Isn’t Christianity evil?
It’s a good question.
Does it work? It’s the question of our age.
Like good, post-modern consumers we want to test the quality of the product or service we are about to commit to.
Does it work?
Does Christianity work?
The narrative in the world today is “no”. Christians are homophobic bigots, judgemental, obsessed with telling other people about sex, anti-science, and dangerous to society: after all, religion is the cause of most wars.
If we look around at our own town, and ask different non-Christians or even Christians about their experience of church and many have met exactly those attitudes. Many have been hurt by the church –judgmental or downright cruel people wearing a fake smile and a little halo while making them feel like dirt.
So that might be your experience. If it is, well done for being brave enough to come!
Now you’re may be expecting me to now go on and on about how the idea that Christians are evil is false, and spend ages trying to argue away the bad things that have been done in the name of Christianity and try and whitewash them so they are “good”.
If so, you’ll be surprised to hear that my first two points are
1. “Christians” are evil
2. Christians are evil
Great, sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Why be a Christian then? Because
3. Christians are forgiven
And finally we’ll stop looking at the evil things done by Christians, and look at the good things done by Christians.
4. Christians have been the biggest force for good in the world’s history
1. “Christians” are evil
You see, not everyone who calls themselves a Christian IS a Christian. Now this may be surprising. Surely if you say “I am a Christian”, then it’s true for you, and “who are you to say it’s not true?!”. But Jesus disagrees....
In Matthew 7:15 Jesus says “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, the way they act....On judgement day many will say to me “Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name”. But I will reply “I never knew you. Get away from me you evildoers”
You see being a Christian is not like being a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Crystal healer or a nihilist or even a Jehovah’s Witness. It’s not about subscribing to a philosophy of life, or doing certain religious rituals, or belonging to a certain group, or even “serving the Lord”. Surprisingly, as Jesus said, it’s not even about doing great miracles or casting out demons or prophesying. It is about KNOWING and BEING KNOWN BY God Himself.
We saw that last week, as Christian helped us answer the question “Why is Jesus the only way to God?”
Because, as Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”
Jesus himself is the way, the truth and the life – he doesn’t just tell us “this is the way”, he IS the way. Jesus is the only way to God because he is God.
Because the only way to know God is to…know God. Just like the only way for me to know you is to know you. I could talk to your friends, read your Facebook statuses, look at pictures of you – but I would only know about you, I would not know you. WE would still be strangers, not friends. The only way to know God, is to know Jesus.
That’s why simply saying “I am a Christian” is meaningless without the reality of relationship with the Living God. Ticking a box on a census form no more makes you a Christian than walking into a garage makes you a car!
Going to church on a Sunday, even going regularly, doesn’t make you a Christian. Jesus didn’t say “I am a truth” or “I can explain the truth”. He said he is the Truth. He is the Ultimate Reality at the centre of all of life. Jesus isn’t in the “Sunday” box which you can pick up when you feel like it. Becoming a Christian is giving up your LIFE to Jesus. Wherever you go, I go. Whatever you tell me to do, I obey. Whatever you say, I trust. I am yours. I belong to you.
This is very different to most religions, so it’s easy to be confused. There are also plenty of people wearing white collars and fine robes and big silver crosses and big hats - or torn jeans and a guitar and a soul patch and Chinese “Jesus” tattoo and an iPad with a cross on it – or a white suit and a big leather-bound Bible to wave from the front and never open. Plenty of those people around who look the part, but are anything but.
The most effective lies are those that are 90% truth. And there is a lot of that type of “Christianity” in the world, and has been in the past, particularly as Christianity gained political power.
In the film the “Book of Eli”, Gary Oldman’s character, the “Mayor” of the town desperately wanted the book of Eli (the Bible) in order to manipulate people. He wanted to wield it like a weapon. And the Bible has been misused and abused throughout history to get people to do things in “God’s name” which have nothing to do with God and everything to do with me and what I want.
Like getting people to go to war. Right? “Religion is the cause of most wars”.
In the “Encyclopedia of Wars”, authors Philips and Axelrod chart the motivations for wars – among them religion.
Do you know how many wars were religiously motivated (where religion was used as the reason for war – and this is broadly interpreted): 123 wars.
That sounds like a lot. But there has been a total of 1763 wars! Meaning “religion”, even in its broadest interpretation, and that’s ALL religions, not just Christianity, is fairly insignificant as a cause of war (less than 7%). As the agnostic comedian David Mitchell said “People are just very good at finding reasons to kill each other, and I’m not convinced that removing one of the reasons (religion) will lead to any significant change”.
