The Christian faith is divided and has been since birth.
Even with the communication gap being narrowed to the width of a smart phone and a laptop – the chasm between Christians is wider than ever and growing dangerously deeper by the mouse click. We, as followers of Christ, need to collectively navigate our way back to our (politically unaffiliated) touchstone: L O V E.
Christians are deeply flawed – we’re human. However, we are also a beautifully diverse culture capable of extraordinary things. We have bravely journeyed into the darkest parts of this world and fed the hungry, clothed the needy and mended outcast souls who were so deeply broken that hope was inconceivable. I know this is true. I’ve been humbled by all of you who selflessly serve. At our core, most of us are good eggs.
That said –
Christians have also oppressed, killed and towered over folks who have not aligned themselves with our belief system. We have sullied the name of Christ so badly with our intolerance that the term “Christian” is often synonymous with words like bigot, hypocrite, unscientific, uneducated, stubborn and hateful. If you disagree, consider the current Christian stereotype widely used by Hollywood (and the media): he/she is a fist-pumping “virginal” bigot who is an uneducated, unscientific, judgmental, dysfunctional, gay-hating irrational. If art truly mirrors the spectator - we need to take a long hard look. Selah.
Where did we go wrong?
We’ve become complacent. We have ceased to question and rage against rhetoric, doctrine and tradition.
People of faith have a deep and central desire to draw closer to our Creator. This longing is so fierce that it often leaves us vulnerable to church leaders, politicians and creators of content. A prime example: we are being used (daily) as pawns and scapegoats by Washington, the media and the church. Our “values” are being generalized, marginalized and bastardized to further the agendas of the powerful and make unscrupulous people RICH. Most disturbing, however, and what I’d like to focus the remainder of our time on, is the loudest message currently ringing from the bells of Christian theology. I like to call it the “cause and effect relationship with G-d,” i.e., if you live a certain way (as detailed in some book or download) and follow these specific rules, G-d will love you and bless you abundantly. If you don’t, you will suffer the consequences.
G-d, help us.
If this is true, then there is a HUGE problem: the standard set forth is impossible and we are all screwed. When our lives go dark with death, sickness, addiction, loneliness, etc. – according to this logic – it’s all our fault. When we inevitably fall short and don’t follow instructions to the “t” we are left to feel inadequate, fearful, guilty, less than, and insecure. Did I do enough? What have I done to deserve cancer? Maybe G-d doesn’t listen to me – I must have done something wrong. Did he/she die because I didn’t pray hard enough? Maybe the reason I was raped is because my skirt was too short. Should I buy a book to teach me how to pray? It’s maddening.
It is from this well-crafted chaos that our intolerance is born.
None of us are perfect. It’s OK. Thankfully, G-d’s love has never depended on our ability to achieve perfection. G-d loves our quirks, misgivings, flaws and baggage. If everything good and perfect comes from G-d, then a doctrine that promotes fear and inadequacy is most assuredly not from Him. He never intended us to live in a constant state of anxiety and He certainly never intended us to wound others by grabbing any verse from the Bible and striking at the nearest broken soul in Jesus’ name.
With the voices of our “leaders” echoing on every channel - how then do we bridge our divide? We must first identify the root of our separation.
Forgive my over-simplification, but we have two categories of (non-fringe) Christians in this world: those who take the Bible literally and those who don’t - those who focus on rules/tradition and those who focus on love/redemption. This is our fundamental problem. This either/or scenario is how reckless preachers, priests, popes and politicians gain leverage to our soul and our conscience.
I am here to offer a simple solution of unification: it’s both.
Consider three points. . .
- “If we are the fish, G-d is the water.” There are inherent laws to His universe.
- G-d is powerful enough to have ordained every letter of every version of every Bible on which man has laid his hand. He has guided His precious Word through its tumultuous canonization and through the greed of men. He is aware and has allowed every Word in this book . . .including its contradictions and flaws. Yes, I said it. There are undeniable contradictions within the text itself. Take the 6thperceived contradictions and flaws. Of course there are - a human wrote the message. Now here’s where we can unify: G-d ordained the flaws and contradictions. He wants us to be brave enough to defy tradition and blame the inconsistencies appropriately - on the humans who wrote them. Have you ever noticed that the G-d of the Old Testament feels much different than that of the New Testament? Have you ever considered that this is because the human understanding of G-d evolved? G-d didn’t change, we did. And how did the Bible leave off? “For G-d so loved the world. . .” Commandment as an example: “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” is fairly hard to reconcile considering much of the Old Testament is about killing. (This is just one of many examples.) Christians, we have to begin by admitting that there are
- Most Christians agree with the wisdom that Jesus is the Word (the Word made flesh) and that the Word has been around since the beginning of time. If the Word has been around since the beginning of time, before the Bible was written, what is the Word: L O V E. The overall central theme to Jesus’ actual message is love and has been since the world was void. (Now, I understand that many don’t believe that the central theme of the Bible and Jesus’ message is Love. Do me a favor - write down on a piece of paper what you think to be the overall theme of the Bible. Now look at your list and consider the motive behind each word: free-will, rules, repentance, forgiveness, sacrifice, moral compass and so on. Each theme rests on a manger of and is motivated by love.)
The solution to our divide is quite simple, Saints. If love is our theme, then love should act as our filter for everything. There should be no question about whether or not to embrace people from all walks of life. Extracting verses and chapters to wound someone or control the masses is something politicians, lawyers and misguided clergymen do. We don’t have to conform to this structure. G-d gave us the free will to seek a better answer. Loving someone is so much easier than judging them.
So. . .in the spirit of St. Valentine, my dear ones, shed your cloak of fear and replace it with the freedom of glorious imperfection.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:34-35
© 2011 by Shannon Ivey. Used with Permission. All Rights Reserved.
0 comments:
Post a Comment