"Jesus Died For You"
I always hated this line about Jesus, and its derivatives such as:
"Jesus paid the price"
I always have a difficult time making any sense of out it. The best I can come up with is this: So we're inherently sinful just because we're born, which is a debt to be paid, and God sends Jesus to pay this debt for all people, and if we just believe in that and allow Jesus to be that debt-payer for us, then we are debt-free and no longer pay the price for sin, which is death.
Just always seemed like a way to wash our hands of it. "Thank you Jesus for doing this for us, so I don't have to do shit."
I think its really hard to reconcile the call to "take up your cross and follow" with such a confessional statement.
The worst part of this confessional statement is just its call to passivity. You don't have to actually do anything. There's not much transformation there. There is just belief--making a statement. Saying some words. It can be a pathway to greater spiritual development, I don't doubt that. But all too often, people use it as a way to distance themselves from the passion. Here's a guy hanging on the cross, and in fine bourgeois fashion you pat-pat him on the head, thank him for his troubles and go eat your dinner.
Joining yourself to the Resurrection means joining yourself to the Passion, too.
Yep, and those phrase reflect what much of Christianity has become - beliefism. No longer is it following Christ, or taking on "the Way"; now it is to subscribe to this set of postulates.
ReplyDeleteIt does matter who you are or what you do, it is what you believe.
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and for your thoughts! I think you hit the nail on the head. Too many people are hung up on "beliefs", but the more I think about it, the more it doesn't seem to be where its at.
This entry describes so susinctly the problems I often have with Christians. To be an imp, in a religious class I attended a few months ago, I asked, "So, if I'm saved, why should I bother doing anything good? I believe in Jesus, so I'm free. I can just coast through the rest of my life doing what I want."
ReplyDeleteI didnt get a sufficient answer from them as to why I should do anything.
Ironically, that night, I dreamt of James 2:18:
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
To me, that answered my question... (I have wondered if that was God answering my question for me, but you know, I'm a skeptic, so I'm just thinking it was lucky?)
PS, I forgot to add... Why dont many Christians stress a quote like James 2:18? Why dont more follow this kind of philosophy?
ReplyDeleteJames is not a real popular part of the Bible for many Protestants. Martin Luther described it as the "epistle of straw."
ReplyDeleteThis certainly raises issues among people who believe that the Bible--ALL the Bible--is God's word. You start heading into shaky ground when you say that some parts of the Bible are more important than others--whether its God's word or not, it seems like how the book is interpreted is just as important as the words themselves, but I digrees (Luther wasn't doing that, he wasn't a modern Biblical literalist).
The reason James is unpopular has to do with God's grace. If you "earn" your salvation by doing good deeds, then in a sense you are controlling God. You are buying your ticket. So Luther advocated the idea that its "faith" not "works" that saves you.
The problem is that in common practice many people think they can "buy" their ticket with a statement of faith... 'accept JC as your personal savior' and you get an unlimited pass to heaven. Same problem of thinking you can control God.
But all these ideas converge anyway... if you have faith, your life should reflect that in your works. If your works are good, its because you have the love and faith behind them. Whether God's saving you or you're saving yourself through your deeds is fodder for theologicans to talk about, but to me its about as solveable as whether the chicken or egg came first.
The goal is to integrate Christianity holistically into our lives: in our beliefs as well as our actions.