TILL HE COMES Blog

It’s popular in Christian circles today to talk about creating community. It is argued that one of the greatest things lacking in most of our churches is a sense of community, that we all belong, and are headed somewhere together — and actually enjoying each other’s company as we do it!

Whole books are written about how to develop this community within your church. Church planters talk about founding communities of faith, hope, and love. Many churches will even put the word “community” in their name.

However, the more I read the Scriptures, the more I get this strange feeling that Jesus never really intended to create a community. Instead, my reading of the Gospels leads me to believe that Jesus never intended to found a new community and ask people to join it, but rather to find already-existing communities, and join with them. So he went to synagogues (the teaching centers), weddings, dinner parties, watering holes, and join in the community that had already naturally developed.

There were, of course, always problems in such communities, and Jesus frequently tried to heal the brokenness and pain that was present in the community. But this is a more natural way of developing community than by putting together a bunch of strangers and saying, “Now get along!”

So are you trying to “plant a church” or “reach out” to your community? How about rather than starting something of your own and asking them to join you, why don’t you find out what God is already doing in your community, and then see how you join them. Don’t try to found the community; just find the one that is already there.

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Each one of us, every day, are surrounded by hell. Children getting sold as sex slaves. Terrorists trying to blow people up. Fathers losing their jobs and getting kicked out of their homes. Couples going through painful breakups. Desperate women selling themselves just to pay the rent. Alcoholism, drug addiction, greed. Even in churches, hell is present with the backbiting, slander, and jealous quarrels that so often go on.

And just as Jesus came to a sinful world, He wants us to follow Him into places where sin and it’s consequences abound. Why? To offer love, hope, and forgiveness. I believe Jesus wants His followers to go to hell.

Who in your neighborhood is in the hell of loneliness? Can’t you reach out to them and offer some companionship? Who just got laid off at work and can’t pay rent? Are you able to call them up, and offer to have them live with you? Maybe they need a car, or meals several times a week. Maybe you can get involved in stopping the child sex slave industry which is growing here in the United States.  Maybe you can support adoption efforts, or show concern (rather than condemnation) for prostitutes and strippers.

The possibilities are endless. But if we are following Jesus, the last thing He wants is for us to be comfortable with our routine of attending church, reading our Bibles, and praying. He wants us to get out there, to people caught in the ways of hell, and reveal to them the ways of heaven.

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I have long thought that nothing in culture is so good that it can be accepted “as is.” Also, nothing in culture is so twisted and evil that it is beyond the scope of redemption. God can take anything and turn it around to bring glory to Him. God can take anybody and raise them up to glory and honor. Each one of us is the perfect example.

However, while I believe that everything is redeemable, not every aspect about everything can be redeemed.  

Last week, I read the following comment by N. T. Wright who says it much better than I: “Christians are neither chameleons, changing color to suit their surroundings, nor rhinoceroses, ready to charge at anything in sight. There is no straightforward transference between any item of ordinary culture and the gospel since all has been distorted by evil; but likewise there is nothing so twisted that it cannot be redeemed, and nothing evil in itself.” (p 7).

So look around. Who have you given up on? Who is “beyond reach”? Who is “too far gone”? What places, countries, customs, events, holidays, and festivals have you written off as “of the devil”? Take those, and begin to think and pray about how God might want to redeem them for Himself.

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I read this on the Glocalnet blog today:

Hooray for Leadership Journal in their most recent issue!!!! Rock on Marshal Shelley!!!! They have an article entitled “Ministry Lessons from a Muslim – His Unexpected Message to Church Leaders: fully embrace your Christian Identity.” This is the most “progressive” journal for Ministers in existence. I both read it and have been in it, yet two things stand out to me in the title. First, “a Muslim” – not Eboo. This is probably the first time there has been an article about “a Muslim” and what he would say to Christian leaders. Being the best magazine there is on “pastoring” in America, what does that say about our understanding the world, other religions, and our ability to communicate with one another? The second thing is “embrace your Christian Identity” – as radical as that might sound – I hear that a lot around the world from my friends who are Muslim. They believe that following Jesus as prescribed in the New Testament would be incredible.

