Tag Archives: paul

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The Spectrum of Christianity

When I was very young I thought that Christians were Christians. I thought we were all on the same side. Then as a grew a little older I realized that there were different denominations and a little later I realized there were even different kinds of Christians, called “liberal Christians.” Then at some point later on I realized there were even more conservative Christians than myself at the time. These conservative Christians got it almost as wrong as the liberal Christians, they believed the King James Bible was the only true Bible and that dancing was wrong.

Then I got to college and realized that not only were there hyper-conservative Christians, and liberal Christians, but there were also people in the middle who were weak minded and couldn’t stand for anything (I would later join their ranks), and even further there were Christian: Pre, Post & A-Millennialists, Preterists, Futurists, Pacifists, Complementarians, Egalitarians, Calvinists, Arminists, Open Theists, Dispensationalists, and on and on and on. Even within some of those beliefs Christians break down further over the fine points.
What is my point here? The spectrum of Christianity is not simple or short, the spectrum of Christianity is a mile long and you only occupy an centimeter of it. Your best friends, your family, your pastor, you can find some theological issue in which you disagree. Beyond that, Christians differ on how we should respond to modern day cultural issues in light of scripture. Look at our responses to homosexuality, wealth, immigration, etc.

If you begin judging who is worthy of your fellowship based on minor issues, before long, you’ll develop your very own sect of Christianity that’s made in your image, and you’ll be very lonely.

Please understand me. I’m not calling on us to form one large body and meet together in a stadium every Sunday. We have some significant differences.

Is there a point at which someone moves so far to one end of the spectrum that they fall off? Yes! When we start denying core Christian dogma. For instance, if you deny that Christ died on a cross and was resurrected, then I have to ask what it is that makes you a Christian.

I don’t think we even have to permanently serve alongside others with whom we differ greatly with on secondary issues. Paul and Barnabus serve as our examples. Acts 15 tells us how Paul and Barnabus have a “sharp” disagreement about whether or not Mark should join them. I love this passage for what it says, and also for what it doesn’t say. It reads like a police report, just the facts, no he said, she said, no gossip about how Barnabus or Paul got it wrong, and therefor isn’t a true believer or even any less of minister of the Gospel.

But I see a lot of people trying to take Christianity away from others, simply because they don’t occupy the same centimeter of theological real estate as they do. It’s a dangerous thing -judging another mans servant.

When I was in college I started listening to a certain preacher online. His ability to preach and teach was beyond anything I had heard before. I felt God speaking through his sermons. At some point I began to realize something, this pastor was a _________ (insert secondary theological position. I won’t say what because it would start a debate about the theology itself, and only distract from the focus of this post). Honestly, I was kind of crushed. I stopped listening to his sermons. Whenever someone brought him up I would roll my eyes and criticize him internally. Moreover, I started grouping all believers into their secondary theologies, but what I was really doing was saying “This person is a good guy, this person isn’t.”

The problem was, I would often meet other believers, and I would like them, a lot. Then I would find out that they were on the other side of an issue, and I began to realize, I can’t break fellowship with everyone just because they don’t occupy the same centimeter as I do. My walk was going to be very lonely if I did that, and it wasn’t consistent with Jesus’ example, spending most of his time with people who by all accounts had some messed up thoughts about who Jesus was suppose to be. I also realized that some of the greatest wounds I had received inside the church were from others treating me as less of a Christ follower, because of some of my beliefs.

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This realization was freeing. I could now listen to and read people who didn’t think just like me, and could sit and have fellowship over a cup of coffee with friends who were ______. I no longer have to limit God and dictate to him the ways in which he’s allowed to speak to me.

 

Have you gone through this? Have you had someone write you off because you don’t stand in the exact same space? What do you think this is doing to Christianity?

 

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Is It Really Garbage In Garbage Out?

Growing up, my parents were very conservative in the media they allowed me to be exposed to; a move that I completely resented. Looking back, sometimes this was wise and today I really appreciate it, like when I was not allowed to see movies and TV shows with some violence that I wouldn’t have been able to handle. Other times it was a little silly, like when I was forbidden from watching Pee Wee’s playhouse after Paul Reubens was arrested for… well you know what he was arrested for (did my parents think he was going to do that on the show?!?).

When I was a kid and teenager, an often repeated aphorism in my church youth group was “garbage in, garbage out”, this was meant to be the proverbial knock out punch when someone said they were going to watch a new movie or listen to the newest hip hop/rock album. That’s not to say that God himself wasn’t invoked in support of this argument, in fact sometimes entire Bible studies were devoted to this subject.

In my college advertising class we learned that in the early years of modern advertising, people thought of advertising as a silver bullet. When people read, listened to, or view an advertisement, they had no choice in the matter, they were hit by the silver bullet and would go buy the product or service being advertised. To today’s ears, that sounds a little silly. In fact when I learned that in my class back in college, I thought, “Now only Christians believe that”.

Today, I’m a guy who loves movies and music. Moreover, I’m often struck by the gospel message in the media I consume, as well as the art and beauty of which God is the sole inventor. It seems that God has placed the idea of “story” in the hearts of human beings, and more specifically, the story of redemption: Gotham is saved from itself, the dark side is defeated, and Jack dies saving his friends with a wound made by a spear in his side.

Not all media tells that story. Last year I saw “Eat, Pray, Love”, because my wife wanted to, and because I was obviously vying for husband of the year or something. EPL is a perversion of God’s design for love, marriage, and life. Sometimes this happens in movies and TV, but when it does it’s usually ugly and revolting, the viewer isn’t suppose to like it, but in EPL the “protagonist” is guilty of these perversions with no repentence, and no redemption. The message is clear: “Unhappy with your marriage? You’re spouse isn’t all he/she could be? Leave him/her. It may be hard at time, but in the end, looking out for yourself first will make you happy.”

With all of that said, I was able to watch EPL without leaving my wife, and without her leaving me (crazy I know). That’s because media is not a silver bullet. To use the youth group terminology, we saw a lot of garbage, but the key was, we were able to identify it as garbage, and so it didn’t go in, and thus couldn’t come out.

Please don’t hear me saying that we can consume whatever we want with no unintended consequences. There is another category of media that is toxic and should never be permissible. Pornography, and hyper-violence are harmful just by being seen with our eyes and/or heard with our ears, and is nothing but destructive. The gospel can’t be seen here, and so we can categorically abstain from these experiences. But outside of those and other toxic areas, we must be discerning and wise for each piece of media.

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The reality is that it’s just easier to teach and practice prohibition rather than discernment and wisdom. We like hard lines drawn in the sand or better yet cinder block walls erected to tell us how to live rather than listening to the still small voice. The Apostle Paul himself read pagan literature and made it known when he said “as some of your own poets have said ‘we are his offspring'”, even in Paul’s time God was making himself known and speaking through media.

I’m excited to hear your thoughts of this. This post could have been several pages long, but it’s not meant to be exhaustive. What do you have to add or take away?

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