Seth Udinski, FISM News
On Tuesday, the Catholic News Agency reported that Pope Francis I will join with other religious leaders for an interfaith prayer summit in Rome called “The Cry for Peace.”
Held by Sant’Egidio, a Catholic nonprofit agency, the event has been a staple in the Roman Church since 1986, when Pope John Paul II insituted the inaugural World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assissi, the home town of the famous medieval Italian mystic and hymnist who shares the name of the current pope.
Sant’Egidio said in its September announcement of The Cry for Peace,
The event collects the expectations of peace of peoples and cultures, in a time marked by the tragic return of war in Europe, which is causing so many victims and so much destruction. We need to send a strong message of hope and trust in the future. The global world urgently needs an architecture of dialogue that protects and affirms peace, always and in every context. Today the “spirit of Assisi”, which is a spirit of dialogue and friendship capable of involving religious leaders, politicians and ordinary people in the construction of peace at all latitudes, appears increasingly necessary.
The three-day conference will commence on October 23 and culminate with the Prayer for Peace at the Roman Colosseum on October 25.
Author’s Biblical Analysis:
While the idea of peace between religions is perhaps noble and ideal, Christians must not be deceived for the sake of emotional happiness or utopian promises. Harmony between religious faiths may sound heartwarming, but it is antithetical to the gospel and to the words of Jesus Christ Himself in John 14:6:
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
For Christians, there will never be peace with those who practice false religions (and to be clear, every religion other than biblical Christianity is false) unless those who practice falsely would repent and believe in the name of the Lord Jesus.
For Christians to try to attain harmony with those who hate the God of the Bible is foolish. It is perhaps even more foolish for professing Christians to gather with nonbelievers for a “prayer summit.” To whom are the nonbelievers praying? I do not know for sure, but I know it is not God.
So how should we respond? Let me offer you a simple word of encouragement from this report.
Instead of vainly attempting to attain earthly peace, Christians must herald a message of ultimate peace — peace with God.
Most religions in the world are asking essentially the same question — How can human beings achieve harmony with God (or the gods, or Allah, or whatever pagan entity they worship)?
Most religions in the world share a common answer — Human deeds. If you are good enough, kind enough, if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, if you say this many prayers and do this much penance, then maybe you can achieve harmony with the divine.
The problem that all religions outside of Christianity ignore is this — Humans are not good enough to get to God.
We cannot achieve any shred of human goodness on our own strength. We have no chance at utopia with each other and even less of a chance of peace with God. We are by nature enemies of God, not by any moral fault of His, but by our utter sinfulness. Where do we turn?
Here is where the beauty of the gospel of Christ shines. The Christian faith holds with it the true answer to the problem — Peace with God was achieved on our behalf when the Lord Jesus propitiated the wrath of God with His death on the cross.
When Christ went to Calvary, the veil was torn. The separation between God and man was severed forever, and now all who call on the name of the Lord not only receive salvation but adoption into God’s family. Where once we were His enemies, now we are called sons and daughters. Praise God for this indescribable gift!
May we always seek to share this message of good news with those who desperately need it. The world does not need earthly peace — the world needs peace with God, achieved for all who belong to Him by the perfect work of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. – Romans 5:1-2