Interfaith Dialogue
Should Christians Engage in Them?
By
Dr. Ken Matto
Matthew 7:15 (KJV) Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves.
One
of the most dangerous events which Christians partake in is the “interfaith
dialogue.” For some reason
theologians who love to have the preeminence (like Diotrephes in 3 John 9) have
taken it upon themselves to once again do the thinking for entire congregations
of Christians. They believe that it
is wise to bring someone in who is a representative of a false religion and then
have some type of dialogue with them.
They think this will expose their false teachings but the problem is that
the Christians are always the ones who back off and allow the false teachers all
the time they want to spew their false teachings.
Whenever Christians dialogue with Roman Catholics, it is the Christians who back
down and allow them to spew their heresy.
It is the same with Islam, Christian theologians do the same thing.
They allow these heretics to come into churches and spew their lies.
The reason that the Christians always back off is because they don’t want
to offend their guest of honor. Is
it honorable to these self-appointed theological gurus that their guest of honor
is keeping their people in a state of unbelief and causing many to go to hell
through their false teaching? Our
responsibility as Christians is to know the Bible not the Koran, Urantia Book,
Divine Principle, Book of Mormon, Dianetics, The Great Controversy et al.
Do these theological experts actually think that they can argue someone
into Heaven? The majority of
Christians should never be exposed to any of these false teachers simply because
the majority of Christians are biblically illiterate and will become confused
when they are confronted with false teaching.
Any pastor who willingly allows false teachers into their churches should
be fired on the spot!! This is not
a game of self-exaltation especially when eternal souls are at stake.
I have been saved for 36 years and I have yet to hear about a Christian
going into a Mosque or into a Roman Catholic Church or a Mormon Church or Church
of Scientology to bring the true gospel and show them their errors.
It is always the Christians who bring these heretical liars into their
church to expose their congregations to false teachings.
Interfaith dialogue can be traced back to one major dialogue back in the book of
Genesis. It is the dialogue between
Eve and Satan! Let’s briefly look
at this interfaith dialogue and see what happened that caused all the problems
you and I have today!
Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV) And the
LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: {17} But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Here
we have God giving instructions to Adam before Eve was created.
God told Adam that he was allowed to eat from every tree in the garden
except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
It carried double consequences: 1) Adam and Eve instantly died a
spiritual death, and 2) their bodies now began to die by means of the aging
process.
Genesis 2:22 (KJV) And the
rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her
unto the man.
God
declares that it is not good that man should be alone so God created Eve and
brought her unto Adam. This was the
first wedding, Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!
Now the interfaith dialogue begins in chapter 3.
Genesis 3:1 (KJV) Now the
serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree
of the garden?
The
word “subtil” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “cunning, crafty, and
clever.” Why was the serpent more
subtil than any beast of the field?
It was because of who was indwelling it.
Notice his first line of attack was getting her to question what God
said. The first line of offense of
the false teacher is to get the Christian to doubt what God said in the
Scriptures by means of false interpretation.
He asks her if God really stated that she should not eat of “every” tree
of the garden. He is now getting
her to ponder God’s statement concerning the tree.
Whenever a false teacher begins to assault Christianity and attempts to
replace the truth with the false teaching, they must first create a doubtful
atmosphere and then fill it with their teaching before the hearers have a chance
to fully process what is being taught.
They must make their teaching sound compatible with the Scriptures and
once they do that, then they have introduced divine approbation and acceptance
will be forthcoming by the hearers.
This is part of the cunning, crafty nature of the false teachers.
Genesis 3:2-3 (KJV) And the
woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
{3} But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Here
Eve begins her response to Satan’s question concerning the trees in the garden.
Remember back in Genesis 2:16-17 that God told Adam that he was not to
eat of the tree. Now we look in
Genesis 3:3 and we see that Eve added to God’s command by stating that even if
they touched the tree they would die.
This is what happens in a dialogue, words get added and subtracted and
meanings begin to become compromised.
This is the goal of the false teacher to get you to widen the meaning of
strict commands. There is a
tremendous verse in Proverbs which gives a warning about excessive speech or
dialogue.
Proverbs 10:19 (KJV) In the
multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is
wise.