Eboo talks about four responses to our world of faith:

First, there are those who live in the bubble – they want only to be around people of their own religion and to communicate to each other. The problem is, the bubble sooner or later always burst and people are left with no where to go.

Second, there are those who are barriers – they view religion as us against them and it’s all out competition. This is why I talk about planting the seed of the Gospel and how it grows, and we don’t have to force it. Any religion that has to be forced upon someone, through coercion or guns is destined to die sooner or later. Truth doesn’t emanate from force, but thought.

Third, there are those who would bomb. Terrorism and/or war is the way to move your religion forward and demolish others.

Fourth, there are those who would build a bridge. The bridge would allow us to work, talk, communicate, and understand one another. This is the hope of the future. This is what Eboo is doing.

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Imagine that you are a parent of a teenage son, and one day he comes home from school and blurts out, “I’ve started doing drugs. Am I going to hell?”

How do you answer?

What if he said, “A few years ago, someone at school gave me a Playboy, and I been masturbating to it several times a week. Am I going to hell?”

Or, “My girlfriend and I have been having sleeping together for about three months now. Am I going to hell?”

Most Christian parents, I think, would rightfully be alarmed at such confessions, but few would tell their son that he was going to hell. Most parents would seek to help him through these

But what instead, your son said, “For a few years now I’ve been attracted to other guys, and over the last few months, I’ve started having sex with another guy at school. We love each other very much. But someone told me today that unless I change, I’m going to hell. Are they right?”

Now how do you answer?

Most evangelical Christians, when confronted with this hypothetical scenario, respond by saying, “Oh, that would never happen with my son. You see, he had involved father, a mother who wasn’t domineering, and he was never sexually abused as a child. Studies prove that most gay men have had at least one of these things happen to them.”

This, of course, is not an explanation of how you would respond if your son “came out” to you, but is rather a denial of its possibility. It is a non-answer.

Which is why, I suppose, most Christian families are shocked and completely unprepared when such situations do happen to them. We have been caught unaware and unprepared. We never thought it would happen to us, and so we didn’t think about what we should do or say if and when it did.

However, in a world that increasingly welcomes and accepts those of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual (GLBT) orientation, Christians must open their eyes and ears to what GLBT people are saying about God, the Scriptures, the church, and human sexuality. This is especially true if we want to minister among them.

Furthermore, the GLBT issue is increasingly being brought up on television and in politics. Numerous states are passing laws legalizing same-sex marriage. Therefore, it is vitally important for Christians to know how to respond to these situations, not only in truth, but also in love.

Andrew Marin is one Christian who is pioneering the way.

In his newly released book, Love is an Orientation (IVP, 2009), Andrew Marin provides an excellent overview of the absolute necessity for Christians to build bridges to those people who are in the GLBT community. As Christ took the initiative and came to us, we must take the initiative in building bridges of hope and love to others.

Thankfully, Andrew Marin is not writing theoretically, but from yeas of experience from living among the GLBT community as the “gayest straight person in the world.”

The book provides excellent insights and guidelines for working alongside and developing relationships with people in the GLBT community. For example, Andrew advises the four of the most important things Christians can do are (1) love, (2) listen, (3) don’t judge, and (4) seek friendship and conversation. Also, he recommends we stop saying “Love the sinner; hate the sin” and referring to those in the GLBT community as “homosexuals.” Both, he explains, are derogatory.

One helpful feature of the book is the answers to the five main questions that are on the minds of most Christians. The questions are:

1. Do you think that gays and lesbians are born that way?
2. Do you think homosexuality is a sin?
3. Can a GLBT person change?
4. Do you think that someone can be gay and a Christian?
5. Are GLBT people going to hell?

