I Like Your Christ, I Don’t Like Your Christian, [repost]

I Like Your Christ, I Don’t Like Your Christian, Thoughts on Church Haters by Don Miller

All week I’ve been reflecting on themes brought up in the movie Blue Like Jazz. Today is a tough one. I’ll get hammered for this I’m sure. Still, I hope you give these thoughts and the film a chance. I’d appreciate it.

Since Blue Like Jazz came out years ago, I’ve been accused by some of being critical of Christians. To be sure, I have. But much less and much more objectively and without malice than I’m accused of. And I criticize myself much more than anybody else, I hope.

I love the church as I knew it, and I love the church even more as I’ve discovered it in the last few years (that is global, not bound by denominational walls instituted by feuding scholars). That said, I do not think the church is an elite organization that is beyond criticism. In fact, any organization that is defensive against criticism is suspect.

Would you work for a company that didn’t allow for criticism? Would a father be a good dad if he disallowed criticism? Would you want to have surgery at a hospital that rejected all forms of criticism? Then why would you want to worship through an organization that is hostile to criticism?

In my profession, I am daily criticized. I’d imagine I’ve received hundreds of blog comments, letters and @replies wishing me the worst. I get it. Criticism is hard. And not only this, churches get criticized for stuff that happened hundreds of years ago. I’d venture to say most criticism is unfounded and ill-informed. It can also be spiteful and hateful. So, I don’t want to be lumped in with the haters.

However, if the church has wronged people, we all need to admit that and apologize for it. There’s no use hiding it or covering it up or pretending we are perfect. The Catholic church’s handling of the sex-abuse cases has been disturbing. But in a way, I get it. If they admit fault, they’re going to go down hard, both financially and in global participation and attendance. Unfortunately, though, the ramifications of telling the truth shouldn’t be considered. The only thing that should be considered is obedience to God. And He wants us to tell the truth.

Rather than criticize, which I hope I’ve done little of, I want to maintain an objective view of the church. Is it perfect? No. Is it a good organization? Yes, the exploits of the church go far and wide into the world and have brought food, water, hope and Jesus to billions. Have they also brought harm? Absolutely, because the church is made up of fallen people.

I occasionally get shame-based letters and emails criticizing me for criticizing “the bride of Christ” lumping me in with men who beat women. I dismiss these accusations as well-intended but naive. Paul criticized the church, as did John and Christ Himself. We want to deify the church, or, more honestly, market the church. We shouldn’t. We should confess our sins and be open and honest about our depravity, both individually and collectively. Those who walk in the light have more, not less of their sins exposed. The very idea that those who make up the church pretend to be perfect indicates they do not walk in the light.

In the movie Blue Like Jazz that releases this Friday, the protagonist turns against the church. In fact, he protests (rather secretly and cowardishly) a local church in a way that is profane. It’s one of the scenes that almost got us an “R” rating. This will no doubt earn the film some criticism from the camp that does not walk in the light. But let me offer a few caveats before things get heated:

1. When people turn against the church, they are having a strong emotional response to having been hurt. The most harmful thing we can do to somebody who has been hurt is to invalidate their pain. The most kind thing we can do is to apologize and reach out in kindness.

2. In the film there is only one shady Christian character. The rest of the Christians turn the other cheek, perform acts of Justice, forgive their oppressors and are down-right heroic. Those who think this is an anti-church movie aren’t paying attention and, unfortunately, aren’t being objective. I hope people can view these scenes objectively.

3. Ultimately, Don finds God, not religion. Religious people will want God represented through a church (and lets face it, through their kind of church) but God’s not such a control freak. People find God and God finds them with and without organized religion. He is in control, we aren’t. If this is unsettling to you, this will be a difficult film. If it’s interesting or inspiring (that you don’t have to obey rules or jump through hoops to interact with God) the film will be comforting.

Regardless, the film opens this Friday. It’s too late to change anything. Let’s hope it starts some great conversation.

Here’s a scene where Penny confronts Don about his protest of a local church:

I Like Your Christ, I Don’t Like Your Christian, Thoughts on Church Haters is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

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Original Page: http://donmilleris.com/2012/04/11/i-like-your-christ-i-dont-like-your-christian-thoughts-on-cynicism-and-church-haters/

Various great words to the church in Ephesis

In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
~~~~~
Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
~~~~~
Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.* 7 By God’s grace...
~~~~~
Because of Christ and our faith in him,* we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.




-
This should put a huge smile on our faces!!!!

Two Kinds of Church Reformers

I'm a reformer, you're a reformer, wouldn't you like to be a reformer too! 

