Too Generous of an Orthodoxy?

I just read this from "Generous Orthodoxy" and I was wondering what your thoughts are on it and what your thoughts are on my thoughts

"In this light, although I don't hope all Buddhists will become (cultural) Christians, I do hope all who feel called will become Buddhist followers of Jesus; I believe they should be given that opportunity and invitation. I don't hope all Jews or Hindus will become members of the Christian religion. But I do hope all who feel so called will become Jewish or Hindu followers of Jesus." p.297

I've only quoted one paragraph from a chapter on "Incarnational" so please feel free to read it because it is most likely out of context if you just read this.

Anyways, before you guys turn me into the church heretic, here are my thoughts:

This passage brought up a few older thoughts of mine which I shall mention as we go along but I find myself agreeing with this paragraph to some and most degrees. The first thought of mine it brought up was from a sermon. In the middle, the pastor mentioned that there are a number of Jews in Israel that acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. When the person who met them asked if they consider themselves as 'Christians', they said no and said that they were Messianic Jews or Jews who had found their Messiah. With this in mind, I don't think all people should have to convert to Christianity AND abandon everything they use to know.

My thought on this came from me thinking about why I like studying religious studies in the bathroom yesterday before class. I find studying religions interesting because you can see how people live when they consider something to be true. Some questions for myself that arose from this included: What if Christianity was false, would I still have all these changes in my life? What if say, Islam was true, would I convert? What if I saw changes in a Buddhist's life that I did not see in my own life, would I see what they have that I do not have?

These made me think of if I converted, would I toss everything that was good about Christianity out the window. Say if I became a Muslim, would I use similar techniques in prayer as I did in Christianity. I think it has to do with human nature. When we get older, it's harder to change habits and it's like uprooting a tree and planting it somewhere else, it becomes increasingly difficult as the tree gets older.

My final thought comes from C.S. Lewis who said religions are like doing math. There is only one correct answer but some are closer to the right answer than others. Maybe it is not wise to throw out everything Buddhists know about meditation and abstaining from worldly things. Maybe we should take a page from the Muslim playbook about praying often (as they often pray more in a day than we do).

So if you feel like it, read the chapter, it's pretty good (I haven't finished it though, I just wanted to write this down before I forgot). Builds on what Bell says in Velvet Elvis about how all people are saved but how they have not all yet accpeted salvation.

One final thing I forgot to write down is a quote from Bono.

"And I learned that religion is often the enemy of God, actually. And religion is this sort of -- religion is the artifice, you know, the building, after God has left it sometimes, like Elvis has left the building. You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough."

Perhaps religions as we know them are more man made than we want to acknowledge and maybe we don't need everyone to be Christian in the sense of doctrines and church buildings but maybe just to believe in Christ and to be saved. And perhaps just holding onto the two greatest commandments, they won't need all the unneccessary junk we have (i'll let you decide what you think junk is as we all have a different opinion). But let us not wipe out complete cultures without sensitivity and replace it with the North American version of Christianity that may not work in their communities. (not everyone has bread and wine to spare ;-) )

But my thoughts end here and they are incomplete. Please continue with them.