But there have been and are many things done in the name of the church or Christianity or “God” that are rightly condemned. The Spanish inquisition, burning “heretics” at the stake, indulgences, and so on and, of course, many of the wars in the name of God. These things are evil and opposed by Christians! And many evil things have been and are still done by people in the church hierarchy who by any stretch of the imagination could not be obeying Christ, and they should be exposed and punished. Think about the priests abusing children, and then the bishops covering it up. Think about the oily preacher in his white suit calling on people to “give generously so that God will bless you”. Evil men twisting the truth for their own gain. Their father is the devil, the father of lies.
“Christians”, the religious, churchians, or those simply using the name to achieve power – they are self-righteous, judgmental, evil people.
But so are real Christians. Because becoming a Christian doesn’t mean that all your selfish behaviours vanish. Oh no. Becoming a Christian means you start to realise how really sinful and selfish you actually are! It’s like when you’re up in the attic under the roof or something – it’s only when you come down into the light that you realise how filthy you are. That’s what it’s like becoming a Christian.
2. Christians are evil
The Bible’s pretty clear on this point. Christians are evil.
Eph 2:1-3 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil...3 All of us used to live that way, following...our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Rom 3:10-12 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”
Gen 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.
Rom 7:18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Christians do and say wrong things all the time, just like everybody else – and sometimes colossally wrong things. Christians can be liars, gossips, prejudiced, racist, bigoted, gossips, slanderers, evildoers, murderers, sexual sinners, and so on – just like everyone else in the world. We don’t magically transform immediately into Jesus. And so it’s not surprising that we manage to hurt outsiders and each other along the way.
The first step in becoming a Christian is admitting that you are a sinner, a rebel against God. And what we too often forget is that here is then no room for being judgemental (“den store pekefinger”) because we have been forgiven so much. Why should I look at the speck in YOUR eye when I have a LOG in my own? Particularly when we look at the lives of non-Christians.
Judgementalism, looking down on people, pretending we are better – that should have no place amongst God’s people.
So I want to apologise on behalf of the church for when we get it wrong, when I get it wrong. I apologise for when I have sinned, thinking myself better than you or you or you because I don’t do such and such a thing. I have forgotten that I am a sinner, saved by grace, and grace alone.
This means, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we need to work hard at loving each other and bearing with one another. This is a club for sinners, and we will sin against outsiders, and against each other – often without even realising it. Remember Eph 4:2–4 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
We are sinners, and so we will sin, and hurt each other. But let us then be quick to forgive, because, even though Christians are evil,
3. Christians are forgiven
Eph 2:4–5 We were dead in our sins...But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Rom 3:21-22 No-one is righteous...But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him... 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Gen 6:8 Everything we thought or imagined was only evil...But Noah found favour with the LORD.
Ro 7:24–25 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
God looked upon us in our filth – and He had compassion on us, loved us enough to become a baby and be born right into our filth. Not because we are loveable (or “worth it”) or our hearts reached out to him – we’re dead, whoever heard of dead people doing anything? - but because of His great love, of His great worth. Praise Jesus! We are sinners, yes, but we are forgiven sinners. What love!
Sin and forgiveness is a huge mindshift – and is often misinterpreted by non-Christians.
For example: homosexuality. Saying “Homosexuality is a sin” is not saying “we hate people who have same sex attraction”. In fact we love those with same sex attraction (we have to!) the same way we love those with opposite sex attraction (we have to!), while still saying that divorce is a sin, and sex before marriage is a sin, and sex with someone other than your spouse is a sin, oh, and by the way, lying is a sin and murder is a sin and gossip is a sin, and jealousy is a sin, and greed is a sin, and.... And all of us are welcome at the cross.
If you doubt what I say about the homosexuality thing, consider that the most conservative, fundamentalist wing of the church in England – has a gay man as the head of one of their most prominent organisations. And he’s been heavily involved in leadership there for 20-odd years. (livingout.org) Despite the media reports or the liberal smear campaign “Being gay” has never been an issue in the real church. Trying to twist God’s word so you can sin the way you want to – now that is an issue.
And if you are gay, you are most welcome here. You will be loved, you will be respected, you will be called upon to repent of all your sins, not just sexual ones, and salvation will be found in Christ, not in changing your orientation. We’ve definitely got it wrong when we end up preaching “be sexually attracted to women” as salvation instead of the glories of the cross!
This room is full of sinners. And praise God! The church is not a place for those who want to come and shine their halo, and have God bask in their glory – God coming down off his throne and saying oooh, well done. Many places are like that: get yourself cleaned up before you come to God. Do, do do. Jesus says “done”. “Come to me just as you are”, he says.
Christians are forgiven sinners.