~~~~~~

[here's a few sort of raw thoughts I've been rolling around in my head....]

As long as I can remember being a Christian, about 32 years now (less a few years of rebellion in my later teens and early twenties) I've felt compelled to change things. My friends all know this about me. In some way or another I've been what many call a "church reformer." Some Christians are just fine with the way things are, and they might even love the good ole traditions of their church. And if you're not a church "reformer" you can definitely please God by just seeking to do His will in your own life. But others are restless souls by nature, and seem to constantly push the envelope. I've always been the latter. Unfortunately I pushed to far, and wound up way too judgmental. I've since repented of such a strong stance against...most everyone... and now have some thoughts about church reformers and church reforming in general.

Church reformers have been around as long as have churches. A church reformer is simply someone who feels like things need to change, and so they try to do something, anything, to change...the church. They try to change "THE" church, their own church, all churches, or entire denominations. Some try to change from within the church they feel needs to change, and others leave and try to start something entirely different. Whatever the case may be there are, IMHO, generally speaking, two types of church reformers. The first type is working for change but does not (generally speaking) believe every other type of church, or even their own church (if they are the type of reformer who is working from "within") is completely corrupt, misguided, hell-bound, and/or false churches. The second type of reformer basically... does. These are two pretty different outlooks on life as a whole, shaping the way a person sees other people, reads the scripture, and conducts their daily lives.

There are, of course, great levels of variation on how much "change" a church reformer thinks is needed, and how much work he or she is willing to do to see that change become a reality. Some go as far as to publish books on church reform, even start new churches, or new denominations. And others are compelled to only change the church they are in from one where (for example) ties are required on Sunday mornings, to one where ties are not. But they are both church reformers. Both of these (sort of) opposite ends of the "reformer" spectrum might have much of the same heart--one defined by love, acceptance, grace, and a dedication to Christ. For most of my life I've been surrounded by such good-hearted people as these, in the churches I grew up in, the colleges I attended, and even in my own family. They encouraged me to work for change but not end up on the side of condemnation and judgment. And I'm forever grateful. I'm also grateful for authors such as George Barna, Don Miller, Robert Banks, Frank Viola, Alan Hirsch, Gregory Boyd, and Francis Chan, (to name a few) who also call out quite loudly for change but never seem to cross the lines into a heart of judgmental-ism and general condemnation of those who do not agree with them. But I've also known (and came dangerously close to becoming) a church reformer of the much more judgmental sort.

The second type of church reformer is motivated by a desire for change, sure. But take a bowl of that motivation, mix in some heavy helpings of ambition, a dash of pride, a couple cups of scripture, and a spoon full of charisma and the result is often times a harsh indictment on all other churches, and the individuals who are there trying to serve God. The outlook changes as the new church is formed, or reformed, from one of being part of a larger Body of Christians around the world to one where the feelings is "we are... basically... it."  "Us four and no more" sort of thinking begins to rule the day. Once this church reformer is fixed in a place of judgment and condemnation upon everything and everyone else, the longer he or she stays with this frame of mind the harder it is to let go of it. I've bumped into these sort of reformers a few times in my adult life (and like I said came very close to becoming one myself) and have to say...I just don't think it's a healthy outlook. Sure Christ had lots of hard things to say about living a radical Christian life. But you can't just take 2000 years of church history, 33,000 denominations, and 8 billion people in the world, and create a centralized, know-it-all gospel, one where your church is the best representation of the Body on planet earth and if all people would just listen to you everything would perfect. I've been here, too. So I'm not just judging the judgmental. I'm speaking from experience.

What's most sad to me is the feelings I had, when I was slipping into this second sort of reformer, of hopelessness and loneliness. I remember thinking thoughts like, 'this is just sad. Jesus comes, does all that for us; the Spirit comes, starts a movement of Christ-followers, and 2000 years later and there's only a hand-full of Christians around the world.'  It's like the gospel message didn't work or something. Christ came to redeem the whole world but only about 7000 (or some small number) are actually redeemed. Why? Because they don't do things the way I think they should; or they don't believe the way I think they should believe. That's why. That's the real reason why. Not because it's actually true. But because I believed it was true. Fortunately, and because of God's GRACE, I don't see the world that way anymore. Now my days are filled with a sort of light-hearted joy, even a giddiness, at the thought that there are millions and millions of Christians and millions of good churches around the world, and through-out history. Sure, I'm still a church reformer at heart, and likely always will be; I'm just wired that way. But now I'm a much happier one!

