"I remember hearing a missionary to India say that he was forced to rethink his faith in the light of other faiths and other ways of life. "All the old shibboleths and modes of expression and accepted outlooks on life are challenged," he said, "and one begins to see where the relevant lies." He started discussions with Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim leaders, as well as representatives of India's many other religions. The gatherings were called "Round Table" discussions to suggest that everyone could present what they considered to be the distinctives of their faith. One could see scintillations of truth, the missionary recalled, as people spoke from experience or from their sacred books. But whenever a Christian spoke and unfolded the truth of the Incarnation, the meeting would lapse into silence. Sometimes the silence would last for many minutes, only to be broken with the remark: "We have nothing in our faith that compares to that. Nothing!""Hear that? Now that's the kind of silence God speaks in.
- Every Day Light, "Nothing!" Jan. 5
So much for all those compromising common ground documents and discussions and meetings and interfaith things that Christians are participating in these days.
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