Why Be a Christian?
Michael Brown
6 Comments
Last night in our Three Forms of Unity Class, someone asked a great question: "Did Christ live, die, and rise again in order to get people off of drugs?" Well...No. The purpose of the Son of God assuming a human nature, living a life of perfect obedience, suffering the wrath of God upon the cross for our sins, and being raised again gloriously was not for the sole purpose of cleaning people up temporarily, or giving them an improved life with better ethics and a spiritual experience.
The fact is, we do not need a bloody Savior on a cross in order to have a "born-again" experience of personal transformation. One can find redemption from a life of drugs, crime, etc, in all sorts of ways apart from the Gospel. Look at our neighbors who find "new life" through all sorts of therapeutic experiences. We hear it everyday amongst fellow fallen human beings in this world. For example, Mike Ness, the singer and founder of one of the original Orange County punk bands, Social Distortion, writes all sorts of songs (some really good ones, too) about redemption from a former life of drugs and crime (sorry Kim, but Cream was little before my time!). All sorts of non-Christian artists write redemption songs about thier personal transformation, which have nothing to do with the Person and Work of Christ. The same is true with just about every movie we watch; there is typically some sort of redemption theme written into the screenplay in which the main character has a personal, moral transformation for the better. It is not that such personal redemption stories are false; rather, it is redemption of another type. It is not redemption from the guilt and penalty of sin. Only the Incarnation of the Son of God and his active and passive obedience can give redemption from that.
This is critical for Christians to consider, because it forces us to ask ourselves the question, "Why am I a Christian?" Why ARE you a Christian? Are you a Christian because Christianity gives you a great personal transformation? Are you a Christian because Christianty provides you with a spiritual experience that makes you feel close to God? Or perhaps you are a Christian because it is provides you with a good set of ethics, family values, and conservative traditions?
Those are not good reasons for being a Christian. In fact, those are really BAD reasons for being a Christian. You can find all sorts of items on the spiritual market today offering those things. You do not need Christ to have those things. If your goal is moral transformation and self-improvement through spiritual experience or a change in ethics, you can find other ways of obtaining your personal goals than by becoming a Christian. And you won't even need to tithe or join a church!
So why ARE you a Christian?
The answer comes down to this: I am a Christian because Christianity is true. An event happened in history; Christ was raised from the dead. That event changes everything. It means that the message of Christianity, that is, the Gospel, is true. It is not a matter of whether or not Christianity "works" for me and is the best thing on the spiritual market. It is not a matter of what gives me the most bang for my tithe buck. It is about whether or not the message is true.
As Ken Jones once aptly put it, Christianity is primarily a message to be believed, not a mode of behavior. Sadly, however, so much of the world, especially in our culture, believes the reverse. People think of Christianty as primarily a mode of behavior, one that people participate in because that's what works for them, or because they were simply raised that way. And the truth is that most people think that way because the church has often proclaimed the wrong message. Instead of preaching the Person and Work of Christ and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the church has often preached Jesus as your cosmic therapist.
Of course, when the message of Christianity is believed, the result will be a change in behavior. Christianity does, in fact, have its own sort of moral transformation. But it is a transformation wrought by God's Spirit not to bring us self-improvement, but to renew our minds and the whole image of God in us which was shattered in the fall. It is a transformation which causes us more and more to see the purpose for which human beings were created: to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It is a transformation that causes us to live the whole of life in response to what Christ accomplished for us personally and corporately in his life, death, and resurrection. It is a transformation that takes place in those for whom Christ satisfied the demands of the law and to whom he has imputed his righteousness and obedience. This type of transformation is a GIFT!
Anything short of that, however, does not require a bloody Savior on a cross.
MGB
Reader Comments (6)
Amen and amen! Strip the bible of the Gospel and there is nothing there that cannot be found elsewhere. What is sad is that many who call themselves Christians today perceive their retailing of the Gospel as responsible evangelism rather than the distortion of the Gospel.
AdamB
That's right. And I would rather listen to Social Disortion than the distortion of the Gospel any day!
Thanks for clearing things up. I recently had a friend explain to me; the reason that he no longer attends a Church is because: "Christianity does not work for me." My natural response was, "What did you expect it to do?" Was it supposed to help you believe in your inner self? Get you the new job, promotion you always wanted. What about lose weight, kick a habit, brighten your smile? Clearer skin?
Sadly, so many Christians point to their emotions, their experiences, even their personal story's to define Christianity. The problem with that is those things change, everything changes. What I have learned recently, in our T.F.U. Class and every Lords Day, is if one is going to define Christianity he must point to Christ, Xp. He must point to the life death and resurrection of Christ, Xp. That has never, and will never change. I take great comfort in the fact that the Gospel is not the answer to all my problems. Though, it is the answer to your most important problem. “How can I, (a sinner) be reconciled with a Holy God?”
Good stuff, Alex!
1 Pet 1.3-5
The best reason for being a Christian is because the religion is True? Surely there must be some rationale for believing this. It's not because you saw Christ rise from the dead, it's because someone told you He did. It was not God, it was man, if not personally, then through man's words. God did not write the Bible, nor did Jesus. Men sat down and wrote it. Your argument for accepting Christianity attempts to make Christianity something beyond humanity, something universally true, whether it is believed or not. Religion is nothing if not personal. Your religion is inherently different from the man worshiping Christ right next to you in church. Taking the personal out of it, because human thoughts and emotions are tainted, and wholly profane, as you point out (ANYONE can be redeemed from a life in drugs, not just Christains), may seem like the only way to convince people. But you don't really put forth an argument, you put forth a proof with no evidence...you "prove" that your religion is correct in the course of two sentences. You say of the reason you choose your belief, "It is about whether or not the message is true. " But true based on what? The Bible? You were not born knowing the Bible was true. This was told you by someone else. Someone else made this decision for you. And it was a human, flaws and all (the humanity your argument for faith tries to avoid), who is responsible for your faith. Not some universal truth.
Ben,
I did not prove anything, nor claimed to. The apostles made the claims that they saw Christ raised from the dead. Why don't you start by actually examining the New Testament and the claims of the apostles very carefully.