So, if you're the first sort of church reformer, keep up the good work. As long as people are in the churches there will be a need for reform. It's a big part of the Spirit's work in the world. But if you're a church reformer of the second sort, it's not too late to let go of it. Church reform can be accomplished much more effectively, and with a whole lot more joy, when you don't see that which needs reforming as a lost cause, and/or a place void of God. Who are we to say where God is working or not, anyway?

What we can know for sure,
                   as we allow the Spirit to search our hearts,
                                         is do we really have the same "attitude as that of Christ Jesus"
                                                                                                 (Philippians 2:3).

After all, the most important place in need of constant reform is the human heart.

Food for thought.

Great Review of "Christianity in Crisis"

Christianity in Crisis by Frank Viola found here: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wordpress/viola/~3/oYx-29-KmEY/

Someone I respect asked me on Twitter to comment on Andrew Sullivan’s recent article entitled, “Christianity in Crisis.” Sullivan’s article recently made the cover of Newsweek.
The cover title reads, “Forget the Church: Follow Jesus.”

Since I want to keep this blog post relatively short, I am limiting my commentary to four points.
1. The cover title represents the unparalleled confusion that the word “church” engenders. The title reads, “Forget the Church.” But what “church” are we talking about?
Is Sullivan saying . . .

• Forget the Roman Catholic Church?
• Forget the Anglican Church?
• Forget the Church of Latter Day Saints?
• Forget assembling with other Christians in any way, shape, or form?
• Forget all other Christians in the world?
• Forget the Evangelicals, their movement, and the churches that contain them?
• Forget attending two hours on Sunday morning (in other words, forget attending “church” services)?
• Forget that building with a steeple on it that many fondly call “church.”
• Forget the body of Christ?

So the title breeds massive confusion, first rattle out of the box. In our day “church” has become a clay word, molded and shaped to mean drastically different things. Sullivan isn’t alone in using “church” in this nebulous way.

I’ve seen several blog posts titled, “Why I Left the Church.” Upon reading each post, the various authors were using the word “church” to mean different things. One author was talking about the fundamentalist denominations of which he was a part. So he was really saying, “Why I Left the Fundamentalist Denominations” (or words to that effect). Another author was speaking about the institutional church as we know it, regardless of the denomination or denominational non-denomination (yes, you read that right). In the article at hand, Sullivan appears to be speaking chiefly about the Roman Catholic Church. I’ll explain more about that shortly. Point: If you ever write on “the church,” be sure to define what you mean first. If not, many of your readers will ascribe their own meaning to what you say.

2. In “Christianity in Crisis,” Andrew Sullivan reminds us that Christians aren’t perfect people. This is true. Every follower of Jesus, including every “leader,” makes mistakes. Sullivan goes on to point out that some Christian leaders are so disingenuous that they emptily profess Christ and use their faith to “advance their own power” and commit unspeakable criminal acts. Throughout the years, I’ve met many non-Christians who gave the excuse that every Christian they’ve ever met was guilty of sinning in some way. In addition, they would point to certain pastors or priests who were complicit in criminal acts. To their minds, this was enough to discredit Jesus Christ and choose to not follow Him. The truth is that you’ll never meet a Christian who hasn’t made mistakes, messed up, done things they regret, and has flaws. That creature doesn’t exist, no matter what anyone tells you. And there will always be people who profess to love Christ, but who have despicable characters. But that doesn’t discredit Jesus Christ or His claims.

So yes, we can “forget” those who use the Savior’s name to gain power or commit crimes. Meaning, it’s illogical to point to such cases as an excuse to not surrender our own lives to this world’s true Lord—Jesus of Nazareth, who was and is without sin. Regarding the church, however, Christians need other Christians, for Christianity is corporate by nature. The Christian life simply doesn’t work if we try to wing it by ourselves. I’ve talked a great deal about how Christ and His body are distinct but not separate and how the ekklesia is the native habitat of every believer. (I’ve made these arguments in detail in Reimagining Church and From Eternity to Here.) So in that respect, we cannot “forget the church and follow Jesus.” Because following Jesus includes having close relationships with other believers and giving and receiving spiritual help, encouragement, and instruction from them. Not to mention (again) that Christ and His church are united, just as the head and the body, the bride and bridegroom, the building and the cornerstone, and the firstborn son and his brothers and sisters are united.

