Was irritated and angered...
Yesterday I was driving thru our community, and I stopped at a traffic light. Next to me pulls up this vehicle and on the back of it are three of those cling on ribbons supporting our troops in this Iraq thing. One I hadn't seen previously.
It was yellow, had the words, "Pray for our troops," and the prominent image across the entire ribbon was the cross --> that would be the cross representing Jesus Christ and the gospel message.
Here is my problem. Why are we as Christ followers NOT outraged by this kind of thing? Have we slipped so far into believing that we are a "Christian" nation that we now believe this is a holy war? Have we slipped so far into believing that our country represents the gospel for the entire world to see that we have utterly forsaken the gospel message?
Reminder --> America does NOT equal gospel. America does NOT represent Jesus Christ.
News flash --> Jesus Christ was born to lowly peasants in a manger. He came to the least and the lowest, and he came to save us from our hopelessness and grabs for godliness in forms of powers and principalities.
If we believe this is a holy war, then... (sigh)... I will refrain from words except to say - God help us! (and yes, I am outraged that we don't speak out against this kind of thing because it utterly destroys our witness to the gospel message.)
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8 comments:
How in the world can you stop the misuse of symbols? If all 'followers of christ' rose up and demanded that
1) all christian depictions are accurate, and
2) no one use a cross unless they share a common belief about who jesus actually was,
do you volunteer to be on the comittee that decides how someone measures up to 1) and 2)? Do you think it bothers God that people get it wrong? Do you think you've gotten it wrong before? I think what you're saying is similar to the 'true' fans of the Ramones, who were pissed because when Joey Ramone died, the music enjoyed a popular comeback breifly, and they said 'hey, WE liked the ramoned before they were cool, no one should be allowed to just jump in like that'. I say let everyone put crosses on their sports cars, tattoo them on their backs, and wear platinum cross chains. there is no getting away from misrepesentation, and I don't think God's worried about it at all. He's big enough to surpass an incorrect assumption, even yours, even mine.
Anonymous, I hope you come back here. My point is that claiming the cross is somehow mixed up with this war is absolute crap. We are no longer claiming a bad understanding of the gospel when we talk about nations, power, and war. We are talking about no gospel at all. This is exactly the kind of thing that made Jesus mad at the temple. Authorities were using the temple for their own gain, and the selling had absolutely nothing to do with the God of Israel. Neither does this war. So I have every reason to be disapppointed and even mad when we use God's grace this way.
And no, I am not joining some committee to determine who can use the cross. Apparently the marketing machine of America does it well enough. We claim wars for God, and we put $4.50 stick on ribbons on our cars.
It would be helpful if we understood the gospel message we proclaim though. It would also be helful if we lived as if the life, death, and resurrection of Christ did more than simply saving us from hell. I suspect our witness would be entirely different if we acutally lived lives that proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ in the here & now rather than some reality off in the distance.
For starters, read something from N.T. Wright or Dallas Willard. The gospel will come alive in entirely new ways, and I suspect you will understand why I was/am so upset.
You steered me to read NT Wright, and also Dallas Willard. Good guys actually, and good writers, I've read quite a bit from both of them, the challenge of jesus from wright, and almost everything Dallas had written, starting with the divine conspiracy. I'd probably steer you to Thomas Merton, or St. John of the Cross, as a preamble to what I'm talking about.
People have been 'getting it wrong' for all of history. By getting it wrong I mean to include our understanding of how God works, from Moses striking the rock, to the Crusades, to tele-evangelists calling hurricanes divine retribution, to voting for George W. because he's a 'real christian' and Kerry is a 'liberal heathen'.
I think wright and willard would both agree that people largely get it wrong, as far as the thrust of the gospel, and the central message of Christ, but they also turn the corner and talk about becoming the sort of person that contradicts the false cliche, which I think you are saying also.
Where I probably disagree with you is in the area of how much all of the inconsistencies bother God, and what it means that he doesn't visibly interject to seperate himself from false causes. That's a harder question, right? God doesn't strike dead the tele-evangelist who makes people feel guilty if their not healed from cancer, saying they just must not have enough faith. God doesnt visibly champion the cause of an african american waitress serving bigoted southerners who say snide and sexual comments about what 'her kind of people are good for'. In short, things aren't fair. And God doesnt seem to want to be the 'fair police'.
So its fine to be mad at all of those things, I think my point is that at best, even if the church provided an excellent example of what it means to follow christ, there would still be unfairness, inconsistencies, and misuse of the gospel, its symbology, and the bending of truth to fit someones self serving interests. I don't think we escape that by an accurate representation of the gospel. Paul talks about that sometimes.
I think what got me was I'm sensitive to slightly anti american self rightousness. It reminds me of how people tried to draw Jesus into a discussion of how unfair the Roman occupation was. Jesus wasn't that concerned about making sure Jerusalem and Israel as a nationlistic country was an accurate purveyor of God-Wisdom to the world, as NT Wright explains much better than I'll try to here.
Are you outraged by unfairness? Do you think being a Christian creates a fairness buffer between the world and you, or your family? Do you think christianity affords reliable protection from abuse and misuse and misrepresentation? I don't.
