A Rant

(* Most of you won't read this post because it is long, so...to get the gist, go to the blinking text about 2/3 the way down and just read that. For the rest of you, thank you for flattering me with your time)

And now, on with the show.....

Have you ever noticed that when things are going well in our lives faith is an easy thing to have, but when life gets hard, complicated, or frustrating we think that God is punishing us or has turned away?

Is it just me, or does that seem shallow? Anyone can have faith from on top of the mountain, but to have faith when you are forced to go through the valley is truly faith. Despite what the latest Christian best-selling book might propose, God does not promise to make our lives easy, uncluttered, and hassle-free. He does not promise to protect us from sickness, heartache, financial burdens, or marital tension. We need to get our theology straight and stop believing in a gospel of prosperity.

So many American Christians honestly believe that when things are going well in their lives then they must be in “right standing” with God and He is therefore blessing them. The converse to this logic is that when things are going bad we must be in “poor standing” with God and He is therefore punishing us. This is at the heart of so much of the shallow, pretentious writing and thinking that is marketed to the American Consumeristic Christian.

To be brutally honest: That kind of thinking is dangerous.

Let’s get a few things straight. Most of the negative things we face are the result of one or two factors: our personal bad choices, and humanity’s state of sinfulness. Notice I didn’t blame God for them.

Let's examine the first factor.

My poor choices result in consequences. Sometimes they are very painful consequences. If I deny this and try to place responsibility on anyone else, including God, I am not only very mistaken, but I am also sinning. I must take responsibility for my actions, choices, and feelings. No one else is responsible but me.

Our culture would like us to think otherwise. It would like for us to believe that everyone else is to blame for our problems. That's why excusive language is so prevelant among so many of us.

"It my dad's fault that I am an alcoholic."
"It's my mother's fault that I am abusive."
"It's the education system's fault that my daughter can't read."
"It's the other kid's fault that my daughter is in jail."
"It's the Church's fault that I am a spiritual infant."
"It's God's fault that my life sucks."

Are we serious?! How freaking ignorant, arrogant, and misguided we are!

The second factor is humanity's sinfulness. Here's a quick history lesson: When the earth was created, God provided a paradise for His creatures. The biblical creation account says nothing about death, disease, or heartache until AFTER the sin of Adam and Eve. After their sin, creation was corrupted and humanity became more arrogant and more self-serving.

Fast forward to today. Because of sin, these hardships entered the earth, not only affecting humanity, but the whole of creation.

We blame God for disasters of nature, but don't our wasteful environmental abuses contribute to the unbalanced eco-system in which we live? We hear a lot about global warming and it's affects on the environment. We also understand that humanity has exponentially contributed (if not created) this phenomena. So how fair is it to blame God for such things as floods, huricanes, fires, etc. when we know that our self-serving culture is THE contributing factor?! This is only God's fault inasmuch as He gave humanity free will. Because we can choose to be protectors of His creation, or we can choose to rape and exploit it. Unfortunatly, we have made our choice.

Ok, so that may not seem egocentric enough for you to care. So let's bring it home. When a boy is arrested for selling drugs, or a mother is killed in a car accident, or a daughter runs away from home, why do we blame God?

We say the stupidest things, like, "God, why would you let that happen?" or "Where are you?"

Why do we blame God? Because we need someone or something to blame. Because we have been taught to not take responsibility for our poor parenting, or our poor life choices. We blame God because it doesn't make sense to let a mother die young or for a child to starve to death. We blame because our culture tells us to, our nature tells us to: Adam blamed Eve, who blamed the serpant, who tried to blame God.

A shallow faith blames others.

A mature faith waits for God.

This on-again-off-again faith is ridiculous. We need to grow up. Seriously. This is a huge problem. Christians are typically shallow thinkers. I had a professor start class with this statement one night:

"Most Christians are really stupid."

He then went on to explain that most Christians do not want to think about things of faith. They want to be spoon fed, like infants. They don't want to wrestle with God, they want to have ignorance about the truths He teaches. They don't want to mature, they want to remain spiritual infants.

Most of the time, the Christian worldview is one of egocentrism and petty shallowness. Our worldview is much more like a "neighborhoodview" as we tend to ignore "world" issues and only focus on those things that affect us.

I know that I am complaining, and complaint without suggestion is gratuitous at best and sinful at worst. So I will make three suggestions.

#1 We need to really start reading the Bible, and not just through "red, white, & blue glasses." We really need to read it from a perspective of trying to learn, trying to mature. Dig deeper, don't just read the words, but meditate on them, look stuff up, research, figure out why a writer mentions specific things. We had the ability to access instantaneous information with a couple mouse clicks. So do it.

#2 Change your worldview! Start interacting with people who are different than you. When you start to see things from new perspectives you will grow spiritually and emotionally. But Mike, that is uncomfortable! You're freaking right it is, but what is worse being an ignorant arrogant sterotypical Christian that the rest of the world despises, or being the compassionate, accepting, and self-sacrificing example of Christ that we are called to be? I choose option B for $200 Alex.

And finally, #3

Figure out what you belive, why you believe it, and if you are OK with your system. The figure out if your "system" is biblical? If you really understand your belief system, it makes it easier to trust God during those tough times.

Ok, so there is my rant. Take it for what it's worth. If you read the whole thing, more power to ya. If you only caught that most Christians are stupid, then at least you have that.