Holistic Christianity

Once I asked a Christian parent how is her teenage son doing, she replied: "well I think he is doing fine, his studies are good, he behave himself, he is strong and healthy and I send him to the church youth group every week." To many Christian parents this is the kind of children that they hope to have in their family, good grades, good health, good behavior and a good Christian faith. It is such an excellent model because the wellness includes all aspect or parts in life. But is this enough? Is this Christian life holistic?

It may seem holistic if we compare with the society that we live in. When we see our society today, we see a reflection of the story of the famous philosopher Diogenes in 300 BC where he walked along the streets of Athens in broad day light carrying a lantern searching for man. He was asking "where is man?" People around him laughed at his insanity. He ignored them and continued his search for the missing man . If Diogenes thinks that man is missing at that time, how much more are we caught up in that dilemma in our society today. In the mist of rich and vast material possession and enjoyment, in the hot pursue of luxurious lifestyle, man are lost. Since the sixties of 20th century, sociologists have observed that man is living in a de-humanization process . Man are so caught up in this physical life that they work only for material gain, they look forward only to pleasures in life, they believe only in what they can see and feel. Men live a one-dimensional life where only material possession and the physical body are important. This is obvious when we see how the world judge and measure a youth by their academic achievement because we believe that a higher education will give them a good life in future in terms of material gain. Sad to say they are just a group of "uneducated expert". They are good in what they are trained to do, but fail to develop as a human.

The model may also seem holistic if compared with many church goer that exist in our churches today where we see the believers of Jesus Christ taking their "salvation" which was given by grace through faith as a ticket to heaven. They think that how we live in the world now does not affect our assurance of eternal life in heaven. They may profess that the Bible teaches us not to sin, but "we will still sin" is their answer. They cling upon the forgiving grace of God so much that it has "paralyze" them of the freedom and power in Christ. They so eagerly look forward for the second coming of Christ and the establishment of new heaven and new earth that they fail to recognize that the abundant life in Christ has already started when they have received the second birth in Jesus. George Verwer rightly and boldly states the greatest error that ever hit the church of Jesus Christ when he writes this in his classic message "The Revolution of Love":

[There are thousands, even millions, of people who claim to be "Orthodox Christian" because they cling to a certain set of beliefs in accordance with the Bible. They are aware that they do not practice much humility, but they do not think that makes them any less orthodox. They are aware that they do not really love other Christian, but that does not cause them to think that their teaching is not biblical...... they could not be more wrong. This is not Christianity but a travesty of Christianity.]

In the mist of all this problem and question about wholeness whether is in the society or the church, people have come to realize their state of emptiness. They are starting to search for other dimension of life which is missing. In his book "The 4Q's of Life" Lin Chi-Ping suggest that there are four dimensions that constitute a human life they are Self (IQ), Physical World (KQ), Others (EQ) and God (GQ). This model is drawn from the example of Jesus Christ where in the Bible, the Gospel of Luke recorded that "Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature, in favor with God and men."

This model is good in directing people to the other dimension in a human life. It will also be great if man can develop the entire four dimensions in life. And we can see that the world is responding to a more holistic way of living. Those who had dwelt too much on materialism are turning to their soul and spirit, attending to their cries and needs. That is why we are experiencing a revival in spirituality in the world. On the other hand we see Christian who has been focusing too much on knowledge based spirituality are reaching out to the community with their good deeds and good conducts. But does it mean that when we have fulfilled all the four dimensions in our life, we are living a holistic Christian life? What is Holism?

Holistic is still a word not easily found in dictionary. The word originated from the Greek word Holos which means Whole. To the Greeks, the sum of all the parts does not equal to the whole. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Holism is the belief that each thing is a whole which is more important than the parts that make it up. And its adjective Holistic means dealing with or treating the whole of something or someone and not just a part. Or in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary holism is define as a theory that the universe and especially living nature is correctly seen in terms of interacting wholes (as of living organisms) that are more than the mere sum of elementary particles. With this in mind, even if we practice or possessed all the different dimension of life it doesn't promise us a holistic life if it is not integrated into the Whole. A boat placed on a dry land will not be able to function or go anywhere even if it is fully equipped with all its necessary parts. Therefore we must first recognized, understand and envision the very meaning and purpose of our Christian life, or in simple words to ask "what is the Christian Life all about?"

The central teaching and message of the Bible is none other than "The Kingdom of God" even Jesus being the peak of revelation of God to men came to proclaim, teach and manifest the Kingdom of God. Dallas Willard says "The vision of the "Kingdom life" now on earth is important in spiritual formation. The moment we become Christian by grace through faith, we appear in the Kingdom of God as citizens in the Kingdom. If there is a model for a holistic Christian life, it must be that of the life of Christ. And the life of Christ is the life of the Kingdom. Therefore our main task after entering into a new Kingdom is to find the character, the attitude and the way of living of the citizens in this Kingdom, or to find the identity of a citizen of the Kingdom of God. This concept echoes the experience of youths because youth can also be described as