Is Christianity under Threat From Within?
Christianity, like Islam, Judaism or any other system of belief and values, will always be challenged by change. Just like Islam, Christianity is by all purpose only comprehensible “from the inside”, to those who share the beliefs and strive to live by the values. Therefore, to ignore these “inside” aspects of Christianity or Islam would be historically unfaithful. Notwithstanding, those on the inside often fail to recognise these aspects as the core of their belief. Interestingly, those who do not, or even cannot, share the Christian viewpoint, for example, but are interested enough, will make sense of Christianity’s system of beliefs and values. Christianity is a community, a way of life, a system of belief, a liturgical observance, a tradition and many more. Each of the above aspects of Christianity has affinities with other faiths - Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. The Christian aspects, however, bear unmistakable marks of their Christian origins. Thus comparatively, there are certain features that are uniquely Christian.
Any phenomenally complex and as fundamental as Christianity is, is often difficult to define logically and can only try to describe it historically. Only then could there be a glimpse into its continuing elements and important characteristics. In Christianity, one of such elements is the centrality of Jesus Christ - the Master teacher. Christians, right from the beginning, have disagreed in their understanding and definition of what makes Christ distinctive or unique. However, all Christians affirm that his life and example should be followed and that his teachings above all should be the basis for human relations. They agree it is the only way and sometimes fervently argue its superiority, not just concerning God, but for the society at large. Presently, those uniquely Christian values are under threat. Christians and would be Christians are being wooed away, ironically in the name of Jesus, from what is essentially unique in Christ’s teachings. The new Christian teachings, in the name of Jesus, are tending towards what the Pharisees and the scribes were accused of, by Jesus, and for which he died.
The Jewish society of priests and scholars, called the Pharisees and scribes, strongly opposed Jesus teachings. Jesus had come with a New Testament that was an anathema to their belief. Here was a son of a common carpenter, who mingled with the lowly, sinners, poor, and the maimed, yet with authority was unravelling what Moses taught. He was redefining the relationship between God and man and that formed the fundamental differences between the two testaments. At what point in time is the day of reckoning? For example, the issue of human death was not clearly defined in ancient
Israel
. The body’s dying and an immortal soul’s going off by itself to answer for its deeds were not considered – they believed in the Inseparable man. Therefore, according to the belief before Christ’s teachings, the individual was a unit, not a composite of body, mind, and soul – which meant the whole man died. Nonetheless, ancient Israelites did not believe that death was extinction but a continuation of existence in a kind of after world, where the dead had no experience or feelings of any kind. The two opposing views, however, manifest in the rendition of the point of chastisement or reward - and for that, affect the attitude of man in his fear of God.
The early Christian leaders must have recognised these irreconcilable differences between what Moses taught and the teachings of Jesus concerning this basic fundamental in the two beliefs. Subsequently, Christianity ended up with two books. It is interesting to note that Christianity is the only religion with two books - the Old Testament and the New Testament. In ancient
Israel
, as emphasised by Moses, God was “Never slow with those who reject Him, but requiting them instantly,” (Deuteronomy 7:10). Jesus amended and taught us that it will be at a later day - on Judgement Day. For these differences, Jesus teachings were tailored towards eternity where God awaits both sinners and the Faithful. That way or belief is what defines a Christian. Man is what he believes. Our responses as human beings are always guided by our beliefs. It is like the belief of going through the pain of studying to desire the pleasure of a better life. If man believes that eternity is pleasure, he would covet it, and do what is necessary to get there. That is the way that is Christ’s, which Jesus said will lead a believer to God. It is different from the Old Testament. ‘I am the way, and nobody gets to the father except through me.’
