I have met and heard of many people who were once followers of Jesus but then became disillusioned (it might be because they were neglected by their small group, mistreated by a deacon, lied to by a pastor, or let down by a role-model.) And then after being disgruntled toward that particular Christian (or even a whole congregation) they then proceeded to stop believing in Jesus Himself.
It's that last part that is a non-sequitur; it does not follow from that which came before.
A person can feel disappointed that their Bible study leader voted for a different presidential candidate than they did. They can be upset that an elder of their church was rude to them in the hallway. They can certainly feel betrayed when they find out their youth pastor slept with someone else’s wife.
Negative feelings about these kinds of happenings are understandable. But none of them have anything to do with whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And none of them have anything to do with whether or not Jesus will be the Magistrate presiding over Judgment Day.
To stop believing in Jesus because of the behavior of some of His followers is what I call “putting too much faith in the church.” As Christians, we don’t place our faith in the church; we place our faith in Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and it does not say that about your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, or your deacon board.
Humans will fail us. In fact, that is one of the teachings of Christianity! So, those Christians we’ve met who are hypocrites? They aren’t necessarily a contradiction of the Bible, but rather a confirmation of it.
Another interesting aspect of this is that the judgment some people use to condemn Christianity (because of the bad behavior of its adherents) is often something that they borrowed from Christianity.
In other words, if someone were to say: “I can’t believe those Christians did that! They are so awful. They ought to love their neighbor! Christianity is a complete joke!” my question would be: How do you know that? Is it really true that people are obligated to love their neighbor? Who says?
Oh yeah, it was Jesus who said that.
See the problem? If someone is separating themselves from Christianity, but the logic that they are using assumes the truth and goodness of Jesus’ teaching, then they aren’t separating themselves from Christianity very well. They are still a kind of believer (in some sense.) They are actually using the doctrines of Christianity to reject Christianity/the Christian church. However, if Christianity isn’t true, then why depend upon its morals to condemn it?
Is it true that Christians are hypocrites sometimes? Yes, but here’s the important question: Who says it ought to be any other way?
If the answer to that question is: “Jesus said it and that’s why it matters!” Then the person is back in the position of needing to take Jesus’ teaching seriously. In other words, “Welcome back to Christianity.”
However if their answer is: “No one. No one decides right and wrong for anyone else.” Then, who cares? They can be upset at the youth pastor, or the elders, or the aggressive church lady. But they must admit that those church people are merely living however they want. Who’s to say there is a particular “right” way that they ought to be living? I mean, sure, the church people may say so, but aren’t they wrong about that?
I thought this was helpful to think about.
It seems to me that there are a lot of people condemning Christianity, while standing on it’s morals to do so. Sure, anyone can hold another person accountable to the beliefs that they claim to hold. But if those people fail to live up to their beliefs, why fault the beliefs for that? And why fault the One who came up with those beliefs?
There are too many people who think that their frustrations with church people ought to lead them away from believing what the Bible says about Jesus. However, that shouldn’t be the case. Those are two different issues. If anything, the fact that it is a problem when Christians don’t live up to Jesus’ standards… well, that actually should point in the direction of taking Jesus more seriously, not less.
It's that last part that is a non-sequitur; it does not follow from that which came before.
A person can feel disappointed that their Bible study leader voted for a different presidential candidate than they did. They can be upset that an elder of their church was rude to them in the hallway. They can certainly feel betrayed when they find out their youth pastor slept with someone else’s wife.
Negative feelings about these kinds of happenings are understandable. But none of them have anything to do with whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And none of them have anything to do with whether or not Jesus will be the Magistrate presiding over Judgment Day.
To stop believing in Jesus because of the behavior of some of His followers is what I call “putting too much faith in the church.” As Christians, we don’t place our faith in the church; we place our faith in Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and it does not say that about your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, or your deacon board.
Humans will fail us. In fact, that is one of the teachings of Christianity! So, those Christians we’ve met who are hypocrites? They aren’t necessarily a contradiction of the Bible, but rather a confirmation of it.
Another interesting aspect of this is that the judgment some people use to condemn Christianity (because of the bad behavior of its adherents) is often something that they borrowed from Christianity.
In other words, if someone were to say: “I can’t believe those Christians did that! They are so awful. They ought to love their neighbor! Christianity is a complete joke!” my question would be: How do you know that? Is it really true that people are obligated to love their neighbor? Who says?
Oh yeah, it was Jesus who said that.
See the problem? If someone is separating themselves from Christianity, but the logic that they are using assumes the truth and goodness of Jesus’ teaching, then they aren’t separating themselves from Christianity very well. They are still a kind of believer (in some sense.) They are actually using the doctrines of Christianity to reject Christianity/the Christian church. However, if Christianity isn’t true, then why depend upon its morals to condemn it?
Is it true that Christians are hypocrites sometimes? Yes, but here’s the important question: Who says it ought to be any other way?
If the answer to that question is: “Jesus said it and that’s why it matters!” Then the person is back in the position of needing to take Jesus’ teaching seriously. In other words, “Welcome back to Christianity.”
However if their answer is: “No one. No one decides right and wrong for anyone else.” Then, who cares? They can be upset at the youth pastor, or the elders, or the aggressive church lady. But they must admit that those church people are merely living however they want. Who’s to say there is a particular “right” way that they ought to be living? I mean, sure, the church people may say so, but aren’t they wrong about that?
I thought this was helpful to think about.
It seems to me that there are a lot of people condemning Christianity, while standing on it’s morals to do so. Sure, anyone can hold another person accountable to the beliefs that they claim to hold. But if those people fail to live up to their beliefs, why fault the beliefs for that? And why fault the One who came up with those beliefs?
There are too many people who think that their frustrations with church people ought to lead them away from believing what the Bible says about Jesus. However, that shouldn’t be the case. Those are two different issues. If anything, the fact that it is a problem when Christians don’t live up to Jesus’ standards… well, that actually should point in the direction of taking Jesus more seriously, not less.
