controversy and truth
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So we recently finished blogging about an article in Christianity today related to marrying young. Definitely take a few minutes to reference that blog if you missed it. The comments of the author were quite controversial and I could actually feel some blood boiling on my computer as I read your responses. I thought we’d revisit the topic from a slightly different angle…
I think it’s possible the author of that article was more concerned with the controversy than the truth. However, assuming he actually believes what he wrote, is it really beneficial for the cause of Christianity to make a non-Biblical issue so black and white? If he feels strongly about this issue, was he right to put it out there with such authority for the world to see?
I know Ghandi was once quoted as saying something like “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Is an article like this feeding Ghandi’s position?
One of our commenters on the previous blog (”Should You Marry Young?”) referenced the fact that she had a slightly different take on the article when she read it a second and third time. When I look at it again, I do wonder if the author isn’t simply dancing around a fine line. On the one hand, it appears that he is pushing the thought that the church should not succumb to cultural dictates and should revisit certain issues from time to time to make sure that they are not letting the culture influence their views. On the other hand, he seems to also be genuinely pushing the idea that it is simply better to marry young.
KJ – you are asking a question that deserves a lot of discussion from various angles. Do these views – especially when there is room for disagreement on Scriptural interpretation – give off an inaccurate view of what being a Christian is really about? I think that it is not so much the “expressing” of the views themselves, but maybe the way that some views are given in the “black and white” manner that you mentioned instead of leaving room for other, viable interpretations. Our culture seems to be against definitive-type thinking in lieu of being “politically correct” and letting everyone express their own version of truth. On the other hand, some areas are definitely just “grey.” There are many tensions found within Scripture that must be acknowledged as just that – tensions. When we don’t acknowledge the tensions, I think that we risk our intellectual honesty as well as promoting ignorance. In that case, we do hurt the cause and truth of Christ.
This issue has been very personally convicting to me in the past few years. When I was in college, and a fairly new believer in Christ, I WAS one of those Christians who gave the faith a bad reputation. I was rigid, legalistic, and black-and-white on cultural-issue controversies. Thankfully, in the past ten years God has spoken through pastors and mentors to begin breaking down my puffed up theology… all the way down to the bare essentials — which, for me, has come down to The Gospel. Period.
I started learning about what we call the “essential theology” of the Gospel — that Christ was God in the flesh, sent to Earth to live a perfect life, died in my place for my sin, rose again to forever conquer death so I can live eternal life starting now — and letting THAT season my conversations. The Gospel gives me mercy to extend to debates on “non-essential” issues like what women should wear to church, what Bible translation should be read, what kind of house or car Christians should own, or what age is best to marry. I would venture to say that it is almost NEVER beneficial to argue about the non-essentials with someone who isn’t a Christian.
While I deeply regret how I acted in my early years as a Christian, I am constantly amazed at the new ways I see God’s mercy and grace… often in topics like these where I disagree with even my closest friends. If we can approach these conversations with grace and the common ground of the Gospel, maybe people would see a beautiful community of honesty and mercy instead of bickering hypocrites. It’s an age-old problem in the church — people being “divisive” — but I want our generation to be the change, to bring Jesus back to the face of Christianity. He is the perfect picture of being full of truth, and full of grace, while taking cultural issues and pointing them back to the heart.
Jesus was no stranger to controversy. I can’t help but see how today really is no different from the days when Jesus walked the earth. The voices of the Pharisees during Jesus’ lifetime used every debated topic of the day to attempt to trap and discredit Jesus:
And the Pharisee’s asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
The voices of today haven’t changed, and the controversial topics are abounding in number. Whenever I consider these topics, I’m reminded of a brilliant sermon Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Seminary, gave on the subject of controversial issues. He described the Christian life as “living between the fences” of the extremes. We shouldn’t give cultural issues of today–issues that aren’t given clear answers in Scripture–black and white solutions. Jesus certainly didn’t. In fact, the only unyielding answers Jesus ever gave were ones that descried how we are to treat one another. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied:
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
If I live my life by the example of Christ, I would spend a lot less time thinking of clever arguments for issues that have no clear answer, and a lot more time learning what it means and what it looks like to love my neighbor. Regardless of the issues at hand, I pray that when people interact with me, they experience the love of Christ.
I totally agree. To be honest (and I think I might have told you this before), lately I’ve had a pretty bad taste in my mouth left by some painful experiences at a church and some Christians dismissing the concerns I and others voiced. I’ve noticed that when people get too invested in their pre-packaged, black and white answers to nonessential questions, they tend to respond to human emotion with all the delicacy of a jackhammer. That doesn’t exactly show the love and self-sacrifice Jesus advocated in those verses. Unfortunately, Gandhi’s sentiments echo a really strong pattern – when Christians throw black and white answers (usually with insensitive, heavy-handed delivery) at us, our views of Christ can get tainted. After all, we’re supposed to be the hands and feet of the world-changing, heart-changing truth that Jesus embodied. When we face real, living people whose real, living hearts are troubled with judgment and dismissal, we’re maybe the most powerful weapons against Christ’s message in the world.
