Identifying a Christian: The Second in a Series of Very Complicated Conversations
Read this first: http://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/02/07/the-scary-kinship-of-christian-nationalism-and-white-supremacy/
This blog was the starting point for this article, about modern Christianity and how it practices the Bible and dogma. John P presents a concept (“Christian Nationalism and White Supremacy”) that is frightening. In a very specific way, he calls out those who say they are Christian but live in a manner that does not represent the values of Jesus and his teachings.
What does it mean, to be a “Christian”? It means a follower of Christ, someone who believes in the “repentance, redemption, and salvation” requirements of the religion. It means someone who is living by the precepts handed down in the New Testament, especially those from Jesus Christ. He said that “…did not come to change the Law, but to fulfill it” and that believing in him gave you two commandments: Love your God and Love your neighbor. And when he said “neighbor”, he was not referring to those in your village or town — he meant every other person on the planet. And then Jesus gave a specific list of the ways to “love your neighbor” in Matthew 25:34–40:
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Pretty straight forward: feed the hungry; offer drink to the thirsty, invite the stranger in, clothe the naked, comfort the sick, visit the prisons. These 6 actions can be fulfilled in very many ways, but as a Christian, THIS is your work.
The Evangelical branch of Christianity is one that only deals with the “repentance, redemption, salvation” part of the faith tenets. Why? Because they know that when “everyone has heard the Word (of God)”, the end of the world will come and they’ll go up to Heaven, which is all that they are really waiting for. My own parents believe that the Rapture will come before they die. To put it bluntly, they’re old and the chance that their own, personal “Rapture” will occur before a worldwide one is pretty good. It’s arrogant to think that you won’t die until Jesus comes to take his followers up into heaven. On the other hand, those same followers have been thinking that since the Apostles thought Jesus would come back in their lifetimes.
So the members of an Evangelical church do a lot of “witnessing” and proselytizing, always trying to bring more people to Jesus Christ. That is not in and of itself a bad thing. Sharing the “good news” (which is what “gospel” means) is a natural part of belonging to Jesus, and he told his followers to share his teachings. However, in Matthew 25, the other verses around the ones I have shared are talking about the end times, and the King (Jesus/God) will tell the people that some of them obeyed his teachings (by doing those 6 tasks) and some did not. And the ones that did not were to be in eternal damnation. He did not make “saving souls” a part of that determination.
I believe that the reason for this was because if you are truly living the Jesus-inspired life, if you are doing the work given to you by him, your life is the best witness to the glory and grace of the Lord. You don’t need to make a specific effort to win others to Christianity. But according to Jesus himself, you are supposed to make every effort to care for your fellow beings.
Based on what I see, hear and read, there are people who call themselves “Christian” but have completely missed the point. (Side note: the Greek word for “sin” actually means, “to have missed the point”.) They talk the talk, but they absolutely do not walk the walk. Far too many of them seem to prefer the laws that Moses was given — but they don’t want to follow all of them. They pick and choose the laws that support their own flawed views. One example is that they want to ban homosexuality based on the verses about “a man shall not lie with another man as he would with a woman”, but they don’t want to stop eating shellfish, shaving or wearing a single type of cloth.
These people have based their religion on the Old Testament, which technically would make them Jews, but they don’t keep all of the laws as the Jews (try to) do. These people are all about smiting sinners and making some group suffer and go to Hell for all eternity. Where is the “Love your God” AND “Love your neighbor”? Moreover, many of these people are brainwashed by the very person/s that are to lead this flock, to provide guidance in matters religious and to teach about Jesus. They aren’t wrong, they are misguided. They just don’t know any better.
More insidious still is the prevalence of “mega-churches” with very charismatic preachers…and the congregations never seem to quibble at giving up their money nor question why this man is wearing $3,000 suits and lives in a multi-million dollar mansion. Jesus had some pretty strong words for those who were actually serving another god called “Greed” — described in Matthew 19:17–24:
“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.”
(Side note: The phrase “easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle” was a common saying at that time. It would actually be more correct to say “pass through the Eye of THE Needle”. The Eye of the Needle was a particular gate in the city walls. It was narrow and short so to get the camels through it, they had to get down on their knees and then move through the gate.)
But the god Greed is not limited to the people with money. A person can be greedy in many other ways, but the common thread is that they desire (whatever) more than they care about people or God. They care only for themselves and the collection of the object of their greed. Definitely not like Jesus.
