A Grueling, Fiery Stairway to Heaven?

Nachi Falls in southwest Japan is 133 metres high, making it the highest waterfall in the country. It tumbles down a forested cliff, giving the area a stunningly dramatical setting. Near its top, there is a villa of temples, making this area a centre of the Shinto faith. Alongside the waterfall, there is a 600-metre long stairway where once a year, a group of pilgrims has to ascend and descend the whole length of the stairway until the leader declares the stairway cleansed from any spiritual contamination which might have polluted it. 

Nachi Falls, Japan.

Pantheism is the central belief of the Shinto faith. That is, every object has a divine spirit, known as a Kami, whether it be a tree, a rock, or for this case a waterfall. And because of this particular cascade is the tallest in Japan, it's believed that this very work of nature has the chief of all Kami. Give this divinity what it asks for and the prosperity for the whole of Japan is guaranteed.

And so this young man, in his twenties and holding down a job as a Government clerk, each year he joins a group of pilgrims, each carrying a massive torch made of burning wood, up along the stairway and back, until the route is cleansed from all impurity. Each torchbearer has an assistant who walks alongside to keep the burning wood under control, using water if necessary. To add to all this, each torch is huge and heavy, nearly the weight of the carrier himself. Although the young man is fit and strong, after five round trips he begins to tire. For a brief moment, he is allowed to hand the huge torch to his assistant, but must take it up again and continue with his journey.

Five rounds, or return trips, of the pilgrimage, would have taken him 6,000 metres, but then the priest still hadn't declared the stairway cleansed. How many more rounds the lad has to do before such a welcoming message reaches his ears, we were not told. But I would not be too surprised that he could have covered as much as 10,800 metres, which is over six miles in nine return trips. It may or may not have been that long. Or it could have been even longer. It was all up to the discretion of the priest, who could vary the length of the pilgrimage year by year. At last, when the stairway is finally declared to be purified, an offering of Kami and thanksgiving is made to the waterfall, and Japan can be guaranteed another year of peace and prosperity.

At another location, this time, in the African State of Mali, the city of Djenne boasts one of the largest mosques in the world, which is built of mud. Therefore, after the annual rainy season, everyone on the town volunteers to facelift the whole edifice by applying fresh mud, which must be kept wet with a constant supply of water, over the entire building (with the supplying of the water done by the women.) The roof with its towering minarets must be given special attention. A special place in Heaven is reserved for whoever reaches the pinnacle of the tallest minaret, and so, before dawn, a group of young men literally race to climb the turret. The first to get to the top can begin his duty with a sense of triumph. One participant has run, climbed and won the race over and over again for the last few years. The promise of Paradise is held to him for another year.

However, everyone who contributes to the project will have a place in Paradise. Therefore it's of no surprise that everyone able does his bit. Normally the entire annual facelift is completed in a day. 

Grand Mosque, Djenne, Mali.

Then there is the Shaolin Temple in China, which includes a monastery. Here we are introduced to a Buddhist student, in his late teens, who is training to be a Warrior Monk. This includes an extremely complex martial art of Kung Fu. This lad had to train for many years before the great day he has to take a twofold test. The first is for him to demonstrate the skills of his Kung Fu training. This includes the Monkey Climb, where he had to balance himself on a pole very much like a monkey hanging from the branch of a tree. Except that in Kung Fu, the "branch" is an ordinary pole which is picked up and carried around like any other inanimate object. To pass the test, the student had to perform his moves with lightning speed and split-second accuracy.

The second part of the test was to recite his Scriptures off by heart. Texts from the Buddhist Pali Canon, for example, were picked out by pure random by the judges and had to be quoted by heart, without any referring to the book. It was equivalent to me being asked to quote verbally the whole chapter of Luke 18 or 1 Corinthians 5 by heart without looking at the New Testament. And he had to get every verse, every word, right. Then he is given judgement over the whole two-part test. Fortunately, he passed, which enabled him to become a full-time monk. Had he failed, he would have to wait three more years before retaking the test.

A Warrior Monk at Shaolin Temple, China.

These three are examples taken from a BBC documentary, Sacred Wonders, a series of just two episodes. I was intrigued by how such non-Christian religions have such demands for hard work and tests of physical and mental endurance to earn salvation or even worldly peace and prosperity. But there is this one nagging feeling I had when watching these programs, maybe two nagging feelings. One was the feeling of sorrow for these participants and their mental and spiritual enslavements to these works to attain salvation, whether it's heaven, nirvana or a good life here and now (probably followed by karma.) The other feeling was how weak, inadequate and mentally, spiritually and physically puny I felt when I compared myself to these three young men living around the world.

The Buddhist student, for example. If the two of us were standing in that courtyard face-to-face, he would floor me instantly! No matter how many gym workouts I might have had. No matter how hard and strong my barrel-shaped biceps might be, strength alone would be no match for this student young enough to be my grandson. And then after telling him that I have read and studied the Bible for the better part of half a century, he dared me to recite a chapter, any chapter, without peering into the book. With my own sense of idiocy enveloping me, I would have to kneel and beg for his understanding.

