NOTE: Today’s newsletter has a very important question for you at the end. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this one. Don’t hold back. I want to know. —Thanks in advance.
When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I attended Vacation Bible School at a friend’s local Baptist church during my summer break from school. At the end of the week, the pastor of the church called me and a few other children around my age into his office. I remember sitting in a chair in front of his big desk, kicking my little legs because they couldn’t quite reach the floor and wondering nervously why we were called into his office like this. Had we done something wrong? Surely we were in some kind of trouble, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what it was.
The pastor walked in and sat down behind his big desk (it really seemed HUGE and very intimidating to me at the time), and with a fairly stern look on his face started talking.
“Children, I know you’ve learned a lot this week about Jesus and God and heaven and hell. I hope you have listened to your teachers and have taken in how important it is for you to believe in Jesus. So let me ask you a few questions: First off, Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God?”
We all took a moment to glance around at one another, making sure we all knew the right answer, before all saying in unison, “Yes, sir!” “Good,” the pastor said, “that’s wonderful. Now, do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to save you from all of your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die and not be condemned to hell?” We didn’t even look at each other before answering this one. “Yes, sir!” we all quickly responded together. “Very good!” the pastor replied. “One more thing, would you like to invite Jesus into your heart and let him guide you for the rest of your life?” I honestly wasn’t exactly sure what “inviting Jesus into my heart” meant, but I knew what answer the pastor was expecting and because I was always a people pleaser even at that young age I said a resounding, “YES, SIR!”, and so did the other children. We were all smiling now, knowing how happy we were making the pastor by answering all his questions correctly. It made me proud, like I had just made an A on a test. “Wonderful! Then Sunday during church, you will all be baptized to show the world that you are now followers of Jesus!”
Whoops. What did I just agree to? Did I just agree to let this man I barely knew dunk me under water in front of the whole church on Sunday? I was always a little afraid of the water. To this day I’m not a big fan of swimming. I suddenly felt in over my head in more ways than one. I whispered my hesitancy to another young girl as we were leaving the office. “Did I just hear him correctly? Is he going to dunk us under water during the church service on Sunday? I’m a little worried about that.” She smiled confidently and said, “It’s ok. You’ll be fine. Plus, after you do that, you’ll get to eat the crackers and drink the grape juice that they pass around during communion!” Ohhhhh…. sigh. Ok. That was something I always wanted to do. It’s no fun to see the crackers and juice go by and everyone but you gets a little snack and drink during church. I guess I could be super brave and hold my nose and close my eyes really tightly and get the dunking over with. I mean, I figured it was something I would have to do someday any way.
So I did it. I got through my first baptism, got lots of hugs from everyone, made my parents proud, and yes, I got to eat the cracker and drink the juice at the end of the service. Success!
I say my “first” baptism because later in life I would be baptized not one more time, but actually two more times. Hopefully at least one of those dunkings “took”… lol… but those are stories for another time.
I tell this story because it was the beginning of my religious experiences. Me, trying to understand God, has been a life-long adventure and one I am still working on today.
What does it truly mean to be a “Christian”? I used to think it was a specific belief system. If you believed all the things that the VBS pastor asked me when I was a little girl, then you qualify to be a Christian, right? Hmmmm… maybe it’s not that simple.
There are millions of Christians all around the world. American Christianity is just a small part of this world-wide religion. Christianity is actually divided between Eastern and Western theology. In these two divisions there are six branches: Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Assyrians. (Restorationism is sometimes considered the seventh branch.) American Christianity is part of the Western theology branch. As I’ve grown and studied Christianity and all the thousands of sects within the umbrella of Christianity, it’s truly amazing to see the wide range of beliefs that fall under that term of “Christian”.
As of April 2023, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimated that there are more than 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide, and more than 200 in the United States alone. Every one of those separate denominations has their own set of qualifiers that decide if you are a member in “good standing”. Almost every one of those denominations has a list of things you must agree to before becoming a member of their congregation - but those lists vary dramatically from one denomination to another. And of course, you can just ask our Methodist friends — sometimes they can’t agree on some of those qualifiers and they break apart into even more divided sects. It’s kind of gotten out of hand, in my opinion. So again, I ask…
“What does it mean to be a Christian?”
Is Christianity a belief system?
Is Christianity a set of moral values?
Is Christianity a set of rules that keeps you out of hell when you die?
Is Christianity a doctrine to be upheld?
Is Christianity a behavior modification lifestyle?
Is Christianity about American traditions?
Is Christianity about helping the poor, marginalized, and powerless?
