What is Christianity?

Transcription

1 13 If someone were to come up to you on the street and asked you, what would you say? Would you say it is a religion, a belief system, a faith? When I first decided to write about this I surfed the Internet based on this question and I found many different answers. Christians and non-christians wrote some very interesting things. Some were good but some were also not accurate and even misleading. In this era of blogging, face-booking, twittering and self-publishing, everyone who chooses to have a voice through the written word easily can, which is good in many ways; however, the written word is indeed extremely powerful and because so much information is available in so many forms, discernment of what is truth and what is not can prove difficult. What Christianity is Not To understand what Christianity really is, we shall begin by exploring what it is not. First, Christianity is not a religion. Surprising as this statement may seem, Christianity is not and was never meant to be a religion. Religion is an aspect of life and Christianity is not something that can be neatly packaged into just one aspect of life. Unfortunately in many circles, Christianity has become compartmentalized into strictly being about Sunday services only, and/or Bible study and other activities. Secondly, Christianity is not something founded by man. Jesus is the Son of God and God in the flesh according to Christian belief. Therefore to believe Christianity was founded by Jesus the man, as opposed to Jesus the man who was also God and the Son of the God, is to basically reduce Christianity to a way of thinking and a philosophy or a philosophical system which it also is not. This seemingly absurd notion to many that God actually appeared to us in the flesh is something everyone who calls themselves Christian has to come to terms with (I deal with this in detail later in

2 14 Sacramental Living the book). The rock star Bono of U2 was asked this very question about the truth of Christ and he answered as follows: Interviewer Christ has his rank among the world s great thinkers. But son of God, isn t that farfetched? Bono No, it s not far-fetched for me to believe that Jesus is God. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the line of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually, Christ doesn t allow you that. He doesn t let you off the hook. Christ says, No. I am not saying I am a teacher, don t call me a teacher. I am not saying I am a prophet, don t call me a prophet. I am saying: I m the Messiah. I am saying I am God in the flesh. A prophet we can take. You re a bit eccentric. We ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don t mention the M word! Because, you know, we are gonna have to crucify you. And Christ says: No, no, I know you are expecting me to come back with an army and free you from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts to stare at their shoes, and says: Oh my God, he s gonna keep saying this. So what you re left with is either Christ is who He said He was - the Messiah - or a complete nutcase. I mean, we are talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson.I am not joking here. The idea that an entire course of civilization for over half the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that s far-fetched i Thirdly, Christianity is also not something we should practice just on Sundays. Nor is it something to be studied and only approached through the mind and intellectual reasoning as if

3 15 God is something philosophical that we can understand through our brains only. Lastly, it is also not a set of legalistic rules and a system of moral ethical teachings though it contains these things and no sane person would argue that moral rules and decent codes of behavior are not good. What Christianity Is So if Christianity is not a religion what is it? Christianity is the transformational way of life in response to our heart for God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and understood through the Holy Spirit. Stating that Christianity is a way of life and not a religion may surprise you. However, when Christianity first began it was referred to by its adherents (the Apostles and their initial converts) as simply the way before the term Christian was eventually used in the city of Antioch (see Acts 11:26). If was referred to as the way because Christ called Himself the way in John 14:6 and the early Christians understood Christianity to be a whole way of life and something much more than a momentary decision or observance of outward religious practices. ii The late Father Alexander Schmemann, a respected and revered Priest and author, wrote that Christianity was meant to be the end of religion because religion is only needed when there is a wall of separation between God and man. Christ, because He is both God and man, broke down that wall and ended the need for religion. Religion also only really deals with matters of the soul. iii Christianity is so much more than just something to nurture the development of our souls. It is about mind, body and soul; our life lived in its entirety, all that we say, think and do being devoted and connected to God through our relationship to Him in Christ. And it is through our heart that we stay connected to God. But this connection is only understood and deepened if we devote everything we are and do to God and live a life of worship in which Christ-likeness is our goal.

4 16 Sacramental Living Christ-likeness is taking on more and more of God s divine nature into our human nature as exemplified and made possible for us when God came as man in Christ. Christianity is about knowing God in our hearts and through experience, not just through intellectual study and logical proofs, and becoming increasingly aware of His mystery and most importantly, His love. This loving relationship with God transforms who we are and manifests itself in, among other things, our loving treatment of others. Our loving treatment of others in the spirit of community is a direct result of our relationship and experience with the Lord. Love is the essence of true spirituality. If we don t have a loving and dynamic relationship with Christ, it doesn t matter if we are Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Protestant. Sometimes all of the different types of Christian churches that exist make it confusing for people and we get caught up in doctrinal differences, whose theology is more correct, and who worships in the right manner. Sadly, it sometimes leads to infighting with each other, some of which we display for the world to see, and thus make ourselves seem silly and even petty to non- Christians. Worse though, it hinders our ability to seek a relationship with God. It doesn t matter if you are active in Church and don t have the right relationship with God. This is why so many people are brought up Christian, go to Christian schools, live their lives in Christian communities, yet have the same divorce rate, juvenile crime rate, and other problems that the rest of society suffers from. This is because without a proper understanding and relationship with Christ, Christianity is incorrectly reduced to just another system of rules and regulations we try to follow by our own will power and therefore ultimately makes no deep and lasting change to our way of being. Having a Heart for God But what does it really mean to have a heart for God? What is the reason the Bible speaks so much about the heart? The

