Make a mark as Christians
‘Get out of your church building and into the hurting places of this world’
Years ago, a woman left our church, partly because she thought I had suggested that Christians are the only people who really care about other people in the world.
An atheist herself, she felt atheists were no less humanitarian and compassionate and that I was being unfair to them.
Ironically, right around the same time, an atheist in England published an article in which he claimed that there can be no denying that Christianity has excelled at infiltrating the lowly places of the world to bring comfort and relief in Jesus’ name.
Roy Hattersley made his posthurricane Katrina comments in a piece titled, Faith Does Breed Charity: We atheists have to accept that most believers are better human beings. (Guardian, 9.12.05)
Here are some excerpts: “The Salvation Army has been given a special status as provider-in-chief of American disaster relief. But its work is being augmented by all sorts of other groups. Almost all of them have a religious origin and character. Notable by their absence are teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers’ clubs and atheists’ associations- the sort of people who not only scoff at religion’s intellectual absurdity but also regard it as a positive force for evil.
“(Civilized) people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags and — probably most difficult of all — argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious minded medical treatment. Good works, John Wesley insisted, are no guarantee of a place in heaven. But they are most likely to be performed by people who believe that heaven exists.
“It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian or, better still, to take Christianity a la carte. The Bible is so full of contradictions that we can accept or reject its moral advice according to taste. Yet men and women who, like me, cannot accept the mysteries and the miracles do not go out with the Salvation Army at night.
“The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me. The truth may make us free. But it has not made us as admirable as the average captain in the Salvation Army.”
(Read the complete article online: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/12/ religion.uk)
Doubtless, a lot of evil has been done in the name of Jesus, here in Canada and around the world. I have no desire or intent to defend any of it. But let’s be fair: a lot of good has been done in His name, too. That’s something to be proud of; that’s something to give your life to! If you wear the name “Christian”, get out of your church building and into the hurting places of this world!
As Jeff Vanderstelt said last week at the Saturate Missional Community Conference in Halifax: “When you see something that doesn’t look like the kingdom of God, ask Jesus to break in and show you how to change that!”