The Myth of a Christian Religion Part 1

The myth of a Christian religion : losing your religion for the beauty of a revolution.

by Gregory A. Boyd.

INTRODUCTION.

ONCE UPON A TIME I EMBRACED THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Frankly, I wasn't very good at it. Religion just isn't my thing. For a while I felt like a failure. Some religious folk consigned me (and still still consign me) to the fire. But over time I've come to see my religious failure as a tremendous blessing. consign me) to the fire. But over time I've come to see my religious failure as a tremendous blessing.

Because when I lost my religion, I discovered a beautiful revolution.

This may surprise or even offend you, but Jesus is not the founder of the Christian religion. True, a religion arose centuries after he lived that was called "Christian," but as you'll discover in this book, in many respects this religion was ant.i.thetical to what Jesus was about. In fact, as you'll also discover in this book, the very concept of a "Christian religion" is something of a myth when understood in the light of what Jesus was about.

What Jesus was about had nothing to do with being religious. Read the Gospels! He partied with the worst of sinners and outraged the religious. This is what got him crucified.

What Jesus was about was starting a revolution. He called this revolution "the Kingdom of G.o.d."

This revolution isn't centered on getting people to believe particular religious beliefs and engage in particular religious behaviors, though these may be important, true, and helpful. Nor is it centered on trying to fix the world by advocating the "right" political causes or advancing the "right" national agendas, though these may be n.o.ble, righteous, and effective.

No, the Kingdom of G.o.d that Jesus established is centered on one thing, and one thing only: manifesting the beauty of G.o.d's character and thus revolting against everything that is inconsistent with this beauty. The Kingdom is centered on displaying a beauty that revolts.

The Kingdom, in short, is a beautiful revolution.

Everything about Jesus manifested this beautiful and "revolting" Kingdom. We see it most profoundly when Jesus allowed himself to be crucified. On Calvary Jesus puts on display the beauty of G.o.d's decision to suffer for his enemies-and at the hands of his enemies-rather than use his omnipotent power to violently defeat them. On Calvary we also see G.o.d's revolt against our enslavement to violence and everything else that keeps us estranged from G.o.d and one another. The devil himself is confronted and overcome by the cross of Jesus Christ.

Jesus' death sums up the theme of his whole life. Every aspect of his life, teachings, and ministry put the beauty of G.o.d's reign on display and revolted against some aspect of the culture that contradicted this reign.

The central call of all who pledge their life to Christ is to join this beautiful revolution and to therefore humbly live and love like this like this. "Whoever claims to live in him," John says, "must live as Jesus did" (1 John 2:6). We're to manifest G.o.d's beauty by sacrificially loving our enemies, serving the poor, feeding the hungry, freeing the oppressed, welcoming the outcast, embracing the worst of sinners, and healing the sick, just as Jesus did. And there's no way to do this without at the same time revolting against everything in our own lives that keeps us self-centered, greedy, and apathetic toward the plight of others. Nor is there any way to do this without revolting against everything in society-and, we shall see, in the spiritual realm-that keeps people physically, socially, and spiritually oppressed.

So you see, the Kingdom has nothing to do with religion-"Christian" or otherwise. It's rather about following the example of Jesus, manifesting the beauty of G.o.d's reign while revolting against all that is ugly.

It's a beautiful revolution that we're all invited to join. But to do so, we're got to lose our religion.

CHAPTER 1.

GIANT JESUS.

Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

1 JOHN 2:6.

CONFESSIONS OF A SKEPTICAL PASTOR.

Traditionally, Christians have believed that the Church is G.o.d's main vehicle for carrying out his will "on earth as it is in heaven." In my early years as a Christian, I was convinced this was true. But over the years I've lost confidence in this-which is a little strange, I suppose, since I'm the pastor of a fairly large evangelical church.

The seeds of doubt were planted in my college years when I first studied the Church's b.l.o.o.d.y history. Almost all varieties of the Church-Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Orthodox, and so on-tortured and murdered people "in Jesus' name." How could this be if the Church is G.o.d's main "vehicle of salvation"?

