September 20th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
We caught the first part of Survivor: China tonight and recorded the rest. In the opening ceremony held in a Buddhist temple, the host, Jeff Probst, was careful to say that the ceremony was not a worship service. Even so, Leslie, the Christian radio talk show host, refused to participate in the portion that required bowing to the statue of Buddha. She said she had given her life to Jesus and refused to bow down to another god.
It’s an interesting question that isn’t as cut and dry as it may seem for a Christian. 1 Corinthians 8 deals with food that has been offered to idols. Paul acknowledges that everything comes from God, since “an idol has no real existence” (verse 4). In verse 7, Paul also says that if someone eats so-offered food as if it really were offered to a idol, that person has a weak conscience and is defiled.
If everyone knows that it is just for show (including those Buddhist monks), it can be argued that a Christian may participate in the ceremony, even bowing to the statue. It is part of the Christian liberty we have. The monks may have been offended unnecessarily.
Leslie may have ended up doing the right thing, for another reason than she believed. She wouldn’t have worshiped another god, but she could have given the impression among friends and among the monks that she was. If bowing to a statue or eating food dedicated to an idol causes someone to believe in that idol, then it shouldn’t be done.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Hi Dan, can I offer a few thoughts here? I really have to disagree with you here and throw a big flag on this play/post.
Leslie was absolutely correct. She could not bow to a statue to Buddha, and neither can we, in any situation, for any reason. This is not a matter of Christian liberty. We are never free to disobey the First Commandment. Our feelings about what we are doing make no difference. To bow to an idol is impossible. When we remember the tends of thousands of Christians who refused to take just a little pinch of incense and burn it to the honor of a Roman Caesar, how can we consider bowing to an idol?
1 Cor. 8 does not apply here. Paul did not suggest, at all, that Christians should join the pagans at their worship services and there eat the meat offered to idols. Rather, that meat may be offered for sale in the market, and in that case, no harm/no foul. But even in that case, it could well be a cause of offense and scandal, in which case, don’t eat it!
But this is a far different matter than participating in a cermony in a pagan temple, bowing to a Buddah.
In other words, it can not be argued that a Christian could somehow bow to a Buddha. There is no liberty to do so.
Paul McCain
September 20th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Pr. McCain, thanks for stopping by.
I was inclined to agree with Leslie, just because it was on national television and someone out of the television audience is going to think she is worshiping the Buddha. If the action causes someone, anyone, to stumble, we shouldn’t do it.
I was pondering the situation as they were actors in a television show, which, well, they are.
But that brings up an interesting question, too. Should a Christian cameraman making his livelihood not agree to film the bowing of an idol, even if the actors weren’t Christian? Should we refrain from taping what goes on at a mosque? It might be beneficial if we knew what was going on and being said there…
Or how about this: Should congregations refrain from holding Seder meals to show what Passover was like before it was fulfilled by Christ?
September 20th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
… or could a Christian actor play the role of a pagan or idol worshipper in a play or a movie?
Or a little different, could a Christian celebrating Halloween dress up as a buddhist monk or some other pagan (i.e. “pretend” to worship another god)?
Personally, I would not have bowed. Even if it was understood this was not worship… something distasteful about the whole thing.