In my opinion, the whole point of Christianity, any religion really, should be about transformation. It isn’t just about getting to heaven when we die. The gospel message isn’t just fire insurance. The gospel is about transforming ourselves into Christ-like creatures so that we can impact the world in beautiful ways. It’s about bringing the Kingdom of God to the here and now. It’s about healing others, not harming them.
This week a very sad article was written in the New York Times by David French. It has been making its way around social media and I’ve had several friends send it to me privately. Here is the article: (click on pic for link to article)
For quite a while now, I’ve been watching how David and his wife Nancy have been treated by people from “the church”. I started watching after Nancy wrote her article exposing the horrific sexual abuse at Camp Kanakuk. You would think exposing something like that would make her a hero to all Christians, right? Wrong. It was crazy the way she was attacked over it. And David’s critique of some Christian values/doctrines has put them both in the fire with many fundamentalists. It’s been gross and ugly and quite frankly, scary.
They aren’t the only ones either. Anyone who seems to question some of the doctrines, or stances that the church has seems to get treated with distain, contempt, disparagement, and well… canceled. When you anger “the church”, it ain’t pretty. Just ask Beth Moore, Phil Vischer, Jen Hatmaker, Russell Moore, or many others who dare to stand up for what they believe is right. I, yi, yi…. I’ve seen the most un-Christlike behavior come from people claiming to be Christians lately and it’s so very disturbing. Just because you don’t completely agree on every single policy within your denomination, shouldn’t mean that you get treated as a problem, or even (gasp), a heretic!
I was talking with a very spiritual, but non-Christian friend one day about why he isn’t drawn towards Christianity in his spiritual walk. He smiled and gently said, “Well, the problem with Christianity for me is that Christians themselves can’t decide what being a “Christian” really means. They can’t get together and decide what they all believe. They are constantly arguing among themselves and it’s quite off-putting. When Christians can finally all get together and decide what it means to be a “Christian” then come talk to me again about it.”
… and so started my journey of what is really means to be a Christian.
I’ve seen religion bring out the best in people and I’ve seen it bring out the worst in people, and that includes Christianity. I’ve heard people say, “I’m not that kind of Christian!” or “You can’t be a Christian and vote Democrat/Republican!” (I’ve heard it said both ways") or “You can’t be gay and be a Christian!” or “You aren’t really a Christian if you believe fill in the blank!” Like I said earlier — everyone seems to have their own list of qualifications that make people fit their version of “Christian”.
So I’d love to know your thoughts.
If you consider yourself a Christian: What does being a Christian mean to you?
If you don’t consider yourself a Christian: What does a Christian look like to you?
If you don’t feel comfortable leaving a public comment, feel free to private message me!
I think this could get very interesting….
Love and thanks to you all…. Marcia
WHAT I’M READING RIGHT NOW:
GAMG just finished our 2nd book club this year and it was SO life-giving! We will be having another one very soon, so if you are interested in being on the email list about it, please let me know by emailing me here: gamgbookclubs@gmail.com
The book we just finished was incredible and truly life-changing! It’s The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call To Self-Discovery by David G. Benner. I highly, highly recommend!
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Thanks so much, Marcia, for leading this think tank with your wonderfully honest writings and perspectives! Pondering what it means to be a Christian...honestly, I rarely call myself by that name anymore. I began years ago saying, "I follow Jesus," or "Call me a Jesus-follower." For a couple of decades, I've really been needing distinction from most of what I see in the world, as "Christian." I'll take a stab at what following Jesus means to me: Knowing and living out the teachings of Jesus, loving each other well, loving the planet/nature/creatures well, actively caring about equity among peoples, actively caring about social problems, teaching my grandchildren that hating/stereotyping/making fun is NOT like Jesus. As others have said, I agree that it all comes down to LOVE and, for me, it also comes down to what is NOT LOVE. There often seems to be confusion! Thanks, Marcia!
The way my life has changed since leaving the church and full-time ministry, hoo-boy! Reprogramming my brain from "Us VS Them" to simply... "love people" would seemingly be easy - but the decades of being told that "not all are worthy", and x, y, and z are "unforgivable" has taken a toll on my spirit - even as far as believing I could never be forgiven for choices I had made. I've Controlled-Alt-Deleted that mess now and have realized it's far simpler than what I was taught. While the Bible is complicated and confusing, Jesus's message is pretty straight forward. And it grieves my spirit how mucked and muddied man has made it... for their own gain to protect their ignorance and fragility.
So what is Christianity to me? Well, I don't know its exact definition, to be honest. What I do know is Jesus was soft and loving and also fiercely protective of women and children - He seemed to have a love for equality. So that's where I stand. Every day I wake up and do the best I can. I watch for opportunities to show love and care and to advocate for those who can't. To me, that looks most like love.