Kurasawa, Masanori. Translated by Kelly Malone. "Is Polytheism Really Tolerant?" (多神教は本当に寛容であるのか) Japan Evangelical Association Theological Commission Pamphlet 6 (May 2006): 49-59.
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CONCLUSION
The Lord Jesus' “Parable of the Sower,” is necessary for understanding the nature of the Kingdom of God (Mark 4:13). For this reason, it is recorded in all four Gospels. The Lord Jesus clarifies its meaning, but thinking from the perspective of the title it is “the sower” and “the soil.” The sower sows “the word of the Gospel,” but in this two things are supposed. First, there is freedom to reject hearing it and the final result is not bearing fruit. Second, the greatness of the blessing that is promised is that the person who hears the word of the Gospel bears fruit.
Our Lord is not like a bulldozer who overpowers everyone forcing their conversion. In his parable, there is an environment where the gospel is freely proclaimed and heard and an environment in which people can freely respond to the proclaimed Gospel. What sort of world or society brings about this kind of environment? This will not be a society “ritually unified” by nationalism or by religious nationalism. Also, it will not be a society fragmented and confused by polytheism. In the multicultural, pluralistic societies of the contemporary world, we must form a mature society which, while recognizing diversity, produces reconciliation and symbiosis. A society must be sought in which true “religious freedom” is preserved so that it is possible for people to proclaim and confess faith and doctrine freely. And within this “Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” there is power to produce unity and symbiosis in diversity.
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