A SIMPLE PATH

BY MOTHER TERESA

1995 New York: Random House; compiled by Lucinda Vardey, large print edition, 200 pages

Toronto Public Library  271.97 TERESA

 

A Book Review by Joseph Ng

January 2004

 

What a hero she is even in evangelical circles. She needs no introduction, really, the little nun risking everything in the hovels of India, picking up near-corpses off the street and showering them with one last bit of love and mercy, and earning the admiration of every world body and a fast track to sainthood by the Pope himself. Nearer home, she is uncritically acclaimed by authors like Rick Warren, Philip Yancey, and even Albert Mohler[1] and features in children’s Sunday school materials as someone to be emulated.

 

But such is the sad state of today’s evangelicalism, which cannot—perhaps will not—distinguish truth from error, light from darkness, false prophets from the true. My initial thoughts from reading the book a few months ago were, if only Christians knew what Mother Teresa really believed, they wouldn’t idolise her. Then again, maybe not. The need to be accepted by the world and one’s peers often outweighs interest in the truth.

 

DESCRIPTION

The Simple Path is organised according to five chapters reflecting Mother Teresa’s five-step prescription for peace:

1.                                Prayer

2.                                Faith

3.                                Love

4.                                Service

5.                                Peace

 

Immediately, we recognise that this procedure runs against the teaching of Scripture by assuming that peace can be achieved through human effort, that it lies within the heart of man the ability or even the desire to attain righteousness. The Bible, of course, teaches that the human heart is supremely deceitful and incurably sick (Jeremiah 17:9) and that peace and salvation are the work of God alone (Luke 2:14).

 

A loyal follower of the Roman Catholic Church, Mother Teresa’s doctrine of salvation is described as that of cooperation between God and man. In the Bible, human beings are totally incapable of salvation, being dead in trespasses and sin. A dead person doesn’t cooperate; his or her will doesn’t “balance” with God’s, cannot even make that “first step” of willing ourselves toward heaven, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

 

This balance between a strong will and a complete surrender to God is instructive because she has said of her progress in holiness that “it depends on God and myself—on God’s grace and my will. The first step to becoming is to will it.” (p. 14)

 

The Bible teaches that we can go straight to God through Christ alone (1 Timothy 2:5), but the Roman Catholic Church adds another layer. Along with Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa exalts Mary as Mediatrix, as a go-between, between us and Christ:

 

Mary is the role model for Mother Teresa and all the Missionaries of Charity, and is prayed to fervently.... This feminine devotion to the divine mother is a woman’s way to the heart of Christ. One of the prayers frequently recited by Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity is:

Mary, Mother of Jesus, give me your heart .... (p. 17)

 

The secret of Mother Teresa’s wide acceptance the world over lies, perhaps, in her seeker-sensitive (or even seeker-centred) theology and methods. She is ecumenical in the broadest sense, stressing on one’s looking inward for truth rather than on what the Lord commands and demands:

 

An Indian admirer of Mother Teresa, a businessman, once had five lines ... printed on small yellow cards. These she calls her “business cards” ... because they clearly explain the direction of her work, her simple path. ... It is composed of six essential steps: silence, prayer, faith, love, service, and peace. (p. 29)

 

These six steps, of course, contravene the biblical teaching that all our righteousness before God are as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and that there is none righteous, not one that seeks God (Romans 3:10-12). In her chapter titled “How to Pray: A Simple Contact with God,” she advises people to let down their guard and simply pray certain prayers she labels as “common”:

 

If you are Christian, you can say the Lord’s Prayer; if Catholic, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Rosary, the Creed—all common prayers. If you or your family have your own devotions, then pray according to them. (pp. 41-42)

 

And for prayers that are really effective, she counsels her readers to go to a Roman Catholic priest, yet remains thoroughly ecumenical (“if you are a Catholic,” she’s careful to add):

 

If there is something that is worrying you, then you can go to Confession (if you are a Catholic) and become perfectly clean, because Jesus forgives everything through the priest. (p. 42)

 

In her chapter titled “Equal Before God,” the source of her confusion eventually comes to light. Mother Teresa’s theology is universalist, which means she affirms the validity of all religions:

 

There is only one God and he is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. (p. 53)

 

Is this the same gospel as Jesus’, when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6)? Is this the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, to the glory of God alone? Unlike the Prophet Elijah and King David, who attacked the worship of false gods, and also unlike Christ and the Apostles, who condemned the worship of false gods and the sin of compromise, Mother Teresa prefers to somehow get everybody to pray together to generate “a relationship with God”:

 

[Quoting one Brother Vinod and Sister Theresina approvingly,] I have never found a problem with people of different religions praying together. What I have found is that people are just hungry for God, and be they Christian or Muslim we invite them to pray with us. ... So that is our main focus, to encourage them to pray, to have a relationship with God, however that may be, because when you have that then everything else will follow.” (p. 54)[2]

 

Even the blessed name of Jesus, which is unique to the saving of souls (Acts 4:12) is dispensed with in the interests of ecumenical prayer. In her chapter titled “Pray Every Day,” it is advised:

 

