Western Christianity vs. Openness and Honesty

It has been a long, long time since I have posted. I have been overwhelmed with my academic endeavors much of the past year, and have embraced the breaks I have gotten. However, this post is a product of passion. I am frustrated with many in the Church I interact with, and incredibly disappointed with some of my encounters over the last year. And thus, I must speak out in some way. (I warn this is an act of passion because I will rant and possible over-react. But so be it).

I will speak of a few encounters (of course without mentioning names) of which I have been disappointed by the impression either the Church or common American Christian culture has made on some people I care about deeply.

In the first, I sat in on a class of a professor at Liberty I really enjoyed and admired. His Biblical knowledge seemed to be quite impressive and his godly teaching as well. However, as I sat in on the lecture, all I heard was prideful bashing of the "liberals." The liberals seemed to end up being defined as those who don't agree with Independent Baptist ideals and Biblical interpretation. The second involved a conversation with a friend who used to live on my dorm, which involved him accusing my professor at seminary being "unfit for ministry" because of a Christian liberty he participated in. The last was a conversation in which I was accused of being a "pinhead liberal" who was not worth associating with because I claimed that as much evil has been done in the world in the name of Christianity as in Islam. You have got to love friends.

It is not these encounters that upset me. It is the larger picture I see, and the overwhelming experience I have had especially at Liberty. It seems that many Christians are on the defensive. They are scared, of anything and everything that is not what they believe. This is not just in issues of orthodoxy, such as the nature of Christ, but in political views and incredibly difficult issues. But there is not room for a dialogue. No room for discussion. The door is locked. The problem with always having the door locked is that you never know who you are keeping out, maybe even the truth, or Christ himself. And you do not know who is inside, perhaps the Devil himself.

But we are arrogant as American Christians. The little theology we know is all there is. What has been refreshing at Gordon Conwell is an openness to listen, to be wrong, to perceive the remote possibility that we could possibly be wrong in something. But anyone who is a Democrat, or believes in evolution, is automatically thrown out of the discussion. Not just their view on that subject either, but the entirety of their ideas with them.

The problems with this defensive approach to our beliefs are many. For one, it proves we have little faith in our beliefs. The more you protect something, the less you believe it can stand on its own. Also, it alienates others from the Church. It causes division upon division. It paints the picture that the world sees of narrow-minded Christianity. In a pluralistic world, the voice of Christianity is almost always rejected not because of its claims, but because of the attitudes of its proponents.

Certainly, there is a lot a stake here. For to be open to another's beliefs is difficult. Where do you draw the line? Where is there a break between orthodoxy and heresy, between something that is permissible and something that is destructive and cancerous. I can't say exactly. My appeal is not for a change in my friends views. In the last year, mine have hardly if at all changed. What I am asking for is for someone to listen. For people in the Church to be willing to hear what another person has to say without rehearsing their prepared response in their head, without their pre-scheduled polemics and counter-arguments. The Reformers fought violently (sometimes sinfully so) for their beliefs, but they heard the other man's words. If the Church is to avoid the corruption of its past, it members cannot blindly listen to only their pastors and teachers as authorities and avoid all others. That is how the Church supported the corrupt practices of the papacy without outcry for centuries.

I find it ironic that those in Evangelical Christianity who are so quick to call Mormans and Jehovah's Witnesses ignorant and brainwashed are the same people who would never read a commentary or theologian they knew they would disagree with, who do not question the stances of their Church or denomination. What is to keep them from ending up down a path of deception as well? As for most of us, only the grace of God has kept us on the right path; but we have not done our part whatsoever.

Surely, the Gospel is at stake. But it seems to be at stake either way, for it seems often our minds are close to Jesus but our hearts are far from Him.