Jesus, therefore, warned his followers not to lay up their treasures on earth but in heaven. He constantly warned believers to shun false prophets who would whet their appetite for the goodies of this world. His teachings emphasised the possibility of eternal bliss. ‘Blessed are the pure in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ Cardinal Okogie of
Nigeria
summed it up the other day, while commenting about the fiery preaching particularly by the Pentecostal men of God. ‘They preach to save 90% of the body and 10% of the soul.’ Jesus Christ had warned, ‘What good is it to gain the whole world and destroy your soul?’ The uttermost is the end, Jesus taught, and it justifies the means. The belief in what Jesus taught and doing the same goes beyond “accepting Christ as your saviour,” as one is often bombarded by the born-again Christians. They appear not to understand and seem to be led by leaders who are themselves blind. These people have forgotten that God sees and often appear more afraid of the pastor than God. ‘My pastor or Imam should not see me do this,’ they often commented, because the pastors or Imams have constituted themselves into God. To be a follower of Jesus, the basic belief that a sinner will not go unpunished is what stands a Christian out. It is a manifest outlook that is essentially Christ like.
The difficulties that people encounter everyday of their lives, especially, in the modern world are big challenges. And if one has not built his belief (house) on the rocks, his faith would be washed away by these Tsunamis of the world. These are “ravenous wolves that come to you in sheep’s clothing.” I know somebody who has been moving from one church to the other looking for God. I told him that there are many gods, but if it is the God of Abraham; God of Isaac; and the God of Jacob, that he is looking for, He is everywhere every time. He explained why he was not satiated. He wants a charged worship, where the devil will be defeated. He does not know that the devil is right inside him and the battle will have to be fought by him alone, with God’s help of course. Counselling could help but in the end it is his cross. He told me that I need prayers for saying what I said. That, I agree. I, however, stressed that Jesus commanded that prayer is a private affair between God and the individual, confined to the corner in the room (Matthew 6:5-14). The master himself never prayed in public and even told us to lock the door when we pray.
From the beginning, Christianity had not been devoid of controversies. It was, however, mostly on exegesis. It was centred on the question of the divinity of Jesus Christ. For example, Origen, who initiated the theory of trinity, was himself denied priesthood because in addition, he questioned the existence of eternity and his definition of evil and hell did not go down well with the majority of the early Christian thinkers. Origen Adamatius (185 – 254 AD) was born in
Alexandria
; he was a celebrated Christian writer, exegete, teacher, and theologian. As a layman he was invited by the bishop of
Jerusalem
to lecture on the Scriptures, but Bishop Demetrius of
Alexandria
objected. Two synods later, he was forbidding from lecturing and denied priesthood. Two years after he passed on, another controversial Christian was born. Arius (256-336 AD) was another Christian leader and founder of Arianism. His heresy denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ. Educated in the theological
school
of
Antioch
(now
Antakya
), Arius’ teachings caused a major controversy in the church for so many years. Whilst Arianism was raging the Christian world, Emperor Constantine, in 313 AD, published his edit of toleration for all religions. Instantly, Christianity that had blossomed underground emerged as a prevalent and most powerful religious movement in the
Roman Empire
.
Most emperors became Christians and attempted to associate themselves with the church’s influence in the society. Disagreements in the church were, therefore, also regarded as threats to the unity of the empire; it would be used to political advantage by the emperors. To mend the division within the fold of Christ that threatened to rock the empire,
Constantine
called the first and best-known of the ecumenical councils in 325 AD. It was held at
Nicaea
. It condemned the viewpoint of Arius. There would later be six other ecumenical councils called by the emperors, most of which took up similar issues over the next four centuries. The influences of the emperors gave their decisions the force of law. There is, however, a strong argument that Christianity, as it were, began to drift away from the teaching of Jesus Christ from the moment the pagan politicians took over in 325 AD. Today, Christianity is almost unrecognisable from what it is meant to be. The early Christians, for instance, were recognised by the virtue of Christ in them and not because they said they were Christians.
Unbelievers had nicknamed them Christians, because of their Christ like dispositions. Sometimes last year, CNN had a weeklong documentary titled “After Jesus, the First Christians.” Accordingly, most of the problems the religion had to contend with were because of the controversies in the early church concerning the divinity of Christ. There were also no churches as we know them today in the first 300 years of Christianity because the movement was still underground. By 381 AD, when the church had been established it had begun to be recognised in two ways – “visible church membership and only God knows who is worshipping Him.” The dilution in Christ’s message could be ascribed to the controversies the church went through during the troubling period. Today, Christianity is tending towards those practices in Judaism that Jesus had condemned. ‘A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a bad tree bear good fruit.’ The degeneration of moral values in our society in spite of the multiplicity of places of worship is in itself proof that Christ is lord. He foresaw the happenings today.
About a week ago, I had a discussion with a born-again Christian. His only credentials are that he has stopped drinking and said he has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. I asked him how those have affected his life. He said; he no longer does what he used to do that God frowns at. Has he stopped thinking about those things that God frowns at? I am afraid, he has not. I told him that the effect of alcohol has been misrepresented to him. Yes, alcohol is bad for his body, but it was not responsible for his sins. I do not think the point a sin is committed is clearly defined to him and until he understands when that is he may continue to offend God and embarrass his personal saviour. Jesus affirmed that any wrongdoing is preceded by a thought and that marks the point of sin. In Matthew 5:27-28, ‘You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ Also in Matthew 15:16-20, ‘Are you also still without understanding? …But those things which come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. Those are the things which defile a man.’
From the foregoing, it is clear that the born-again Christian, when he was still drinking, had always preconceived the sin before taking alcohol. Do not forget that in the state of the influence of alcohol, the capacity to initiate a thought – good or evil is greatly reduced. However, alcohol is a booster of nerves and that had always removed the inhibitions and thus he was able to actualise the evil thoughts he had had. Now that he has stopped drinking, if he has not stopped thinking about those evil deeds, even if he does not carry them out, he has sinned against God according to the teachings of Christ. What then will stop him from sinning in his heart? I think the first step is to realise that every evil thought is a sin – mind you, I am not an authority here. The approach that most church leaders chose, not to emphasise the avoidance of sins, but instead stress on God’s love to see a believer through, has been responsible for the degeneration in our societies. God loves everybody, but He still demands obedience. Jesus, in his teachings, stressed that it is “by doing the will of my Father, which is in heaven.” Any other interpretation would tend towards what the Pharisees and the scribes taught in the days of Jesus.
A fellow I met recently said, ‘If you remove the repetitive “In The Name Of Jesus” from what some of the Pentecostal preachers say during their sermons, you may as well be listening to a Pharisee or a Judaic scribe.’ There seems to be resurgence in the belief of old as Jesus would put it. Prosperity is the order of the day. To these preachers, “Heaven can wait.” These are the Wall Street evangelists. “God said, the man-of-God is ordained to make people rich,” they claim. My friend said, ‘It appears Devil is on the leash and it is used to frighten the people to part with their hard earned money. The preachers themselves are praying so hard that the devil is not defeated; otherwise they would be out of job.’ Jesus never said anything bad about the devil except “get thee behind me O Satan!” Jesus, by example, always kept the devil behind him. Satan was so diminutive in his life, it was inconsequential. It takes hard work, but it is the individual that will keep the devil behind him by himself and not by any man-of-God who himself is wrestling with his own demon. These men of God are bad trees and have bore bad fruits (followers). “They are shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men; for they neither would go in.”
The same man said, ‘These preachers sure are the Pharisees’ incarnates – from their dress code (They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments). …Their mode of travel is a fleet of the latest SUVs, this is equivalent to the donkey in those days and Jesus only rode the “jeep” once; the next day, they killed him.’ Jesus said of these false prophets, ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness,’ Matthew 23: 27 & 28. Jesus told us that these hypocrites will receive greater condemnation because they devour widows’ houses and for pretence make long prayers. We all know that these men of God have not won the lottery and that manna did not fall from heaven; they could have been tampering with the# tithes. This is the first time in Christianity that the beliefs of ancient
Israel
that Jesus condemned are being sanctioned in the name of Jesus. Are these the antichrists?
In the past, controversies in the church had been about the nature of Jesus Christ and not his message, even at that, Christianity has survived. Will Christianity survive this onslaught on Christ’s teachings, put together cleverly by conmen? ‘For false christs and false prophets will rise and show greats signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you before hand.’
Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick, the author of the book, The Devil Must Be Laughing.
ISBN: 1-4241-2196-5,
Email: saceekay@aol.com.
|
Posted by Robot| 13.08.2007 08:49