Thursday, September 26, 2013

I am What I Believe or Why There Aren't More Free-Thinking Homeless Selters

Can you just do good Christiany things like help the poor but leave out all that crazy theology?

The friendly atheist, Hemant Mehta posed this question in regards to a group of Christians in Texas who raised up donations to help one of their atheist adversaries. You can check out the story here. At the end of the story Hemant summed up this idea.

"Unless we find a way to replicate that sense of community without the need for supernatural nonsense, churches aren't going to dwindle in number anytime soon." (Hemant, is of course assuming it would be a good thing for churches to dwindle in number.)



Regardless of how many churches close down, atheists will never create this kind of community. The atheists will at best make a pitiful copy of the good things Christians are doing as they try to follow Jesus.  It is the doctrine, the "supernatural nonsense" that drives people to make the world a better place. There is a fundamental reason that you don't see too many atheistic orphanages and "free-thinking"  homeless shelters. It is no accident that hospitals got their start as Christian charities in the middle ages. It is not a coincidence that the Red Cross has the word "cross" in it's name. For all the bad things you could say about Christians, faith in Christ has led people to do some amazingly sacrificial things for their fellow people. Without works, faith is dead, but without faith, works don't get done.


Take the doctrine of "imago Dei," God's image.  This concept is a cornerstone of Christian theology. "God created mankind in his own image. In his image he created them." (Genesis 1:27) People aren't just animals with big brains running around. They were made in God's image, they reflect his glory. and when I look at the face of my sister human, I see a little bit of the God who made her. My sin against her is a sin against God himself. My service to her is a service to God. It is sacred worship.

It also matters what I think of Jesus. I hold that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Word of God became flesh. I believe he died and rose from the dead and was exalted in the heavenly (unseen) realm. Can someone follow Jesus without believing in all that Son of God and Resurrection stuff.

Can you just follow Jesus as a great moral teacher?

No, not unless you're an idiot.

Jesus is not scientific. Jesus defies logic. He tells me things like "woe to you when people speak well of you." Logic tells me I am on the right track if a lot of people think I'm doing good. Our whole political system revolves around that truth.  Jesus tells me the opposite. Jesus also tells me crazy things like, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Just like what those Christians in Texas did.

My faith often borders on insanity, telling me to ignore everything that my observation and my logic tell me are right. Telling me to trust in Jesus. You don't give a nice dead guy that much latitude. If he seems crazy, drop him and find a better way.



But if he's Lord, if he rose from the dead in the flesh, then follow him to death.

And that is where I stand. I follow Jesus for who he is. If I did not believe Jesus died and rose from the dead, I would probably not love my enemies. I would probably not serve the poor and the foreigners. If Jesus is not Lord, I would not waste my life on others hoping for a better resurrection.


I believe what I believe
It's what makes me what I am
I did not make it,
No it is making me*


An if you want me to keep being good, it is indispensable that I keep believing this truth. If you convince me all this Jesus stuff is a lie, it will not be good for the people around me. Natural philosophy does not offer me an adequate reason to keep being a moral decent person. I would be just good enough to be liked and to get what I want in life. It does not show me why I should love my wife and give up myself for her. A Godless ethic will not make me honest or self controlled. It will not lead me to make any sacrifices for the "greater good." Maybe some of you can do it without Jesus, I can not. I am not strong enough.

It is necessary for the good of the world, or at least the good of my little corner of the world that I continue to believe what I believe. And to keep a hold of that belief, I must believe what I know has been revealed to me by God.

It is the very truth of God
not the invention of any man*

If you wish to look at my faith from a pragmatic, utilitarian point of view, it is better for me to believe all that crazy doctrine of Jesus than to disbelieve. I believe in the Good and so I am becoming good. I am what I believe.


* Rich Mullins, "Creed" 1993.

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