How can I follow Jesus
when I've had
negative religious experiences?
Perhaps you have had a bad experience with church. Maybe, as a kid, you
were dragged to Sunday School against your will. Maybe you used to
throw spit wads as Mrs. Pumpernickel tried desperately to interest you
in the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul. You may have grown up
listening to long sermons, anxiously looking at your watch to see how
much of the game you were missing at home on TV as the pastor made his
sixteenth point.
Or perhaps you were not raised as a Christian. Instead, you have merely
encountered Christians. Maybe some obnoxious personality tried to shove
the Gospel down your throat, using all the tact of a lawnmower in a
barbershop. Or, possibly, your rapport with Christianity had nothing to
do with evangelism, but you have seen enough of life to observe that
people who go to church often behave worse than the non-religious.
Hypocrisy is often cited as a reason to reject the claims of Christ and
it is perhaps, the most understandable reason. When the philosopher
Bertrand Russell was asked why he never become a Christian, one of his
chief complaints came from an observation that so few Christians seemed
to take the teachings of Jesus seriously.2
A hypocrite is one who acts contrary to his/her words or beliefs. I do
not think anyone (Christian or otherwise) is completely free of this
trait. I must certainly confess to such re-occurring inconsistency. At
the same time, I do not claim to be perfect because I call myself a
Christian. My claim is that of a covenant relationship with God in
which He is at work in my life, slowly but surely changing the inner
character. I have many instances of downright rebellion against His
rule in my heart. Even after I repent and focus on God as much as I
can, all that means is that I’m better than I was yesterday
but
not as good as I will be tomorrow. What God does with me, He is willing
to do with anyone. I am not superior or singled out in any way.
Although the "born again" person does not claim perfection, we must
also keep in mind that many of the people who call themselves
Christians are not really Christians at all. It is easy for people to
use this title because of the strong Christian influence upon western
civilization. This has created a variety of pseudo-Christian
traditions, from the sincere, faithful church attendee who does not
understand what it means to know Jesus personally, to the horrible
bloodthirsty murderers of the Crusades and the Inquisition, who did not
seem to share even the slightest resemblance to the simple loving
message of the New Testament. My own people, the Jews, have been
hounded and murdered for centuries in the name of Christianity, and
this shameful horror kept me blinded to the real Jesus for quite some
time.
If hypocrisy is your concern, it may surprise you to learn that you
actually have something in common with Jesus, for Jesus hated religious
hypocrisy and preached against it quite often.
"Not everyone who says to be ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the
kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in
Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform
many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I
never
knew you. Away from me you evildoers’" (Matt. 7:21-23).
This interesting discourse given early in Jesus’ ministry
proved
to be very prophetic. Therefore, hypocrisy in the church, while sad, is
not a phenomena which contradicts the words of Christ, for He not only
spoke of hypocrisy but hypocrisy in his own name! Try to imagine some
mere man, ambitious, anxious to start a following, gathering people
together before things even get rolling and saying: "Can I have your
attention? I just want you to know that many of you who call yourselves
my followers will be cast into Hell by me personally. Just thought you
should know." Not very likely. Such chilling honesty suggests from the
onset that there is more to Jesus than meets the eye. He is making it
clear that regardless of terminology or sworn allegiance, true
Christians have two minimum qualities: 1) A personal relationship with
God. The term know in Greek (Prognosko) referred to an intimate
knowledge. B) An obedience to God that follows this relationship.
Although elsewhere in scripture it is made clear that sinless
perfection cannot be obtained in this life (I John 1:8), Jesus is
nevertheless emphasizing that true followers are at least on
God’s path and His words here in Matthew let us in on a
little
secret: Those who aren’t truly on the road with God can
perform
mighty religious deeds, even supernatural ones. This is a scary and
sobering thought. Still, we conclude that religious hypocrisy is not a
genuine reason with which to reject the real Jesus and His true
teachings.
More Questions
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Have your own question?
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This is a brief
excerpt from a larger book.
For a fuller treatment of this subject as well as a better context, see:
I’d Like To
Believe In Jesus, But…
(The harder, less frequently discussed questions)
By Bob Siegel
Published by CSN Books
Copyright © 2007 by Bob Siegel
All Rights Reserved
Published by
Campus Ambassador Press
Copyright © 1999 by Bob Siegel
All Rights Reserved
This article is not to be reproduced without written permission from
the author. |