Now, before we hit the last point let me sum up where we’ve got to: We know that being a Christian means knowing Jesus personally.
We know that many people have used the label “Christian” to do evil things, and many evil people have seen the church as a way to personal power and have abused that power.
We know that Christians have often messed up and sinned against those outside and inside the church – and will continue to do so. We’re not perfect! Yet!
And we know that Christians are forgiven by the mercy of God.
But, to come back to that quintessential post-modern question “does it work?” I want us to consider the impact of Christianity on our world today and throughout history.
4. Christians have been the biggest force for good in the world’s history
Imagine now a world without Christianity.
It would not be a world at peace since 93% of the world’s wars have had nothing to do with religion. In fact, since Christians are commanded to be peacemakers, there would probably be far more conflicts. Take South Africa, for example: Mandela’s presidency ushered in peace, reconciliation, deep sacrificial forgiveness. Why? 27 years in prison in which this firebrand founder and head of the military wing of the ANC, in his own words, “never missed a Bible study or a church service”. 27 years, week in, week out, seeing Jesus, being challenged by the One who said “Father, forgive them”
In a world without Christianity, much of the world would still be unknown to us. The maps would be dark, because many of the world’s great explorers were missionaries, seeking to obey Christ’s commission to take the gospel to the world. They recognised that people are people no matter how “savage” they may be.
There would be no universities – certainly not as we know them today. Aristotle taught that knowledge came through a deductive process of the mind, not through experimentation, and he supported a pantheistic world view—with gods controlling nature and the universe and fighting – so the universe was inconsistent and untestable. Christianity taught that there was one God, a rational being, who was consistent in the way he ran the world. He was knowable and his world was knowable.
Bishop Robert Grosseteste, first chancellor of Oxford University in the 13th century, proposed the scientific “experimental method”. 300 years later, the devout Christian Francis Bacon, began recording results of his experiments, and scientific methodology began to be more widely accepted. The underlying philosophy behind our modern science is Christianity! No Christianity, no science.
There would be no hospitals – certainly not public ones, and there would be no nurses. Florence Nightingale was an upper class lady of privilege moved to compassion by the plight of the soldiers in the Crimean War, and considered it her Christian duty to get in and serve these soldiers, commoners!, washing them, binding their wounds, caring for them. Nursing was founded.
There would be no orphanages. For what other world view could motivate men like George Muller, who single-handedly cared for over 10 000 orphans in order to demonstrate the love and power and compassion of God?
Prisons would be dungeons where people are sent to die.
There would be no justice system to speak of.
There would still be slavery: it was first banned by church council in 1157. The battle against slavery had to be refought in 1800s by William Wilberforce and other Christian parliamentarians. And indeed, today “human trafficking”, slavery, is raising its head again as a huge problem, and Christians are rallying together to fight it.
Polygamy (many wives, one husband) would be the norm.
Women would have no rights – children even less. The concept of equal rights is found in Genesis 1 where male and female are created equal. Jesus treats women with great respect, and even includes them as part of his group of close followers – unheard of in those times. Even more scandalously, he allows children to come to him, and says that the disciples should be “like these children”.
Tragically, it would be a world without Manchester United, the world’s greatest football club! The clubs, United among them, started as a way to keep young men out of the pubs and doing something productive.
In our beautiful land, unwanted children would simply be abandoned in the forest to die – and that would be seen as perfectly normal. It was so normal that Olav the holy the first Christian King of Norway had to outlaw it on pain of confiscation of property – that is: if you kill your child, you will lose your farm. It stopped shortly after that. Without Christianity we would still be killing our children today – particularly those with defects or disabilities. Imagine that, just killing a child because he’s disabled.
Looks like we need another King Olav.
Music and the arts would be a shadow of themselves, Architecture would be stunted.
Leadership would be by might – the idea of servant leadership, of the leader who cares for his followers, started with Christ, and was ridiculed for hundreds of years. But now it’s part of our culture.
Most people would be illiterate, and most countries, tribes and people groups would not have a written language at all. Bible translators have had to create written languages from scratch on hundreds occasions – and the big push to educate people was so they could read the Bible. Those in power did not want to educate people – why give away power? The church disagreed.
Does Christianity work? Look at the track record (the whole track record). It works!
But more importantly than that: it’s true. It works because it is Truth. It works because Jesus is real, because he rose from the dead, because he is seated upon his throne. The church is not dead because he is alive and has a job for us to do as everything rushes toward the Day he returns, a Day of fire and judgement, terror and fear – and a Day of joy unimaginable for those forgiven sinners who bear his name: Christians.
Rejoice, Christian, for Jesus is Lord!
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