The Christianity I Know

Over the years I've seen a lot of opinions on, views of, and ideas about Christianity. More often than not, those ideas are misconceptions that don't even come close to the genuine article.

A few years ago, right after LOST finished its final season, I saw The Jimmy Kimmel Show. This particular episode focused on the series finale of LOST. I will never forget as Jimmy Kimmel attempted (and utterly failed) to explain Christianity. According to his view of Christianity, when you die, your good deeds are measured against your bad deeds. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven. If the bad outweighs the good, you go to hell.

That is not the Christianity I know. The Christianity I know states that my good works are completely insufficient to get me to heaven. God is perfect. His standard is perfection. If I am not perfect, I am not good enough to get into heaven. Only through the grace of God and the atoning work of Jesus Christ can I get to heaven (Romans 3:21-30). That's not to say that good works are irrelevant; good works are the result and evidence of salvation (James 2:18). They are not what saves me. At the moment of salvation, my heart, soul, and mind are changed so I can do good works (Colossians 1:21-23, 3:1-17).

There are people who believe that the core of Christianity is charity and social work. That is not the Christianity I know. The Christianity I know is thoroughly God-centered. God and his gospel are central. That's not to say that we shouldn't engage in charity and social work and feeding the homeless. But that is not the point of Christianity.

There are people who believe that it is the solemn duty of all Christians to defy oppressive governments, and sometimes even seem to believe the Constitution to be on par with the Bible. They believe Christianity to be a political movement. That is not the Christianity I know. The Christianity I know has only one authoritative document (okay, technically sixty-six, but they are all one cohesive whole): the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17). That's not to say the Constitution isn't a wonderful document. But everything must be beholden to the Bible, including the Constitution. Should they ever contradict, the Bible must take precedence.

That Bible also says that governments are put in place by God to punish evildoers and reward those who do good. They also must be beholden to the Bible. We are to submit to them except when to do so would disobey what the Bible says (1 Peter 2:13-17). The Apostles did not try to overthrow the Roman government, and they only defied it when it prohibited or prevented them from preaching the gospel (Acts 4:18-20). The preaching of the gospel, not political revolution, eventually resulted in Rome being ruled by a Christian emperor. Also, Jesus himself paid taxes to the government despite the fact that they used their money to do ungodly things (Matthew 17:24-27).

There are those who believe the whole of Christianity is to hate gay people and women (mainly meaning abortion, but other things as well). That is not the Christianity I know. The Christianity I know says that Christians, regardless of gender, are equal in Christ (Galatians 3:28). One is not better or worse than the other. They are just different from each other and complement each other. The Bible also does not condone murder (which is what abortion is). It also does not condone homosexuality (note that I did not say homosexuals, meaning people), because it goes against the order that God created (Rom. 1:26-27).

I once saw a picture of some people at Evergreen holding signs about sin and the judgment. I have no idea if they were also holding signs about salvation and grace, but I doubt it would have made a difference. Next to these sign holders sat two women, clearly a couple. One of them was holding a sign that said "I apologize for these 'Christians.'" The sign clearly implied that, because these people talked about sin and judgment, they were not Christians, because Christianity is a religion of peace, love, and tolerance. That is not the Christianity I know. The Christianity I know is above love, yes, but not in the way people think. That leads to my last point.

There are people who think that Christianity is hateful, intolerant, and oppressive and that Christians just want to make everyone do what they say. That is not the Christianity I know. The Christianity I know is not hateful. It is loving. It is loving enough to warn people about the fatal consequences of their actions.

Let's say someone was about to touch an electric fence charged with enough voltage to kill him. Would it be loving to let him touch it? Would it not be loving to say, "Don't touch that, it will kill you"? If he touched it and died, and people knew you could've stopped it but took no action, would you not be seen as heartless and unloving, or perhaps cowardly?

When we warn people of the judgment, it's not because we hate people. It's because we love them. It's because we don't want them to face the terrible judgment of a perfectly just judge. What is hateful about that?

Sadly, however, I think that a lot of Christians (so-called or genuine) have fallen into the trap of seeing these various misconceptions of Christianity as the real thing. I think it's because we've let things and people other than the Bible define Christianity to us. Christianity cannot ultimately be defined by politicians, theologians, bloggers, scientists, and especially the unbelieving world. The only one who can and does define Christianity is our triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit. And the only way we can know what Christianity truly is is through the Bible.