Is Christianity a crutch? ............. Parables 711

April 10, 2001

If you get email, you probably get junk mail, virus hoaxes and assorted electronic chain letters. Some of them are humorous, others not worth the electricity it took to send them.

Occasionally some of this flotsam looks like hate-mail circulated by disgruntled employees. One arrived last week. It seemed to be copies of an exchange between the sender and a person who worked for a well-known television network. The sender had complained about a particular episode in a show that network carried. He took a biblical perspective on a certain issue and his letters were polite. The person who supposedly answered his complaint did so in a crude manner. He used lines like: “Get your nose out of the Bible . . . . treat people as equals . . . . try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as a lame crutch for your existence.”

Keep in mind that these ‘letters’ may been fabrications. Junk email is often like that; however, it did touch on a topic worthy of consideration. When some Christians speak about their faith as it applies to current controversial issues, we often are told that our religion is a crutch. The implication is that Christians are weak and their faith helps them limp through life.

It is true that crutches support people who are injured or disabled but there seems also to be a suggestion by these accusers that no one needs crutches. They seems to believe that all human beings can think for themselves and that our own ideas are all we need to live and solve every problem. In other words, we can do it without religion, faith or God.

Maybe that is true in limited situations. I get up every morning and brush my own teeth without help — but a quadriplegic cannot. Not everyone is self-sufficient in everything. Besides, the Bible says it is because of God that we “live and move and have our being” so without common grace from God, I could not get up in the morning and brush my teeth.

As I watch the nightly news, I cannot help but conclude that even if we human beings have the capacity to think through our problems, many of us do not. A certain percentage of the population is doing the opposite: thinking up problems.

Add to this the mistake factor. A corporate executive can make incredible and sincere decisions but are all his decisions beneficial? What about leaders of universities? Is every idea sound and positive? If the best leaders and thinkers can make mistakes, what about you or me?

Since lameness is the inability to function correctly, then everyone is lame, at least part of the time. We mess up, no matter how good we are at “thinking for ourselves.” This includes presidents, professors and thinkers as well as you and me. Even by our own standards of measurement, there is no perfect person who is limp-free all of the time.

So how about the standards of a perfect God? How does He measure our lameness? Solomon, a man noted for his wisdom, wrote this: “There is not one person that does good and never sins,” a theme that is repeated throughout Scripture. God can say that because He measures us by the standard of His Son. Jesus was a perfect man. He never did anything that violated the standards of His Father. Oh, on a human level some might find fault. If perfection is monetary, then Jesus failed. If perfection is popularity, then Jesus limped. Yet God says His Son passed all the tests.

People who tell Christians to stop using the Bible as a crutch do not realize that they themselves have crutches. Why else does society gobble up Valium, booze and excess food? What are those cravings but an attempt to hide a limp?

God knows our lameness but rather than ridicule us for it, He offers us His crutches. Anyone who tries them learns that with God, it is far better to be lame than blind.

A place where all should be welcomed ............. Parables 353

January 19, 1993

KEEP OUT--MEMBERS ONLY!

Is this merely a sign on Johnny’s backyard tree house? Or one we might find on the back door of the meeting place for an exclusive organization? Perhaps, but unfortunately some people think it is also the sign on the front door of every church. Consequently they think they are not welcome inside the door.

What is the church anyway? Only a building? Another exclusive club? A place reserved for religious zealots? A social organization for humanitarians that like to feed the hungry and give clothes to the poor? Or some sort of secret society that makes its members do strange things?

Most people hold one or more definitions like these, at least some time in their life. I used to think church was something you “did on Sunday,” a ritual like school on Monday to Friday and movies on Saturday nights. It took me some time before I thought of church as a place people went to find out about God and worship Him.

However, not every “church” helps people find about God, at least God as He reveals Himself in the Bible and in Christ. For that reason, the church of my youth and young adulthood didn’t do much for me. I could not have offered worship based on true knowledge but attended Sunday services simply because it was the thing to do.

It was not until my life turned upside down that my reasons for going to church changed. I wanted to know God and wanted His help to set it right again. I did not always like what I heard but persisted until the truth of who He is and what He has done became clear to me. Only then did I begin to understand what “church” is all about.

Church is not just a building, even though we call the building “the church”. It is not just an event either, even though we say we enjoyed “going to church”. And it most certainly is not a game; we cannot “play church” and be honest with ourselves, others and God.

Rather, church (specifically the Christian church) is a collection of people who love God and have faith in Jesus Christ. His church is a living body, a vibrant community of folks who admit they are sinful and know they cannot earn eternal life but have received it as a gift from God. They meet together to worship Him as Creator, Redeemer, and Lord of their lives, and to be instructed in their understanding of God. When functioning as God intended, members of His church lovingly encourage each another to forsake sin and serve God and one another.

While this list of “church” activities may seem unfamiliar, it is not bizarre. A genuinely biblical church is never anything like a secret society where its members do weird things.

Neither is the church exclusive. While the body is made up of those who believe, anyone who wants to learn about God can attend church gatherings. Even if a person does not believe, what better place to find out what believing means?

Is every group that calls itself a “church” like what I just described? Sadly not. Some talk about God but have departed from the Bible and historical Christian beliefs. Others operate more like social clubs than centers of worship. A few call themselves a church yet worship Satan. For these reasons, if anyone really wants to find out what “church” is supposed to be they need to look beyond all the signs and labels and put their foot inside the door.