The following are prayers that we say every day from our prayerbook. ... You could replace “Jesus” by “God” if you are not a Christian. (p. 55)

 

This, however, is not in anyway surprising. She is consistent with Roman Catholic teaching, which is man-centred and works-based, rather than God-centred and grace-based. In Mother Teresa’s mind, the authority of Scriptures is subject to her universalist and ecumenical notions, and above all, her Roman Catholic dogma:

 

God is not separate from the Church as He is everywhere and in everything and we are all His children—Hindu, Muslim, or Christian. When we gather in His name this gives us strength. The Church gives us our priests, the Mass, and the Sacraments, which we need in our daily lives to do our work. We need the Eucharist (Jesus in the Host and Holy Communion) because unless we are given Jesus we cannot give to Him. (p. 71)

 

CRITIQUE

It’s incredible how Christian leaders who ought to know better continue to extol Mother Teresa as a person of faith. Perhaps many have never read her writings firsthand and just followed one another blindly; perhaps political correctness has overtaken biblical loyalties as a consideration. But those who know the truth are inexcusable. While there is no need to demonise her—and we can perhaps carefully salvage some vignettes of humanitarian sacrifice and duty from her life, as we do those of other philanthropists—there is no need to endorse her as a source of godly saintliness and as a Christian exemplar. We simply need to be clear on what Christianity and the gospel are all about, what the truth really is, and how we should respond to error and its purveyors.

 

So what is the Christian religion all about? Is it about self-sacrifice and compassionate service, as many have argued when pressing for Mother Teresa’s right of a place in heaven? Is it about believing in some God sincerely, perhaps Jesus, perhaps Krishna, perhaps Sakyamuni, perhaps Guanyin, as Mother Teresa herself preached? Or perhaps it is about recognising one’s utter spiritual destitution and putting one’s faith and hope in none other but Jesus Christ and His finished work alone, as the Bible teaches. By exalting Mother Teresa, many Evangelical leaders seem to be a little unclear about the gospel itself. Furthermore, one wonders if they know what to do with the many counterfeit “gospels” of our day. Should they exalt the persons or laud the good works of those who preach a different way of salvation than that revealed by God? Bible-believing Christians should learn from Apostle Paul, when he shows little fuzziness or sentimentality towards those who would present a different gospel in his day, when he declares (in Galatians 1):

 

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

 

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Biblical Discernment Ministries. “"Mother" Teresa (1910-1997): General Teachings/Activities.” http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/teresa/general.htm : BDM’s extensive quotations are of interest to our subject here, but its mention must not be construed as blanket endorsement for all its positions.

 

Challies, Tim. “The Myth of Mother Teresa.” http://www.challies.com/archives/000034.html

 

Corruptchristianmusic.com. “Influence: Mother Teresa.” http://www.corruptchristianmusic.com/influence/mothertheresa.html

 

DiCanio, David. “Mother Teresa Dies.” http://www.freepres.org/pamphlet_details.asp?teresa

 

GM. “Faith in Focus: The Death of Lady Diana.” http://www.reformed-churches.org.nz/resources/fnf/a61.htm

 

Hendryx, John. “Monergism Vs. Synergism.” http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/whatismonergism2.html

 

Horvat, Marian T. “What about the Orthodoxy of Mother Teresa?” http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a013htMotherTeresa.htm : No endorsement of this Traditional Catholic site should be construed; it simply provides an interesting triangulation of views from Roman Catholics opposed to the current Vatican regime’s ecumenical tactics.

 

Morrison, Alan. “Mother Teresa and the Religion of the New World Order.” http://www.diakrisis.org/mother_teresa.htm

 

Vatican Council, The Second. “NOSTRA AETATE: DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS.” http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html : This Vatican II document promotes an ecumenical spirit towards Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and other world religions: “In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely he relationship to non- Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship. … The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.”

 


[1] Incredibly, the usually lucid president of SBTS wonders out loud, “Was she clear that Jesus Christ is the only Savior, and that salvation is found in His name, and in His name alone? The answers to these questions are, for now, known only to God.” R. Albert Mohler, Jr., “Faith Without Works is Dead: An Evangelical Meditation on Mother Teresa” (http://www.sbts.edu/mohler/FidelitasRead.php?article=fidel058).

[2] In her Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations, Prayers (1983 San Francisco: Harper & Row; edited by Kathryn Spink), Mother Teresa quotes a prayer “adapted from the Bhagavad Gita” (p. 21), as follows:

Lord,

Teach us that even as the wonder of the stars in heaven only reveals itself in the silence of the night, so the wonder of God reveals itself in the silence of the soul. That in the silence of our hearts we may see the scattered leaves of all the universe bound by love.

Also quoted is this “Extract from the Contemplation in the Shire Digambar Jain Temple in celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the Missionaries of Charity,” a lengthy quote that opens with, “Whatever his creed, there is only one possible way for man to attain to the life of God in the soul. ... and the way to it lies in the desire of the soul turned towards God” (p. 83), and ends with “Om, peace, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti” (p. 84). Ironically, “Unless indicated otherwise, Biblical quotations in this book are from the Authorized Version of the Holy Bible” (p. iv).