Christians

A comment by xinie in mom_almighty's journal made me think a bit more about how Christians are perceived in this country and whether they deserve the labels people give them.


And the sad thing is that, generally, yes, Christians in this country do deserve the labels. I didn't think it could be true at the grass-roots level before I moved here, but the 'religious right' is alive and well, and really will vote for any warmongering incompetent idiot as long as he promises to try to end abortion. Nobody seems to be worried in the slightest when a valuable pro-family organization gets warped and perverted into a Republican lobbying group.

Some of the stuff that people throw verbal rotten eggs at us for is fair enough, because the Bible and our culture are out of step on many issues. The fact is that if you believe that the Bible is the perfect word of God, you're going to have some values that are different from the societal norms of 2005.

But if you believe that the Bible is the perfect word of God, you can't pick and choose. Jesus railed and ranted against the Pharisees, and people often forget that these guys were the evangelicals of his day. They believed in God; they had the right theology; but they had completely missed half of what God was trying to say to them even though it was right there in their Scriptures. I believe that the church in the US has fallen into the same trap.

Rick Warren (who wwpostergirl pointed out last night might be my new hero, and she's probably right) said this:

"I found those 2,000 verses [in the Bible] on the poor. How did I miss that? I went to Bible college, two seminaries, and I got a doctorate. How did I miss God's compassion for the poor? I was not seeing all the purposes of God. The church is the body of Christ. The hands and feet have been amputated and we're just a big mouth, known more for what we're against."

He's right. Christians are known for their opposition to abortion, gay marriage, and the rest, and these are generally good things to oppose -- but where are the Christians standing up to oppose greed, which is just as bad as the others? Where are the Christians standing up to defend the rights of the poor? Why is it that the only time Christians lobby GWB is over pro-life judges? Isn't it just as important to make sure the whole nation (to say nothing of the whole world) is fed, clothed and cared for? Isn't it just as important to speak out against the oil companies' greed such that they'll rape the entire planet for an extra buck? Where are the powerful Christian lobby groups when it comes to these issues, which Jesus cares about exactly as much, no more, no less, as abortion?

Jesus declared his manifesto in these words: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Where are the people doing that?

I've seen enough of Christian leaders railing about the specks in other peoples' eyes and ignoring the logs in their own. I don't want to follow Oral Roberts. I don't want to follow James Dobson. I don't even want to follow Rick Warren, though he is one of the few Christian leaders who actually seems to practice what he preaches. I want to "know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead".

And yes, this begins at home. And yes, here I am living a comfortable life in the suburbs with a nice house, an embarrassingly large salary and a great wife and kid. And yes, there are some things we're doing that advance Jesus' teachings, and some that don't. I don't claim not to be a hypocrite, because quite frankly every Christian is a hypocrite and always will be -- we claim to follow Jesus but not one of us does so entirely wholeheartedly or entirely perfectly. But as a Christian and a church elder, I need to absorb Jesus' message of grace and forgiveness, and his message that how we treat the least among us is vital. And then I need to change my lifestyle and the mission of my church to match.