5 17 authors of the New Testament didn t know the heart was an organ in the chest that pumped blood. Further, the idea of the heart as the place of emotions didn t evolve until hundreds of years later. So what did they even mean by heart? In the Biblical context, heart is the core of our being, our essence as a person. However, our English word heart does a poor job of capturing what the authors of the New Testament meant when they wrote about it. The ancient Greek word they used was the nous (pronounced noose). Nous is a Greek term that we really don t have a word for in English. Heart is as close as we come to what they meant when they used this term. In this context, heart means more than feelings; it means our intellect and reasonable will. Therefore the nous gives rise to right and practical judgment and living a life of balance. Sometimes the nous is referred to as the eye of the soul. It means the innermost part of our being, our essence, that which permits us spiritual perception. It s our link to God that has become lessened or obscured due to sin. Everything we do in our life that is for God helps restore the nous, which is our true self as we were meant to be. Synergy, Salvation, and a Right Relationship with God Christianity was founded by God, who out of love and grace, descended into humanity in the person of Jesus Christ and in His death and resurrection Christ achieved victory over evil, death and sin. By being sinless, and voluntarily out of love shedding his blood for us and bearing all the sins of world on Himself during the crucifixion, Jesus defeated evil and rescued us from the previously inescapable power of death. His life, death and resurrection as described in the Bible, are wisdom and truth in the flesh. Our ability to attain salvation, that is to live eternally in the presence of God, is done in response to this freely offered gift of God s grace through acceptance of this truth of Christ and participating in the sacramental life of His church. In other words, we must have a synergistic and continual effort with God, to the day we die, of striving to be Christ-like.

6 18 Sacramental Living Synergy does not mean that we do half the work and God does the other half. God always takes the initiative with us and provides us with His grace whether we respond to it or not. The synergy comes into play when we finally respond to God s initiative and grace. We can t save ourselves through human efforts, only by responding to what God provides. We can t earn our way into Heaven through just doing good deeds as if we are the sole determiner of what is good and what we should do. Many religions teach that you can. Others teach that you shouldn t even try but you should just detach from the world. As Christians, we believe we should be engaged and should transform the world through good deeds that are a natural outgrowth of our faith in and devotion to Christ. These deeds of love and kindness, whether great in the eyes of the world or unnoticed, are all important to God and represent each one of us doing our part. Essentially, as the Bible says, we are in the world but not of the world (1 John 2). Our hope is not in this world; we are not be influenced by what this world offers, but by our faith and love of Christ. But no good deed or series of good deeds without the acceptance of Christ will earn God s grace of salvation. Because no matter how good we are, it is never good enough compared to God s perfect love and goodness. Jesus himself said no one is good except God alone (Matthew 9:17, Mark 10:8, Luke 18:9). Even someone like Mother Teresa, a universally accepted modern symbol of goodness, fell short of God s glory. She, like all others, could only attain salvation by accepting God s unmerited gift of grace through Jesus Christ and the synergy of this gift of grace with her efforts. That is why it is never enough just to be a good person. We have to make a choice to accept God s gift of grace. Once accepted, God responds with further and further measures of His grace as we continually respond to Him throughout our lives.

7 19 What Christianity Means to Us Now And what is it that God s grace and salvation offer to us in this present life. It s not money, material comfort, and ease. It s something much deeper and will only make sense to us if we have begun to experience it. It s a peace and joy that comes from our relationship in Christ and an ultimate trust of Him that is in our heart. It allows us to live fully and joyfully in any circumstance. When I say joy, I don t mean a giddy happiness or even a depth of feeling. I mean a spiritual sense of well-being that allows us to know God loves us and is truly with us in all circumstances, even in our suffering. I ve seen this in people who have suffered the worst tragedies possible and was amazed until I finally began to understand what it is they draw their joy and strength from. Christ and the grace of salvation through faith, our participation in the Sacraments and our continual effort is what separate Christianity from religion. God in the person of Christ sacrificed Himself for us. Most religions require sacrifices to gods or God. Whereas all other major faiths have teachers that show the way to salvation, Christ says He is the way of salvation Himself. These teachers claim to show us the methods to become divine. Christ, as our savior, is the divine who comes to us to do what we cannot do for ourselves. iv He absorbed the pain, violence and evil of the world into himself on the cross. Therefore the God of the Bible is not like the primitive deities who demanded our blood for their wrath to be appeased. Rather, this is a God who becomes human and offers his own lifeblood in order to honor moral justice and merciful love so that someday he can destroy all evil without destroying us. v We have the opportunity to live and experience these truths. If someone were to ask me to tell them what Christianity was about and was willing to hear more than just a sound bite or two, what you have read so far is what I would tell them. I would also tell them that a life of faith is not about becoming a good Christian. It is about becoming like Christ as much

8 20 Sacramental Living as possible. However, I would also say that they should come and see Christianity for themselves. Come to the Church and experience it in its fullness by participating. Get up early and begin reading the daily readings and praying daily prayers. Ask your priest or pastor questions. Pray. Get engaged. Don t wait for inspiration; just begin. It is through these actions that we start to live Christianity, transform our hearts, and begin our journey with and towards God.

9 21 i Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Riverhead Books, 2008, pp ii Orthodox Study Bible, Thomas Nelson, 2008, p iii Father Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World, SVS Press, 1963, pp iv Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Riverhead Books, 2008, pp. 180, 192 v Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Riverhead Books, 2008, p. 200