What's the Least You Can Believe and Still Be A Christian?

This article that was written by United Methodist pastor Martin Thielen was so good that I just had to share. You can read the article in full here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-thielen/whats-the-least-you-can-b_b_811353.html

When I first met Danny, he said, "Preacher, you need to know that I'm an atheist. I don't believe the Bible. I don't like organized religion. And I can't stand self-righteous, judgmental Christians."

I liked him right away!

In spite of Danny's avowed atheism and my devout Christian beliefs, we became close friends. Over the next year Danny and I engaged in numerous conversations about faith. During that time Danny softened his stance on atheism. One day he announced with a laugh, "I've decided to upgrade from an atheist to an agnostic." Several months later Danny said, "I've had an epiphany. I realize that I don't reject Christianity. Instead, I reject the way that intolerant Christians package Christianity." A few weeks after that conversation, Danny said, "Martin, you've just about convinced me on this religion stuff. So I want to know--what's the least I can believe and still be a Christian?"

"What's the least I can believe and still be a Christian?" What a great question! Danny's provocative question prompted me to write a new book, using his question as the title. Part one of the book presents 10 things Christians don't need to believe. In short, Christians don't need to believe in closed-minded faith. For example, Christians don't need to believe that:

• God causes cancer, car wrecks and other catastrophes
• Good Christians don't doubt
• True Christians can't believe in evolution
• Woman can't be preachers and must submit to men
• God cares about saving souls but not saving trees
• Bad people will be "left behind" and then fry in hell
• Jews won't make it to heaven
• Everything in the Bible should be taken literally
• God loves straight people but not gay people
• It's OK for Christians to be judgmental and obnoxious

On the other hand, there are things Christians do need to believe, which is the focus of part two of my book. They need to believe in Jesus -- his life, teachings, example, death and resurrection. A great benefit of these beliefs is that they provide promising answers to life's most profound questions including:

• Who is Jesus?
• What matters most?
• Am I accepted?
• Where is God?
• What brings fulfillment?
• What about suffering?
• Is there hope?
• Is the church still relevant?
• Who is the Holy Spirit?
• What is God's dream for the world?

Like Danny, many people in the 21st century hunger for an open-minded expression of Christian faith. That's especially true for young people. For example, in a recent episode of the popular television show Glee, several high school students explain why they are turned off by religion. From their perspective, the church is down on gays, women and science. When you add to that the arrogant and judgmental attitudes found in many religious-right churches, it's easy to see why people are repelled by religion. If the only faith options are fundamentalism or no religion, many people will opt for no religion. Thankfully, a better alternative exists -- vibrant, open-minded, grace-filled, gender-equal, life-giving, centrist, moderate/mainline faith. Promoting that kind of faith is my greatest passion in ministry.

A Sense of Urgency

Last week I had an intensive course in theology every day from 8am to 5pm. You think I would have learned a lot about theology. Instead,I learned more from talking to the other students than I did from listening to the professor for 40 hours.

One man I talked to told me about his job and how it at least "paid the bills." Just minutes later, I talked to another man about his job. His disposition toward his work was completely different from the first. His entire demeanor changed as he excitedly told me about all that God was doing through position. His passion was contagious. He had a sense of urgency for doing God's kingdom work.

Two men. Two jobs. Two completely different outlooks on them.

One man viewed his job as a necessity that provided money to live. The other viewed his job as an important instrument of God's kingdom.

I think that our country heavily stresses the "American dream" where we successfully build our dream career and do what we want for a living. And end up really rich in the process. When we achieve less than this we are "just paying the bills."
Both of these perspectives are inconsistent with Jesus' view. "Seek first God's kingdom," he says, and all your basic needs will be met (Matt. 6:33).

God's kingdom comes before my wants.
My desires.
My career.
My bills.
My dreams.

I feel like I am very much at a major crossroad in my life. There are several different career paths I could take, many of which are exciting to me. But I am realizing that I cannot choose what I want to do and then subsequently make it fit into God's kingdom as an afterthought. Sure, God could use and redeem that vocational choice, but He doesn't say to seek His kingdom second.

Everything I do must be centered on the idea of welcoming God's kingdom into my life and the world around me. God's kingdom is too urgent for me to satisfy my own desires.

God's kingdom come, God's will be done, in my vocation as it is in heaven.

For God's Sake, Think! - Antichrist(s)

"Hermeneutics” is a fancy word to describe the process by which someone interprets the Bible. Every so often I blog about contexts behind certain biblical passages so that we can better understand God’s Word. I invite you to think critically about what the biblical writers are trying to communicate as I explain a passage’s background material.

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When people think about "antichrist" they typically add a definite article to it and correspond it with end times, catastrophic events, and Nicholae from the Left Behind series. The problem with this association is that it is completely unbiblical. Nowhere in Revelation is the term "antichrist" even used, much less described in our present day's expectations. In fact, the only place where "antichrist" is used is in I John. The description of an antichrist is alarming. Not only can there be more than one antichrist, but you and I can possess such an office.

