Collateral Damage in the Culture Wars
I feel like writing some very specific things about the Christian faith. I have had these thoughts whirling around my head for a week or so, but when I stare at a blank page on my blog, nothing happens.
It is easy to laugh at the American church. I learned to laugh at the American church years ago, because if it’s not a comedy, it’s a tragedy. Live long enough and you’ll see the scars. I’ve met people who have been chewed up, spit out, and tossed from the church. I have known people who have had horrible injustices and cruelties done to them in the name of Jesus.
You see, Christians are people. They’re human beings with flaws, bad childhood experiences, broken hearts, empty dreams, and this nasty need to take care of themselves above all else. Everybody on the planet has this problem. If you got to know enough of your favorite hero’s friends and family, they may not be your hero anymore. In fact, the Bible says this about our race. We have all fallen short. We all continue to fall short.
This shortcoming was the point of the cross and the resurrection. I doubt you’ll find a Christian who disagrees with this. Jesus came to make things right. He came to undo the mess.
The comedy is the fact that even though Christians know this, we very often fail to live like it. I say comedy because the best episodes of The Office are the ones where the characters make the wrong decision. It’s funny, because we do the same thing every day in our own lives. If we don’t laugh at it, then it is really quite tragic.
It’s tragic when a church splits, or dies, because its members value their opinions over their brothers and sisters. It’s tragic when someone’s sole reason for hating God, or rejecting Him, or denying His existence, is the selfish act of someone blinded by pride, convinced that they have the monopoly on God’s will. We blame the truth for being offensive, when very often we are the offensive party. No, we don’t have to apologize for God, but we should apologize for ourselves.
Sometimes the lost reject the truth, but very often it’s your prideful spirit they are rejecting.
So we have to be free to laugh at ourselves. We have to be free to laugh at our own failures and weaknesses. We have to be free to apologize, and realize that we don’t have it all figured out.
But not everyone who pays their dues at an American church likes to laugh. And when you say something about this religion that they don’t agree with, the guns come out. We are so desperate to fight for the truth, that we forget the truth. The truth is that God so loved the world, He decided to do something to save it. We forget to love, so we don’t save anything. We just attack and defend ideas, without thinking twice about the impact our bullying and arrogance have on those around us.
And so I stare at my blog, wanting to talk about evangelism and salvation and other important things, but afraid to do so. I am afraid not because I worry about offending someone who does not understand these things — if anything, my goal is to help people understand these things in a way that is honest, fair, and not patronizing. I am afraid because these subjects start wars amongst believers, because the desire to be right is often louder than the desire to be humble.
I include myself in this critique.
So that’s my excuse, even though I admit it is not a good one. I just hope this helps explain why writing these things can be so difficult sometimes. Just something to keep in mind.
