I've been struggling today with some thoughts about The Church (capital C). In so many ways I have been feeling burdened to challenge The Church in its understanding of what it means to be a Christian. This connects to my feelings on my trip to Africa.
Here's my main beef: the line between the pursuit of the American Dream and following Jesus has become so blurry. Instead of challenging the culture we live in, the Church reinforces the values and way of life of popular culture. Mostly, this is not overt. We subversively applaud home ownership, career success, wealth, selfishness, greed, individualism, and consumption. The identity of a Christian in the United States closely resembles that of any other citizen pursuing the American Dream.
There are a few reasons (among many others) that I want to highlight which cause this problem. First, our Church leaders and pastors have an inadequate or incomplete understanding of theology and philosophy. This is a bold statement for me, an undergraduate student, to make. However, I feel that many pastors and leaders in the Church lead with minimal training in philosophy, theology, and sociology. They make assumptions based on ancient philosophical and/or theological debates without really examining these ideas. The congregations learn about the Christian faith without truly understanding how their doctrines and theology was formed. My comments are a stab at the schools these leaders attend also, but not intentionally. I feel that many pastors and teachers stop learning and seeking understanding after they graduate. These leaders have a narrow and unchallenging understanding of philosophy, theology, and pop culture.
Second, I believe that there has been a co-opting of political hot topics by Christians. We have chosen the wrong channels by which we engage our culture. Instead of the work of the Spirit, we rely on our votes to enforce our moral agenda on the rest of society. We do not express love. Instead, we express judgement on others. We are commanded by God to love others and live according to a different constitution. We are citizens of heaven and God is our King. Its time we started acting like it.
Third, I believe we have a blindness to the rest of humanity due to our wealth, success, and power in the United States. With our busy schedules, lattes, and our "drive-thru" lifestyle, we have blinded ourselves from not only the suffering in our own backyard, but the suffering of humanity across the globe. Sure we read about Darfur, Tibet, and New Orleans, but we fail to take any action or even ask tough questions about how those events occur. American Christians live in a dream world and must come to understand how our success and power has placed us in a dangerous situation. God has always worked through the weak, the poor, and the incompetent. He has always warned against power, earthly kingdoms, and religious systems of authority. We must change our perspective as Christians in a society that has everything. We are not fulfilling the mission of Christ in our culture. We are conforming.
27 comments:
Right on target, Brent! The questions you are asking are the right ones.
I get what you're saying about church leaders being improperly educated in theology/philosophy, and I think that's true in one respect. However in another way I think they may have been TOO indoctrinated (not the same as educated) in the acceptable theology of denominations and seminaries, and consequently they are unwilling (and in some cases frankly unable) to re-consider Biblical truths without the filter of their comfortable doctrines.
Put another way, too much of what we get fed in the church is what "everyone knows" the Bible says, rather than just what the God of the Bible actually said. This results, among other things, in the reduction of the faith to a list of doctrines to which we give assent, rather than the radical life Jesus and the apostles and prophets call us to live.
Peace,
Dan
I agree. We need to sing a new song, sprout new life in the Church.
there is nothing new under the sun.
I disagree.
how so?
"Nothing new?" Maybe in an existential way that is true. . .most things people think are original have, in fact, been seen before. What Brent and I and many others are bleeding for in the church, however, is "new life" very like that newness of grass that sprouts in the spring after a frozen winter--or perhaps even better the new seedlings of trees sprouting in the blackened wreckage of a forest fire. Sure, other blades of grass, and other trees have grown before, and still others very like them will grow after. But it's time to get back to plants (believing fellowships) that look more like the ones that grew from Jesus' and the Apostles' seeds, and less like the gnarled, knotty trunks of today's theology.
I realize this analogy can be so dense you can't see the forest for the trees, so I better log off. . .
there have been far more dense explinations. i see your point.
i have another question though, about a comment made by dan.
you said that what we get fed in church is "everyone knows" type of things rather than what the God of the Bible actually said. what do you mean by that?
A variety of things, anonymous. "Everyone knows" that all scripture is inspired by God, but that's not what Paul was saying (I have a whole blog on this, see http://nailtothedoor.blogspot.com). "Everyone knows" that God can't stand the sight of sin, and can only see us through the blood of Jesus, when in fact the entire history of the Bible--before and after Jesus' incarnation--is the history of God reaching out to sinful man. "Everyone knows" that Jesus' death on the cross was the substitutionary penalty for our sin, but Jesus was already forgiving sins before he died, and he didn't issue an IOU conditional on his death (cf. Matt. 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5).
Heck, "everyone knows" that to be saved, you have to accept Jesus as your savior, except that this language doesn't occur anywhere in the whole New Testament.
what about that whole, "I am the way, the truth and the life. no one comes to the Father but through Me"?
doesn't that say we need Jesus as our Savior, and it's in the Bible>
Anonymous,
Concerning "nothing new under the sun", you need to read Ecclesiastes again.
