So many twists and turns to Christian thought and output. Who’s right?
In my lifetime, I’ve personally been a part of…
Plymouth Brethren: no pastors, no order of worship, Communion worship led by whoever is led by the Spirit, big missionary push, emphasize evangelism and getting saved, in depth Bible teaching, elder led, independent from other communities
Roman Catholic: cultural Christianity, not much study or bible knowledge, devoted to the Catholic way and community, low priority on great singing, hierarchical, Parish Priest is ruler of the community, non-missional
Episcopalian: ditto on the Roman Catholic, but add the Book of Worship.
General Conference Baptist: ditto on the Plymouth Brethren except structured worship and deacons not elders.
Southern Baptist: wow, what a variety of styles from country ignorant and shouting to refined, robes and Ph.D’s, but totally devoted to the SBC in mission, style and culture, openly evangelistic, concerned with who’s “in”.
Reformed Church in America: one word, “Dutch”, again, cultural with roots to the Dutch way of life with Dutch names, reformed theology but mildly so, Elders and Deacons rule, Biblically scattered knowledge, mildly evangelistic
Presbyterian: ditto to the Southern Baptist without the shouting and evangelism, and add a book of church order with a general ignorance of the Bible
KJV only: what can I say when someone says that an English translation is inspired by God? We’re getting a little like the Mary Baker Eddy’s and the Russelites. I know the KJV is a great translation. I know of their arguments against the modern translations. I wish that someone in that camp could produce an accurate translation of their liking without the archaic language, but then it wouldn’t be inspired, so……
Charismatics: combo the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Southern Baptist and add emotional fervor, tongues and up at the front praying and falling over, Bible heavy, evangelistic, worship centric, usually good giving, culturated with lingo and signs of being “in”, some shouting, some refined, but there IS a charismatic culture formed after 100 years of development.
I’ve been in Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Bible churches, Unitarian, Black and Hispanic churches, too, from Europe, South America, The Bronx, Kentucky, Montana, British Columbia, Florida and California. The outsider and some of us insiders look at the Christian Bazaar and find that even smorgasboarding what we like out of the variety, creating our own style and beliefs, we quickly melt into one group over another. Sooner than later we start labeling others who are not like us as “those pitiful people who just don’t get it!”
What’s the way out of the Bazaar? It’s not simple. Some say, “Just teach what the Bible says.” Others, “Just proclaim Jesus is Lord.” A few: discover the ancient ways. More would want us to keep quiet and all stay in their rabbit holes until Jesus comes back or death removes our options.
Anyone who has tried to shield themselves with a wall of indisputable doctrine quickly learns that there are great debaters and great thinkers in every camp who quickly rescind every argument parlayed to the table. The swords clang with resounding debates. Questions and arguments lead to denouncements and more quotes and logic. What’s the point to all of this?
Didn’t Paul have the same problem? “Some preach another gospel” (Gal. 1:6) Some people he marked as traitors, dangerous and throwing the Christians into confusion. (Gal. 5:10, 1 Tim. 1:20) I find that many people are so confused going to the Christian Bazaar that they retreat into a bevy of logical and forceful, intelligent and right sounding teachers so that they can be affirmed and even a little puffed up at the rightness of their group’s understanding. It’s dangerous to do this: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (1 Cor. 8:1-3)
Two things that begin to bring our pride down and build people up to figure out many of these things on their own: Jesus and love/grace. Jesus is the key focus in a true Christians life. Love/grace operating in and through a true Christian will quickly show. How do I know? Just do a word search in the Bible on “preach Christ”. I’ve done it for you here. Lose this focus and you will get confused. I think that Paul saw through these false teachers as they kept adding on the rules and the slander against other Christian groups. He had to mark them so that Christ in all his authority and purpose could be seen as opposed to seeing these pompous men and women strutting around with buckets of information and rules.
The love part is also key. Jesus said it himself, John 13:34-36, “35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” We will spend our lives figuring out how to love and show grace, favor and blessing. We will have the power of the Holy Spirit and the doctrine of the gospel of grace (1 Cor. 15:1-10) to guide us and yank us back to our humility. For who can show love if humility is not an asset? We offer something when we love. We don’t demand that someone takes it! That’s humility. Paul told young Timothy to tell certain men to quit pompously preaching foolish things, i.e. preaching off the mark of knowing Christ and his gospel. He continues emphatically: “5The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Tim. 1:5)
The Christian Bazaar is getting really bizarre! From emergent churches to churches stuck in a period of history and culture, from ancient practices to new fangled technology, I think people are confused inside and outside of Christendom. There really is no way out! We are dealing with human frailty and egos, the very problem Jesus came to save. I often tell people to “choose your cult.” I say to choose like there is not one best way because I don’t believe there is one best way except to proclaim Jesus Christ and his gospel and to figure out how to love/grace others. For many they choose their own way: out of the Bazaar. The escape is safer superficially. It’s like committing suicide or getting a divorce. At first the pain is gone, but the long term ramifications are enormous. We have to make a choice. If it’s Southern Baptist or Roman Catholic, it doesn’t matter which one because both have lunacies and potencies. All have merit and demerit. Which one is best? I would never say, “Whatever is best for you.” We don’t want relativism. I say, “Choose the one that preaches Christ and his gospel, and is trying to figure out how and doing something to love/grace.
The opposite of following the two Pauline laws is to fall back into religion (by defintion a way to promote one’s self to a god or the gods) and to lose sight of the power of grace to keep this world and our lives from falling apart. Many Christians feel better about themselves before God because they can prove to him that they are good people and practice Christianity. Other Christians may think that showing their rightness and declaiming sin or wrong in this world brings change, and fail to shower grace on the undeserving and sinful around them. The message they preach with their actions is the opposite of Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!”.
Where are you in this mix? On a scale from one to ten, are you totally confused or totally embedded in a Christian way? Do you think that Christians are mean spirited or loving and kind? do you think that Christians are preaching religion or preaching Christ Jesus as Lord? What would happen if instead of throwing around numbers and Bible verses we actually believed that loving other disciples would cause people to jump on board the gospel along with us?
The truth is that I’ve found people in every group I’ve been in or witnessed who do these two things very well. Somehow, getting more than 2 or 3 gathered generates some of the other stuff that creates interference with the Christ/gospel message and loving/gracing others. I’ve been loved and taught about Christ and the gospel, love and grace in each of these camps. Why? I don’t think it’s all dependent on humans. For this I am so thankful! 1 Cor. 3:6, 7 “6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
