Tue 6 May 2008
Why Aren’t Christians Like Jesus?
Posted by tom cottar under blogs and links, personal, theology
iMonk has a great post titled "The Jesus-shaped Question: Are Christians Like Jesus?". After reading and reflecting on Philippians 3:7-8, he has some great thoughts which may be offensive to some. Something that leaped out at me this morning is this:
Christians are conservatives and liberals.
Christians are culture warriors and advocates of family values.
Christians are excited about the megachurches and busy consuming Christian products, from t-shirts to music to cruises.
Christians are defenders of denominations and watchdogs for doctrinal orthodoxy.
Christians are having their best life now and becoming a better you.
Christians are purpose driven and super spiritual.
Christians are taking back what the devil stole and taking a stand in a godless culture.
Christians have dozens of labels and participate in hundreds of activities.
Christians have their own celebrities, their own cable channels, their own entertainment and their own comfortable subcultures.
But few Christians are like Jesus, especially here in the prosperous Christian west.
It’s not much of a news flash to us to realize that most Christians, if they are anything like me, are not much like Jesus most of the time. The sad part is that I’m not sure we’re really trying to move in his direction either. We are too comfortable for that. We’d have to give up too much (our own cable channel, our purpose-driven addictions, our music and t-shirts and cruises) to pick up the cross and follow Him. And the last thing we need is another rote, formulaic, 5-point evangelism strategy. I don’t ever recall a time in Scripture when Jesus asked his fishing buddies, "Did you know God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?…" (Again…that’s for another blog.)
Spencer comments on something a Muslim student related to him about Christians: Most Christians weren’t like Jesus, and the Christian insistence that God was working in and through them was largely undercut by the failure of individual Christians to show character that surpassed what was seen in Muslims or Buddhists.
Yes, Christians aren’t perfect. Just forgiven.
blah. blah. blah.
But when will we get on with the business of being reformed? Redeemed in our character? Recreated in our work ethics and speech and compassion for people? When will we get busy in genuine, loving relationships with non-believers…and do so without an agenda to trump the F.A.I.T.H. card on them in an unsuspecting moment?
Jesus-following people should be Jesus-shaped people. We will never reflect him until we imitate Him… which does not mean we study Him in some discipleship class and let that be it.
I guess what really bugs me is the fact that, as Christians, we are not much like Jesus. And we think that’s normal.
Read iMonk’s post here. If you’ve got thoughts, I’d love to hear ‘em.
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May 8th, 2008 at 10:00 am[...] of the things that jumped out at me, especially in light of this recent post, was [...]
May 6th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I have to admit, after thinking I wanted to give a quip of an answer, I have decided to think quietly for a day or two and carry a big stick until then.
First thoughts are often the best thoughts, but they are also wrought with a simpletons answer to BIG questions.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:24 am
If I want to try to be like the Buddha, I will find detailed guidance on the things I must do and practice to begin to reshape my life. As I master the smaller teachings I can move on to the larger.
I’m not entirely sure what Jesus, exactly, most American Christians want to be like. Jesus is, after all, an actual person. But so much of what I hear sounds like the construct of a Jesus they imagine rather than one who actually exists. (I do recall Anne Lamott’s line here: You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out God hates all the same people you do.)
Yet whether it is the actual Jesus or a Jesus of their own construction, a lot of what I hear about how to become like that Jesus sounds to my ears like magical thinking. (I was going to say sympathetic magic, but I don’t think it even rises to that level.) Somehow you are going to be magically (and presumably painlessly) transformed into the likeness of Christ. Poof! You’re no longer a frog. You’re a prince. While there is some debate over whether this happens (at least in part) while you’re alive or if it all occurs when you die, the general sense I get is that it’s just something that happens to you.
Pshaw. There’s nothing even vaguely like that in the Jewish and Christian story. No wonder people don’t see Christians who look like Christ. Most of them are not working to be like Christ in any discernible way. They are (at best) waiting for the magic. In the meantime, they are busily remaking “Christ” in their own image and likeness.