The book is written to portray the dichotomy between "under the sun" "under earth" "under man" as a world seen through the eyes of someone without trust and faith in God. This phrase was meant to convey hopelessness, doubt, and separation from God's life giving grace.
Later in the book, the writer begins to envision a world with God and it is much more pretty. I believe that God reigns and the blood of Jesus beings new life, new hope, and new creation through God's redeemed.
I feel like I'm breathing polluted air, I feel like I'm eating stale bread; I desire fresh thinking, new life in the Church.
Sure, nobody comes to the father but through Jesus. I don't dispute that and it's not what I said.
Jesus DIDN'T say "No one comes to the father but by confessing that he is a depraved sinner and praying the prayer of salvation so I can save him."
Jesus DID say "follow me," and "go and make disciples." It is the church who has distorted these to "believe in me" and "go and make converts." These things are NOT synonyms!
converts and diciples are not the same, i agree.
but in order to follow, shouldn't you also believe?
Brent- i misunderstood your meaning. but i see your point now and agree.
"but in order to follow, shouldn't you also believe?"
Of course. Belief is necessary, but not sufficient. My argument with the church is that belief alone, devoid of action, has been substituted for following in the name of "faith-not-works" salvation. We read Luther instead of James, Calvin instead of the gospels, and our theology shows it.
gotcha.
Brent, i agree when you say that we have to love others, we do. but we also need to tell them what God says and wants. if we don't no one else will. i know some people do it poorly, but that doesn't mean that we just ignore what their doing that goes against God.
When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. -Ezekial 33:8
Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself." -Ezekial 3:17-21
Emlee, I find fascinating the fact that the Ezekiel 3 passage you quote is specifically discussing failing to confront "the house of Israel" and a "righteous man who turns from his righteousness." In both cases, the confrontation that the prophet is responsible for, is confronting those who are (or presume to be) holy, but in fact are in sin. The context of Ezekiel 33 (see verse 2: "O Mortal, speak to your people") is the same.
Our responsibility as Christians is certainly to judge and confront each other when in sin, no question. But not the outside world, who we are to call in love to follow Jesus (see 1 Cor. 5:12-13, for example).
When the church loudly damns the world for its sin, we are not being prophetic, we are being like the Pharisee in Jesus' parable of Luke 18:9-14: "God, I thank you that I am not as other men. . ."
so the church and Christians should be meek and not say much when nonchristians are doing somthing that is directly against what God says?
i want to clarify what i said, i don't mean yelling and screaming that if people don't change their evil ways they will burn in Hell, i mean letting people know in a concise but not mean way what God says and expects from us.
"so the church and Christians should be meek and not say much when nonchristians are doing somthing that is directly against what God says?"
Actually, pretty much. The Holy Spirit's job is to convict men of sin. Our job is to call them to Jesus. If they have not already acknowledged Jesus as Lord, sin is an irrelevant concept. . .we all know no one can deal with sin apart from Jesus. Therefore, our sole responsibility to the unbeliever is to "preach Christ. When necessary, use words." (st Francis of Asisi)
if people don't know why they need Jesus, why would they want to listen about Him?
if they're too stupid to see their need it's their problem.
"if people don't know why they need Jesus, why would they want to listen about Him?"
With due respect, that's exactly what I'm talking about when I refer to the distortion that has been taught by the church. Look at the apostles and Jesus himself. . .their own evangelical message was not principally that people needed Jesus because they're sinful. For the church to modify the "gospel" to be primarily "you need Jesus because you're so bad" is a wildly different message from the "Jesus is Lord" message of the gospels themselves. For a more-developed thought on this, see my post "Atonement as Evangelism" at my blog.
"if they're too stupid to see their need it's their problem."
DO NOT say things like this on my blog. I allow anonymous comments for people who don't have a blogger account, but I will not allow someone to say such arrogant and hurtful things about others; especially if you claim to follow Jesus!
If you want to leave a comment and state such an opinion behind a veil of anonymity, I ask that you identify yourself and answer for your comment.
The bottom line is this: American Christians have struggled to portray Jesus Christ to our neighbors (next door and across the globe). When others don't see the real Jesus in our lives, they cannot understand God's love.
okay, that makes sense.
and yeah, i have to agree with Brent. horrible comment.
for the record, i wasn't trying to be difficult...just wondering what exactly you guys were saying/thinking.
Em,
I appreciate your honesty and openness to discuss these things. I write on my blog hoping to spark constructive dialogue. I am not insisting that I'm always right, so I enjoy discussion. Keep asking good questions; we all have a lot to learn.
Just to underscore, no hard feelings and I did not think you were being difficult, either, emlee. You are asking honest questions, and frankly they are perfectly logical in light of the current teaching and perspective of the church. None of us will grow if we only talk to those who are convinced we are right. . .
And I add my opinion to Brent's and emlee's . . . the anonymous that posted the "too stupid" comment is not representing the Jesus I read about. "Let he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" 1 Cor. 10:12
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