What is a Christian, Seriously

7/28/2019 What is a Christian, Seriously

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WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN, SERIOUSLY?

T. S. M

First Draft - June 2013

Anna, my angel of a wife, used to have an agnostic brother-in-law who challenged her with Show me your God. In the musicalMy Fair Lady Eliza sings to lovesick Freddy:

Word! Words! Im so sick of words!I get words all day through;

/../

Show me! Show me!Dont talk of love lasting through time.Make me no undying vow.Show me now!

What is God like?

Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what

the soul is, quipped Voltaire. And four thousand volumes oftheology will not be enough to convince unbelievers about theexistence of God. Moreover, if God were to appear in person today,say in a shopping mall, we might not do better in recognizing himthan the woman at the well.

The woman said to Him [Jesus], I know thatMessiah is coming (who is called Christ). WhenHe comes, He will tell us all things.

Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.

(John 4:25, 26)

Philip, one of Jesuss disciples, a matter-of-fact guy, asked ofJesus: Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.


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Jesus answered: Dont you know me, Philip, evenafter I have been among you such a long time?

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Howcan you say, Show us the Father? Dont you believethat I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather,it is the Father living in me, who is doing his work. (John 14.8-10, New International Version)

So what was Jesus like when he was on earth? He walked, he talked,he ate, he drank, he slept, he laughed, he wept, he healed the sick, hecomforted those who mourned, he consorted with the low lives ofsociety, he derided religious authorities, he talked about living the

anxiety-free life, and in the end he was denounced, tried, tortured,and executed as a criminal.

Ah, what about the resurrection?, you might ask. What theresurrection means to me is that the Son of God as finite body ismortal; but as infinite spirit he is indestructible. Sticks and stonesmay break his bones, but nothing can ever hurt his spirit.Kierkegaard in The Sickness Unto Death says that A human being isspirit.. A human being is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, ofthe temporal and the eternal.. So, in the final analysis, what I am

is eternal spirit, an offshoot of the I AM THAT I AM of Exodus.

Now back to God revealed in man. If there is a place where Godis revealed it is in the lives of individuals. Let your light so shine

before men.. (Matt. 5.16). Who dares to repeat after Jesus Hewho has seen me has seen God? This is exactly what a real Christianis and it troubled Kierkegaard deeply. Christianity is not a doctrine.. Christianity is a message about existence. That is why eachgeneration must start it anew (Diary, 1848). True religion for an

individual is not to be defined by a book or a religious organizationbut by the way he/she lives. Jesus did not say If you want to knowthe truth read the Bible; instead he expressed truth existentially: --Look at me, I am the truth. And there lies the challenge to anyone

who claims to be a follower of Christ. Nietzsche saw the challenge.In truth, he wrote, there was onlyone Christian, and he died on across (TheAnti-Christ). Kierkegaard could not honestly claim to be


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a Christian. He could only claim to be on the way to being aChristian. And perhaps thats the best most of us can do in our fallenstate.

Is it enough to say I believe in God?

There is in the Christian marketplace a talisman sold by areligious group and this is that if a nonbeliever can be made to say OLord three times then he/she will be saved. Jesus has warnedagainst such cheap grace in Matt. 7.21. It is easy to glibly say I

believe in God. Hitler said he believed in God. (The Nazis were notatheists. During WWII Nazi soldiers wore belt buckles bearing the

words Gott mit uns [God with us].) Devils, too, believe in God!(James 2.19). When I pointed out this Jamesian verse to a zealous

Christian relative of mine he was taken aback.

Anonymous Christian

I recall vividly an incident at the memorial service of ournephew Simon in California. As I was sitting alone, wrapped insorrow, my sister approached me and, as if to get something off herchest, said, Simon was not a Christian! This made me doubly sad.The good Samaritan in Jesuss parable was an outsider, as far as thereligious Jews were concerned.

Jesus said:

A man was going down from Jerusalem toJericho, when he was attacked by robbers. Theystripped him of his clothes, beat him and wentaway, leaving him half dead. A priest happened tobe going down the same road, and when he sawthe man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a

Levite, when he came to the place and saw him,passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, ashe traveled, came where the man was; and whenhe saw him, he took pity on him. He went to himand bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil andwine. Then he put the man on his own donkey,brought him to an inn and took care of him. The


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next day he took out two denarii and gave them tothe innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when Ireturn, I will reimburse you for any extra expenseyou may have.

Which of these three do you think was a neighborto the man who fell into the hands of robbers?

The expert in the law replied, The one who hadmercy on him.

Jesus told him, Go and do likewise.

- (Luke 10:25-37)

More than just a rabbi who opened the door to outsiders, Jesuswas a maverick who turned the pet beliefs of his tradition upsidedown. To the sanctimonious elders of the temple he said: I tell youthe truth, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are entering thekingdom of God before you(Matt. 21.31).

According to Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, an anonymousChristian is a person who lives in the grace of God and attainssalvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity. Looking back

at how he had lived through the eyes of his colleagues, his fellow-scientists and friends, I think of Simon as an anonymous Christian.He belongs to the tribe of Abou Ben Adhem.

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,And saw, within the moonlight in his room,Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,An angel writing in a book of gold:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,And to the Presence in the room he said "What writestthou?"

The vision raised its head,And with a look made of all sweet accord,Answered "The names of those who love the Lord.""And is mine one?" said Abou.


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"Nay, not so," Replied the angel.Abou spoke more low,But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,Write me as one that loves his fellow men."The angel wrote, and vanished.The next night

It came again with a great wakening light,And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)

Being a Christian is not a walk in the park

Christ has no body but yours,No hands, no feet on earth but yours,Yours are the eyes with which he looksCompassion on this world,Yours are the feet

with which he walks to do good,Yours are the hands

with which he blesses all the world.Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours,No hands, no feet on earth but yours,Yours are the eyes

with which he looks compassion on this world.Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Teresa of Avila (15151582)

By no means an easy path but it is one that leads to eternity.

What is a Christian, Seriously

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