I
read an article in Christianity Today written by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, an
African-American woman who was writing about the lack of diversity in the
line-up of speakers within the conference speaking circuit. Her article I
believe was her own response to the furore raised by a previous article written
Rachel Held Evans. In the Christianity Today piece, there was a link to the
earlier article by Rachel Held Evans. After reading the first article, I
decided to read the write-up that had started the trouble. It was probably one
of the worst mistakes I have ever made.
There
was nothing particularly wrong with the article itself. It was well written and
thoughtful in its nature. The entire article spoke of someone who was afraid to
speak so as not to cause division but felt she had to speak for the sake of the
faith she professed, I felt the article was a perspective that was needed with
regard to issues affecting Christianity in the West. However, when I started
reading the comments section, a feeling of depression quickly settled on me.
The more comments I read, the more I wondered whether I was reading the
comments section of a Christian blog or that of a far left, liberal Democratic Party
supporter. The more I read, the more I saw people who said they were atheists
agreeing with those who claimed they were Christians in church bashing. There
were those who even went as far as describing Christianity as oppressive. (I’m
sure those in North Korea would disagree with them on what constitutes oppression).
Critics
of marriage point to marriage point to the high divorce rates as evidence of
the fact that marriage as a concept has outlived its usefulness. I disagree.
Everybody agrees that governance is broken in Washington but does that mean we should
abolish democracy? As long as imperfect people are involved, there will be
issues. The same with Christianity. As long as the people involved are people
and not walking in the spirit, there will be issues. But for people to say
Christianity and by extension the Church is oppressive, that worries me. For
people to say the bride of Christ, as opposed to the people who say they are
Christians, is oppressive says a lot more about them than they might say. The
comments were all without grace and all about blaming others. Most worrying
however was the replacing of human ideology for faith.
From
most of the comments I read, I understood that for the people commenting, the ideologies
and traditions of men trumped any articles of faith. In short, it seemed that
people who were ideologues and card carrying members of the Democratic Party
believed they were better Christians than those who were Republicans. I read a
comment from someone railing against the right’s attempt to enact laws that
would affect a woman’s reproductive health. By that I take it the person was
talking about abortion. Is that what Christianity in the West all about now?
The murder of innocent babies? The understanding I got was that there were a
lot of people who claimed they were Christians who were viewing Christianity
through the prism of their sense of right and wrong instead of viewing their
sense of right and wrong through the lens of Christianity.
Jesus
said people had made the laws of God of no effect by replacing them with the
traditions of men. From the comments I read on Rachel Held Evans blog, a lack
of love or unity is the last thing we need to worry about. The book of Jude
urges us to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the
saints. How can we earnestly contend for the faith when we refuse to listen or
do what God says? How can we earnestly contend for the faith when we are so
busy blaming others for all that's wrong with Christianity? How can we
earnestly contend for the faith when we think Christianity is some
anachronistic cultural phenomenon stuck in the Middle Ages that we need to drag
kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I am always baffled and
amused by those who think they know more than the fathers who delivered the
faith we profess to us. I’m sure there are those who think they know more than
Christ. I’m sure there are those who if they had their way would burn the Bible
because the Word of God isn’t politically correct and is what stops
Christianity from being truly “progressive”. No, a lack of unity or love is not
really what’s wrong with Christianity. The problem at times is the people who
think they know what’s wrong with Christianity.
JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO
published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers and LOST, BUT FOUND.
