Salvation and Culture

Christianity also has a distinguishing interpretation of salvation.

There is a profound and fundamental difference between the ways that other religions think of salvation and the way described in the Gospel of Jesus. All other religions present salvation as an escape from the shackles of individuality and physical embodiment into some kind of “out of this world” transcendent spiritual existence.  When Christ speaks about salvation he is not talking of an escape from this world but of transforming us, and the world.

Other religions or philosophies do not offer such hope for the world. Outside of Christianity, no other major religious faith holds out any hope or even interest in the restoration of perfect peace, justice, and wholeness in this material world. No faith holds out a promise of eternal salvation for the world— this world—that the cross and resurrection of Jesus do.

Biblical texts such as Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21-22 depict a renewed, perfect, future world in which we retain our cultural differences (“every tongue, tribe, people, nation”).

This regard for cultural diversity is also unique to Christianity. Every human culture has (from God) distinctive qualities and strengths for the enrichment of the human race. Every culture also has distortions and elements that will be critiqued and revised by the Christian message, and yet each culture will also have good and unique elements which Christianity embraces and adjusts to.

This is why Christianity, more than any other major religion of the world, has been able to infiltrate so many radically different cultures.

We’ll continue in this vein next time.  In Christ…

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