I John 2:18
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

John is certainly not foreseeing an incarnation of Satan in this passage. Here's John, 2000 years ago, writing that an antichrist is coming and that there are already many antichrists present.
John continues to describe just who an antichrist is:

I John 2:22
Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist - he denies the Father and the Son.

This is a pretty broad definition. An antichrist, then, is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah. This may be an explicit or implicit denial. Some people verbally disbelieve in Jesus; others implicitly disbelieve Christ by their actions.
Each one of us possesses the possibility of being either for or against Christ. We can be like Peter, who opposed Jesus' plan to suffer and die and was commanded to "get behind" Jesus (Matt. 16:21-23). Or we can be full supporters of Christ's kingdom plan and "get behind" its implications for our lives.

The choice is ours. We must make a decision, for there is no middle ground. Either we accept Christ's message and plan for humankind entirely or we "get in front of" Christ and assume that our plans are better than his. May this New Year challenge you to reevaluate your lifestyle and surrender all of it to the control of Jesus. By aligning ourselves under the direction of God's kingdom we can be for Christ instead of anti-Christ.

For Better... AND for Worse

Sometimes, life doesn't end up the way you want it to.

John was in prison. He had dangerously critiqued the political leader of the day and was shut up in prison. To top it all off, a threat of being decapitated loomed over his little cell. How was it that this was happening to him? Wouldn't everything be different now that the Messiah, the new, powerful conqueror, was finally here? Surely the Messiah's political coup and overturn of the throne would free John from his incarceration.

Just to make sure, John sent some of his students to ask Jesus about his situation in Luke 7:18-23. "Are you the one who was to come," they asked, "or should we expect someone else?" Jesus' response is strange:

"Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

This little discourse is a quotation from prophecy about the coming Messiah (Isaiah 61). It is the same quotation that Jesus borrowed from when he began his ministry at the synagogue (Luke 4:17-19). This probably was not good news for John. While helping the poor and healing people was all well and good, when would Jesus assume the role of conquering king? Better yet, when would Jesus bust John out of prison?
Notice that Jesus leaves an action out of this quotation from Isaiah - When compared with the quotation from Luke 4, it is apparent that there is no mention of Jesus' freeing the captives this time. Jesus leaves out the segment that was relevant to John's situation.
This is a special rabbinical interpretation of a text. They would omit something to emphasize it. John would have been very familiar with this passage and would notice that this one phrase was missing. By omitting this idea, then, Jesus was communicating to John that he wouldn't be freed from prison. Jesus was not the political, conquering king that John thought he was. Jesus then encourages John not to fall away on account of his true identity.

Sometimes, following Jesus does not turn out the way we would like it to. We want the benefits without the sacrifice. Like John, we want a conquering king instead of a suffering Savior who calls us to die with him.

The truth is, you can't have the relationship without the sacrifice that comes with it. You either follow Christ with all your heart, for better AND (not "or") for worse, or you don't. Jesus said that some people will receive his message about the kingdom but then fall away when trouble and persecution comes (Matthew 13:20-21). But blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Christ's true nature and true calling to his disciples: devotion at all costs and in all circumstances.

For God’s Sake, Think! – The Widow’s Two Coins

"Hermeneutics” is a fancy word to describe the process by which someone interprets the Bible. Every so often I blog about contexts behind certain biblical passages so that we can better understand God’s Word. I invite you to think critically about what the biblical writers are trying to communicate as I explain a passage’s background material.

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Luke 21:1-4

¹ As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ² He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ³ “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

It has been many a time when a Christian organization has used the passage from Luke 21:1-4 to try to convince me to give to their cause. Jesus praised the widow for giving all that she had to the temple treasury, so shouldn’t you follow her example and give all you have to [insert organization]? While I certainly do think that giving is to be encouraged, I am very convinced that using this passage in such a way is unfaithful to its context. It is built upon a dangerous misunderstanding of the passage, resulting in spiritual manipulation (see 2 Cor. 9:7).

Part of the reason why a temple treasury was even collected was so that money could be dispersed to the poor and distressed social classes (widows, orphans) in the Jewish society. Somehow, the temple treasury was no longer meeting this need… In this story, not only is a widow poor and down to her last two coins, but the temple leaders required her to give to the treasury! She was supposed to be the one receiving from the fund, not the one giving to the fund. The system was corrupt and unjustly taking advantage of the poor rather than aiding the poor.

When Jesus compares the widow to the rich, he was not commending her for giving more than the rich because she gave all she had. He was commenting that she, in her poverty, should not have been the one giving to the treasury! It is for this reason that Jesus next predicts the complete destruction of the temple (21:5-6). The entire social system of Israel was corrupt, including the religious system. It was thus going to be destroyed, along with all of its unjust practices.