I imagine that as you read this short review, one or two of these questions crossed your mind as well. I believe that Marin provided some excellent answers to these questions in his book. Sadly, I don’t have room to reproduce the answers here…so I guess you’ll just have to buy and read the book for yourself.

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Reinventing church requires looking at all that we are and all that we do and asking ourselves, “Is this biblical? Is this the best way of accomplishing what the church is supposed to be and do? Is there a better way?” One key area that such questions need to be asked is in the area of Outreach and Evangelism. (You’ll see by the way I’ve worded some of the questions below that I feel very strongly about this issue.)

What if Outreach, Evangelism and Missions were different?

What if the pastor was not seen as the one who does the evangelism through his sermon?

What if evangelism wasn’t often defined simply as “inviting someone to church for a special event or to hear a special speaker”?

What if the people in church viewed themselves first and foremost as missionaries? How could pastors help them develop this paradigm shift?

What if we viewed supporting missionaries as more important than building a new building or upgrading our existing one?

What is “mission” anyway? Who are “the missionaries”?

What if all our people knew how to share the message of eternal life?

What if there was more to evangelism than simply sharing the message of eternal life (or the four spiritual laws, the Romans Road, or whatever)?

What if we don’t have “evangelism events” but instead trained people to simply love others?

What if we didn’t have “revivals” but instead focused on 1-to-1 discipleship?

What if we stopped praying for revivals and the “evangelization of the lost” and actually went across the street and served somebody?

What if we stopped trying to plan and program our own “serve the community” events, and just joined in the events which the community was already doing? (For ideas, go look at the bulletin board in the Town Hall or the Supermarket. Call the Courthouse, the Fire Department, or the Police. Contact your mayor for a list of events.)

What if evangelism took place in people’s homes as we invite them over to our houses, and us to theirs?

What if we showed as much grace toward believers and unbelievers as God shows toward us?

What if evangelism was just as much about right living as it is about right believing?

Would more people want to become followers of Jesus if we lived life with more joy, laughter, love, patience, kindness, and gentleness?

What if we didn’t care about people using profanity in our presence, or if they smelled of alcohol and cigarettes?

What if, rather than trying to impress our views upon other people, we tried to learn about their views instead, and asked them what they believed?

What if, rather than trying to get people to act like us, talk like us, look like us as soon as they “get saved” we let the Holy Spirit work in them at their (and His) own pace?

What if we stopped saying “Praise God” and “God Bless You” at the end of every sentence?

What if we stopped telling people “I’ll pray for you” and tried to help them instead?

What if, instead of practicing “apologetic evangelism” where we are always trying to defend the faith against the heresies of the heathen, we loved people and served people? 

What if we let people get involved in church who weren’t sure yet what they believed about Jesus or God?

What if evangelism and discipleship were the same thing?

What if we didn’t focus so much on evangelism, but on discipleship?

What if the gospel was more than just a set of doctrines, but an all-encompassing claim on life?

What if nearly everything in life could be redeemed for discipleship?

What if we stopped using Christian music, Christian movies, Christian literature and started watching and reading the same things that our neighbors and coworkers are?

What if, instead of starting Christian Coffee Houses, Christian Work-Out Centers, and Christian Bridge Clubs, we started just going to these places that were already in our community and meeting the people who go there?

What if we stopped “having church” in our Christian buildings, and instead went down to the local beach, or the local restaurant, or the local bar?

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Feel free to provide your own questions in the comment section below.

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In this last post, I want to reveal the primary reason I believe “Christianity” is true. And remember, I’m not alking about the religion of Christianity, but the aspect of my life where I believe in Jesus for eternal life, and try to follow His leading and His example.

It seems that most studies in comparative religion look at all the various options, find the scores upon scores of similarities between the religions, and conclude that “they are basically all the same.” To me, that’s like taking an orange, an apple, and a mango and saying, “They all basically round, they’re all fruits, they can all be eaten, they all grow on trees,… so they are all the same.” Yet as everybody knows, these three fruits are certainly not all the same. You distinguish them not by focusing on the similaraties, but by focusing on the differences.

