A combination of bumper stickers confronted me today. One sticker was in support of a specific political party and the other sticker said this: God Is TOO Big To Fit Into Just One Religion.
Now, living where I live - I can easily put together exactly where this type of statement is being aimed at. Honestly, how many of us would say in response to a bumper sticker like that that it is a shot at the Muslim or at the Buddhist.
It’s unfortunately obvious that it is pointed toward the direction of any Christian within range of the bumper of the car. So I’d like to approach this statement for what it is worth but also for what it truly does miss and how it contradicts itself.
We live in a society where we are afraid to offend someone by what we may say or do or even believe. But is that really true? Or has the power to manipulate through fear tactics changed hands or just become attractive to someone else who has their own collection of rocks to throw?
Good intentions that still clench divisive attributes. After all, the determination to get others to set aside their faith and convictions in order to be embracing toward someone else’s faith and convictions certainly does not apply the demonstration of one’s faith but more over it creates a greater divide.
We are living in a pluralistic society. There are many beliefs that wait around our every corner and watch our every move each and every day. Beliefs that aren’t by any means beliefs that I would choose to conform to but are also beliefs that do indeed contain some truths and valuable insight to living. This very mindset is as evident in our world today as the golden arches of a McDonald’s restaurant and was so in Paul the apostle’s day.
As a Christian, if I say the word pluralistic it may be received as if I am drawing a line around my self and saying, “Stay out and away with your beliefs”. Dallas Willard in 1992 wrote an article about this. He wrote:
“... pluralism is not a bad arrangement. It is a good thing. It is, in fact, a social expression of the kind of respect and care for the individual that is dictated by trust in God and love of neighbor. Therefore the Christian does not oppose pluralism as a social principle. Pluralism simply means that social or political force is not to be used to suppress the freedom of thought and expression of any citizen, or even the practice that flows from it, insofar as that practice is not morally wrong.”
You know most “visitors” that I sit down with to talk about what kind of church I pastor usually whip out two questions:
How do you feel about abortion?
How do you feel about homosexuality?
I have learned over the years that they aren’t asking sincere questions but are irrationally taking a swing at Christianity. I say irrational because there is almost always no goal to be reached in the discussion that has no intention to bring about fruit in the first place. There is inevitably a stretch and grasp for a futile discussion that promotes more divisiveness than actual “neighboring”. It turns into a “Are you with us or against us?” discussion.
And there it is: Are you with us or against us?
Every “religion” has boundaries no matter how accepting and/or open one may claim to be. You cannot envelope yourself in Hinduism and call yourself a true Buddhist and demand the Muslim to abide in your system. Well, maybe in Hollywood you can.
A bumper sticker that seemingly disarms the narrow-mindedness of Christianity and sets up a religion that is an “all inclusive enlightenment” is really in fact saying that what I believe is wrong and what the sticker-bearer believes is right. So because I, like Joseph who was discredited for believing in one God, give full allegiance and all my life to Christ and His way - I am somehow not loving my neighbor because I don’t embrace someone else's religion according to their standards. Whaaaat?!?!
That is what kills relationships: to forcefully and willingly choose to begin a relationship based on known chasm builders. If I want to embrace you or hope to embrace you as friend, as neighbor - then I am not going to get far if I ream you out for using asphalt instead of concrete to pave your driveway and then ask you over for dinner only and after you have replaced the asphalt with concrete.
It is amazing how many times I hear someone say “Love your neighbor” when a disagreement arises. This is the falsity that comes with the embracing of many ideas and philosophies over actually applying them and living them out. How is it that if I disagree then it means that I don’t love?
HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO:
If I say homosexuality is a sin to someone who genuinely asks me what I think then - I am homophobic.
or...
If I take my friend shopping for a Celine Dion Cd and help him purchase drag clothes for his lip-syncing performance at a gay bar because he needs the extra cash then I am now a Fag-Enabler.
In either case, love as much as disagreement is certainly capable of being present. And... in each case the name calling and throwing stones from a distance is to be expected by those observers who simply, in my opinion, fear living.
Love is full of disagreements. I do not base my marriage to my wife on balancing out our disagreements so that I may measure her love for me and then let her know that she is unloving because she has disagreed with me on something. My life was literally saved because my wife disagreed with me on something. Because she loved me enough to disagree on my decisions she ultimately rescued me. She rescued me.
My allegiance is to God and whatever is pleasing to Him is my desire. So I do for Him what He identifies as good and necessary. What I need flows from this. What I do will be judged righteously by Him and Him alone. I do not need to be cool with the culture nor does Christianity need any sort of limelight approval from society or the media in order for it to flourish.
I have a very close friend of mine who is a Buddhist. I don’t hang out with him so that I can convert him. I hang out with him because I love him. We hang out and do things together because we make a difference in this world when we work together and even when we talk together and even when we laugh together. We clothe the naked. We feed the hungry. We love the stranger. We love Irish music. We love tattoos. We love really good coffee. I don’t need to convert to Buddhism in order to do these things or in order to be his friend and nor does he need to become a Christian so that I may approve him worthy.
I am not here to represent Christianity. I am here because I have my being in Him who has always been and will be. In Him I breathe. In Him I move. In Him I love.
The God I have come to love(and only because He loved on me with a love I had not yet known) is most definitely too big for any religion. In fact, He despises religion and anything that tastes of it, smells like it, or even whispers a sound of it.
I follow Jesus whom is my King. I am not ashamed of that nor will I hide my love for Him because someone says how much they hate the church and Jesus because someone was a bad example of it. I give my life for Him and in honor of Him. I follow what I believe to be the One True God.
I do not follow Jesus so I can point at those who do not follow Him and create a judgment seat to file in the non-believer and sit them upon it. I do not follow Jesus so that I can prove that He is the way. I do not judge the values of a Buddhist on Christian principles. I expect not to be judged by a Unitarian who embraces multiple faiths over my belief in one. I am more than prepared to stand and love in the midst of a pluralistic society. I am confident because the Kingdom is already at hand and it will have no end. That is not arrogance - it is passion.
The words of Christ are flung from one end of an argument to another and the ones picked out as weapons seem to always be “Love your neighbor” and “Do not judge”. Candy coated heat-seeking missiles that are actually used to decisively separate for the mere purpose of finding out “who is against us” - no matter where one sits.
Jesus was crucified by corrupt politicians and religious leaders who could not get Him to bend to their practices nor their way. Irrational decision making in “gotta have my way” gangs is what drove nails into the hands that healed lepers and embraced the shattered lives of prostitutes.
Today my friend is moving a single mom into a new apartment. He and the church he is pastoring have unanimously agreed to pay for her rent for the next year so that she may be restored back into her life. They do this collectively because of the One God they serve lives in them and His attributes are lived out through them.
I guess they could let a bumper sticker do all the talking and then they wouldn’t have to deal with the commitment to care for their neighbor. But I’m glad that their faith is the evidence of what is not seen because a homeless mom with kids will be warm and fed tonight.
People need help not stickers.
