A COLLISION OF CHRISTIANITIES: I no longer want to be called a “Christian”

The controversy around Bishop Mariann Budde’s prophetic message to Trump last week at the National Cathedral’s inaugural prayer service made me question whether I still want to be called a Christian.   Not because of her message, but because of the way that “Christians” responded.

One of America’s prominent worship leaders labelled Bishop Budde as “a witch” and “a crazy woman,” further alleging that the “devil himself” was inspiring this “crazy witch lady” with her “demonic filth” of “spells and perversion.”

I truly grapple with this Christianity that has a relentless appetite to polarise, slander, judge, and condemn.  How can we allow the dual nature of the tongue, which can serve as a profound instrument of worship on Sunday, yet so easily transform into a weapon of harm during the week, to dominate our faith?  As James 3:9-10 warns, “With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in God’s likeness.”

It wasn’t long before fellow believers joined the chorus of slander, destroying a fellow confessor of Christ.  And the world looked on in disbelief.

It was not a clash of theologies but a collision of Christianities.  Frederick Douglass named this collision of Christianities as a reality over 100 years ago:

“Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference — so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.”

Shane Claiborne from religionnews.com described it as follows:

“The obvious problem, as evidenced in the surge of hateful responses, is that this version of Christianity doesn’t look or sound like the Jesus of the Gospels — who blessed the poor and the peacemakers, the meek and the merciful, who insisted we love our enemies and turn the other cheek, who commanded his disciples to sell their possessions and give the money to the poor. And, yes, who said that when we welcome the stranger, we welcome him because whatever we do to the “least of these” we do to Christ. That’s the Gospel of Jesus … and it looks very different from the gospel of what we see today.”

Claiborne then concluded with perhaps the essence of the argument:

The word “Christian” means “Christ-like.” If it doesn’t look like Jesus, and it doesn’t sound like Jesus … let’s not call it Christianity. If it’s not about love and mercy … let’s not call it Christianity. If it’s not good news to the poor and the sinner…  let’s not call it Christianity. If it’s not about welcoming the stranger … let’s not call it Christianity.”

SO, let it be known, I no longer wish to be associated with the kind of Christianity that excludes and divides.

THE PAGAN PERSPECTIVE

The term “Christian” appears only three times in the New Testament; in Acts 11:26, in Acts 26:28 and in 1 Peter 4:16.

Originally, early Church members did not refer to themselves as “Christians.”  When we look at the texts that make up the New Testament we discover that the early communities of Christ-followers preferred to call themselves “saints”.  The original Greek for “saint” (hagios), however, had a slightly different meaning than it does today.  In this context, the Greek word hagios simply means “consecrated to God.” The fact that the term always appears in the plural in the New Testament indicates that the early Church saw itself as a community of people working and living together in service to God.  They therefore did not see themselves as moral judges but as social servants.

Members of the early church were called “Christians” for the first time in Acts 11:26.  The term “Christian” was originally coined by an external group of “pagans” who observed the behaviour of Jesus’ followers and saw similarities to Jesus’ actions. Consequently, they began referring to these Jesus followers as “Christians.”

The term “Christian” means “little Christ,” and the people of Antioch noticed how “Christ-like” those who claimed to follow Him were, and thus started referring to these Christ-like followers of Jesus as “Christians.” It served as a way to identify and talk about them.

This is an important principle in understanding the origin, the calling and the consecration of those who seek to mirror Christ.  The first “Christians” did not choose this title for themselves; it was given to them. For modern-day Christianity, the name Christian has become an exclusive entitlement and a right, more than an inclusive grace and privilege.

The Christians of Antioch were not known for their hate, venom, judgmentalism, or religious pride, or even for their good theology, pious life, and vast Bible knowledge. Instead, they were known for looking and acting and behaving like Jesus Christ, and as a result, they were called “Christians” by those who were not Christians.

THE MODERN PERSPECTIVE

If the watching world started giving titles and nicknames to those who proclaim to follow Jesus today, what sort of titles do you think they would give us?

I am not sure I want to know … but I doubt it would be “Christian.”

So, I wonder what the world might choose as a nickname for me. Would they spot a “little-Jesus” or a “big bigot” (a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic towards a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group)?

More importantly, what would Jesus see in me that he’d like to capture in a name:

• Would I be seen as one of the Boanerges brothers – James and John, the sons of thunder, always ready to condemn and judge?  Having a devotion that destroys.
• Or would I be called Barnabas, someone who is always ready to uplift and encourage? Having a devotion that builds.
• Or how about Hoshea who became Joshua? One who saves. Having a devotion that brings life and gives hope.

So, what would your nickname be?

Personally, I aspire to be known by the nickname given to Jesus, and so should every follower of Christ. Not the name His followers used but the name attributed to Him by those outside His inner circle. Consider this: the nickname given to Jesus was “Friend of Sinners.” As Luke 7:34 states, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'”

I desire to be seen as a little Jesus, not a religious bigot.  I do not want to be classified as a Christian who takes pride in his race, his face, his place or even his grace.  I pursue to be the Humble Servant who didn’t come to judge the world but to save it (John 3:17  For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its saviour.)  I want to be known as a friend of sinners.

SO HOW WILL THE WORLD KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS? 

Well, for starters, if we have to tell people we are Christian we are most probably not.  According to scripture, they will know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35) not by our confession.

Those who truly act like a “Christian” do not have to tell people they are a “Christian” because people already suspect it or know it.  If we want to represent Jesus to people, we don’t do it by judgement, hatred or condemnation.  You see, just because we are standing for the truth doesn’t mean that we are standing with the truth – Jesus Christ.

They will know we are Christians by our love, and if we have not love, they will never know the Christ we represent, no matter how much we talk about Him.

So the question we should be asking ourselves is not “Am I a Christian?” but rather, “Am I Christ-like?”  “Do my words sound like words Jesus might say or more like words that I say in His name?”

Yes, I aspire to be like Christ and to mirror Him to the people around me.  I aspire to be a Christian as defined by the pagans of the early Church.  I am a follower of Christ!

But I do not want to be identified as a “Christian” anymore based on my confession.  People must see it, suspect it and savour it.  Little Christ or no Christ.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Friend of sinners!  How about that?