When it comes to “Christianity” and all other religions, there seems to be one primary difference: grace. (Diane and William mentioned this in the comment section of the previous post!) Grace is the reason I believe “Christianity” as true. Grace makes Christianity unique, and grace provides the only way for sinful people to be restored to God. Without grace, Christianity is just another religion.

And I don’t mean the weak-kneed concept of grace that is found in most our churches where we talk and teach it, but don’t really believe it. No, I mean true, no restrictions, no fine print, limitlness, boundless, liberating grace.

Let me be clear. As I observe people of all religions (including many Christians), most have a concept of grace. But the popular religious idea of grace does not come close to what I believe the Bible teaches about grace. Most religious people (including most “Christians”) believe that we have to gain and maintain a certain level of morality in order to stay in God’s good graces, in order to please and appease God. Most religious people I have talked to, speak about being “saved by the grace of God” (or some sort of similar terminology). But as I ask more questions, and dig a little deeper, I find that most people believe that God’s grace only extends as far as our obedience. If we rebell against Him, or persistently act contrary to His will and commands, He removes His grace from us. For many, being a recipient of God’s grace means that God gives us the grace (or gift) of having the power and ability to obey God.

This is not what I believe about grace, nor is it what I believe the Bible teaches about grace. I believe the Bible teaches that God’s grace is without limit, stipulations, or conditions. Once we have received God’s grace through faith in Jesus, there is nothing we can do or say to separate ourselves from God’s grace. His grace covers all sin, past, present, and future.

When people of most religions hear this (even “Christians”), they often say, “Well then, why can’t you just go out and sin all you want?”

When I hear that, I know I have done a good job explaining grace. This is the same reaction Paul got when he explained grace (cf. Romans 6:1). If your understanding of God’s grace does not lead to this objection, then let me suggest that you don’t understand grace.

So why do I think that grace separates “Christianity” from the rest of religions? Because grace teaches us that God, who loves us, wants so much for things to be restored between us and Him, that He did everything necessary to restore that relationship. He left nothing up to us. God knew that if He left anything up to us as far as obedience is concerned, all of us would fail. Without grace, nobody could be sure they were good enough, obedient enough, holy enough to be on “God’s good side.” But with grace, all of the fear and effort fades away, and we can simply focus on enjoying the presence (and presents) of God.

So there it is. Why is Christianity true? I think there are a lot of factors that contribute to it’s “trueness,” most of which, however, can be found in other religions as well. But the one characteristic which sets Christianity apart from all other religions is grace. And grace is the only way for sinful people to get back into a relationship with a holy God.

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Let’s say you just arrived on planet earth, and were trying to pick a religion to follow. You didn’t know much about any of them, and so decided to interview various members of each particular faith, and ask them why you should join their religion, and more importantly, why they believed their particular religion was true.

In a previous post, I stated that in general, Christians would give four different answers:

1. I’ve experienced God and so I know it’s true.
2. Following Christianity results in more substantial life change than other faiths. In other words, Christians live better lives, so it must be true.  
3. The Bible, which Christianity is based on, doesn’t have the errors and contradictions that are present in the “Holy books” of other faiths. It doesn’t contradict itself, nor does it contradict the facts of history and science (considering evolution is a theory). Therefore, the Bible can be trusted as true revelation from God.
4. God answers prayer and provides signs and wonders, which proves Christianity is true. This includes things like prophecy and healing.

There may be a few others that Christians would use, but these are the four most common.

But did you know that people of other religions would use almost the exact same reasons for why they believetheir religion is true? Let me give examples of the four explanations. 