Let’s return to the idea of “repent, redemption, salvation”, to continue deeper into what this may/can mean to the people who follow that particular form of Christianity. Repenting of sins and accepting Jesus as Savior is the first step to being a Christian. I repeat: it is the FIRST step. Not the last, not the only. It’s starting on a new way of living, having renounced the old “sinful” life. Sometimes you’ll hear the phrase “born again in Christ” as another way of saying “being saved”. Logically, using the “if this, then that” model, we can say that IF you repent and are saved, or born again, THEN you are, spiritually speaking, a baby. IF the church in question focuses solely on the “repent, redemption, salvation” aspect of Jesus, THEN those who make that decision are babies, now left unfed and uncared for. It becomes a failure in following the mission of Jesus: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. These “babies” are “hungry” for the rest of Jesus’s teachings, for instructions on how to mature in their new spiritual life.
If those lessons are not taught, if the information is not given to them, then they have no understanding of what Jesus expects of them as his followers. They can become merely an empty shell that has the word “Christian” on the outside. They CANNOT “walk the walk” because they have no knowledge of where the path is and what direction they should be going. The fault is not theirs; it is the responsibility of the minister and other respected leaders to impart those instructions. When the leaders of any church maintain a specific agenda (saving souls), then the entire church community suffers. If you have repented and been saved, what good is sermon after sermon of “you are a sinner, repent and be saved!”? There is a void that will not be filled from a minister/pastor/preacher who is intensely focused on the salvation part of Jesus’s instructions to his followers.
What happens to these babies? They are saved, their church says that’s what you do to get to Heaven, and so no further action is needed. They can go about their lives, essentially unchanged from before the profession of faith. They have no idea of Jesus’s two commandments (Love your God, love your neighbor) and certainly no idea of the work he has given them — those 6 tasks we’ve been talking about. These people are spiritually bereft. Having bought into one specific action to get to Heaven, they don’t change their lives to reflect that decision.
Which leads us to the Evangelical Church that is deeply, deeply involved in politics and social issues — but not in a good way. At the worst, they are aiding and abetting immoral politicians who mouth the words of their own “Christianity”; they are perpetuating all the negative “-isms” as being that way based on the Bible (as they understand and cherry pick it). At the best — and at least, they are culpable for allowing this to happen without resisting it or calling out the perpetrators for their un-human, inhumane behavior of divisiveness, disenfranchising and subjugation.
It is a wonderful example of irony to know that a major portion of our country believes the current immigration ban to be a “good thing”. And it’s a multiplicity of irony — first, we are a nation of immigrants, refugees from many countries. Second, we have within our nation’s tenets (the Constitution) the freedom of religion. The largest irony of all is that declared Christians, who believe in that ban, seem to forget that Jesus was a BROWN man, from the Middle East, and a Jew. His parents took him and fled from Herod’s command to kill all first born males, becoming refugees themselves. And so Jesus was also a refugee. In some sense, refusing to accept these immigrants and refugees is refusing to accept Jesus himself. But that point is missed on a grand scale.
Identifying a Christian is actually NOT easy. It’s not about going to church, however many times per week. It’s not about the visible symbols: a cross necklace, a Jesus tattoo, or a dove bracelet. It’s not about the words that come out of the mouth of the suspected Christian — because, as the old saying goes, “actions speak louder than words”. And when words and actions don’t match, believe the actions. How can we identify the true Jesus followers, the ones who know and are obeying him? “By their fruit (actions) you will know them.” (Matthew 7:20)
If you want to see true believers in the words of Jesus Christ, look for those who are feeding the poor: actually feeding food to someone or “feeding” others knowledge or training. Look for those who are giving drink to the thirsty: actual water or the validation of someone’s feelings. Look for those who are inviting the stranger in: helping people from other nations come to this country or meeting the new neighbor. Look for those who are clothing the naked: giving clothes to the homeless or helping others learn how to protect themselves from (whatever) danger. Look for those who are comforting the sick: being a nurse or doctor, or being there for someone who is depressed and needs to talk about it. Look for those who are visiting those in prison: actual prison ministry or offering information and help to an abused person seeking a way out of their abuse. Look for the folks who are offering peace, love, understanding, compassion, kindness, and time to others when it has no specific benefit for themselves.
“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21–24)
It’s not about doing miracles, as mentioned in verse 22, but in following the teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ, living a spiritually motivated, loving towards all, life. That’s how you identify a true Christian, in the fullest meaning of the word.
