Christianity is primarily about…
A great quote by Jim Hamilton:
“Many pastors are a threat to their churches because they show from what they say and do that they do not understand what Christianity is. They think Christianity is the best form of therapy. They think Christianity is about self-help. They think Christianity is about better marriages, better parent-child relations, better attitudes and performance at work, and on and on. You can see that this is what they think because this is what they preach. Fundamentally, they think that Christianity is about success here and now. Also, for them, when it comes to how we do church, what the Bible says does not matter. What works best is what we should do.
But Christianity is not primarily about any of that. Christianity is primarily about the Gospel…
Pastors who present Christianity as therapy and self-help do not present Christianity. They are like the liberals that J. Gresham Machen denounced. Machen said that people who don’t believe the Bible should be honest and stop calling themselves Christians because they have in fact created a new religion that is not to be identified with Christianity.”
Some more can be found here. Thanks to Daryl Dash for linking this up.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:35 am
How many times have we heard some well meaning Christian spout “Jesus is the answer”…even I am guilty of spouting that one. Drug addicted? Jesus is the answer; Not happy with your life? Jesus is the answer; overweight and bald? Jesus is the answer!
The gospel is cheapened and turned into a commodity when we presnet Jesus as the “cure for what ails thee”.
I really liked this excerpt, well posted
August 29th, 2006 at 11:50 am
generally talking my language… but i always have a problem with people saying ‘look for these 5 things to make sure the pastor is on track’ just too simplistic for me
August 29th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I am reminded of the peanuts cartoon (from many years ago) with Snoopy walking around carrying a placard saying “Jesus is the answer” One of the kids comes up and asks him “If Jesus is the answer, what’s the question?”
Greg, if anyone is offering a ministry of hair restoration my husband would be very interested …
But seriously, while healing and joy, better relationships, improved mental health or whatever else may well be part of the “all things” that are added unto us, they are given (or not, as our Father wills) when we are seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. Christianity is not a marketable panacea for a better worldly life, it is the yielding of ourselves to the Living God to be utterly His. my pet hate is the cheesy Christian novel where a realistic portrayal of life’s complexities and problems is set up, then a key character (or characters) is converted and suddenly all the problems disappear and they enter a Disney-ish happy-ever-after existence. Maybe I know the wrong people, but i’ve never seen anyone’s life where it worked out quite like that ..
August 29th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
This is something that I’ve been concerned about for some time and recently read the below that Michael Horton talks about in Putting Amazing back into Grace:
Modern day man warps this concept [doctrine of sin] out of shape so that we feel stressed out instead of feeling guilty and hence we re-design a gospel message that offers a stress relief instead of a relief from guilt. If we are man enough to face up to our real problem then we will be ready for God’s solution - Grace.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
and the women…?
August 29th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Sounds better than ‘person enough’ surely - without any disrespect to those of the female persuasion.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Why not brave enough? Why does facing up to our real problem have anything to do with gender?
August 29th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
stop being a girl greg
August 30th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
LOL! nothing wrong with being a girl.
If Greg wants to be one, why shouldn’t he?
(you have no idea how brave we girls can be!)
August 31st, 2006 at 3:23 pm
greg - its your right as a man to be a girl if you want … i apologise
i just hope you don’t want to have babies as the foetus will have nowhere to gestate as you have no womb
August 31st, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Hang on, hang on… this is sounding very ‘Life of Brian’…
so i need to ask…
… are the any women here today?
September 1st, 2006 at 9:08 am
Quote from Michael Duncan’s “Wild Ones” (UNOH 2006)
When I finally did turn to Christ in 1976, it wasn’t a decision to be good, but to belong to God. It wasn’t my decision to be committed or to accept Christianity, but to belong to Christ who had taken hold of me. As a result a shift of allegiance occurred at my core. In my heart I knew that I was now governed by obedience to Jesus ahead of all else ………… I did not become a Christian; even though I deeply respect that concept, I no longer use the word “Christian” in my ministry. Regrettably, this word has become a sociological label and as such does not carry its original meaning any more. To be a Christian now is to try something on for a while and see if it fits. Being a Christian is a bit like a fad or a fashion - for many it comes and goes. They have Jesus and the Bible in bits and pieces, keeping what they like and discarding the rest ….. Christians do this, but not converts. In many of my meetings I now ask that no one become a Christian. I then turn to the Christians and ask that they consider being converted to Jesus.
Well said, Mick…
“Christianity” to me sounds like a philosophy. I don’t want to be a promoter of Christianity or a builder of the church (I seem to recall that Jesus said he would do that). Like Mick, I want to be simply a follower of Jesus, and not feel obliged to defend everything that is done in the name of “Christianity” because I am a part of this “tribe”.
September 1st, 2006 at 11:46 am
For a great video on this topic follow the following link
http://www.highwayvideo.com/ click on view by topic then click the topic Jesus Chirst and then a list of video topics will appear to te right scroll down until you come to Jesus v Christian and then click view.
These guys are american, but gee theydo some great multi media stuff that is still applicable if you can turn off the “I can’t stand that acccent” switch in your ears
September 2nd, 2006 at 1:16 am
“Christianity is primarily about…” Accepting homosexual behavior as the norm… not dragging dead opossums through the streets… calling Homer a pharisee…. hating modern worship music… judging gays… judging gay judgers…. building websites that identify cults… resisting organized church … going to seminary… not going to seminary… bashing hillsong… rebuking Phil Baker… declaring Joyce Meyer to be the Anti-christ… spreading dirt about CCC nad the lowly Chris Cringle - I mean Phil Pringle (sorry Santa) …. and finally, doing expose’s on Leigh Cartwright.
That’s what we do on SP anyway…
September 2nd, 2006 at 3:26 am
Alternatively…Signposts deals with real ongoing problems…rather than burying our heads up our own arses ..while humming ‘Grandma got run over by a reindeer’.
September 2nd, 2006 at 9:48 am
Signposts is recreation, akevin, not vocation… even for Dan and Phil who endeavour to follow Jesus in their “real lives”.
I can’t see that a forum to have a bit of a whinge is such a bad thing… I think it may also have a higher purpose in being a safe place for people to share ideas and experiences… have an educational role in exposing people to a variety of views and ideas… it may even do a bit of “keeping the bastards honest” (I say in tribute to the late Don Chipp) by encouraging people to ask questions of church leaders getting seduced by the “success” model of Christianity.
To be fair too… there is a recurring discussion on SP about what it means to be true to the gospel, even if the other issues you’ve listed do keep popping up. But does not the very nature of a safe forum mean that people will keep raising what are “hot topics” for them? Isn’t that OK?
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:12 am
NOTICE _ THE SMILEY FACE!! LIGHTEN UP!!!
Don’t make me drag an Opposum-
September 2nd, 2006 at 6:43 pm
My apologies… I haven’t had any time for recreation lately and have entirely lost my sense of humour… if not the plot.