4 Minute Devotions: Real Christianity
What is real Christianity and how can we find it in the world? Can we be led to Christ without Christianity? A short reflection on John 20 v 29.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/stushie/Real_Christianity.mp3
I’ve been reading a new book, written by Doug Pagitt called “A Christianity Worth Believing.” Right from the start, he expresses his faith in these terms: ‘I am a Christian, but I do not believe in Christianity.’ I think I know what he is saying, but I don’t necessarily agree with him. To me, Christianity is the spiritual vehicle for bringing us belief in Christ. Without some form of Christianity, none of us would ever get to know Jesus.
John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Doug’s opinion is a bit like saying that I am a driver, but I do not believe in cars. Or I am a pilot, but I do not believe in airplanes; or even I am a writer, but I do not believe in words. You cannot have one without the other. Trying to be a Christian without Christianity is impossible. You have to find some source of Christian thought, material, scripture or teaching before you can begin to know Christ.
Let me put it this way. If you grew up in Mars, could you know Christ? The answer is obviously ‘no.’ The only way a Martian could learn about Jesus would be from a Christian from earth. Therefore, the only way in which we can become Christians these days is through Christianity. It might not be what we want, wish, or expect, but it is the truth. Christianity is the vehicle that Christ uses to bring, express, and share Himself to the world.
So when Doug says, ‘I don’t believe in Christianity,’ I think what he really means is this ‘I don’t believe in denominations.’ In this post-denominational world that we live in, I would agree with him wholeheartedly.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your Church in the world, and we call it ‘Christianity’. It is the cradle in which our faith was formed and the vehicle through which our beliefs are transformed. Enable us, through our Christian lives, to attract others to You and, in so doing, let them find real Christianity. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/god-can-speak-to-us-today-in-many-ways-are-you-listening/
thenonconformer
July 2, 2008 at 7:02 am
Hi,
I understand exactly what Doug is saying, and I disagree with your interpretation of his comment about believing in CHrist but not believing in Christianity because I feel exactly the same way he does. This is a very interesting blog and I have been reading it for a while now. I have been trying to put my finger on the reason I come away from reading some of the material on your blog with a feeling of being so UN-peaceful and this thread clarified it for me and the reason is this.
This blog seems to be so much about the need to “be right.” Everything is an argument, and there is so much self defense going on here, to the point where you appear completely unable to appreciate that other people may see the world from a different perspective than yours. In this thread particularly, you couldn’t just accept that Doug feels this way; you had to turn it into a meaning that YOU are comfortable with.
I am not meaning to be critical; just making an observation and wondering why this is. I totally understand where you are coming from as far as your faith and you feel the need to defend it at all costs, but I think it’s this defensiveness and intolerance for other people’s writings, teachings, experiences in the world that cause people like Doug (and me) to reject Christianity. I think the rejection of Christianity is actually the beginning of a deeper relationship with Christ because the type of Christianity that I see on this blog is just not an accurate representation of Christ.
The other thing I see on this site is a whole lot of intolerance for new ideas (the explosive string on Tolle and the critique of Dyer.) To dismiss, wholecloth, the idea that there are other ways to Christ besides the bible and besides dyed-in-the-wool “Christianity” I think is very sad. Humanity is, by definition, EVOLVING. We are evolving in technology; in medicine; in healing, and all of that is as a result of people exploring and being curious about our world, both spiritual and physical.
So I think that Doug’s statement is right on the money and he meant it exactly as he said it. I also think it’s tragic that this type of Christianity is so busy having to prove itself “right” that it can’t see the beauty that others of God’s creations have to share. You’re so busy labeling, categorizing and proving everyone else wrong, that you’ve created a religion that no longer resembles the man in whose name it was created.
And please don’t ask me to “back this up with facts” to “prove my point.” This is merely my observation of the sense I get from this site as someone who does believe in Christ, but has ditched the Christianity.
BrianInCalifornia
July 4, 2008 at 2:14 pm
The trouble is this Brian: Jesus spoke in absolutes because people want God to deal with inabsolutes. He was showing them that God’s truth is absolute and final.
When He tells Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit in Genesis, they don’t believe He is being absolute. When Jesus tells people that He is the Son of God, the people don’t think He is being absolute. And when He states that He is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life, people in this age don’t want to listen to those absolutes.
You can live your life anway you like, Brian, and have your own beliefs: that is free will; but what you or I cannot do is turn Christ into something that He wasn’t. Since Jesus spoke in absolutes, He was one of two things: either He was absolutely right..in which case you are absolutely wrong; or He was absolutely wrong and I am wrong with Him.
Whichever way it goes, I pin myself to Christ, right or wrong in the world’s eyes, but absolutely right in His eyes.
stushie
July 4, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Absolutely!
BrianInCalifornia
July 4, 2008 at 11:29 pm