Let's Get Real

One of the great features of protestant Christianity in modern America is that there are more than thirty thousand denominations, ensuring that no matter what you think or believe, or what you want to do, you can easily locate a church that agrees with you. You can find a church that mirrors your personal prejudices, political views, and cultural biases.   In fact a church may be known as "non-denominational," meaning that it teaches whatever the pastor thinks that week. When pastor has a new view of something, the church splits or folds.  Finding your own customized church means that you don't grow, you aren't challenged to learn and you have an opportunity to be entertained in a worship 'experience' with technological razzle-dazzle that has no real impact on your life. Just make sure you pay those tithes!  In that way you can include religion on your resume and congratulate yourself that you have "fire insurance."  Only in our consumerist system is such a con possible.

Now, for a moment, let's imagine that a new, rather intransigent, cult appears on the horizon and evangelizes without thought for these marketing dynamics.  Suppose, further, that its odd list of membership requirements include, among others, committing to the following bizarre notions:

It's ok to marry, but not to divorce.
You can't pray in a public place.
You can't take a public oath.
If you loan out something, you can't demand it back.
All your charitable donations must be anonymous.
You cannot accumulate any personal wealth.
You can't retaliate if you are attacked.
You can't go to church if you are nursing a grudge.

All of these strange policies are, in fact,  teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.  And let us remember that Jesus said that you cannot claim to love him or be his follower unless you do what he says to do!   A perusal of this partial list of Jesus' commandments reminds me of just how far our contemporary expressions of religion have majored in Paul and Americana and got away from the teachings of our Lord.  In so doing, they have made Jesus their members' mascot instead of their saviour.  And a mascot cannot save.