everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Risky business
Perhaps it's not just a coincidence that this has been on my mind so much recently, and the Beyond The Gates Of Splendor DVD was released last week. I posted a couple of quotes from Spencer Burke's book the other day and mentioned I would try to post some comments about it later. I've been thinking about them a little more. Also, I posted them on a message board I sometimes visit, just because I thought they were worth sharing. One person asked this in response: if living within God's will should involve high-risk, does that mean one living without much risk is possibly living outside of God's will?
I suppose to begin with, you have to agree with the idea that living within God's will involve great risk. If you do, then the above question might follow. Is it true? If we're living lives that are not involving some type of risk, perhaps even great risk, are we then living outside of God's will?
Certainly the early Christians lived with an enormous amount of risk. Their lives were continuously in jeopardy, and indeed many lost their lives because they lived out their faith in a society that was hostile to it. And there are certainly many, many examples today of those around the world living out the Christian faith and, because of that, living in great danger.
As I considered this, my thoughts were this - it seems to me that the American church lives without much risk at all. There are, no doubt, individual Christians and individual churches in this country that risk much more than most. However, as a whole, I'm not sure we have to sacrifice that much, or risk that much, to live out our faith, or at least live it out in the way that we do. I believe its no coincidence that we have religious freedoms in this country like no other. It has made it much easier for us to live out our faith in relative safety.
I mentioned atheist Michael Newdow in a recent post, and the cases he brought against the schools in California over the phrase "under God" being used in the Pledge of Allegiance. Every time I see something like this on the news, every news talk program on television - Chris Matthews, Larry King, Bill O'Reilly, etc. - brings in conservative folks of all types (but mostly Christian) to give their opinion, and you hear all about the Christian heritage of this nation, about the Christian principles it was supposedly founded upon, etc. Then you hear people like Pat Robertson and Sean Hannity going on and on about how, to borrow from R.E.M., "it's the end of the world as we know it." Our religious liberty is being taken away, and we're not going to stand for it.
Should we even be concerned about it? That's a question I'm beginning to ask myself. I don't recall Jesus having the disciples lobby in Rome for a more Christian-friendly empire. In fact, he told them it would be worse for them than it was for him. Should we be more concerned about what the government will and won't allow in terms of religious activity and expression, or rather more concerned with living like Jesus and being the church, regardless of what that might mean for our safety and comfort?
What would happen if suddenly all of our religious freedom was taken away? How many people would continue to show up at church buildings every week if it suddenly meant harassment and danger? Perhaps that's the real fear of those who object to the Michael Newdow's of the world - maybe they fear having to live out their faith in an "unsafe" environment. Maybe we as the American church have had things too easy, being able to go about our daily lives without fear of anyone challenging us or persecuting us, and the thought of risking all that we have and are for the sake of Christ is actually too frightening to consider. It would be better if we could keep the government on our side so we can go on with business as usual.
Maybe I'm way off here. Maybe the fact that my Christian existence (to my shame) has meant little risk is skewing my perspective. Perhaps things are not quite the way I see them. I'm just thinking out loud with all of this, but I wonder what God thinks of us? Are we really "in the middle of God's will", or is He expecting much, much more from us?
I suppose to begin with, you have to agree with the idea that living within God's will involve great risk. If you do, then the above question might follow. Is it true? If we're living lives that are not involving some type of risk, perhaps even great risk, are we then living outside of God's will?
Certainly the early Christians lived with an enormous amount of risk. Their lives were continuously in jeopardy, and indeed many lost their lives because they lived out their faith in a society that was hostile to it. And there are certainly many, many examples today of those around the world living out the Christian faith and, because of that, living in great danger.
As I considered this, my thoughts were this - it seems to me that the American church lives without much risk at all. There are, no doubt, individual Christians and individual churches in this country that risk much more than most. However, as a whole, I'm not sure we have to sacrifice that much, or risk that much, to live out our faith, or at least live it out in the way that we do. I believe its no coincidence that we have religious freedoms in this country like no other. It has made it much easier for us to live out our faith in relative safety.
I mentioned atheist Michael Newdow in a recent post, and the cases he brought against the schools in California over the phrase "under God" being used in the Pledge of Allegiance. Every time I see something like this on the news, every news talk program on television - Chris Matthews, Larry King, Bill O'Reilly, etc. - brings in conservative folks of all types (but mostly Christian) to give their opinion, and you hear all about the Christian heritage of this nation, about the Christian principles it was supposedly founded upon, etc. Then you hear people like Pat Robertson and Sean Hannity going on and on about how, to borrow from R.E.M., "it's the end of the world as we know it." Our religious liberty is being taken away, and we're not going to stand for it.
Should we even be concerned about it? That's a question I'm beginning to ask myself. I don't recall Jesus having the disciples lobby in Rome for a more Christian-friendly empire. In fact, he told them it would be worse for them than it was for him. Should we be more concerned about what the government will and won't allow in terms of religious activity and expression, or rather more concerned with living like Jesus and being the church, regardless of what that might mean for our safety and comfort?
What would happen if suddenly all of our religious freedom was taken away? How many people would continue to show up at church buildings every week if it suddenly meant harassment and danger? Perhaps that's the real fear of those who object to the Michael Newdow's of the world - maybe they fear having to live out their faith in an "unsafe" environment. Maybe we as the American church have had things too easy, being able to go about our daily lives without fear of anyone challenging us or persecuting us, and the thought of risking all that we have and are for the sake of Christ is actually too frightening to consider. It would be better if we could keep the government on our side so we can go on with business as usual.
Maybe I'm way off here. Maybe the fact that my Christian existence (to my shame) has meant little risk is skewing my perspective. Perhaps things are not quite the way I see them. I'm just thinking out loud with all of this, but I wonder what God thinks of us? Are we really "in the middle of God's will", or is He expecting much, much more from us?
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