Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk by Eugene Cho

Author:Eugene Cho
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: kingdom of god;political party;polarized;not be a jerk;christlike;biblical;pastor;politics
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2020-01-03T04:30:12+00:00

PERSPECTIVES ON PERSECUTION

Many American Christians are responding in fear to the idea that we are under attack by the enemy. There is a concern that our way of life is in jeopardy. Muslims are evil and out to get us. Gay people are out to get us. The New England Patriots are bad and out to get us. Our good, Christian people are being sidelined while our Christian nation is unduly influenced by other religions and liberalism.

In the book A People’s History of Christianity, author Dr. Diana Butler Bass speaks of “Big-C” Christianity, which is “a theological disposition that interprets Christianity as an us-against-them morality tale of a suffering church that is vindicated by God through its global victory over other worldviews, religions, or political systems.” 9

This is the Christianity of territory and conquest—the kind of militant Christianity that “tolerates (and often encourages) schisms, crusades, inquisitions, and warfare as a means—metaphorical if not actual—to the righteous end of establishing God’s will on earth.” 10

American Christianity has become more like this Christianity, an expression of cultural Christianity rather than kingdom of God Christianity—the kind of incarnational, loving Christianity that drew so many regular people to countercultural Jesus, to the frustration of the Pharisees, who eventually plotted to kill Him.

We have become more concerned with conquering America for Christ rather than loving as Christ loved, speaking truth, and showing people the way to Christ through word and deed. The Christianity the next generation longs for has existed before, but it seems so uncommon in America today.

Dr. Bass calls this kind of faith “Great Command Christianity” and talks about the power of emulating the good Samaritan, to “go and do likewise.” 11

With our mind-set of protectionism, Christians in America end up worrying about the wrong things, or at the very least, we spend a lot of time fretting about a few issues, while not focusing on the kind of faith lived out that could truly proclaim the kingdom of God.

I’d love it if everyone was Christian and said Merry Christmas, but I realize that not everyone is Christian. Frankly, if my faith was dependent on whether someone said Merry Christmas, that wouldn’t be much of a faith at all, would it? Rather than being so obsessed with keeping Christ in Christmas, we ought to be more concerned about keeping Christ in Christian. If God extended free will to people, who am I to force my faith onto others?

Is the ultimate goal to build an island for ourselves, walled off from society, with all the political protection we can muster? As we read in Mark, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” 12

Christians, we do not need to center our faith, politics, or emotions on these social hot-button issues. And let’s not waste a moment with positively menial stuff, like getting up in arms about the design that appears or does not appear on Starbucks cups at Christmastime. The work of the kingdom is bigger than a grande macchiato.

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