Proverbs 10:19 teaches us that as long as there is a multitude of words, the sin
will not cease. In these interfaith
dialogues, there is always a multitude of words and the outcomes are never in
favor of true Christianity.
The one who refrains his lips from speaking too much
is wise because they do know the power of words. If they only speak what is
necessary, then they will let the other person make a decision on what was said,
since it is easier to digest a small amount of words than a never ending
one-sided dialogue.
Genesis 3:4 (KJV) And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
The
serpent now makes a dogmatic statement to Eve.
After the dialogue took place, who was still doing the talking?
It was Satan and we do not read one refutation by Eve against this
statement which was in direct disobedience to the command God gave.
The false teachers in these interfaith dialogues love to make dogmatic
statements as if they are divinely inspired and they make them in a believable
way by making the statement first and then adding the explanation of their
statement.
Genesis 3:5 (KJV) For God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Once
the bomb is dropped, then after that comes the fallout.
Satan goes on to tell Eve that first of all she will not die.
Then Satan goes on to tell Eve that the only reason that God does not
want her to eat from that tree is because she will become like Him.
In other words, Satan was telling her that if she eats from the tree she
will attain god status. It is the
same lie being told today by the New Age Movement and Mormonism that a person
has the ability to gain god status.
Genesis 3:6 (KJV) And when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Now
that Eve had engaged fully in the dialogue, and we do not know how much went on,
she goes on to disobey God and makes her husband an accomplice.
This act of disobedience had plunged the entire human race into sin,
sorrow, and death. This was all
because Eve chose to dialogue instead of walking away from Satan.
This also happens when dialogue is opened with the false religions of the
world. The false teachers are given
an arena they did not have before and that is the local church where the true
Christians abide. Here is a great
problem akin to what happened in the Garden to Eve.
Christians may reject immediately what they heard but over time some may
begin to start thinking about what they heard and whether it be through demonic
suggestion (not indwelling) or through the intellect and eventually it will be
“Yeah hath God said.”
Here
is an example that we need to be aware of.
In 2 Samuel, Amnon the son of David wanted to have sex with his
half-sister Tamar. Amnon did not
know what to do or how to accomplish that evil deed.
We may all have one of the following in our circle of friends.
Amnon did and his name was Jonadab plus he was also David’s nephew.
2
Samuel 13:3 (KJV) But Amnon
had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and
Jonadab was a very subtil man.
Notice how 2 Samuel 13:3 describes Jonadab.
He calls him a very “subtil” man.
The word “subtil” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “cunning
or wise.” This is a different word
than the one in Genesis 3:1.
Jonadab goes on to tell Amnon how he may fulfill his evil desire and so he
follows Jonadab’s advice and commits rape with Tamar but the outcome was not as
he expected.
2
Samuel 13:15 (KJV) Then Amnon
hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater
than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be
gone.
After
he raped her, he no longer loved her.
In fact he never loved her but he lusted after her.
Satan in the Garden to Eve was like Jonadab to Amnon.
Neither Eve nor Amnon received the outcome they had anticipated.
The reason I bring this episode up is simply because once we start
doubting God’s word or questioning it, there will always be someone right there
to help us stray with confidence.
That someone may be a person or some type of writing which we will read and then
once confusion sets in, truth takes the train out of town.
No
doubt the following question will come up, “What about all the dialogues which
Jesus and the others had in the Bible, aren’t those the same?”
The answer is no they are not.
The dialogues which we read in the Bible were not of the same nature of
the interfaith dialogues of today which basically quash Christian teachings and
exalt the false teachings. What we
read in the Bible was in defense of the truth!
Most of those situations the Christians found themselves in were life and
death. The Christians were not
going to the false religions and asking them to come to their house and
dialogue. When the false religions
attacked, the Christians defended and that is the only time a Christian should
face off against a false religion.
1
Peter 3:15 (KJV) But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give
an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear:
The
Greek word behind “an answer” in 1 Peter 3:15 is the word “apologia” and it
carries with it the meaning of “reply, a verbal defense, answer, or defense.”
Here is how the word is used in some other verses.
Acts
22:1 (KJV) Men, brethren, and
fathers, hear ye my
defence which I make now
unto you.
