What Is Up With Christians?

This is my first post on this blog. I couldn't think of a better first blog than a Stephen Colbert interview with Tony Campolo. Compolo's new book Red Letter Christians pretty much lines up with my theological perspective. Listen to his interview. It reflects my views on the Bible and the role of Christianity in the world today.

As a Christian for 25 years and a veteran of Christian ministry in local churches, inner city missions, on the streets of Chicago with youth gangs as well as with Metro Chicago Youth For Christ and Moody Bible Institute, I often found myself surrounded by conservative voices that don't really reflect what I believe Jesus teaches in the Bible. In those circles, I'm a bit of a radical. My concern for the poor and the weak and for issues more associated with liberal politicians has often put me at odds with my fellow believers.

Much of the reason for the disagreement is the dogma spread through so called 'Christian' radio. Somewhere along the way, James Dobson and others usurped Christian radio, which was originally intended to encourage believers through songs, sermons and radio bible classes, and channeled it into a bullhorn for right wing political radicalism. The nasty repercussions of this usurping is the blending of Christian thought and right wing political thought. The only problem is that the two really have no basis for being blended. In so many obvious ways--once you think about it--right wing politics is mostly, if not completely, opposite of what Jesus taught Christians to do.

Sadly, one is more likely to hear hate speech on Christian radio than love speech. Try as I may, I cannot imagine that being Jesus's agenda.

Years ago, when I was an administrator and teacher at Moody, I learned to dispel arguments with far right wing Christian political activist by relaying my faith in the ideas of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. For a very small book, it handles the realities of the Christian role in the world quite well. C.S. argued that the different denominations and ideological factions of Christianity were like branches spreading out on a tree. The further out on a branch you ventured, the more distant the other branches appeared. Likewise, the further up the tree you went, the more disconnected you became from those other branches.

C.S. Lewis's idea of Mere Christianity worked to resolve the apparent varied differences of Christians so as to help unify us in our role in the world. Mere Christianity was the concept that although all these far flung branches existed on this tree, the further down towards the trunk we moved, the more we found we had in common. Mere Christianity was trunk Christianity. Keeping our beliefs squarely rooted in what we all understood to be common to all Christians.

There always seemed to me to be no clearer way to understand what those "common" beliefs were than to simply look at the actual words of Jesus in the Bible. If you're an old school Christian, chances are you had at least one Bible that printed the words of Jesus in red ink. That, therefore is the idea behind Tony's book. Once you strip away the commentary of the various theologians down through the ages, you come upon the really real stuff of Christian belief.

What's most amazing about the real stuff of Christian faith is just how similar it is to the greatest teachings we have from all faiths, practices and motivational speakers today. There's not much you can find that Jesus ever said that people would rise up in protest over. At least not today.

Jesus, however, was radically opposed to the religious leaders of his day. His words cut to the very root of their power and glory. I argue that his words still do. I argue that the reason so many different denominations and divisions exist in the world today is because different religious leaders, once again, sought to gain power over God's people. To do so, they needed to move up the tree and away from mere Christianity. Out on the branches you feel more separated and vulnerable. Every strong wind that comes affects you more and challenges your perspective. In feeling threatened you feel fearful. In feeling fearful, you become more vulnerable to the control of the leader.

I don't want to take this analogy too far, so suffice it to say that greater strength and unity and clearer identity comes from dwelling closer to the trunk of the tree. I am a Christian because I believe in and follow Jesus Christ. It would seem that anyone who claims to be a Christian would submit to this definition. To submit to this definition, it might help to know what Jesus said. To know what he said, you've got to read the stuff in red. Read the red to know what he said. But...

Don't just read the red to know what he said, read the red to know what he didn't say. I find the vast amount of issues that Jesus never addressed staggering. Especially considering that the vast number of things so much of the modern (particularly evangelical) church focuses on is never mentioned by Jesus. Did God not know these issues existed? Did he not know they would? He seemed so prescient about so many things that I hardly think he was in the dark. He didn't say anything because it wasn't important to him.

Let me share where this first hit me. In the school I attended and in many evangelical churches today, drinking wine or any alcohol was and is forbidden. Not just frowned upon--forbidden. Wine? Yes, wine. But doesn't the holy sacrament of communion involve drinking wine? Yes. So what do they do? They drink grape juice. Doesn't that violate the command of Jesus? Well, it says "cup" but we know there was wine in the cup. On top of that his first miracle was turning water into wine--so we know Jesus drank wine and approved of the drinking of wine. But apparently someones teaching is more important than Jesus's. In fact, that someone, because they abstain from all wine and view the drinking of wine as wrong or sinful, is therefore, by their own theology, holier than Jesus who regularly drank wine.

I call such people Hyperchristians. And they give people like me hypertension. The absolute ridiculousness of that ideology is completely non-apparent to them. But it is very evident of what we see in our world today. Our basic Christian beliefs have been so compromised that we actually preach hate now. We teach fear, isolation and money-grubbing from the pulpit. We parade our earthly goods as if we believed earth (not heaven) was our home. We judge others by how much they have or don't have. We elect warmongers. We completely ignore what Jesus taught while we fight for causes Jesus stood against--or at the very least was silent about. Christianity has become an assessory.

I don't know where this blog will lead, or if it will lead anywhere. But I feel I need a place to let this out. This blog is called N2-the-deep because it's not easy stuff to fathom. I hope you'll take this as an invitation to interact with me--sharing your views and comments. I look forward to hearing you--whether you call yourself a Christian or not. Either way, thanks for dropping by.