During that time I also became aware of how central following the example of Jesus is to the New Testament's understanding of what it means to "be saved." 1 1 This slowly opened my eyes to the radical contradiction between the lifestyle Jesus calls his followers to embrace, on the one hand, and the typical American lifestyle, on the other. Yet it struck me that the Church in America largely shares-even celebrates-the typical American lifestyle. Research confirms that the values of Americans who profess faith in Christ are largely indistinguishable from the values of those Americans who do not. How could this be if the Church is G.o.d's main "vehicle of salvation"? This slowly opened my eyes to the radical contradiction between the lifestyle Jesus calls his followers to embrace, on the one hand, and the typical American lifestyle, on the other. Yet it struck me that the Church in America largely shares-even celebrates-the typical American lifestyle. Research confirms that the values of Americans who profess faith in Christ are largely indistinguishable from the values of those Americans who do not. How could this be if the Church is G.o.d's main "vehicle of salvation"?

Finally, what caused my confidence in the Church to bottom out completely was a movement that arose in the 1980s known as "the Moral Majority." Christians in this movement tried to grab political power in order to "bring America back to G.o.d," as they put it.

I've never understood what G.o.dly period of American history these folks were trying to get us back to. Was it before or after white Europeans enslaved millions of Africans and slaughtered millions of American Indians to steal their land?

But what really horrified me was how how they were trying to take America back there (wherever "there" might be). The leaders of this movement called on all "moral" people to side with them in their political crusade against all those they considered "immoral"-liberals, h.o.m.os.e.xuals, feminists, abortionists, secularists, and the like. Worst of all, many of these leaders did this explicitly "in Jesus' name," while many, if not most, conservative churches jumped on the bandwagon. they were trying to take America back there (wherever "there" might be). The leaders of this movement called on all "moral" people to side with them in their political crusade against all those they considered "immoral"-liberals, h.o.m.os.e.xuals, feminists, abortionists, secularists, and the like. Worst of all, many of these leaders did this explicitly "in Jesus' name," while many, if not most, conservative churches jumped on the bandwagon.

What I never understood was why followers of Jesus would try to gain political power over people when Jesus himself never attempted such a thing. Nor could I understand how these Christians could act as if their sins were less serious than the sins of those they were crusading against. Jesus and Paul explicitly taught disciples to embrace the opposite att.i.tude. Followers of Jesus are to consider themselves "the worst of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15 16) and to maximize their own sins while minimizing the sins of others (Matthew 7:1 3).

This movement also struck me as dangerous. If history teaches us anything, it's that religion and politics make perilous bedfellows. The worst evils in history have occurred when religious people-including Christians-acquired political power. The Crusades, Inquisition, witch hunts, and inter-Christian wars throughout Church history, in which millions were slaughtered "in Jesus name," were all built on this poisonous alliance.

This same history teaches that mixing politics and religion is disastrous not only for nations but for advancing the Christian faith as well. Go to any country where Christians once ruled and you'll find the Church has all but disappeared and the people are generally more resistant to spiritual discussions than those in other cultures.

History teaches that the best way to destroy the Church is to give it political power.

Worst of all, people in the Moral Majority seemed to imply that agreeing with a particular political position was a precondition to entering into the Kingdom of G.o.d. Indeed, it justified all who rejected the Moral Majority's political posturing to also reject Christ. It transformed a beautiful Gospel into something that could be easily dismissed and understandably disdained.

If I'd been offered this version of Christianity as a nonbelieving teenager, I'm quite certain I would have remained a pagan.

While the Moral Majority eventually died out, its mindset did not. The first two elections of the third millennium brought forth as much divisive religious posturing as anything that happened in the 1980s or '90s.

Like most evangelical pastors of megachurches, I received an unprecedented amount of pressure to "steer the flock" toward re-electing George Bush in 2004. Most of this came from members of my own five-thousand-person congregation who were getting worked up into a political frenzy by Christian leaders on television, on the radio, on the Internet, and in the mail.

I decided to use the occasion as a teaching opportunity. I would explain the biblical reasons why our church never has, and never will, partic.i.p.ate in political activity (as well as why we don't have a flag on our premises, sing patriotic hymns, celebrate the Fourth of July, or do other things like that). So I delivered a four-part sermon series t.i.tled "The Cross and the Sword" that spelled out the difference between the Kingdom of G.o.d, which followers of Jesus are called to promote, and the kingdoms of the world, which politics concerns itself with.

The messages exposed a division in my congregation that ran through the entire evangelical community. On the one hand, I'd never received such positive responses to anything I'd ever preached.

Some people literally wept for joy, feeling that the Gospel had been hijacked by American politics. On the other hand, roughly a thousand people walked out. 2 2 Looking back, I know I could have been more tactful (never my strong suit). But the ma.s.s exodus also revealed the ongoing fusion of faith and politics in American evangelicalism-and mine was a congregation that had always taken care to keep the two separate!