All this is a demonstration of single-hearted commitment to their faith, and especially when such faith demands endurance to breaking point and never shrinking back. Of the three, I have to admit that the Buddhist student had displayed the greatest demonstration of commitment, even if that test - if passed - was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to prove his worth for monkhood. As I see it, the other two candidates may not be so spectacular, but they have to endure such tests every year for the rest of their lives.

Do I see such levels of commitment among Western Christians, myself included? That's quite a point, that! After all, there is quite a difference between a true Christian who was martyred under a fuselage of flying stones under Caesar's orders or stretched helplessly on the Rack during the Inquisition, and that of a modern middle-class college graduate and regular church-goer admitting his belief in Theistic Evolution in order to save face before a sneering scoffer. 

It has made me wonder of the times I hesitated to make an outright confession of faith to an unbeliever when I felt a sudden wave of embarrassment. I still ask myself what has brought me to such a state? Is it from a sense of self-preservation, unsure how the unbeliever will react? Perhaps, but it was not always like this. I remember the 1970s in particular when I never hesitated to confess Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the risen Son of God. In a sense, I shook the whole of a precision engineering factory, both among the office staff in management and my colleagues on the shop floor alike. Back in those days, embarrassment wasn't an issue.

By looking at the lifestyles of these three young men, I try to get to the source of embarrassment. The first is the lack of a sense of assurance. And I say this as one who wholeheartedly believes in Eternal Security of the Believer. Could it be from the subconscious echo from Roman Catholic upbringing, when the presence of sins in my life has actually placed a block on my assurance? Or the teaching of some evangelicals who insist that we are not securely saved, but only conditionally, and salvation can be lost if those conditions aren't met? These churchgoers are known as Arminians, after a 16th Century Dutch theologian who taught such soteriology. We have a few of these people in our church at Ascot, despite our Elders' stance in Once Saved Always Saved. Indeed, I'm literally disliked by one Arminian couple who has already condemned me to Hell as an unrepentant sinner! That can be quite disturbing.

Tied to all this is this theory pushed as scientific fact and universally accepted - Darwin's Evolution. So certain is this in the minds of unbelievers (and many believers too) that for me to proclaim Divine Creation as both historical and scientific fact to an unbelieving world at times makes me feel like an idiot. 

To sum up: A lack of assurance from God and a fear of man's rejection of the Gospel has overtaken my commitment to evangelise my faith to outsiders.

Oh, do I need a new backbone! How I want to overcome this fear. Fear is bang opposite to faith. It's not a life I want to lead. And yet there are three sources where faith, I believe, can be gotten - through prayer, the Bible and church fellowship. All three are equally important and are used for building up of faith (known as edifying, from an Italian word Edificio - a building.) One of the wonders of church fellowship is the ability to get together with one of the Elders for a chat over coffee at Starbucks, or even a pub. I had a few of these and I find them so uplifting. To be loved, accepted without judgement by other believers is such a lovely thing, a sweet aroma drifting towards Heaven.

Then there's prayer. If I don't know what to pray about, which is often the case, then just by giving thanks for the temporary pleasures will often lead to intercession or to other topics. Temporary pleasures include marvelling at God's creation. I'm fortunate enough to live right next to some woods, and especially in the Summer, such can inspire thanksgiving. This along for my wife, our home, our holiday memories, our finances. Then along comes confession of sin and supplications - that is asking God for things, especially concerning our health.

And a thorough knowledge of the Bible mixed with faith is another of the three sources. For example, one well-known Arminian preacher once said:

There is not a hint of Once Saved Always Saved found anywhere in the New Testament.*

By studying the Bible and absorbing its goodness into the soul, I can point to at least three chapters where Eternal Security is hinted at - John 10, John 17 and Romans 8. And there are a lot more found elsewhere, even in the Old Testament. For example, in 1 Kings 19:18, we can read about how God has kept or reserved for himself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. This is not a chicken-or-egg scenario. Those seven thousand men were saved due to the imputed righteousness of Christ into their souls, and not because they simply decided not to bow to Baal. As with us, the salvation came first, then the sanctification.

Or the case of Job, who declared that he will see his Daysman stand on the earth with his own eyes, even if his own skin has long decayed, Job 19:27. And in Isaiah 53, there is one set of prophecies about how the suffering of God's servant will justify many (imputed righteousness) while he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, and by his stripes, we are healed.

Together with Jeremiah's prophecies coupled with Ezekiel's about taking out the old heart of stone and replacing it with a new one of flesh, for his sake rather than ours, I can't help but read Eternal Security into these chapters. Above all, Arminianism denies the Omniscience of God, a divine characteristic these prophecies so well attest!

And that was why I felt sorry for those three young men - a Shinto, a Muslim and a Buddhist. Like the Jew, and despite their heroism, they have failed to attain the righteousness they were seeking, according to Romans 10:1-4. This is because they try to establish their own righteousness instead of accepting the imputed righteousness of Christ which is offered to all believers.

As for myself, it is my prayer that God will strengthen my backbone (metaphorically) and embolden me to share the love of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and at the same time, rebuke any belief in Evolution which destroys any credibility of the Gospel.

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* David Pawson, Cambridge post-graduate Methodist and holder of a B.A. in theology, an itinerant preacher and pastored several churches.