For those that are unfamiliar with the term ‘atheism’, the term is defined by dictionary.com as ‘the doctrine or belief that there is no God.’ or more generally ‘disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.’ While either of these definitions are suitable for the purposes of this blog, there is little doubt in my mind that today’s atheist is focused on disbelieving the Christian God and not any other god.
Perhaps that assumption is driven by my ethnocentrism (dictionary.com: ‘a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one’s own.’) However, Christianity is certainly not only the religion of the United States, but it is a religion of the world and has adherents in all cultures. Not surprisingly, most of those cultures find themselves coming together on the soil of the United States, thus my country becomes a type of petri dish of cultural conflict. If two cultures, religions, philosophies, or worldviews can conflict in some way, they do so in the United States, and frequently in the court of public opinion – ie. the media.
It seems that Christianity and its adherents are frequently at the center of those conflicts. I recently posted an article from the Family Policy Institute written by Joseph Backholm, their executive director (found here). A divorced couple set up a parenting plan for their child, and the father took issue with the child being home schooled. However, New Hampshire law only allows the modification of the parenting plan in fairly extreme circumstances. The judge ruled to modify the plan. The only issue at hand was the child’s faith. I don’t know if the father, who wanted the child to go to public school changed his faith, or if he even ever had any faith, or if the mother suddenly developed a Christian faith after the divorce. Whatever the case, the judge ruled that the child’s faith was of significant enough harm to the child’s well being that the parenting plan should be changed. It is a strange world that tells us that having faith in God is detrimental to our children.
Again, this may be me focusing on things in my world that are relevant to me, but the number of religious cases in this country that are tried in the courts that involve Christianity in the past year are, to my cursory count, well above 200 on the christianpost.com web site. Most frequently, the cases seem to be between atheists and Christians. Why is this the case?
There are several reasons that could be cited to explain this – some ludicrous and some valid; but I believe the best explanation is found in the words of Jesus himself: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matt 10:34 NIV) Christianity, by its very nature, creates conflict.
Christianity is the religion of conflict, but not conflict by self initiated agression with an aim toward conquest or self aggrandizement – Christianity is about a clashing of spirits. Jesus never sought anyone’s demise or physical destruction – unlike Islam. Jesus brings a sword because he puts the proverbial line in the sand. You are either for Him or against Him and adherents to the faith He created cannot and should not compromise the core tenets of their faith. Jesus did not allow it. He said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV) For those that believe that Jesus is who he said he was, there is no other way to get to heaven but through Him.
What is so astonishing to me about this is that the very line in the sand that Jesus draws is the line that so many churches are attempting to blur in the name of “Seeker Friendliness” or “Cultural Relevance”. Atheism has little to argue against in that type of environment. Atheists compare the soft, fruity Christianity of today with just living their lives the way they see fit and they don’t see any benefit to adding all the Christian baggage to their lives. I can’t blame them – no benefit and big cost – that doesn’t sound like a good deal.
This type of faith is never what Jesus preached. He didn’t want us to live the lives we have always been living and then just add baggage. No wonder atheists, and those that despise Christianity, are attacking it so vigorously. It isn’t that Christianity hasn’t done anything to garner the conflict – we have, and our leader, Jesus, was the one who took the first swipe at business as usual. It is that we have positioned ourselves like bratty young children saying ‘I dare you to hit me!’ and when they do, we sit back and run comfortable social clubs for them that they can come into when they please and spit on when it suits them. It’s almost like we feel guilty for Jesus – trying to cushion the blow of His polarizing philosophies so that people don’t get mad. What gives us the right?
Call me dramatic, call me hyperbolic, call me insane. The fact is, if we claim the name of Jesus we will draw conflict – and making our churches soft by making them “Seeker Friendly” or “Culturally Relevant” increases the conflict that comes our way because atheists and others that hate us see the weakness inherent in those positions. People don’t want the church to be soft and easy to move in to – the church should be demanding and challenging; not by being hard-ass, but by being real and calling people to real faith. Life is hard and it draws its own challenges to us. The heros of the Christian faith did not consider making their parishoners comfortable as a very high priority but they called them to repentance on a daily basis.
We must change our churches by demanding change in ourselves so that we can bear real fruit and show our detractors that what we believe in isn’t just baggage, but it is real. This does not mean they will suddenly love us – that isn’t the point. The point is to bring people into relationship with the real Jesus Christ – not with our fancy social clubs. The two are NOT the same.
In the United States this is especially hard because we are so comfortable. Nothing here compels us to change because we have everything we need. If we were being persecuted on a daily basis, we would see miracles working in our lives like they do in China, Indonesia, and the Sudan – but we don’t have that kind of test here in the U.S. – yet. Make no mistake, however, it is coming – Jesus promised it would “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:20). And to me, I think it is coming in a rush through the courts and the law and the media in ways we haven’t yet seen and in ways we couldn’t imagine.
In the end, the point is that we need to take off our Christian masks and start being real, no matter the cost – that is how we draw people to Jesus.
Leave a Reply