1. If you have ever talked with a Mormon, you know that most of them believe Mormonism is true because they had an experience with God such as an inner warming of the heart or a vision, proving to them that Mormonism is true. Nearly all religions have similar experiences.
2. I don’t care which religion you pick, if you talk to someone of that religion, they will say that in general, their adherents are more obedient than people of other religions. This is true of Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus…possibly even Satanists. (If you saw my post on Satanism a few weeks ago, in the comments, a Satanist informed me that while Satanists don’t practice mercy, their teachings ”prohibit all illegal activity.”) When it comes to morality, Christians would be hard pressed to prove that we are morally superior to those who practice other religions.
3. Did you know that every religion practices apologetics? We Christians are not the only ones who try to explain the supposed factual, historical, and scientific “problems” in our Scriptures. All religions do this, and many of the arguments are quite sophisticated and compelling. For example, I am currently reading a book called What Jesus Really Said which is a book in which the author tries to prove that Jesus actually taught the Muslim faith! It is a book of Muslim apologetics.
4. People of nearly all religions pray for healing (and see frequent healing as a result – See the recent TIME magazine article on this), receive visions, have ecstatic experiences, speak prophetic words (and see them come true), and observe signs, wonders, and miracles performed through the power of their god(s). Some groups even speak in tongues.

So in four of the ways that Christians believe their religion is better than others, it really is not. At least, not to an outside observer who is only doing surface-depth investigation.

So why hold to Christianity? Why should people believe in Jesus and follow Him? More personally, why do I? I’ll tell you my primary reason in the next post.

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In this post, I wanted to address the four common responses I get from Christians when they are asked why Christianity is true and other faiths are wrong.  I will have to save that for my next post.

Why?

I blame my good friend Stephen Hammond and what he pointed out in the comments of the previous post. Thank you for the insight, Stephen! You always make me think.

Before we can ask “Is Christianity true?” we have to ask “What is Christianity?” There are so many different versions of Christianity, it is impossible to pick one as “true Christianity” or to lump them all together as one unified “Christianity.” As we are all aware, it is certainly not unified. And so, since not all of these versions can be completely right, some of them must be false, or at least partially false.

Let me take it a bit further. There is no version of Christianity which is completely true. That’s right. You and your church do not have a corner on the truth market. Nor do I. We all believe and practice some error. Yes, there is some heresy in you too. (The trick is finding it.)

Furthermore, when we talk about Christianity being true, and other religions being false, just as we cannot say that all of Christianity is true, we also cannot say that all aspects of all other faiths are untrue. To the contrary, there is a lot of truth in every religion in the world. Let me go so far as to say that certain religions probably have more truth than some versions of Christianity!

So in the following posts, when I continue to ask “Is Christianity true?” what I really mean is, “Why do you believe and practice what you do? How do you know that it is true?” 

Even this question is too vague, but I’ll have to leave it at that…

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As much as possible, I have always tried to observe and interact with people of many different religions and faith backgrounds. My current job affords me this opportunity much more than ever before.

A question I keep coming back to is “How do we know that Christianity is right and other faiths are wrong?” When I pose this question to various people of Christianity, I generally get one of four answers (if I am not immediately condemned for asking such a question). They are:

1. I’ve experienced God and so I know it’s true.
2. Christianity results in more substantial life change than other faiths. In other words, Christians live better lives, so it must be true.  
3. The Bible, which Christianity is based on, doesn’t have the errors and contradictions that are present in the “Holy books” of other faiths. It doesn’t contradict itself, nor does it contradict the facts of history and science (considering evolution is a theory). Therefore, the Bible can be trusted as true revelation from God.
4. God answers prayer and provides signs and wonders, which proves Christianity is true. This includes things like prophecy and healing.

Here is the curious thing: As I interact with people of other religions, and through the course of conversation find out why they hold their beliefs, I find that nearly all people of all religions have these same four basic arguments for why their beliefs are true. Some throw in a few other explanations (I just grew up with it… It’s the oldest religion… We have a great tradition.), but generally, these are the four I hear.

Personally, I think only one of these answers has much merit, but none of these four are the top reason I believe the Christian faith is uniquely true.

So before I tell you what my primary reason is, I am curious what you think. What do you think of the four reasons above? Are they compelling? Why or why not? Are there others you frequently hear? Why do you think that Christianity is (or is not) true?

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