So the lady with the yellow ribbon with the cross on it and pray for our troops message...doesn't bother me too much. Neither does a hip hop star wearing a cross and thanking Jesus for his success. An ocean of falseness doesnt stand up next to one authentic thing. There is, inside of all us, something that knows reality when it calls us. That's why I'm not scared by false things. Theres no competition.
Everything washes away, except for what's real.
Hello Again Anonymous,
Much appreciate your thoughts. I think we're hearing one another to some degree... For the most part, I agree with your thoughts from the previous post.
I will concur that I don't think God does too much to change those who are misrepresenting the gospel. Pause... I don't know if God usually gets directly involved with those kind of things.
With that said, only when we live within the gospel story do we reap the benefits of living under the reign of the king. You noted television evangelists. Oral Roberts, the Bakers, Swaggert, Falwell? It seems that their very incomplete gospel has failed to retain much of a witness to the world. Graham on the other hand... a man after God's heart, a man living under the rule and lordship of the king.
So, indirectly, I do believe the king cares about the way we talk about him and represent him. If we are really his servants, his subjects, his embassadors, and bodies that embody his presence, I think he cares and he responds.
Regardless of your thoughs about the above, Leslie Newbigin and others have suggested that the church is the hermeneutic of the gospel. In other words, we as the church (small c)embody the presence of Christ. We are God's witness.
So, it may not be worth my energy to get mad about a yellow cross and ribbon that suggest we are engaged in a holy war. That kind of witness for the gospel message is less than an embodiment of the gospel.
On a side note, but connected. I believe the political right has sold evengelical american on the idea that cross and america are one in the same. I live in republican west michigan. I think some distance from kissing the flag and the gospel in the same smooch is healthy for my understanding of gospel.
As for the lady with the ribbon, the rapper with the cross around his neck, or any other ways we market the gospel... perhaps they shouldn't bother me like I let them. On the other hand, God doesn't simpy dole out his goodness, grace, and Spirit because we have good intentions regardless of how misguided they happen to be.
To suggest such would mean nearly all bad theology and practices will be blessed regardless of how off base they happen to be. To suggest such trivializes good theology (aka our understanding of God) and would ultimately lead to complete universalism. I realize that would be an extreme, but I think the case could be made without even using the slippery slope analogy (which I detest).
Finally, I don't think the gospel protects us from the world. It likely makes us more vulnerable... like the hitch hiker who took advantage of me today (but that's another story).
I do believe that when we live within God's story we are people who live by the Spirit rather than by the flag, and we are people who pass out goodness and kindness in ways that only intentional followers of Jesus are capable.
It's a control thing, brother.
Of course God 'cares' about falseness.
We just have to be careful about trying to 'fix' things. Control disguised as well intentioned correction upsets me.
and so I ask God to uncover my own self centeredness, selfishness, self righteousness, and how I justify all of those things. I'm good at convincing myself I've got it figured out, especially compared to all the falseness I see out there.
Aaahhh... yea. I would like to fix a lot of things, but it won't happen no matter how much I try.
For me, I don't think it's much about control. I just really wish we were thoughtful about our faith. I'm wondering if the Islamic world, in general, is more thoughtful about their faith. While I don't want to make comparisons, I'm saddened that we find it difficult to thing about the theological implications of our actions... including ribbons on cars.
I appreciate the thoughts... blessings.
As I type this, my friend Randy is fighting a flu bug.
Randy, I wonder if what bothers us about the ribbons is that we see being Christian is one way (to some, perhaps the most appropriate way) of being an American. In other words, allegiance to God-and-country as if there were no distinctions or inherent conflicts of interest. I am truly grateful to live where I do, but I am not completely comfortable within American culture and that discomfort comes from the claims of the gospel. Hauerwas and Bruuggemann have actually pointed out the tension for me a bit more specifically than Wright and Willard.
Being a citizen of heaven calls into question all other citizenship (perhaps identification with culture rather than country is the more pressing concern, but sometimes they overlap). Not to prevent us from other loyalties, but to hold them as contingient loyalties--conditional allegiances.
What Randy is irritated about, I think, (and tell me if I'm missing it here, my friend) is that Jesus' name and 'logo' (which is what the cross is being used as) are being co-opted for a kind of militaristic patriotism.
I think we should challenge each other to consider the meaning of the cross (overcoming the powers of evil, not with violence, but with an obedient trust in God by which we refuse to participate in the cycle of evil and trust that God will vindicate us and bring His justice to both the suffering ones and the oppressors) before we slap it on our car-bumpers. But I also think we begin any and every critique with a "me too." We work on disloging the plank of compromise and gospel truncation that are stuck in our own eyes.
I've been realizing recently that a good amount of my ranting about what's wrong with things was misdirection. The problem is not 'out there' but 'in here.' I have to start with my own failures, and be more ready to forgive others their faults.
Anonymous, I hope you would cease to be so.
Peace,
Joel
Hi Mac. You are always welcome here. I've much appreciated this dialogue as well.
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