THE DISCOVERY OF THE KINGDOM.

I might have fallen into incurable cynicism, and even left the ministry, had it not been for one thing: G.o.d had been teaching me that the Kingdom of G.o.d not only can't be identified with any political party, ideology, or nation; it also can't be identified with any human inst.i.tution, including the Church, or any organized religion, including Christianity. Rather, the Kingdom of G.o.d displays the beautiful character and behavior of the One who first embodied it. It always looks like Jesus-loving, serving, and sacrificing himself for all people, including his enemies.

To the extent that any individual, church, or movement looks like that, it manifests the Kingdom of G.o.d. To the extent that it doesn't look like that, it doesn't.

It's that simple.

This insight saved my spiritual life and reignited my pa.s.sion to be a follower of Jesus.

My hope and prayer is that it will do the same for all who read this book.

THE KINGDOM.

Everywhere Jesus went he proclaimed "the Kingdom of G.o.d." It's the thread that connects all his teaching. A kingdom kingdom is any area where a particular king reigns. Literally, it's the is any area where a particular king reigns. Literally, it's the king's domain king's domain. So the Kingdom of G.o.d that Jesus referred to is the domain of G.o.d's reign. Jesus' life and teachings focused on revealing what it looks like when G.o.d reigns in a person's life and in the life of a community.

Jesus didn't just focus focus on the Kingdom, however. He on the Kingdom, however. He was was the Kingdom. According to the New Testament, Jesus was the embodiment of G.o.d-he was the Kingdom. According to the New Testament, Jesus was the embodiment of G.o.d-he was G.o.d Incarnate G.o.d Incarnate, to use traditional terminology. He was, therefore, the very embodiment of the Kingdom of G.o.d.

This is one reason why Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand wherever he went. It was at hand, because he was there.

As the embodiment of the Kingdom, Jesus didn't just reveal what it looks like. He brought it to us. Through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection, Jesus established the Kingdom in this world. Each time a person submits to G.o.d's reign, the Kingdom grows a little more. G.o.d's ultimate goal, which he promises to accomplish eventually, is for the whole earth to become a domain over which he lovingly rules.

Our job, as people who submit to G.o.d's reign, is to do everything we can to grow this mustard seed Kingdom in our own lives and throughout the world. We're to pray and live in such a way that we bring about G.o.d's will "on earth as it is in heaven."

Jesus came to plant this Kingdom. Through his Spirit working in the lives of all who submit themselves to him, he's expanding it. This is what Jesus was and is all about. And this is what we who have pledged our lives to Christ are to be all about. We're to be the Kingdom and to be used to expand the Kingdom.

BELIEFS AND PLEDGES.

It's never hard to tell where the Kingdom is advancing and where it's not. Where it's taking hold of people's lives, they increasingly live like Jesus. Where the Kingdom is not present, they don't.

This contrasts sharply with what a lot of people today think Christianity is all about. Many Christians, for instance, seem to think Christianity is mainly about believing believing certain things. If you believe Jesus died for your sins, you're "saved." If you don't, you're "d.a.m.ned." Since we're saved by "faith alone" and not "works," how one actually lives isn't centrally important in this model of Christianity. certain things. If you believe Jesus died for your sins, you're "saved." If you don't, you're "d.a.m.ned." Since we're saved by "faith alone" and not "works," how one actually lives isn't centrally important in this model of Christianity.

Perhaps this explains why so many Americans who profess faith in Jesus have lifestyles that are indistinguishable from their nonbelieving neighbors.

Now, I certainly agree Jesus died for our sins and that we're saved by faith, not works, but the idea that Christianity is primarily about believing believing certain things is seriously misguided. Since Scripture calls Christians "the bride of Christ," try thinking about it this way: to be married to my wife, I certainly need to believe certain things. I need to believe my wife exists, for example. I also need to believe she'll keep her vows to me. But merely believing these things doesn't make me married to her. Believing those things are preconditions for my relations.h.i.+p with her, but they are not themselves the marriage relations.h.i.+p. certain things is seriously misguided. Since Scripture calls Christians "the bride of Christ," try thinking about it this way: to be married to my wife, I certainly need to believe certain things. I need to believe my wife exists, for example. I also need to believe she'll keep her vows to me. But merely believing these things doesn't make me married to her. Believing those things are preconditions for my relations.h.i.+p with her, but they are not themselves the marriage relations.h.i.+p.