Philippians 1:7 (KJV) Even as
it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart;
inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the
defence and confirmation
of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
Philippians 1:17 (KJV) But
the other of love, knowing that I am set for the
defence of the gospel.
2
Timothy 4:16 (KJV) At my
first
answer no man stood with
me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
The
word “apologia” as is evident in these verses is in keeping with the judicial
idea of “defense.” This is what the
Christian is to be prepared for and the only way they can be prepared for it is
by studying and knowing the Scriptures well.
There is nothing in the Scriptures which commands or even hints at the
Christian to study the materials of false religions.
2
Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The
word “study” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “to work hard, be
diligent, make every effort, labor, be earnest.”
It carries with it also the meaning of “haste or be eager.”
In other words, this word is telling us to be hasty and diligent in
learning God’s word, not diligent in learning the false teachings of the false
religions. If we know the Bible
well, we can refute any false religion without spending days or months studying
false teachings which may eventually cause confusion in our own lives.
For example:
Hinduism – Reincarnation – Hebrews 9:27
Roman
Catholicism – Mary as Co-Redemptrix – 1 Tim. 2:5
Islam
– Kill the Infidels if they do not convert – Ex. 20:13
Jehovah’s Witnesses – Holy Spirit is only an active force – John 14:26
Here
are four major world religions which can be easily refuted by the word of God.
It does not matter whether the one you are speaking to accepts what you
are saying or not. The fact is,
that you have delivered the truth and if they be the Elect of God, they will
become saved at some time in their life.
No one can argue or debate anyone into Heaven, it is all by the grace of
God. Christians knowing false
doctrine does not profit them anything, knowing the word of God profits them
everything. This is why the word of
God is referred to as a Sword because it is both a defensive weapon and an
offensive weapon.
Now
let us list some of the dialogues in the Bible:
Stephen before the Sanhedrin – Acts 7 – Defense of the Gospel
Peter
on day of Pentecost – Acts 2 – Defense of the Gospel
Paul
before King Agrippa – Acts 26 – Defense of the Gospel
Peter
before the Sanhedrin – Acts 5 – Defense of the Gospel
Paul
on Mars Hill – Acts 17 – Defense of the Gospel
Paul
Before the crowd in Jerusalem – Acts 22 – Defense of the Gospel
Jesus
before the Sanhedrin – John 18 – Defense of the Gospel
As
you can see that Jesus, Peter, Paul, and Stephen had dialogues with people
concerning the Gospel and all were in defense of the Gospel.
There were no set ups with false teachers taking their time to explain
their false views. All of these
dialogues were not of their choosing as they were brought before political and
religious leaders to defend their positions.
The essence of dialogue is the defense of the gospel when needed not set
up for a certain time to puff up theologians who think they can handle the false
teachers.
Summary
The
problem with interfaith dialogues is that it gives the false religions an inroad
to the body of Christ on a large scale.
It can be detrimental to the young Christian who does not discern
properly yet and can cause them to stray by injecting confusing teachings.
When I first became a Christian, I sent money to Salesian Missions which
is Roman Catholic. It wasn’t until
later that the Lord got the truth to me and that was the end of my support of
them. The Bible gives us the model
concerning dealing with false religions and that is to be a defender of the
truth when called upon to do so. We
find no examples of interfaith dialogues in the Bible but we do find examples of
defending the Gospel. As we look at
the history of the church, there are countless number of Christians who have
defended the Gospel and many have paid with their lives.
Some of them are Martin Luther, John Hus, John Wycliffe, John Rogers, William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and so many more who stood before their accusers and defended the true Gospel. What good does it do for many Christians to know the false religions when the majority of Christians do not even know the true Bible? Nowhere in Scripture are we to pander to false religions, instead we are to expose and reject them, not invite it into our churches. Let’s see a show of hands on this one. How many here would invite a Satanist into their home? I thought so! Well that is exactly what you are inviting into your church because all false teaching is against Christ and the truth of the Bible and the author is Satan who brings these false teachings through his minions. Whenever you hear these false teachers, it will only be a very short time till you hear the “yeah hath God said?” line. Avoid interfaith dialogues and keep your mind on the straight and narrow!