I certainly have my own issues and myriad ways that I am so unlike Christ. And I’m struggling to get to know the real Christ rather than my own mental construct of him. (We do the same thing with human relationships, but we usually try to break through those. I don’t see the same recognition and effort when it comes to Jesus.) But I’ve never had the particular sort of magical thinking which seems to permeate American Christianity. I guess that’s just a side effect of my sort of cultural experience.
I’ve never been under the illusion that becoming Christian was an intellectual exercise that required no action. In fact, I’ve often been overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of change and array of often very specific actions required.
In truth, the actual steps to follow the Buddha are easier to do than those required to follow Jesus. In fact, I would say the practices required to follow Jesus are impossible, especially for the rich. (Funny. I seem to remember somebody else saying something much like that.)
This is where Christianity suddenly shifts, though. Jesus promises us super-abundant, overflowing grace (the actual energy and power of God — not just some intellectual legal fiction — let’s get grace right, at least) to enable us to change. In fact, we receive those energies directly from God himself, pitching his tents with us in our bodies.
And Christians have developed an enormous array of practices and disciplines that, when practiced with the proper intent and will, allow us to put into practice specific practices and changes in small, baby steps. However, fueled by the grace of God, implementing those practices do not result in simple linear change. Nor would I call it any other sort of curve. The chart of progress becomes chaotic, with small and large gains and losses — movement all over the place and seemingly out of control. And yet, it is centering on the actual person of Jesus.
But we have to act. We have to put the small steps into practice and follow them to the larger. And hold on for dear life. If we don’t do that, all the intellectual belief in the world won’t make us the slightest bit like Jesus.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Scott said:
But we have to act. We have to put the small steps into practice and follow them to the larger. And hold on for dear life. If we don’t do that, all the intellectual belief in the world won’t make us the slightest bit like Jesus.
I think that’s what is under my skin today. We (humans, not just christians) want to take the path of least resistance, hoping for some kind of effortless changling to emerge. We don’t want to take up our cross of any kind.
yet as I rant…I know I’m not really any different. Although I may really have moments of progress to Christlikeness… it does seem very slow progress.
Any progress whatsoever is grace. That’s abundantly clear. What’s not clear is how to maintain that progress. To keep crucifying my flesh and killing my ‘best life now’ is a daily struggle. It does, at times, get easier. Other times it feels like I need jesus more than ever.
It reminds me of an Oscar Wilde quote: “I’m too old to know all the answers.”
But grace abounds.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I think I am finally ready to speak concerning this. We are too much like Jesus. In the late 1600’s American Jesus was created and we are just like him, maybe even better than him, now he is striving to be like us.
Biblical example: Rich young ruler. We have it all and are striving for lots more. Every person in this country has 100 times more than 85% of the world’s population. We have been and are blessed by American Jesus. The problem is that Bible Jesus demands one more thing from us and we are just like the rich young ruler. We turn our backs on Bible Jesus and cling to American Jesus.
We are just like our savior, American Jesus has given us everything we have ever wanted. Now Bible Jesus is the problem with us, He asked us to do something and we look Him in the eye and say, “Who are you to ask me to do that?”
We woship American Jesus. I can prove it. Most people in the world, if they have four walls do so with less then 50 sqf per person in the home. In my home it is 500 sqf.
In my home we have 4 televisions, 4 cable boxes, high speed internet and 3 computers.
In my home we give 10% to church, the widow in the Bible gave it all.
In my house we spend about $200 a week on groceries and household goods. Almost all of the world survives on less than $200 every two months.
In my house we have 2 nice cars. most of the people in the world do not even have 1.
I have a double oven and want another double oven because sometimes I need 4 to cook everything at its desired temp.
I worship American Jesus and will die for him. American Jesus is a rugged individualist, not a socialist or communist. Bible Jesus was communal and functioned within community not communism.
I believe I am just like my savior, American Jesus. He even worships the ground I walk on because he wants to be like me too.