It’s been awhile since I’ve made your brains hurt–at least a couple of days or so–so here’s Nugget #591 from the Official Collection of Proverbs and Random Thoughts from Jeff the Twisted, Slightly Off-Center Philosopher:
“We Christians tend to evaluate whether someone else is a Christian–whether someone is “in” or “out”–using a completely different set of criteria than what the Bible teaches, or what Jesus Himself modeled for us.”
Care to unpack this one for me? What does it mean? Is it true, or not? And why?
Wayward Son
Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo.
I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
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Yes, we Christians tend to go by what someone says about themselves, until they do something that "A good Christian wouldn't do." Then we judge them. Less harshly if they are a celebrity, because evidently Christians need the representation.
Of course Jesus spoke directly to this in Matthew 21. I actually blogged that passage today. http://beyondoutreach.blogspot.com
(I hope I am not out of line putting the URL)
Yes, it is absolutely true.
1) We base our judgement of "out" or "in" primarily on externals of performance (behavior, statements of belief) rather than heart.
2) We base it more on our own cultural criteria, influenced more by nationalism or tradition than by the Father's love for and desire for all His children, all of His creation.
3) Jesus' model and teaching doesn't suit us (since God is not controlled by our religious performances). So we largely ignore it and go on in our religion – since it's more comfortable and gives us more of a sense of control.
But that doesn't mean that God is like us. Our assessments of "in" and "out" may not be the same as His.
My brain is tired, so I won't stretch it too much, but I did have an observation today on this topic.
As I watched a car overtake me I noticed a fish emblem, and thought "Oh, a Christian". (assumption)
Then I looked down at my speedo' and thought, "What would Jesus do in a fast car on an open road with a speed limit of 75?" mmmmmmm
Well, Jesus was willing to break the "law".
I think he would have gone as fast as he wanted to and paid the fine…for himself AND the guy in the fast car that passed you.
Stephen,
Good observation about Matt. 21. And the URL is completely appropriate because it relates to the subject. 🙂 Thanks for visiting.
Sarah,
Good points, all. I think of it that there is this Christian-ese protocol of how Christians are "expected" to talk, dress, act, etc.–stuff that's more like a clique than a witness. But when a Christian who fits the mold acts un-Christlike toward someone, we pass it off as "They are just human." By contrast…someone once handed my teenage son a gospel tract in a mega-church because he didn't dress like the kids in their youth group…assumed he was not a believer. 🙂
Anon…
Please forgive me, but I really had to think twice about it when you said you looked at your "speedo". (It was late where I was, too…) 🙂
Kari,
Your remarks actually have jogged my brain onto a totally different track. 🙂 Probably need to blog about it.
I'm still in a quandry about the speedo? We are talking about the bathing suit right?
Kool,
Speedo' = speedometer
Speedo = (tiny) bathing suit
🙂