While the article irked me, it was at least an attempt to grapple with the applications of Christianity in real life. I have to concede that I also want my faith to be one that’s informed by real thought, not by some “drink the Kool-Aid” acceptance of whatever I hear. The Bible’s pretty clear that that’s not okay, either.
Ephesians 4:14 says; “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” If you read the passage surrounding this verse, Paul makes it clear that what anchors you against these waves and winds is the pure and simple gospel, just like Allie and Lindsay described. I think this author meant well. I just think that, without the grace and love of the gospel being closer to the forefront, the writing was more polarizing than it needed to be.
I really appreciate hearing the words of the Covenant Seminary President, Lindsay. As I have been reading through each of the posts here, a funny thought occurred to me. As angry/frustrated as I can get at other Christians when they come off like a “jackhammer” (great analogy, Sally), I also recognize two thoughts that are at-odds within me on this topic. One is the acknowledgment of where I have been a very large “jackhammer” and have needed some “jackhammering” on my own life to remind me of proper humility and living in the Gospel – loving those around me (as you all mention above). The other thought is how I really do long for some “black and white” truths. There are certain things that I wish could be as clear as “x” so that when the issue(s) come up, the answer is there – end of story. I do think that these exist within Scripture, but the vast majority of the time we are dealing with “tensions” and “living between the fences.” I just find it interesting that my personality (probably the lawyer within me) really does secretly desire for things to be more clearly defined.
One other thought – because there has been a lot mentioned here about “living in the Gospel,” do we need to define what that actually means/looks like on a more practical level?
Nikki, I totally appreciate the “desire for things to be more clearly defined”…and I think that’s one of the hardest parts of Christianity. We call it “living in the tension”…or as Lindsey said, “living between the fences of the extremes”. Living in tension is hard. Having formulas to follow is much easier. Unfortunately the teachings of Christ encourage, if not demand, the former. I guess when I think of “living in the gospel” (wow, this post has a lot of quotation marks…) the emphasis is on grace. The message of the Gospel is God’s unbelievably generous grace upon us. When we are aware of how desperately we need it, we’re much more able to give it.
So when it comes to controversial (or just gray) issues, our position should be full of grace (with some serious humility thrown in there). I agree with Sally on the fact that at least this author was trying to “grapple with the issues of Christianity in real life” (there I go quoting again), and I suppose I wouldn’t have been so irritated if he had made his case in a more humble, graceful way. I think that’s a big part of living in and living out the Gospel.
I’m glad we’re seeking to define what it means to “live in the Gospel,” because every Christian seems to have a different definition of what that means/looks like. I love what you said, KJ, about living from a position of humility and grace, because I think a lot of Christians believe they need to be like the author of this article…throwing down hard black-and-white truth as if to shock or jar our generation. In reality, sometimes living in the Gospel means to take an unmoving stand on a topic that the world easily accepts. But more often than not, the way Jesus shocked and jarred people of His generation was to love and accept other people radically. Regardless of the topic in debate, bringing grace and humility to the conversation is important. Loving the person involved is, ultimately, the most important part of living in the Gospel.
Easier said than done, right? Especially when we don’t agree.
I have been silent, because of the old “if you have nothing nice to say…” adage. I agree with the ideas you’ve each presented here…about tension…and the root of the gospel. I suppose my frustration is with the fact that I WANT for the article in question and the broad picture of Christian opinion that it represents to be WAY off base. Unfortunately, I think that the church as a whole does a really sucky job of presenting the mercy, grace, and authenticity of the Gospel. The wounds that the church has inflicted on the world do nothing but INCREASE the chasm that already exists between faith and lack thereof. The WORLD needs a Savior. The WORLD, generally, wants something to believe in. The WORLD has ONE EXAMPLE of Christ…CHRIST FOLLOWERS. If the body of Christ presents LEGALISTIC OPINIONS BOASTFULLY OFFERED AS FACT then the world will not understand that WHOSOEVER BELIEVES SHALL NOT PERISH. They will not understand that the GRACE that “WE” have received can be “THEIRS” too (even if they didn’t get married when they were 19 because they “selfishly” decided to finish college first.) They will not understand that WE ARE ALL ABSOLUTELY CREATED THE VERY, VERY SAME…IN GOD’S IMAGE and that He DESPERATELY wants a relationship WITH EACH OF US REGARDLESS OF OUR PAST. The WORLD will not know the LOVE of Christ if they are only met with lunatics who have long forgotten the fact that they too once had NOTHING TO OFFER GOD and that He accepted them and loved them IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES.
Ok…whew…that’s off my chest. So now, a short reprieve: A bit of research has proven that the author of the Christianity Today article has some other literary works that don’t all seem so narrowly focused. I’m willing to accept that he and I may actually agree on some things (which, by the way, doesn’t mean that either of us are “right”…so much as it may prove that we’re “wrong…together”). My issue isn’t really with him (or his opinion) so much as it is with the idea that messages of this type are dangerously divisive… keeping the world from the truth of the Gospel because it has been dressed up in distasteful (and not entirely truthful) attire…