3. In “Christianity in Crisis,” Andrew Sullivan champions one side of the political spectrum against the other side. At the same time, Sullivan claims that Christianity should be apolitical most of the time.
I agree that Christianity has been over-politicized. However, when reading the article, I got the feeling that the subtext of what Sullivan was saying can be juiced down to this sentence: “Just follow Jesus in your own private life and forget about speaking prophetically into the world.” Yet Sullivan comes back and says that the church should speak prophetically sometimes. He then gives his opinion on what specific issues the church should and shouldn’t speak about. Sullivan is a Catholic who is also gay. Thus his complaint seems to be that the Roman Catholic Church should not take the conservative political position on sexuality, but rather, give its full attention to the liberal political position on broader social issues.

Interestingly, the Roman Catholic Church (past and present) has strongly supported helping the poor and the oppressed. It has also taken an almost pacifist stance on war. It seems, then, that Sullivan believes that taking a conservative political position on human sexuality somehow drains energy from these other issues. Time and space will not permit me to delve deeper into the Christian left vs. the Christian right debates, but I’ve written seven posts on the issue called Beyond Evangelical. Leonard Sweet and I sum up the issue in our book, Jesus Manifesto, saying, “The body of Christ is at a crossroads right now. The two common alternatives are to move either to the left or the right. It’s our observation, however, that we are living in a unique time, when people are frozen as they look in either of those directions. When they look to the left, they decide that they cannot venture there. When they look to the right, they feel the same. Whether they realize it or not, people are looking for a fresh alternative—a third way. The crossroads today, we believe, is one of moving forward or backward. What we will present in this book, therefore, is razor-sharp, cut-glass clarity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Alpha and the Omega. We will show that He is that third way—and the only way—that we can forge a secure path into the future. If the church does not reorient and become Christological at its core, any steps taken will be backwards” (Jesus Manifesto, Introduction).

4. Finally, Andrew Sullivan’s “Christianity in Crisis” takes a perspective that is common, but which I believe is grossly flawed. Sullivan reduces following Jesus to following His teachings rather than following, embracing, loving, and giving one’s allegiance to the Person who gave those teachings.
In this connection, one of the main points that Sweet and I make in Jesus Manifesto is that you cannot separate Jesus Christ from His teachings. And you can’t properly follow His teachings without knowing the Man who gave those teachings. More specifically, “Jesus cannot be separated from His teachings. Aristotle said to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Socrates likewise said to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Buddha said to his disciples, “Follow my meditations.” Confucius said to his disciples, “Follow my sayings.” And Muhammad said to his disciples, “Follow my noble pillars.” But Jesus says to His disciples, “Follow Me.” In all the religions and philosophies of the world, a follower can follow the teachings of its founder without having a relationship with that founder. But not so with Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus cannot be separated from Jesus Himself. Christ is still alive, and He embodies His teachings. This is what separates Him from every great teacher and moral philosopher in history.” (Jesus Manifesto, Chapter 5). I agree with Andrew Sullivan that “Christianity is in Crisis.” And I agree that the way forward is to follow Jesus. But what “following Jesus” means precisely for our day is the thorny issue that we Christians must face squarely. To my mind, the answer to that question is found in the face of Jesus Himself, who is still alive and who seeks to unveil His mind to all who are willing to hear His voice now. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:15). “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
And that voice often sounds very different from the voices that we hear all around us, be they those of the left or the right. It is also a voice that is most accurately heard in concert with other sheep.
Sullivan closes his “Christianity in Crisis” with the following words:

“I have no concrete idea how Christianity will wrestle free of its current crisis, of its distractions and temptations, and above all its enmeshment with the things of this world . . . Something inside is telling us we need radical spiritual change.” I couldn’t have put it better myself. Click here to read other posts like “Christianity in Crisis.”

Christ died for us -- now we get to die for Him

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV

What a great verse to wake up to this morning.

• What compels us?? Christ's LOVE. 
• Why? Because we are convinced!
• Of what? That the ONE died for ALL
• And so? We ALL die too. 
• Die to what? To our old life!
• Why did he die for all? So we could no longer live for ourselves!
• Who do we live for? For Christ who died for us! 
• Why can we do all this? Because he WAS raised again!

This is a matter of personal faith and choice. We are, of course, filled with God's power through His indwelling Spirit to make this choice. But we must make the choice to die and live for Him. We do not make this choice just one time in our lives. We make it many times over, as many times as needed and as the Lord brings further growth and conviction to us. We make the choice with friends, and we make the choice in the Church. But your church cannot save you. 

