I was recently in India and was amazed by many of the sites, sounds, and differences with my familiar American backyard.
On one occasion as we were driving to the pastors’ conference where we were speaking, we had a gentleman on a motorcycle pull up next to us. This guy was a sharply dressed roughly 25 year old young man. As with all faithful Hindus he had a red mark on his forehead indicating that he had worshiped already that morning. However, he stood out a bit from most of the other men we saw. This guy had a solid red circle dot on his forehead similar to what many of the women wore, whereas most of the guys had a bit of a smudged red mark up towards their forehead.
I asked our friend who lives in India about this difference and was told that he seems to have made a special sacrifice that morning for something big in his life. Perhaps something bad happened, he felt guilty, or he was going to a job interview, or something substantial. At any rate, it was an important occasion and he wanted to be sure that he was doing what needed to be done so that he could have favor with the right god(s).
As I talked to more and more former Hindus I learned that this type of thing was common. If you are feeling guilty or something big is coming up you better make sure that you are doing what is required of you.
Roman Catholics
This got me thinking of another religious group that likes to put marks on their foreheads, the Roman Catholics (I realize others have this practice but my focus is on RC here).
Having grown up Catholic the connection is easy to see. Ash Wednesday (which occurred this past Wednesday) marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the roughly 40 day period of grief, sacrifice and repentance that culminates on Easter. As the RC priest applies the ash (from the burnt previous years’ burn palm branches) he reminds the worshiper that man is from dust and to dust he shall return. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday Roman Catholics are to fast (translation: only eat one full meal) and avoid meat. The avoidence of meat (and it used to be sex too) extends onto all Fridays throughout lent (thus broadening your fried fish choices on Friday nights).
During Lent Roman Catholics are encouraged to sacrifice something they enjoy and to do other deeds of penance. Again, the emphasis is upon dealing with sin. And please remember the Lenten practice is mandatory for Roman Catholics. (It is helpful to note also that Lent has traditionally been a way to bring new folks into the church by demonstrating to them what it means to follow Christ).
Lent is a big deal for Roman Catholics. It is supposed to be a time of spiritual concentration and action. As one priest put it:
Lenten practices of penance have great benefits for our spiritual lives. A serious Lent will be like a spring cleaning which will purify the clutter that has accumulated in our souls. A serious commitment to penance will also help us to conquer addictions, obsessions and compulsive behavior. A serious Lent will purify our soul and allow us to experience a deeper interior freedom. (my emphasis)
Lent is designed to remind folks of sin, the fragility of life, the need for repentance and the call to do penance.
American Evangelicals
Then we have the home team for me, American Evangelicals. How do we deal with guilt over sin, trials, questions about assurance, etc?
Many evangelicals when feeling guilty about sin or when they are facing ‘big’ events in their lives find themselves becoming quite serious all of a sudden. We say things like, “I am going to start reading my bible more. I am going to go to church more. I am going to start evangelizing more. I am going to start praying more.”
And then if we actually begin to do them we start to feel better don’t we? We aren’t as guilty over sin and we begin to feel better about ourselves and our relationship with God.
What is the Problem?
First, let me say that I do not believe that reading your bible, praying, evangelizing or going to church is wrong. All of these things should characterize the life of the Christian. Further, I do not think that the Roman Catholic emphasis upon sin, doing good, and the fragility of life are wrong (I have serious issue with the obligatory fasting- 1 Tim. 4.1-8; Col. 2.16-23). I will even go as far as to say the sense of human weakness, guilt, and fear that the Hindu feels is not wrong…we should feel this way.
However, what is dreadfully wrong in each of these snapshots and what unites them all together is their apparent lack of need for Jesus Christ.
When the guilty seasons come bustling in there is no retreat to that gruesome hill where Christ in his holy humanity satisfied the unrelenting wrath of God. There is no priority to empty our hands of any means of earning or keeping God’s favor and instead cling to the righteousness of Jesus Christ earned by his full submission to and perfect fulfillment of God’s righteous Law. In other words, there is no need for Christ and his righteousness when there is even a thought that we could make God be for us by what we do or do not do.
The Hindu does not think he needs Christ’s righteousness, he is able to do all the gods require through his earnest sacrifice.
The Roman Catholic does not think he needs Christ’s righteousness, he is able to earn this himself by his sacrifice and penance during Lent.
The Evangelical does not think he needs Christ’s righteousness, he is able to cleanse his guilty conscience by just resolving to act more like a Christian.
In each of these cases the worshiper is worshiping, but he is worshiping himself. He is making self atonement to satisfy his own standard of righteousness and as a result he is getting all of the glory. Meanwhile Jesus, the righteousness of God, is devalued, marginalized, and obscured by this all of the incense we are pburning on this sacred altar of self.
This is nothing more than grade ‘A’ paganism. And any worshiper who has no need for Christ is guilty of it.
What is the Solution?
The answer is to simply see Christ as the only one who can provide everlasting righteousness. It is only Christ who has the key that can unlock the sacred gate. It is only Christ who gives righteousness that can stand before the unwavering righteous throne of God. It is only Christ that can commend our souls to God as our mediator. All other avenues insult him in their devaluation of him.
Christ fulfilled the Law of God perfectly and died to pay the penalty for sinners like me and you who could not and would not do so. The Savior commands repentance from sin and faith in him. This turning away from sin and to Christ exemplifies true worship. It is this trust in Christ as our substitute that is at the heart of conversion. If true faith in Christ has occurred then the pursuit of self-righteousness ceases.
As the Apostle wrote:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-(Phil. 3.8-9)
Until we count all that we do as rubbish (or better: dung) in his righteous eyes and cling to that righteousness that comes from God, then we are just pagans. It doesn’t matter if your forehead has a red dot, black ash or is clean. If you are not clinging to the righteousness of Christ then you are a pagan.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Gal. 4.8-9)
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