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Is It Possible To Go Too Far With Your Faith?

Recently, Jay Leno made a joke that offended some Sikhs. Last night, I saw a news commentator discussing this, and he said something to the effect, “some people take their religion too far.” I think he was expressing a fairly common belief in our culture. It’s fine to believe whatever you want, just don’t let it affect your life too much. If you take your beliefs too seriously, you’ll turn into one of those extremist religious wackos.

Is this really true? Well, I suppose that depends on what your religion is. Let’s just look at biblical Christianity. Can it be taken too far?

Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment was. His answer,

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:36-40)

Matthew 5:43-45 tells us this love for others must be extended to all people, even enemies.

Is this something that can be taken too far? Would this lead to hatred and violence? Certainly people have committed all sorts of atrocities in the name of Christianity, but their actions couldn’t be more unchristian. They aren’t taking Christianity too far. Quite the opposite!

God insists that if we follow him, we go all in. In Mark 12:30, we are commanded to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” God demands we follow him with all we have and all we are. (See Luke 9:57-62 and Luke 14:25-35 for more about how much God demands of his followers.) We are told that moderation in our faith is a virtue. However, in Revelation 3:15-16, Jesus tells us this “virtue” of not going too far actually makes him sick!

As for me, I want to be all in. I want to fallow Jesus all the way, and do whatever he leads. (Of course, I fail and fall short with alarming regularity, but I want to do better.) How about you? How far do you want to take your faith in God?

Posted by Brad Brown, on January 27, 2012
Category: Status Report | Leave a comment

I Believe in Jesus

This is my third entry in my I Believe… series, which goes into more detail about my core beliefs. This one will focus on the third point in my statement of faith on my website:

“I believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in power and glory.”

There’s a lot in that single run-on sentence, so I won’t be able to go through it point-by-point in this post. I have already covered my belief in the deity of Christ in my previous post on the trinity, so I won’t rehash that here.

Jesus virgin birth is important, for a couple of reasons. The first is simply because the Bible says it’s true. To deny it is to deny the plain teaching of Scripture. Second, it points us toward an important truth about the incarnation. This event is radically different from the previous times when God took on human appearance. There are many instances in the Old Testament when God appeared in human form. (For examples, see Genesis 17:1, Genesis 32:24-30, Joshua 5:13, and Daniel 3:22-25.) In the incarnation, Jesus did not merely take on human appearance, he actually became human.

For the sake of space, I am going to gloss over the next few points, and simply say I believe Jesus did what the Bible says he did. This includes his miracles, his sinless life, and his death which paid the price for our sin. (I’ll be discussing the implications of this in my next post in this series.)

It is worth saying a few words about his resurrection. Jesus literally, physically rose from the dead. This was not some sort of allegory. It was not merely a spiritual resurrection. Jesus’ dead body actually returned to life. After spending time with the disciples and many other witnesses, he ascended to heaven. (Acts 1:3)

The final point is that Jesus is coming back. There is a lot of debate among believers as to exactly what this will look like and in what the order these future events will occur. What seems to me to be beyond debate for anyone who takes the Bible seriously is that Jesus is, in fact, returning. Acts 1:11 makes it clear that he will return the same way he left. He literally, physically ascended into heaven, so we can be confident that he will literally, physically return some day.

Posted by Brad Brown, on January 11, 2012
Category: Ministry Philosophy, Random Thoughts | Tagged I Believe..., Theology | Leave a comment

Making People Good

In my previous post, Don’t All Religions Teach Basically the Same Thing?, I briefly touched on the idea that people think that it is the moral teaching of religion that really matters, not the theological details. I wanted to expand on that a a little bit, but it didn’t really fit with that post. Let’s face it, my posts ramble enough without me chasing every rabbit that pops into my head.

(Given how easily distracted I am, you should be impressed when a post is even somewhat coherent. You know, I really need to vacuum after I finish this post. “Vacuum” is a funny word. Is that extra “U” really necessary? Those robot vacuums are cool, though. I should get a robot! With lasers! SQUIRREL!)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, dealing with the question of whether it’s the moral teachings of religion that really matters. For many religions, the answer might arguably be, yes. However, that is definitely not the case for Christianity. Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. In John 3, Jesus referred to this as being “born again.”

It is possible to follow the Golden Rule and other moral principles from Scripture all the way to hell. God is not the least bit impressed with our “goodness.” In fact no one measures up to his standard for what qualifies as good (Romans 3:10). Ultimately, what matters is being made righteous through God’s work in us (Romans 3:20-14). Morality does matter, but it is more a side effect of the real work that God wants to do in us. As God changes our hearts, we become more and more like him, and our behavior gets more in line with his will.

