply tell them to “try Jesus.” What does that really mean? It has that superficial character to it, like a salesperson in Costco getting a customer to sample a product. The truth is one can never truly know Jesus by simply sampling what he has to offer. The only way that we can experience Christ’s benefits is to fully surrender to his leadership. There is no other way. No testing. No sampling. No trying. Either you truly believe in Christ and trust him enough to submit absolutely to his leadership, or you do not.
Sad to say, many who do claim to be Christian may actually just be sampling Christianity—going through the motions of Christian religiosity, even knowing the right doctrine and language, participating in the right rituals. However, when occasions to make critical choices in life come along, Christ, his purposes, and his ways, are nowhere to be observed. Do not be deceived. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9.23 NIV).
–Keith Y. Jainga