Sacred Scarred

Who's In? Who's Out? Who Cares?

My first read this year is Spencer Burke's A Heretic's Guide to Eternity.  I agree with some (maybe most) of where he's going so far, but more than anything, I appreciate that Spencer is willing to push the envelope in order to get the discussion going (he seems to be the type to say something controversial in order to then step back and watch the chaos ensue).

He writes about Matthew 13:24-30,

Determining who is in and who is out is the primary way that the church as institution tries to control grace.

Jesus told a story about this in the gospel of Matthew.  It concerned a wheat farmer who had spent a hard day planting.  While he was sleeping, his enemy crept onto his land and sowed weeds among the wheat.  When the wheat began to sprout, the laborers noticed the weeds growing, so they went to the landowner and asked him if they should pull up the weeds.  "No," he answered, because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest.  At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and time them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

This story reflects the tendency humans have to want to do God's business.  Institutional religion usually aspires to do the landowner's job- God's job.  They want to determine who is wheat and who is weed.

Churches assume their role is about eternity when in fact eternity is God's business.  The landowner in Jesus' story is very clear that his workers cannot separate the wheat from the weeds, for they might pull up perfectly good wheat in their zeal to remove the wayward weeks.  When explaining this story to his followers, Jesus makes it clear that the task of determining who is in our out is not the responsibility of humans, no matter how qualified they believe they are.  I would likewise argue that the church should not be so focused on eternity.  The church's task is to help people follow Jesus here on earth.

Seems to play into a pretty solid Kingdom of God theology.  Thoughts?

Co-dependence (shackled to religion)

"Too many people are in a co-dependent relationship with the religion of Christianity."

We like religion because we are selfish.  We like what makes us feel good.  We latch on to what brings temporary contentment.  If we can follow a list, or light a candle just right, or say a prayer for serenity, or find our purpose driven self - we're all for it.  If we say we don't believe in God or Jesus or religion, guess what?  That's our religion.  It's all about what makes us happy (or allows us to sleep at night).

The religion of Christianity has rules - we know where we stand.  The religion of Christianity has values - we know what to believe.  The religion of Christianity has consequences - we know where we are going to burn.  And I think the above is entirely accurate...too many people are in a co-dependent relationship with the religion of Christianity.  They are missing out on a dependent relationship with Christ. 

We (the church) have made Christianity about what we can get: eternal life, monetary blessing, comfort, peace, warm-fuzzies, worship experiences, happiness, contentment.  We even "sell" eternity based on what we're getting: gold, crowns, mansions, escape from eternally burning in the pits of hell.  That's religion at it's finest. 

But here's the thing...following Jesus is not about heaven or hell.  It's not about what we can get out of it.  Jesus' life was about getting to know him...that was discipleship.  He spent his life drawing people to himself - not warning us about burning in hell.

When we view Christianity as religion - as a "what am I getting (getting out of)?" encounter, we miss the point.  If we "punch our ticket to heaven" and that's it, we live unsatified lives outside of relationship.  We are racked by guilt because we are afraid to put in the effort necessary to develop a relationship with Jesus.

What would it look like if we were to throw off the shakles of the Christian religion and truly embrace following Christ?