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I get a little cranky with the Gospel Coalition, in fact I try not to read them. Here is their latest article that has annoyed me, “When Christianity Doesn’t Work.“
I understand the intent behind these kind of articles and sentiments, the desire to protect people from false promises and wild expectation. God is not like Santa Claus, or rather, God is not ALWAYS like Santa Claus. Sometimes we don’t get precisely what we ask for, but most of the time we really do get more than we can carry, more than we deserve, more than we can handle.
The riches of His grace, His abundant goodness, just a heaping helping of all that is good and glorious.
Recently I got a couple bits of criticism from friends and I had to sit and ponder over it. Both of these comments were said in the heat of the moment, mostly over politics. First, “you’re hurting your Christian witness.” The second, “you’re hurting the established Christian character of this nation!”
I like that last one because it makes me sound very big and bad, very powerful. Totally crushing it over here, single handedly dismantling the established Christian character of an entire nation…..
Guilty! Totally guilty, and totally unrepentant about it, too. I can’t think of anything I despise more. This alleged Christian-reputation, Christian-branding thing, is just like nails on a chalkboard to me. I would very much like to walk up and poke it in the eye ball.
The “established Christian character” of this nation is a fancy professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, busy harping on the idea that Christianity doesn’t work. I don’t wish to single him out, there are literally thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of other people creating the, “established Christian character of a nation,” in a similar way.
I have little or no respect for “evangelicism as a brand.” All they have ever really taught me is that God is angry and full of wrath, you totally deserve to suffer, and Christianity doesn’t work.
Well, sign me right up! Can I join your Country Club of Perpetual Misery? Alas no! Much of branded evangelicism also has some big issues with girls. We’re really skeery, the root of all evil, the cause of all sin, easily deceived, prone to….. dismantle the established Christian character of a nation??
Maybe it really needs dismantling? Maybe what hurts our witness the most is how we have built such an idol to the, “Christian brand” that we struggle to even see the forest for all the trees?
I hope you can tell I’m being snarky about girls and the evangelicism brand. Oh, it’s 100% true, I’m just really grateful for it, so very blessed to be an outsider, not a potential candidate for admittance into the “evangelical brand.” I can easily see how I could have got lost there, trapped in culture, trying to climb some kind of hierarchal ladder. Not being a part of all that frees me up to just follow Jesus, to share what I think and believe, and to loudly proclaim, Christianity works, perhaps not the evangelical brand so much, but Jesus Himself.
I’m deadly serious about that. I sat in church once and cried through an entire sermon because I knew the pastor could not speak what was on his heart because he served a brand. It was a good brand too, and he was a good man, he just wasn’t allowed to say what the Lord wanted him to say, because he was forced to serve people instead.
It probably sounds very virtuous or it feels good and noble, to say things like, God didn’t promise us health, wealth, and comfort, just endless suffering but on the bright side, we’re saved from His wrath to come.
God gave me a brain and a heart. I don’t believe He called me to worship a wrath filled God, whose promises are not true, and to enter a faith that doesn’t work. The God I know is generous, He loves His children dearly, and He tells us, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
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Yes, and yes. Yes, we are called to give everything to the Lord, even our lives, if necessary. (How many American “Christians have actually been willing to do that?) But once we have “died to self,” it’s amazing what He does in response. He may very well turn around and give us right back what we just gave to Him (I’ve experienced that more times than I can count.), or He may give us something BETTER than what we gave Him. He also may give us the courage to face whatever is coming and even the supernatural joy that comes from “the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.” (I admit I’m not quite there yet…) We may actually be happier in our suffering than a lot of American “Christians” are in their prosperity. But if someone’s “Christian walk” resembles a guy going to his execution, that person doesn’t get it, and they’re not going to get much of a following.
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Yes, amen! We can be joyous regardless of our circumstances and I believe the Bible teaches us how to do exactly that. Not long ago we lost a whole bunch of well off celebrities to some very tragic circumstances, drugs, alcohol, suicide. Robin Williams, Whitney Houston, Tom Petty. It’s a long list, my point being it’s not that Christianity doesn’t work, it’s that our Western understanding of what makes us happy is all wrong.
It always makes me a bit crazy when we talk about Job too, kind of imply he was doing something wrong and his friends were doing something right. That’s a really Western, cultural view. At the start of the tale God actually calls Job righteous. When He does get angry, He gets angry at Job’s friends! Also, we never really talk about how God restores everything Job has lost, ten fold. He is given back twice as much as he lost. So Job regains his health, his wealth, and even his wife! They go on to have a bunch more kids.
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Seriously? There are people who believe that about Job? Sounds like they haven’t read the book.
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“The God I know is generous, He loves His children dearly…”
For many, (although I fear probably a minority), that is the perpetual comfort of our personal relationship with Jesus. Sadly, too many self-proclaimed believers are proud members of the ‘Country Club of Perpetual Misery’. They will say, ‘Lord, did we not prophesy, drive out demons, and perform many miracles in your name?’ Jesus will tell them, ‘I never knew you.’ (Mt. 7:22, 23). I liken them to Martha – worried and upset about many things – missing the greater relevance – like Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening. (Lk. 10:38-42).
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I’m very impressed by your ability to singlehandedly take on the entire character of a Nation.
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Me too! No wonder I need a nap. 🙂
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Thanks for single-handling destroying our nation Christian-psyche, IB. (I knew there was SOMEONE to blame!) LOL!
I’m with you on the article. As you said, the author meant well but by trying to encourage us, he sends a very disturbing message…we actually can blame God for Christianity not always working….
For example, it’s not at all because I’m a stubborn self-absorbed idiot who watches porn and ignores my wife, but who happens to go to church and sing songs to Jesus….We prayed for our marriage and even went to counseling and still ended up in divorce. See, Christianity doesn’t always work! I-yi-yi! What a world, what a world….
I agree in this….THAT “Christianity” doesn’t work.
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Ha! That’s a great example, Mel. I love how Jesus asks, “do you want to be healed?” We don’t always, sometimes we don’t want to let go of what we’re hanging onto. That’s certainly true of me.
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you’re inherent strength showed up in this post…..it takes courage and you have it. Well expressed. Deserves closer attention.
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