Why I am excited for the marginalization of Christianity

So, now that I have hooked you with my title, let's start a conversation. I think Christianity is headed for the margins of Western society and I am excited. I believe(and statistics back me up) that you are going to see the "death" of Church in the West. I say "death" because I view it as an amazing opportunity for the Church. Christianity is a religion at its best when it is being persecuted. It operates better when its followers are devalued by society. 

Jesus went so far 

as to claim that we are blessed when we are persecuted. And in fact, that is a kind of litmus test for Christians, if we are not being persecuted, we are not being true to the values of God's Economy. 

Christianity has long been the sponsoring religion of 

Western culture(since about 350 AD). Every major Western society(with the exception of perhaps the USSR, if you consider that to be a Western society) has been explicitly or 

implicitly Christian. Christians have been in power, they have been the norm. If you were not a Christian in Western society, you were a heretic, pagan, or at least socially deviant.  

This is simply not the case in the West anymore. We are moving toward, and indeed may have arrived at, a pluralistic society. The Church in the last 50 years has decried this change as a declination in "moral" value. As a result of our complaining because we were not living up to our own standards, we are now seen as: hypocritical, hateful, intolerant,and judgmental. We hold tightly our status as the sponsoring religion, we remind everyone that America was once a Christian nation. We have never stopped to consider that the relationship of the Church to the state may be the most damaging relationship the Church has ever entered into. For several reasons:1) the Church has a difficult time criticizing the government(i.e. the war in Iraq) 2) The Church becomes complicit in any sin the government engages in(i.e. slavery)3) The Church is at serious risk of having its identity confused with that of a nation. 

This third danger is worth exploring further, is the Church in an identity crisis? Can we separate America from the Church? Who is more important, a Christian or an American(it's a trick question)? To someone outside of the influence of both the West and the Church do they see two institutions, or are they viewed as synonymous? Is there a difference between a Christian and an American? Who do you pledge allegiance to first? Is an American Christian justified in killing a German Christian during WW2? We can see the dangers of the mixing of Church and state. 

Furthermore, the marginalization of the Church provides the Church with two great opportunities 1) to be it own peculiar kind of economy/kingdom 2) to empathize with those in the margins rather than create the margins. Let's explore them in order.

1) The Church can now be as "weird" as Jesus. When we were the sponsoring religion, we had a certain image to keep up, now we are already viewed as weird, so why not embrace it? Why not celebrate the fact that we worship a king who was crucified by a power weaker than He? Why not marvel at how the small can topple the big? Why not be grateful that we are no longer the big? Why not create our own culture/economy/kingdom which esteems the value of every human life? Why not reject money as a motivation? Why not forgive those who hurt us? Why not feed the hungry? Why not laud the fact that the only way to become great is to become nothing? Why not run toward our savior like a child to his Father?

2) Being in the margins makes us acutely aware of the pain and suffering of the ones sharing the space with us. We can now empathize with the poor, oppressed, and down trodden. They are no longer projects, but equals. They are no longer the products of our lifestyles(hopefully) but fellow mourners. We have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate that the margins aren't so bad, and that maybe, just maybe, that is where God wanted his ragtag group of nobodies to be all along. Maybe He knows that it is in the margins that we are most likely to encounter Him.

Tune in next time for a discussion on the similarities between the culture of the early church and the post modern church. ( I use that word to designate a time in history, not a philosophical viewpoint)

From converts to disciples

For my entire life, I have been told that salvation does not come through works. I have had Edwards,Calvin, and Luther quoted over and over. I do believe that salvation can not be earned. I do think that my good could never outweigh my bad. I am so very thankful that it is grace that redeems me. I am so thankful that the righteousness of Christ has been imputed into me. But I think it is time that we acknowledge that we must become doers of the Word. It is time for our actions to start reflecting the fact that we have been washed clean. I wonder why we(being Christians) go on and on about the magnificent work of Christ personally washing us from sin, and ignore every other person around us. We only worry about our personal sins, we never see that our sin effects other people, and we never try to become righteous. We are not concerned with the oppressed, voiceless, blind, imprisoned, or poor. We do not try to ease their sufferings. 

I think that the lack of our works, comes from the preaching of our Gospel as an insurance policy. We have preached over and over that the blood over Christ will act as fire insurance, that if you believe in Him, you do not have to worry about Hell. The problem is we have turned Christianity into a personal, introspective religion. We do not create a community of people who have been and are being redeemed, concerned with doing the same for others. We do not understand that being a member of the Kingdom of God, means being about reversing sin. We have focused on what Christ did for me and to me. But we never realized that the forgiveness of our sins was a means to an end.  God's story in history is the story of defeating sin. It is not about anything but victory over sin. 

Sin is the antithesis of God. He hates it. He is passionate about seeing it ended. He sent Christ into the world to reconcile man to Himself. Yet, we have turned God's actions intended for His glory into something that personally benefits us. In a way, we have turned salvation into an excuse to sin. We can be generally apathetic about the sufferings of others because we only have to survive this life to be with God. Yet, we have the ability to be with God right now. God is found in all of the hurting people. 

Our world has been ravaged by sin. It effects man at every level: socially, psychologically, economically, politically, physically, and spiritually. The Church has been given the job of reversing the effects of this great scourge. We have been given a vaccine, and we have used it to only treat one part of the problem. We have made Christianity into something less than a complete lifestyle. We have made it into something you believe like santa claus. If you believe in santa you get some presents. If you believe in Jesus, you get to go to Heaven. We have never told people what Jesus said His followers were in for. We fail to mention that a disciple of Jesus has to hand over all of his possessions, possibly change vocations, stop seeking luxury, and study tirelessly. We have made Christianity far too easy! We have gone from a movement which demanded all of you to a movement that demands a prayer of you.

I was driving through Dallas Texas once, and I saw a sign for a Church advertising 30 minute services. That is the epitome of American Christianity. Jesus is something you need, but it need not take much of your time. We can get you enough Jesus in 30 minutes to last the week. Jesus is not that important. You should spend as much time worshipping, loving, and following Him, as yo do watching the Office. The irony is so stark that I will say no more and let the effect sink in.

It is time that we stop telling people it is enough to pray one time. It is time to stop telling people all they have to believe is a set of statements. There can not be a disconnect between what we believe and what we do. We do not need any more intellectual believers. We need some disciples, people committed to following this renegade rabbi.