The Neural Buddhists

If you've got the time, be sure to read the op-ed in the NY Times today "The Neural Buddhists" by David Brooks. He argues that the debate between those who argue for faith in God and those who argue for strict materialist atheism is shifting to a debate between those who argue for faith in religion and those who propound a sort of sentient relativism, where experiencing God is common, but boxing God into formal religious systems is not. Brooks writes:

"In their arguments with Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the faithful have been defending the existence of God. That was the easy debate. The real challenge is going to come from people who feel the existence of the sacred, but who think that particular religions are just cultural artifacts built on top of universal human traits. It’s going to come from scientists whose beliefs overlap a bit with Buddhism."

He concludes:

"In unexpected ways, science and mysticism are joining hands and reinforcing each other. That’s bound to lead to new movements that emphasize self-transcendence but put little stock in divine law or revelation. Orthodox believers are going to have to defend particular doctrines and particular biblical teachings. They’re going to have to defend the idea of a personal God, and explain why specific theologies are true guides for behavior day to day."

Though the debate may be shifting a bit (though it could be argued that this is nothing new), the task of the Christian is the same: make plain the truth of the Bible. It does not really matter what the competing "faith" is. Atheism, neural Buddhism, or something else. Paul said quite plainly, "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles," (1 Corinthians 23). This means, of course, that all people, outside of the grace of Christ, will not understand or believe the truth that Christ has come to set us free.

So pray that you are given the wisdom to engage all people where they are with a defense of the truth, with grace, and with love. And always pray that they see beyond what is seen and that their eyes fall on what is unseen, the glory of Christ.