A Most Audacious Claim

 

 

     I am going to make a claim that is so brazen, so audacious, that by the time you are done reading this you will either think me brilliant or a batty, egotistical lunatic. What is this claim, you ask? Well, the claim is this: in one sentence I can summarize not only Professor Leeper's critiques of the church, but also the problems of the modern church in general. Now, to clarify, when I say "summarize", I mean "summarize". No different than a summary of a book, I will not be able delve into each and every little nuance. But I do think that I can summarize the problems as a whole. Before I do so, I think that this topic is relevant to DMA simply because it is a part of life, and life affects our stories. Also, it is part of being a Christian, whether it be Christian artist, businessman, etc.

     Here is the sentence summary: "The problem with the church is that Christians expect non-Christians to act like Christians." Now you may say, "But God expects non-Christians to act like Christians." In all my readings of the Bible I have yet to find a passage that supports that statement. God wants all people to be and act like Christians, but He does not expect them to. The key word in the summary is expect. God does not expect them to act in a Christian manner. It breaks His heart when they don't, but that does not change the fact that it does not surprise Him. Let us compare that with the church's view on the subject, and the problems it causes.

     Modern Christians take a brazen and foolish look at the non-Christians around us. They do not take the view that non-Christians are lost souls who are looking for love and meaning, and, by virtue of that, God. Rather, Christians think that because they happen to be Christian, others should act like Christians too, whether the others are Christian or not. To be perfectly blunt, this is about as logical as expecting a car to act and quack like a duck when it is near water. Yet this is what the church expects. The church has somehow forgotten that we are missionaries in a lost world. Rather, it has taken up the view that we will somehow convince a non-Christian world to abide by our Christian principles. This is a lost cause from the get-go. There will be such a beautiful world, one day, but it will not come about until our Lord and Saviour returns. Until then, we must realize that we live in a fallen world, and come to terms with that, as the Apostles did. They did not expect the heathen to act like Christians, but they did expect Christians to do so. That is why Christians are given laws to live by, and that is also why the Bible provides for a way to throw people out of the church if they do not follow these laws. They desired that the non-Christinas would come to Christ, but they did not expect them to act like Christians until they (hopefully) became Christians.  

      I will end by saying that I fully respect, support, and appreciate those who truly work to bring about a better world. There efforts are not in vain. We would do well to support and act like them. I do not think that Christians should just sit on the sidelines while things fall apart. There is nothing wrong with being against pornography, unnecessarily R-rated movies, drugs, etc. But you should not be surprised and vindictive when you see others doing these things. This will simply cause you to get into arguments that will only decrease your chance of fixing an already bad enough problem (there are countless examples of the moder church showing this).Remember, if you help the broken people in the broken institution, you might just have a chance to help fix the broken institution.