I'm married to my wife only because I'm willing to act on my beliefs by pledging my life to her and living faithful to this pledge every day of my life. This doesn't mean my marriage is based on "works," as though I had to earn my wife's love every day. Rather, living faithful to my vows is simply what it means what it means to be married. to be married.

In the same way, we need to believe certain things to be Christian. We must accept that Jesus exists, for example, and that G.o.d will faithfully keep his word. But merely believing these things doesn't make us "the bride of Christ." These beliefs are the precondition for a marriage-like relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d, but they are not themselves the relations.h.i.+p.

We become the "bride of Christ" only when we act on our beliefs by pledging our lives to him and living faithful to that pledge every day. This doesn't mean we're saved by "works," as though we had to earn G.o.d's love. Rather, living faithful to one's pledge to G.o.d is simply what it means what it means to be married to him. It's to be married to him. It's what it means what it means to submit to G.o.d's reign. It's to submit to G.o.d's reign. It's what it means what it means to belong to G.o.d's Kingdom. to belong to G.o.d's Kingdom.

And as we do this, we increasingly look like Jesus.

Over the last several years the media has coined the term red-letter Christians red-letter Christians to refer to believers who believe they're supposed to obey Jesus' teaching and live as he lived. (Some Bibles print Jesus' words in red-hence the term to refer to believers who believe they're supposed to obey Jesus' teaching and live as he lived. (Some Bibles print Jesus' words in red-hence the term red letter red letter). What we've seen so far is that there is, in reality, no other kind of Christian. Obeying what Jesus taught and living as he lived is simply what the term "Christian" means. 3 3 EXPERIENCING KINGDOM LIFE.

Living under the reign of G.o.d, as modeled by Jesus, is as contrary to the ordinary way of doing life as anything could be. It's far more radical and countercultural than most people realize, so much so that it would be impossible for someone to live this way by their own power. This brings us to the center of what the Kingdom is all about.

I've said that the Kingdom is not primarily about beliefs, for by definition it redefines how we live. But this doesn't mean the Kingdom is primarily about about how we live. Rather, the reign of G.o.d redefines how we live because it does something even more fundamental within us: it gives us a whole new how we live. Rather, the reign of G.o.d redefines how we live because it does something even more fundamental within us: it gives us a whole new kind of Life kind of Life. (Throughout this book I'm going to capitalize Life Life when referring to this new kind of Life in order to distinguish it from mere biological or social life.) when referring to this new kind of Life in order to distinguish it from mere biological or social life.) When we submit to the reign of G.o.d by pledging our life to him, he gives us eternal Life. This Life partic.i.p.ates in the beautiful Life of G.o.d. It is the abundant Life Jesus said he came to give us. It 's the only kind of Life that satisfies our inner most need to experience profound love, worth, significance, and security. It's the Life we were created to share with G.o.d.

The Kingdom is about living in a radically new way only because it's first and foremost about partic.i.p.ating in a radically new kind of Life. Followers of Jesus live and love like Jesus only because they partic.i.p.ate in the fullness of Life Jesus unleashed into the world. Every Christlike thing Kingdom people do simply manifests the Life of Jesus that Kingdom people partic.i.p.ate in.

GIANT JESUS.

New Testament writers express the truth that the Kingdom is about partic.i.p.ating in the Life of G.o.d by referring to Jesus followers as "the body of Christ."

Jesus acquired an ordinary body when he was born in Bethlehem, but now he has acquired a collective body with the Church. 4 4 The Church is his hands, mouth, and feet operating in the world today. The same Life that was in his first body is in us, his second body. And we who belong to this second body take our marching orders from the same "head" as Jesus' first body. The Church is his hands, mouth, and feet operating in the world today. The same Life that was in his first body is in us, his second body. And we who belong to this second body take our marching orders from the same "head" as Jesus' first body.

This is why Luke begins his work on the history of the early church by reminding his readers that in his earlier written Gospel he "wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven" (Acts 1:1). To say that Jesus "began" to do certain things in his incarnate form implies that Jesus is now continuing to do certain things in a corporate form-through his Church. In Luke's mind, his Gospel was about what Jesus did through his first body, while the book of Acts is about what Jesus continued to do through his second, corporate body.

