The Religion Of Nothing

If you spend any amount of time studying Eastern religions, you will come across all sorts of strange ideas and concepts. Attaining nirvana, reaching enlightenment, harnessing chakras, it’s all very exotic. However when you very to find any support for these strange and exotic beliefs, you hit a brick wall. The answer you will inevitably end up with is having to rely on someone else’s experiences. This quickly becomes irritating when you start grilling for answers. That’s just it! There are no answers! In the majority of mystical Eastern faiths that is quite literally the entire reasoning! Nothing exists! Reality doesn’t exist! Therefore, answers do no exist.

Here’s the thing, this might work for a short time. But sooner or later you will have to have some hard answers on something. It might be fun to sit in a circle chanting out words in an unfamiliar language, but this very quickly wears off once you realize you’ll never move any further. Especially when you walk back out the door and encounter a world where very real actions have very real consequences.

The Facts of Christianity

I firmly believe that Christianity is the answer to every problem facing the world today. The best part is that you don’t have to take my word for it, there is a wealth of evidence to back up the claims of the Bible. If you’re reading the sayings of Buddha or Krishna, not so much.

Yet, here is where things become complex. I just said that the primary difference between Christianity and mystical Eastern religions is the simple fact that Christianity has a real basis and doesn’t rely on someone’s third party experiences. At the same time, this is not to say that Christianity is just a bunch of cold and abstract facts. I could tell you about all the facts, all the history, I could lead you through every theological fact, and that is all important. But it isn’t enough. None of it will mean anything until you experience it for yourself. None of it will be life altering until you come face to face with the radical life changing power of God.

Experience The Power of God

This is the most important fact I could impart to you. It’s something I had to learn for my own self. The claims and message of Christ become real once we experience His power in our lives. So from that perspective, Christianity i absolutely an experiential religion in that it must be experienced in order to become real for any of us.

This is a far deeper concept than it seems. So many today get swept away by exotic beliefs and religions, all in the hopes of coming across something real. Hopefully this makes sense. What I am advocating is not some sort of ethereal experience, I’m not suggesting some quasi-charismatic ‘outpouring’ or what have you. What I am talking about is something more real than any doctrine, than any theological system, I am talking about the only truth that actually matters in this world.

Everyday Miracles

I’ll put it another way, for the longest time, I could never understand why we didn’t see miracles today. It used to completely baffle me. Only to realize much later, that his had more to do with a serious misunderstanding on my part, rather than a failure on the part of God. The truth is, we are surrounded by miracles every day of our lives, yet we never notice. The power of God is at work in the lives of ordinary people every day. We may not witness the dead coming to life, or parting the sea, but we witness something even more profound. Changed lives. Drug/alcohol addicts are reformed, marriages and broken family relationships are healed, shame, bitterness, guilt, anger, all the toxic elements of our lives are removed.

I wonder how I so quickly lost sight of this vitally important reality. How many testimonies have I heard? How many powerful stories of missions have I heard in my life? How could I ever have heard these accounts of the power of God and thought of them as commonplace? I also wonder if this isn’t a problem with the Church in general. Quite possibly the reason we have done such a poor job of reaching the culture around us is because we have failed to emphasize this vital fact, that Christianity relies upon experience. It is no merely me saying that I am so much smarter than you, what we are discussing is a real God. With real power. Who invites you (yes you) to experience him today.