Posted by Brad Brown, on January 3, 2012
Category: Random Thoughts | Tagged Theology | 1 Comment

Don’t All Religions Teach Basically the Same Thing?

In our pluralistic, tolerant culture, it’s popular to believe that all religions teach basically the same things, so it really doesn’t matter what you believe. Is this actually true?

Short answer, no. As an example, lets look at a truth claim from both Islam and Christianity. A central tennant of Christianity is that Jesus died on the cross. Islam claims that Jesus did not die on the cross, because God would not allow this to happen to a prophet. Both of these truth claims cannot be true. Jesus cannot have both died on the cross and not died on the cross.

Some would argue that differences like that are irrelevant. What matters is the moral teachings. So, let’s take a look at what a few religions teach about the treatment of others. How are we to respond when we see someone in need? Christianity advocates the well-known “Golden Rule,” do to others what you would like them to do for you. Christians are morally and ethically obligated to help those in need. Surely all religions would tell us to do the same, right? Actually, no.

Confucianism has a version of the Golden Rule, but it’s stated in the negative, “don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want them to do to you.” So Confucianism does not allow it’s adherents to actively harm others, but they are under no obligation to lend aid or help a person in need an any way.

Under Hinduism, suffering is viewed as paying off a karmic debt. That is, people suffer as a direct result of their misdeeds in a previous life. So, for Hindus who follow this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it would be wrong to help someone in need, because to do so would be interfering with karma.

LaVeyan Satanism (not to be confused with devil worship) teaches that the needs of others are irrelevant. People should simply act in their own best interest.

So, in what seems to be the most basic question of morality, different religions have vastly different and completely incompatible teachings. (As an aside, I want to be clear that I am not claiming that the followers of these other religions are mean or selfish people who would never help others. I am only addressing what these religions actually teach.)

What about the popular belief that all religions lead to heaven? Let’s ignore what should be an obvious point, that different religions teach vastly different things about the nature and even the existence of an afterlife. Let’s look only at Christianity. Christianity teaches that Jesus is God. Jesus claimed to be the one and only way to get to God. See John 3:17-18; and John 14:6 for examples. (I do realize some would argue against the accuracy of what is recorded in Scripture. I believe there is ample evidence to show the New Testament is a reliable historical document. However, exploring that evidence is beyond the scope of this post.)

If Jesus really is God, then what he says must be true, and he really is the one and only way to heaven. If there is even one other way to get there, then Jesus was either mistaken or lying. Since God does not lie and cannot be mistaken, either option would refute the concept of the divinity of Christ. This leaves us only two options. Either Jesus is the only way to heaven, or Christianity is a false religion.

I wrote all of this to make one simple point: what you believe really does matter. Look into what you believe and why. Weigh the evidence, think it through, and make an informed decision. (Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Posted by Brad Brown, on January 2, 2012
Category: Random Thoughts | Tagged Theology | 1 Comment

Are you an Incarnation Person or a Resurrection Person?

It’s Christmastime (in case you haven’t noticed.) This is the time of the year when we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus. It occurred to me how we Christians have a tendency to “pick a side,” associate ourselves with either the incarnation or the resurrection.

Some churches focus mostly on the incarnation. In my experience, this focus is most common in more theologically liberal churches, though certainly not exclusively so. They concentrate on Jesus’ example of how he lived as a human, and what he taught during his ministry on earth–especially passages like Matthew 25 which deal with treatment of the poor. This tends to be a more “earth based” theology, dealing with works and how we live now.

Other churches are more resurrection-focused. I find this most prevalent in the evangelical world, though, again, certainly not exclusively so. They focus their attention on the redemptive work of Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection. What matters is first being in a right relationship with God, and second helping others enter this relationship. This is a more “heaven based” theology, dealing with faith and getting to heaven.

I think part of the reason we do this is out of a desire to separate ourselves from what we see as errors or excesses on the “other side.” For example, in evangelical circles, where I tend to spend most of my time, there can be an aversion to terms like “social justice.” If we focus on social issues, it might give the impression that we are denying the important role of faith.

The truth is, this is not an either-or situation. It is not incarnation or resurrection, works or faith. We must have both. Jesus spent a lot of time teaching about how to live in this world. (See the Sermon on the Mount, beginning in Matthew 5 for an example.) He also spoke clearly of the foolishness of living only for this world. (E.g. Mark 8:34-38) If we are going to be followers of Jesus, we must both live our lives now based on his example and teachings, and put our faith in him and the power of his resurrection to carry us through this life and into the next.

Posted by Brad Brown, on December 15, 2011
Category: Random Thoughts | Tagged Christmas, Incarnation, Resurrection, Theology | Leave a comment