In other words, Luke sees the Church as a sort of giant Jesus. And this giant Jesus is still ministering to the world today.

In the book of Acts you can also see that Jesus identified with his corporate body. When Jesus knocked Paul off his horse on the road to Damascus, he identified himself as "Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:4). Since Jesus had ascended to heaven several years earlier, how could Paul be persecuting him him? Clearly, he was doing so by persecuting the Church. Jesus apparently considered whatever happened to the Church as happening to him him. Pain inflicted on his Church is pain inflicted on his body, as much as when spikes were driven into his hands and feet on Calvary.

The call to imitate Jesus is not something people are to carry out by their own efforts. Rather, it's the call to yield to the Spirit and thereby manifest the truth that Christ himself is working in and through us. Christ himself is transforming us into his image. Christ himself is working through his corporate body to carry on the work he began in his earthly body.

Kingdom people truly const.i.tute a corporate, giant Jesus.

THE BEAUTIFUL REVOLUTION.

When people get serious about their call to follow Jesus' example, it's revolutionary. Literally. The Kingdom that Jesus ushered into the world is is a revolution. It a revolution. It revolts revolts. In manifesting the beauty of G.o.d's reign, the Kingdom revolts against everything in the world that is inconsistent with this reign.

But the Kingdom revolution is unlike any other the world has known. It's not a revolution of political, nationalistic, or religious ideas and agendas, for Jesus showed no interest in such matters. Indeed, these "revolutions" are trivial by comparison to Christ's, and whenever people have tried to transform the Kingdom into one of these revolutions they have trivialized the Kingdom and denied its essential character.

The revolutions of the world have always been about one group trying to wrest power from another. The revolution Jesus launched, however, is far more radical, for it declares the quest for power over others to be as hopeless as it is sinful. Jesus' Kingdom revolts against this sinful quest for power over others, choosing instead to exercise power under under others. It's a revolution of humble, self-sacrificial, loving service. It always looks like Jesus, dying on Calvary for the very people who crucified him. others. It's a revolution of humble, self-sacrificial, loving service. It always looks like Jesus, dying on Calvary for the very people who crucified him.

For this reason, the Kingdom doesn't wage war the way people do. It's not like the French or American revolutions, in which people relied on violence to overthrow tyrannical regimes. On the contrary, the Kingdom revolution Jesus unleashed wages war by loving and serving enemies instead of harming and conquering them.

While ordinary revolutions achieve their objectives using the power of the sword, the Kingdom revolution achieves its objectives using the power of the cross. While ordinary revolutions advance by engaging in ugly violence as they sacrifice all who oppose them, the Kingdom revolution advances by manifesting the outrageous beauty of G.o.d's love that leads people to sacrifice themselves on behalf of those who oppose them.

The radical Kingdom Jesus embodied and established is all about manifesting the beauty of G.o.d's love and revolting against every ugly thing that opposes it.

Christians debate a million complex theological issues. Many are important and legitimate. But from a Kingdom perspective, all those issues are secondary to this one: Are we who profess Christ as Lord imitating his love, service, and sacrifice for others? Are we individually and collectively partic.i.p.ating in the beautiful revolution Christ unleashed into the world? * *

Viva la revolution!

CHAPTER 2.

CHRIST.

AND CAESAR CAESAR.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against...spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

EPHESIANS 6:12.

The kingdom is holy holy-meaning "separate, set apart, consecrated." It looks like Jesus, nothing else. We can't simply equate the Kingdom with everything we think is good, n.o.ble, and true. Nor can we align the Kingdom with any nation, government, or political ideology. The Kingdom Jesus embodied and established is one of a kind.

When Jesus was on trial, Pilate asked him if he considered himself to be the king of the Jews. Jesus responded, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest."

Governments and nations have always relied on fighting to survive. They punish criminals who threaten their welfare. They go to war against enemies who attack their borders or stand in the way of their agendas. This is how the kingdoms of the world maintain law and order and advance their causes.

By contrast, the Kingdom that Jesus embodied and established refuses all violence, which is why Jesus pointed to his followers' refusal to fight as proof to Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. In fact, when Jesus was arrested, one of his followers tried to fight in a kingdom-of-the-world fas.h.i.+on. He pulled out a sword and cut off a guard's ear. Jesus rebuked him and then healed the guard. He was demonstrating that the Kingdom he was establis.h.i.+ng doesn't wage war by using violence against enemies but by loving, serving, and healing enemies.