WE DO NOT LIVE FOR OUR CHURCH

We do not make a choice to die and live for our Church. We make the choice to live FOR Christ Himself. He has certainly given us a Body of friends whom we can call our Church. But churches are made up of people. And people are not perfect. So churches are NEVER perfect. However, Christ IS perfect. So we live for Christ, regardless of what church we are a part. Christ then calls us to lay down our lives for our friends, just as he lay down His life for us. This living for Christ through loving our friends produces the very best sort of Church, one which can have great power and purpose, revealing the risen Lord to the nations. For they will know we are Christians by our LOVE. But, again, it is the first step... deciding to LIVE for Christ and not for ourselves. We take this first step again and again throughout our walk with the Lord. 

WE DO NOT DECIDE FOR ANOTHER WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE FOR CHRIST

And we cannot decide for another what it means to live for Christ. We are ALL very different. We have different backgrounds, personalities, stories, dreams, goals, families, lifestyles, incomes, genders, etc. etc. And we live ALL over the world. So for one person or one Church to decide for another or for all other churches that they KNOW how all should live for Christ is arrogant and judgmental. We must provide ample grace to people all over the world, but promote one and only one message -- "die to yourself and then live for Christ. In Living for Christ you will indeed find true LIFE." But this is where we must hand over the practical aspect of this message to the Spirit of God, to work out that salvation in the believer's heart. It is a deeply personal thing, or at least it should be. The person making this decision to live for Christ needs to hear one voice, the voice of the Spirit of God, speaking to his or her conscience and going down deep to plant the seeds which will yield fruit in this life. Since we are all so different this process itself will be different for each person coming to the LORD. If we say to the new follower "this is how you live for Christ" and then proceed with a laundry list of tasks, and if the would be disciple then listens to our list instead of the words of the Lord to them, then we have just replaced the role of the Spirit in that person's live, and worse, we have created a dependency on a man instead on the man, Jesus Christ. So we must step back and allow a person to go to God directly to find out directly from God what is means for them to die and live for Christ. This is how we can become friends in the LORD, not by ruling over the new Christian, but by coming along side of him or her as a fellow traveler. 

THE GOAL IS LOVE

The goal is LOVE. It is to get to the point of saying, truly, Christ's LOVE compels me. Why do we lay down our lives and LIVE for HIM? Because Christ's love compels. When we are compelled by that love nothing can shake us. Another might come at you with demands for your Christian practice, but it will not matter. You are compelled by Christ's love and not by another human. Another person might come at you with accusation or even condemnation, but it will not matter if you are compelled by the Divine love. You will hear the Lord's voice over and above the voice of the accuser. And someone might come at you  with a fist, attempting to kill your body but they cannot. There is ONE and only one thing in this world which can never be taken from you -- it's not your home, your family, your church, your friends, your clothes, your food, your country, your comfort, your car, your money, your flowers, or your pet -- it's your FAITH!  The goal is LOVE because we have faith. We believe in the one whom was sent to die once and for ALL. We believe -- in HIM! This belief the enemy cannot steal from us. And we do not underestimate the power of this belief, and the subsequent choice to live for Him, for it IS the universal message to the nations, and to all people at all times both now and forever. Christ died for us -- now we get to die for Him, and with HIM, and in this death we find LIFE everlasting! 

Now let's go live this life, together! I'm blessed to be surrounded by close friends who make this decision as well, and it helps me. And we are each SO very different. I've come to really cherish and love the great diversity of my friends, and the way they apply this verse daily, seeking to lay down their lives for Christ. They've shown me a great deal, especially about grace. So let's stop judging one another and cutting people off because they don't believe like you or do what you think they should do. (I've repented from this judgement in my own life, but still work daily to open up my eyes and see how glorious is our God, and how many thousands of desciples there are in the world.) Let's stop thinking we cornered the market on right thinking, or pure Christianity. This just ends up creating division and denominations. Dying to live for Christ might just start with our dying to our own opinions.

We all can come live for CHRIST! But it's going to be a great big beautiful mess of a thing, with a great big beautiful bunch of messed up individuals. But this great big beautiful bunch of messed up individuals makes up the universal Body of Christ! And that's great! For we are not alone in our desire and decision to live for Christ. Millions of people share this same desire and decision everyday. Those millions of people are indeed our brothers and sisters in Christ. Now that's a big family. 

Thank you LORD!

What compels us?? Christ's LOVE. 

Why? Because we are convinced!

Of what? That the ONE died for ALL

And so? We ALL die too. 

Die to what? To our old life!

Why did he die for all? So we could no longer live for ourselves!

Who do we live for? For Christ who died for us! 

Why can we do all this? Because he WAS raised again!

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV