I just saw a report on Fox News about an evangelic movement called “Unite Us Movement”. I’m guessing the “Us” is a play on words to mean us and the United States, but that’s just a hunch. This is a movement that is traveling to large universities in the South (for now) and drawing anywhere from 6000-8000 students at each gathering, which is impressive. I did some research into this and could find very little on their website about who funds it and what they believe; this is actually pretty common among very conservative churches. They tend to not want to let seekers know who and what they oppose. The language has a particular flavor to it; the reporter, who received an honorary doctorate from the school she was reporting from, spoke about how many people were baptized, as well as those who gave their life to Jesus. The focus of the report was also to compare this movement with the protests happening on many campuses around the world. In other words – students protesting is bad – accepting Jesus is good.
One of the leaders of this group is also in charge of the IF:Gathering. This organization is upfront about its Christian Fundamentalism, which I appreciate. Both of these movements are doing what they think Jesus wants them to do – they are evangelizing and trying to make disciples. They are putting their faith out there and offering it to anyone who will listen. There is nothing wrong with this; in fact, I have often bemoaned how our Mainline Protestant churches are pretty terrible at talking about our faith. It is part of our calling to share how God has touched our lives. We take a different approach, however; we believe that our actions will show people our faith. Again, not a bad thing. The problem is that we don’t always act in ways that might lead others to see us as faithful. Not blaming, just putting it out there. None of us is perfect, after all.
I am all for sharing what I believe, but what I am not for is doing it in ways that are demeaning or condescending. I can only tell you what God means to me. I can’t know how your life will be different, if at all. My experience of evangelical Christians is that they tell me how great their life is, and that mine could be just as great if I only practiced my faith the same way they do. I will tell you that I know many happy Atheists and Agnostics, and many miserable Christians. I can also say the opposite of that. My experience of God is that God exists, and I believe that God came to live among us as one of is in the person of Jesus. I do not ascribe to the idea that Jesus is the only way; God can be made manifest in many different forms. This is the beauty of the Trinity. I will never tell you that your life is miserable because you don’t follow Jesus; I will also never tell you that you will go to hell for the same reason. What I do know is that my life is better because I am part of a Christian community that cares about people. We are so much more together than apart.
So, live your life and find your bliss and do what makes you happy and gives you purpose and makes the world a better place. I will take that over spiritual arrogance every day.
Prayer – Holy God, You come to us in many different ways. May our interactions with You inspire us to goodness. Amen.
Today’s art is “Multidimensional Eternal Bliss” by Elena Khomoutova.