This post is not directed at any particular denomination of Christianity, but contemporary Christianity as I see it in my community, which I suppose can be classified as evangelicalism. I decided to make this post because it seems the Christianity I am observing within my community represents the Christianity of most other communities as well and therefore these points are perhaps valid for more than just myself and my own community. There are some things my community over emphasize and some things my community does not emphasize enough. I will point out the things my community stresses too much and then point out the things I believe my community needs to stress more.
1) These Christians place too much of an emphasis on individualism.
Many Christians focus purely on one’s “personal relationship with Jesus.” This itself is not a bad thing, but it is also not the whole story; focusing purely on this individualistic understanding of the gospel ebbs one further away from the Jewish roots of Christianity.
Jesus’ followers where proclaiming the inauguration of the Kingdom of God and Jesus’ Lordship. The good news was not just about how one can have a personal relationship with Jesus, but also of how one can become a part of the Kingdom of God, a renewed, Spirit-filled community. Therefore, the proclamation of the gospel should not alone include how one can enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, but more importantly how one can enter into a renewed, Spirit-filled community, which as a whole is in a personal relationship with God.
The more the church concentrates on individualism, the further it moves away from the Jewish roots of Christianity, and the closer it comes to Gnosticism.
2) These Christians place too much of an emphasis on the phrase “born again.”
The phrase has become so banal among most Christians that its true meaning has almost been lost. Little realize this phrase is only mentioned in one of the gospels, the latest and most individualistic of them all, though the concept appears everywhere else. The phrase “born again,” I would argue, is bound up with water baptism, which calls not only for repentance, but foreshadows resurrection, implying a Spirit-energized change of life style.
3) Dispensationalism has become a standard eschatology for these Christians.
The imminent return of Jesus is stressed so much that the present physical, social and political needs of the world and its inhabitants are completely ignored. People are worried about how to escape the world, rather than how to bring God’s justice to the world as a foreshadow for what God himself will bring to the world (i.e. New Jerusalem). This message downplays resurrection and the promise for the renewal of creation and provides Christians with an excuse to not worry about, for example, helping the poor and getting involved with wider global issues (e.g. “Why help the world if we are leaving it in the rapture?”). Additionally, this view (e.g. premillenialism) downplays the significance of what Jesus and his followers did 2000 years ago.
4) These Christians accept the Bible as inerrant a priori.
While I do not have any problems in particular with the belief that the Bible is inerrant, though I may disagree with that view, this almost a priori acceptance makes it appear as if thinking otherwise places one outside Christianity, and also displays ignorance to and scares one from becoming familiar with textual criticism. Many remain ignorant to the importance of translation, some find themselves jumping through hoops, and distorting the texts along the way, to avoid contradictions, and others find themselves swayed of their faith when the possibility that the Bible is not inerrant begins to make sense.
The above are four things in particular within my community I believe need revision. Bellow I have compiled a list of the things I believe need more emphasis to return my community to its first century, Jewish roots.
1) We need to have a stronger emphasis on the Kingdom of God as a present, renewed, Spirit-filled community.
The proclamation evangelists should make is that Jesus rose from the dead and is therefore the crowned Messiah and Lord of the whole world, namely this very Kingdom of God community. The good news is that Jesus’ blood not only usurped in the forgiveness of sins (especially for Jesus’ people, Israel), but also broke down the walls that once separated the Gentiles from the Jews and their covenant with God. One can become a part of this community through repentance and open acknowledgment of Jesus’ Lordship, symbolically expressed through water baptism, thereby gaining a personal relationship with God and his son Jesus. Individualism should spring from an emphasis on covenant nationalism and citizenship.
2) The evangelist needs to address social, economic, and cultural issues.
Evangelism needs to be thought of less as the way by which the church saves the people of the outside world from “hell” so they can “go to Heaven when they die” and be thought of more of the way by which the church proclaims the good news (not bad news, e.g., “You're going to hell!”) of Jesus’ Lordship, the arrival of the Kingdom of God as a Spirit-filled community, and the calling of servants to bring God’s loving justice to the rest of creation. There should be a strong emphasis on helping people with their physical needs in addition to their spiritual needs. As the author of the epistle of James said, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled [e.g. “be born again”], without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (Jas 2:15).
3) Resurrection needs to dominate or replace life after death.
As apposed to stressing life after death and the Platonic language that describes it, there should be a huge emphasis on resurrection and the renewal of creation. The Christian experience, especially baptism, implies God is redoing creation from the bottom up and will one day complete this process through the bodily resurrection of his people. The proclamation should not be about “I’m going to Heaven when I die” but “God will redeem and resurrect my mortal body through a great act of renewal.”
4) Water baptism should be taken less lightly and have its significance explained.
Baptism should be reinstituted over or at least combined with the so-called “sinner’s prayer” as a public declaration of repentance but also of a reminder of Jesus’ resurrection, a foreshadow of the renewal of creation, and a motivation for the carrying out of a new, Spirit-energized life style. The newly initiated Christian should understand that faith brings good works and fellowship. The “sinner’s prayer” leaves one guessing; baptism symbolizes the full Christian experience (death to self, resurrection to the newness of Spirit, and so on). On another note, the evangelist must remember acknowledging Jesus' Lordship is not limited to a preconstructed and banal prayer that sometimes leaves the convert guessing as to what being a Christian really means.
5) Dispensationalism should be excluded from the church and left for each individual to decide on.
There should be less talk about “Jesus is returning soon to rapture me out of this failing creation!” and more of an acknowledgeable that God called his creation good and that the church has a duty to deliver God’s love and justice to the rest of the world. Resurrection should not be foreshadowed in baptism alone, but also in our actions. God will one day renew the Earth and we must be a precursor to it. There, moreover, needs to be a stronger sense of the Biblical narratives. Stories, such as the Exodus, and the Acts of the Apostles, need to be retold, and related (by, for example, analogy) to the present, rather than taken to specifically refer to the present or the concrete future.
6) Though the Bible should remain authoritative, it should be viewed more historically.
Rather than viewed as strictly as the word of God, the Bible should be viewed as the record of God’s interactions with humanity. Some of these humans were inspired by God to proclaim God’s message to the rest of humanity, so in that sense, the Bible is also inspired. Inerrancy should be avoided, because it sometimes creates more problems than it fixes.
I will add to and revise the above points as I continue to observe and consider Christianity in my modern, American community. My opinion may change as I grow as a Christian, but this is how I see it in the present.
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